Rules Bibles

[Jack521]

One thing I find fascinating about game shows is seeing rules bibles, especially rare/never used rules. For instance, I was on Wheel of Fortune, and it was interesting seeing in my rules packet that you can solve after a spin.

I’ve seen a couple posted here (Whew, Password) I believe. Are there any others posted anywhere?

[TLEberle]

You can solve after a spin? Are you allergic to money?

I know they allow it in speed up but if you know the puzzle you know letters in the puzzle.

[Jack521]

I assume the rule is in place for someone that gets confused, but the only thing I can think of strategy wise would be if you weren’t sure how to spell a word in the puzzle, and felt more comfortable just saying it.

[MSTieScott]

I assume the rule specifically says you can solve immediately after a spin that lands on money or a prize/decision wedge. Otherwise, I'm using the loophole to blurt out the answer as soon as the wheel stops on Lose a Turn.

[That Don Guy]

One thing I find fascinating about game shows is seeing rules bibles, especially rare/never used rules. For instance, I was on Wheel of Fortune, and it was interesting seeing in my rules packet that you can solve after a spin.

I remember a Woolery episode when, in the final spin round, somebody solved the puzzle instead of guessing a letter first. IIRC, on one of the next few episodes, Chuck saw that the next contestant knew what the solution was and told him to call out a letter first - and that made the difference between winning a compact car and something like a Mustang.

[clemon79]

I'd be curious to know if they define "a spin" as the entire process of "spin the wheel, call for a consonant, resolve the letter call."

To Scott's loophole, I assume the instant the wheel lands on a negative outcome, you no longer have control and therefore may no longer opt to solve the puzzle.

[Jack521]

Yes I apologize - I don’t have the exact wording of it, but it was definitely a cash value (and I would assume a prize wedge/special wedge?).

What was also fun was when they asked for any questions, and I confirmed you could use the Wild Card after buying vowels. Someone else asked if you could use it without spinning first (i.e the amount that your pointer was on) and that was an instant no.

[Joe Mello]

What was also fun was when they asked for any questions, and I confirmed you could use the Wild Card after buying vowels.

So a legal play would be to spin X00, call consonant at X00 each, buy vowels, then call another consonant at X00?

[Matt Ottinger]

Back in the 70s there was a paperback book about Wheel of Fortune which somehow managed to have the complete rules as provided to the contestants.  The one rule that has stayed with me all this time was, "The letter Y is always treated as a consonant."

[TLEberle]

I was going through stacks of stuff and junk on my day off and what do I find but that scruffy ancient text which also mentioned thst a contestant who solves with no money gets I think $200 so they can at least buy a lighter or magazine rack to take home.

A rules Bible would be meant to cover what do you do in edge cases like revealing the wrong monitor, or stunt equipment falls apart. Since most game show contestants are agreeable and desire piles of loot, you don’t really need to devote a ton of time to “whoever was last in control shall choose the next category except in case of sudden intestinal mutiny or violent death in which case the standby paramedic shall choose.”

[JasonA1]

A rules Bible would be meant to cover what do you do in edge cases like revealing the wrong monitor, or stunt equipment falls apart. Since most game show contestants are agreeable and desire piles of loot, you don’t really need to devote a ton of time to “whoever was last in control shall choose the next category except in case of sudden intestinal mutiny or violent death in which case the standby paramedic shall choose.”

I don't know what you mean by this, and I'd be curious if you could rephrase -- because it sounds like the first observation contradicts the second.

I'm struggling to find my copy, but one of the first bible oddities that jumps to mind is from Celebrity Name Game: if one team managed to play a perfect round 1 and 2, and racked up the $3,000 before Craig's clue-giving round, the goal would simply increase. I'm 90% certain it was to $4,000 instead of 3, but alas, my copy is on some backup media that's not at arm's reach.

-Jason

[BrandonFG]

I'm struggling to find my copy, but one of the first bible oddities that jumps to mind is from Celebrity Name Game: if one team managed to play a perfect round 1 and 2, and racked up the $3,000 before Craig's clue-giving round, the goal would simply increase. I'm 90% certain it was to $4,000 instead of 3, but alas, my copy is on some backup media that's not at arm's reach.

Damn…talk about penalizing good gameplay. I realize straddling hasn’t been much of a thing outside of a few modern shows, but I think I could come up with a few different ways they could’ve killed time and not move the goalposts for a team that did what’s asked of them.

[TLEberle]

At the same time you also don’t want to have a dead segment and a team that reached $3,000 is likely to run away with things and the final score line is $4,200-0. On top of that, a $20,000 win wipes out the main game winnings anyway.

[mmb5]

A rules Bible would be meant to cover what do you do in edge cases like revealing the wrong monitor, or stunt equipment falls apart. Since most game show contestants are agreeable and desire piles of loot, you don’t really need to devote a ton of time to “whoever was last in control shall choose the next category except in case of sudden intestinal mutiny or violent death in which case the standby paramedic shall choose.”

I don't know what you mean by this, and I'd be curious if you could rephrase -- because it sounds like the first observation contradicts the second.

I'm struggling to find my copy, but one of the first bible oddities that jumps to mind is from Celebrity Name Game: if one team managed to play a perfect round 1 and 2, and racked up the $3,000 before Craig's clue-giving round, the goal would simply increase. I'm 90% certain it was to $4,000 instead of 3, but alas, my copy is on some backup media that's not at arm's reach.

-Jason

Semi-related question - how much was Craig guided with coming up with clues vs. coming up with his own?

[JasonA1]

At least by the time I was doing it, he was essentially reading a mini Fame Game (emphasis on mini) off his monitor. My memory tells me he was ad-libbing around that, but namely for color, and less for fact(s).

-Jason