One year on from
this thread America's Game wheeled back into the Delaware Valley and the historic Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA. Jay Flats was host along with announcer Cody Dove. Notable changes and/or omissions from splinky's report include:
- The bloopers & sizzle reel were updated to include Seacrest-era clips, including ones from the current season
- The graphics are styled off of Pat's last set
- Toss-Up heats are now first to 3, and earn their pre-selected audience member the same parting gift the losers got(coasters in Q1, the Wheel umbrella in Q2 & Q3
- The
Cash Explosion end game Wedge Game to be Vanna was first to 4 - TDV was 1500 for R1, 2500 & Express for R2 & R3, 5K w/ Mystery for all of Act 3 (R4-R6 in this case). Wedges were added like it was house ruling that one version of the home game everyone liked.
- The Mystery Wedge was for 5000 points that could be immediately spent
- At least one of the gift tags (a spa gift card) was instant-win, no solve necessary. I assume all full-size prize wedges required at least a solve. (The Surprise wedge did)
- The Audience Wedge got a random audience member $100 (which sounded like they had to sign paperwork for)
- A random audience member also wins the bonus prize if the bonus round is won
- Losing main game contestants got $200
Philly being Philly, there was a lot of rowdiness, which resulted in one qualifying toss-up getting thrown out. There was also a stop because a player was incorrectly told their letter was already called. The night's winner went wire to wire and nearly held onto the $10k but lost it to a Bankrupt in Round 5 (with Round 6 starting in Speed Up). However, she called the right letters to win a $1200 backyard package for herself and a lucky audience member.
My parents came with and they had a good time. Once the game proper got underway, this would've been almost like the location tapings I went to 20 years ago if it weren't for the misbehaving audience. I don't know Cody Dove's history but he certainly seemed more attuned to the locale than you'd expect from a guy originally from New Mexico. He probably had the line of the night in warm-up when he joked that they were going to add a token to the wheel where if you won it you would become the Eagles' new Offensive Coordinator. Despite my biases as a game show nerd who designed his own Wheel software in two different engines, and despite getting annoyed by the audience, I'd still recommend it. I had very good seats (center section, 8 rows behind pit) for about $67/head and at least at the Keswick, the cheaper seats (sub-$50) would've been fine. All that being said, I don't think I would spring to see TPIR Live there (which is happening in May)
