Bonus round over the front game?

[Loogaroo]

Pyramid and all versions of Password, though I will say that I've always found the main game of P+ and SP to be far more exciting than 20 minutes of just guessing random words in the original PW main game.

I gotta say, as someone who's played it online, it can be really frustrating to play a game of Super Password and be done after what feels like six or seven words' worth of gameplay.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

I generally didn't care about the front game of Shop Til You Drop except for the Shopper's Challenge round (tangent: Pat Finn is underrated in terms of handling rapid-fire Q&A), but I always found the bonus utterly delightful - and only JUST behind Legends of the Hidden Temple as the exemplar of the Stone-Stanley "Run around a ridiculously huge set finding stuff" bonus factory.

[TimK2003]

I generally didn't care about the front game of Shop Til You Drop except for the Shopper's Challenge round (tangent: Pat Finn is underrated in terms of handling rapid-fire Q&A), but I always found the bonus utterly delightful - and only JUST behind Legends of the Hidden Temple as the exemplar of the Stone-Stanley "Run around a ridiculously huge set finding stuff" bonus factory.

Meh.  On average, most of the gifts that were offered at the table were usually traded in the mall for something else.   It was mostly a blind luck bonus round whereas much of the front games were based on skill and the buzz-in round was based on knowledge.

[Loogaroo]

Yeah, it would be nice if they had more valuable prizes in the boxes on offer to make it a little bit more strategic as to when to keep a prize and when to exchange it. But then again, the whole fun of the round was watching the husband run up and down the stairs for 90 seconds and marvel at the fact that nobody ever took a tumble carrying those boxes without holding a handrail.

[CeleTheRef]

Many examples in Italy, writers here seem to put a lot of effort into the bonus round.
 
L'Eredità (now in Season 24) became a staple only when the Guillotine bonus round was introduced.
Avanti un Altro!'s front game is pretty much a comedy show with some questions mixed in, but the bonus round has been imitated on YouTube (21 Questions Wrong).
And the most recent example is the "triple bonus round" (3 puzzles in 60 seconds) on Wheel of Fortune, which is often the most watched quarter hour in the country.

[BrandonFG]

Guillotine bonus round

Damn European game shows are intense.

[The Ol' Guy]

A vote for Stewart's Winning Streak. Lame front game, but the end game, with some similarities to Beat The Odds, was good. Blindly picking letters one at a time and being challenged to use every letter picked in a single word for double the money each time was quite the challenge.

[TLEberle]

Winning Lines is often considered one of the worst formats with one of the best bonus rounds.

I will say it again and every time, Winning Lines was created as a vehicle for UK's lottery. Not our fault that we didn't add some meat on the bone.

If you're Frank Wayne producing The Nighttime Price Is Right, you're treating the Showcase that way. 

Not for nothing, MattO is correct, most game shows are paced so that the end game will have the biggest pop for good or bad. I think it was Steve G. who told me that at least for a long time, the Showcases would have the biggest prizes, but not necessarily that the showcase winner wound up as top winner overall.

Yeah, it would be nice if they had more valuable prizes in the boxes on offer to make it a little bit more strategic as to when to keep a prize and when to exchange it. But then again, the whole fun of the round was watching the husband run up and down the stairs for 90 seconds and marvel at the fact that nobody ever took a tumble carrying those boxes without holding a handrail.

I typically don't stick around for it when stopping on a YT video, but I look at it this way--winning a stunt round allows the team to choose what sort of prize they want, and the end game ramps that up. Want kitchenware? Something to hang on your wall? Electronics? You could have a little of everything and there is the fun of "here's the next thing that you won" and generally the prizes were opened by retail value, so it built to a crescendo.

[Neumms]

Now You See It; one of the better "play-along" ones.

Yes! The solo round is one of my favorites, the rest of the show kind of repetitive. I’d have liked to see them give this show the Million-Dollar Password treatment.

[Neumms]

I think it was Steve G. who told me that at least for a long time, the Showcases would have the biggest prizes, but not necessarily that the showcase winner wound up as top winner overall.

Boy, not these days. The prime time and theme week shows end with a pronounced thud. I realize that one showcase out of two is likely to be won as opposed to, say, 3 Strikes, but extravagant showcases would be good TV and good for promotion.

[BrandonFG]

extravagant showcases would be good TV and good for promotion.

Yeah but not going overbudget >>> good TV and good promotion.

[Neumms]

extravagant showcases would be good TV and good for promotion.

Yeah but not going overbudget >>> good TV and good promotion.

They’ve given away over $200K in one playing of Cliff Hangers. I think their budget is malleable.

[Joe Mello]

extravagant showcases would be good TV and good for promotion.

Yeah but not going overbudget >>> good TV and good promotion.

This is purely anecdotal, but I want to say that most times when there was a big time showcase, there was a much more modest showcase paired with it. I have assumed the logic is that the big showcase bidder will miss bigly, or at least more bigly than the other player, which means you can show the cool car while also not busting the budget.

[Neumms]

This is purely anecdotal, but I want to say that most times when there was a big time showcase, there was a much more modest showcase paired with it. I have assumed the logic is that the big showcase bidder will miss bigly, or at least more bigly than the other player, which means you can show the cool car while also not busting the budget.

Yeah, therein lies the rub. To make a game of it, you do need two big ones. But again, they’ve been known to throw money around.

[JasonA1]

I think the fact they do throw money around, but historically do NOT throw that same attention at the showcases illustrates it's not where they choose to be doing that. My cynical side says it's solely because the showcase round is harder to control from a budget standpoint. But as a fan, I can also see there's a lot more mileage to be had over a tension-filled pricing game for a big prize, as opposed to a six-figure car showing up without revealing its six-figure price visually in a showcase reveal.

-Jason