Unspoken rules on game shows

[aaron sica]

Seems like, by around season 32 of TPIR, in Card Game, if you drew an ace, the unwritten rule became "give me your total bid on the car" rather than being given the option of playing it immediately or holding it for later. Bob still said they were wild and that you could make them any amount you wish, but by that point I rarely heard him discuss holding the ace. Time constraints surely had something to do with that.

Even when I was a child watching the show, I never understood the option of holding the ace. If you have the option to make the bid anything you want, why WOULDN'T you want to just use it to make your bid exactly what you want instead of continuing to pick?

[TLEberle]

As long as you keep drawing you can make changes to your game plan but once you make a bid and stop drawing it’s over. I think there’s some psychology to not wanting to give your final answer yet.

[Brakus]

Winners' Board on Sale of the Century - the CAR and the $10K had to be matched by revealing a WIN card first. (Therefore, revealing either CAR or $10K before revealing a WIN card took that prize out of play.) Notice bofh CAR and $10K were printed askew instead of regular centered horizontally. It was never mentioned, although the contestants were made aware of that beforehand. I distinctly remember a contestant went to the Winners' Board with only a piano and the car remaining on the board. Four numbers - two were the piano, one was the WIN card, and the other was CAR. Contestant makes his first pick -- CAR -- and the contestant immediately winces. He then picks the WIN card, and he knows he's going to win the piano, even though Jim Perry still tries to keep it suspenseful.

[TLEberle]

3or other platitudinous questions.

Platitudinous? Aristophanes!

I've written questions for an online game and hosted with Loog. It is those questions that makes the show interesting since the card play is typically pro forma, though you get enough of the lucky or unlucky stuff that you can never quite tell.

I've asked "do you remember the name of your first grade teacher?" "Would you pay $1,000 to have the chance to win $10,000 on a coin flip?" and maybe my favorite after seeing a picture of Bronson Pinchot and Mark-Linn Baker, asking our respondents to name the situation comedy that starred them both.

Much like excellent questions on Millionaire or Jeopardy spark discussion and thought, so too do good questions on Card Sharks, and the fun of the show is seeing of our guesses match up with the polling group. "We asked 100 inmates, did you do it?" isn't something where you just say "fifty" and leave it at that. Saying that they are platitudinous is disrespectful to the work product.

[Ian Wallis]

As long as you keep drawing you can make changes to your game plan but once you make a bid and stop drawing it’s over. I think there’s some psychology to not wanting to give your final answer yet.

Exactly.  If I drew an Ace on the first card I probably would still need a bit more time to think about what my final bid would be, so I may want to hold it for a pick or two.

[NickintheATL]

I think the idea of holding the ace and continuing to draw is this... you keep drawing and then if you have a fear of drawing too large a card and going over, then you use the ace for a finite amount and get your bid right where you want it.

But then again, why wouldn't you just do it to start out with if you know what you want to bid?

/Stay tuned for Catch 22 The Game Show, next over most of these CBS stations...

[JasonA1]

It took me entirely too long to realize that holding the ace was a carryover from the pre-New Card Game format, in which the ace was capped at $1,000. In that version, it made sense to use it in the way Nick describes. When the maximum value of an ace became uncapped, they should have tossed out the ability to hold onto it.

-Jason

[BrandonFG]

Not sure if this fits but on High Rollers, did Alex or Wink ever mention that leaving the 1 unattended is an automatic L? For instance, if it comes down to the 7 and the 1 you obviously want an 8, but did that scenario ever happen?

[Mike Tennant]

Not sure if this fits but on High Rollers, did Alex or Wink ever mention that leaving the 1 unattended is an automatic L? For instance, if it comes down to the 7 and the 1 you obviously want an 8, but did that scenario ever happen?

I distinctly recall Wink's referring to "that pesky one" but not whether he explained why it was "pesky."

[JasonA1]

Not sure if this fits but on High Rollers, did Alex or Wink ever mention that leaving the 1 unattended is an automatic L? For instance, if it comes down to the 7 and the 1 you obviously want an 8, but did that scenario ever happen?

One instance that comes to mind is below, from 1980, and all Alex adds beforehand is "don't roll a 5", figuring loyal viewers by that point know what he means. (And this further clarifies a common fan wish -- you can't use an insurance marker on a good roll, regardless if it costs you the game/Big Numbers.)

https://youtu.be/603Aog-ELtA?si=2_fBd8EKl-7oq9DY&t=1012

-Jason

[Kevin Prather]

Seems like, by around season 32 of TPIR, in Card Game, if you drew an ace, the unwritten rule became "give me your total bid on the car" rather than being given the option of playing it immediately or holding it for later. Bob still said they were wild and that you could make them any amount you wish, but by that point I rarely heard him discuss holding the ace. Time constraints surely had something to do with that.

I think the "use it later" rule was a holdover from the original rule when the Ace could only be worth up to $1000. Once it became truly wild, that rule became useless unless you're gonna allow the Ace to be negative, which I'm pretty sure is not allowed.

EDIT: I didn't realize there was a whole 'nother page of posts where this was already mentioned. Hat tip to Jason.