Unspoken rules on game shows

[Neumms]

Match Game never mentioned when using the “sudden death” tie-breaker what happened if the contestants wrote the same answer.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Match Game never mentioned when using the “sudden death” tie-breaker what happened if the contestants wrote the same answer.

My guess would be that that's because "what happened" was "it gets edited out of the show."

[Ian Wallis]

Match Game never mentioned when using the “sudden death” tie-breaker what happened if the contestants wrote the same answer.

My guess would be that that's because "what happened" was "it gets edited out of the show."

That's what happens.  A couple of times I heard Gene say something like "this is the third tiebreaker", which is confusing because the other two were edited out.

[thomas_meighan]

When playing Ten Chances on TPIR, I don't remember it ever being specified that the contestant is guaranteed the first prize. Realistically, if one of the three numbers is a zero, there could only be three incorrect guesses before the right price is obvious (and the audience would be screaming it!), so I guess there's no reason to bring it up.

When watching the show as a youngster (and before I was aware of the show's ins and outs), I sometimes wondered what they'd do if a contestant never got off prize #1, as there's only enough room on the right-hand side of the board for the car to slide to if the player never gets off prize #2.

[Bob Zager]

Although long extinct from television,  On Whew!, Tom Kennedy did not always following up his saying only one block on the sixth level, with, "that is if you choose."  I also recall once watching an episode and the contestant called for one of the clues on level six with lots of time on the clock.  The player either gave a wrong answer to the "blooper," or hit a block, losing five seconds.  The player then said "Longshot," and Tom Kennedy looked lost, and was cued or realized himself, the player could not call "Longshot," once he/she was on the sixth level.  If it were allowed, potentially there could've been just an incorrectly answered clue revealed on the board, and lead to being blocked out.

[PYLclark86]

Speaking of Whew!, I don't recall them ever mentioning that you had to place your blocks from bottom to top. Per the contestant agreement:

17. When blocking, I may start on any level, but having selected a level, I can not put a block on a lower level.

[MikeK]

When playing Ten Chances on TPIR, I don't remember it ever being specified that the contestant is guaranteed the first prize. Realistically, if one of the three numbers is a zero, there could only be three incorrect guesses before the right price is obvious (and the audience would be screaming it!), so I guess there's no reason to bring it up.

Using the same "last number is a zero" logic, if the contestant knows that every price ends in zero (and that is an unwritten rule; Bob mentioned it at a taping I was at in 2001 when someone didn't know that), the contestant will win both small prizes and get at least one attempt at the car.

[Chuck Sutton]

On Family Feud in the main game if a player gives two answers at once( accidently or intentionally)  the rest of family barred from giving second answer.

Steve Harvey will usually only mention the rule when other family steals with the answer.

[aaron sica]

I think the producers encourage the contestants to give some sort of reasoning behind their guess. One very good reason is to be sure they understand what's being asked. Sometimes I've seen a contestant misunderstand a question and give a reason that goes against the context of the question, in which the host advises the player what the question is asking as their reasoning doesn't match.

Looking at it through childhood eyes, when first watching the show in reruns (back when stations like KYW and WABC ran it in the morning), I hated the explanations and wished it moved faster. Through adult eyes, it would be painfully boring.

Host: How many of them said that they WOULD ___________
Contestant A: 58
Contestant B: lower
Host: It's actually HIGHER. Contestant A, you can play this card or change.

We'd have games moving at lightning speed. I don't think that's what the producers would have wanted.