PYL- Has this ever happened?

[whewfan]

I've been watching PYL on GSN and I am wondering if any of the following has happened...

A player getting 4 Whammies in round 1

A player hitting both Add a One AND Double Your Money (also if both have been hit in a single show by different players)

A player passing their spins before taking a shot at the board in ROUND ONE (I have seen one player pass all his spins before taking a shot in round two, and he ended up winning because both players hit a Whammy on their last spin)

All three players hit 4 Whammies, therefore none of them come back on the next show.

[SuperMatch93]

I seriously doubt the last one happened,  because that would mean someone was foolish enough to play against the house with three whammies.

[40onTheBlue]

As for #5, I have a very vague memory of an episode of Second Chance where of all the contestants hit four devils in the second round. I was but a kid at the time, so I'm probably wrong.

[BrandonFG]

Pretty sure 1 and 4 never happened. Closest to the latter was all three contestants finishing with $0.

[Ian Wallis]

4 whammies in round 1 never happened.  The closest was on a 1984 episode where someone has three whammies in round 1 and was passed three spins.  I would have loved to have seen him hit the fourth whammy just to have seen what would have happened - would he have been removed from the stage, or be allowed to sit there but not participate?

All three players with four whammies never happened either, but it came close a couple of times.  Once was an August 1985 episode where someone played against the house with one whammy, then hit two in a row.  He went on one more time and got something like $1250, then stopped.

[JasonA1]

would he have been removed from the stage, or be allowed to sit there but not participate?

It came up before with deference to what it says in the show bible - the contestant would leave the stage.

-Jason

[whewfan]

Here is an instance where Alex passes all of his earned spins in round 2, and it was a very good yet still risky strategy

[Sonic Whammy]

Just about everything that was said here is correct, but just to make the facts official for the original questions:

1) No. Despite several instances over the run where a contestant did get a spin or two passed to them in Round 1 after getting 3 Whammies on their own, no one ever actually hit #4.

2) The only one that may have happened, but I haven't seen it myself. Maybe if we get to see the rest of run and the missing episodes one day we'll find out.

3) No. What would be the benefit?

4) No, but it came close in back to back episodes: #499 and the "lost" Back To School episode #500 that never aired in the original run. In both cases, spins were still taken after the 11th Whammy to open up the possibility, but #12 was avoided. (In #499, 1 spin was taken for Mazatlán and then the champ quit, while in #500, both of the remaining spins were taken for Disney World, $1000+ and a sailboat.)

Sidebar on #1: In the time I hosted the game at anime cons, I had 3 separate instances of 3 Whammy passes in Round 1. All managed to avoid elimination, one of them after a record 7 passed spins! And this past summer, I was witness to my friend's run of the game where a player not only got 3 Whammies in the round, but VOLUNTARILY took their last spin!

[BrandonFG]

Now I have a question: was there ever a two-way tie, above $0?

I haven't seen it since the USA era,  but I seem to remember one episode where the contestant hit a "Move One Space" square, and the choices were a dollar amount and a prize. IIRC, the dollar amount would've tied, but he took the prize...and lost.

[tyshaun1]

Now I have a question: was there ever a two-way tie, above $0?

I haven't seen it since the USA era,  but I seem to remember one episode where the contestant hit a "Move One Space" square, and the choices were a dollar amount and a prize. IIRC, the dollar amount would've tied, but he took the prize...and lost.

Nope. Your scenario was really close though. The contestant in the lead had $5250 IIRC, and the spinner had $2750. They landed on "Move One Space" to either $750 + One Spin or $2500. They chose the extra spin, spun the board again, only to land on........ $1250. That episode is one GSN has yet to air.

Tyshaun

[Kevin Prather]

Nope. Your scenario was really close though. The contestant in the lead had $5250 IIRC, and the spinner had $2750. They landed on "Move One Space" to either $750 + One Spin or $2500. They chose the extra spin, spun the board again, only to land on........ $1250. That episode is one GSN has yet to air.

Now here's a discussion waiting to happen. Why would one want to avoid playing for the tie on PYL? We've discussed the pros and cons for Jeopardy ad nauseum. The disadvantage there is you have to play against a skilled opponent again. What could possibly make a person "skilled" at PYL? (Besides having the name Michael Larson, of course.)

[TLEberle]

Greed.

[Kevin Prather]

Greed.

Greed as in "I want more than $5250", or greed as in "I want to be the only winner"? The former is greed, the latter is douchebaggery.

[MSTieScott]

Did the contestant know that the $2500 space would have given them the tie? In the heat of the moment, I could see somebody doing that math incorrectly.

[BrandonFG]

Greed.

Greed as in "I want more than $5250", or greed as in "I want to be the only winner"? The former is greed, the latter is douchebaggery.

And it came back to bite him. I'd gladly take the $5250 and come back as co-champion, esp. 30 years ago when that kind of money was worth even more, and esp. since the extra spin could've easily been a Whammy. Regardless, I'm sure he enjoyed his Success Rice and Creamettes pasta. :p

Playing devil's advocate, I wonder if he even bothered to do the math in his head, and only saw the "+ One Spin". Obviously, Peter would've said "You need more than $2,500 to win or something with an additional spin to stay alive," but I'm wondering whether the contestant only heard the "something with an additional spin" part?

Thanks Tyshaun for the recap.