The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Dbacksfan12 on May 31, 2011, 03:45:03 AM

Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on May 31, 2011, 03:45:03 AM
If I could get rid of one pricing game, it would be <BLANK>.

My vote goes to Bullseye.  The game is ridiculously easy to win in comparison to every other game that uses grocery items.  The fact you can lowball it three times and still win...while one screw-up in Hi-Lo (and others) means you lose sits rather poorly with me.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on May 31, 2011, 03:54:04 AM
Pick-A-Number.  Dull concept, dull appearance.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: WhammyPower on May 31, 2011, 04:33:01 AM
Magic Number.  Seems like contestants just can't play the game right.

See last Friday if you need an example.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: whewfan on May 31, 2011, 06:09:53 AM
Pick-A-Number.  Dull concept, dull appearance.

Didn't Roger say that was one of his least favorite games? Not only is it a dull concept, it's certainly not original, and there are other pricing games with the identical "fill in the missing number" concept that execute it MUCH better IMO (Golden Road, Switcheroo) and one other game that had an identical concept, but poor execution (Gallery Game)

That's Too Much gets my vote on "game I'd most like to see retired". Without Barker's insistence on saying "THAT'S TOO MUCH" with authority, the game is otherwise not much fun to watch. (there are several pricing games that Drew could execute better, but that's derailing from the original topic)

Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on May 31, 2011, 08:23:50 AM
Magic Number.  Seems like contestants just can't play the game right.

See last Friday if you need an example.
I remember someone saying that $1700 just about always wins this game, but I've seen contestants set the thing at 500 something...and then there was that contestant last season who kept tinkering with the lever to get the price exactly right, and the game went on waaaay longer than expected.

I'd have to go with Pick a Number too- the game has always been ne of my least favorites, and the name is so generic.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: alfonzos on May 31, 2011, 05:41:56 PM
Quote
Pick-A-Number.  Dull concept, dull appearance.
I agree.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: cliffhanger285 on May 31, 2011, 07:43:54 PM
Most Expensive. It's kinda boring IMHO.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on May 31, 2011, 10:51:39 PM
My vote goes to Bullseye.  The game is ridiculously easy to win in comparison to every other game that uses grocery items.  The fact you can lowball it three times and still win...while one screw-up in Hi-Lo (and others) means you lose
Funny thing about that, that such a ridiculously easy game to win can be lost by people who aren't just taking one of each to win by the fluke way, but actually trying to hit the target. Bullseye is a clever twist on the Grocery Game.

Quote
sits rather poorly with me.
/actually that was the polenta.

Magic Number.  Seems like contestants just can't play the game right.
Really? They don't get that you set the number between the two prizes? Maybe they have a hard time winning, but I doubt they're not getting the idea.

Most Expensive. It's kinda boring IMHO.
Get used to the boring games, as it seems that you're going to get three of them per episode.

For me the two games that would be first on the chopping block are Half-Off, Let 'em Roll and Pass the Buck. I think there are ways to make them interesting, but Mark's labored setup didn't ask what games to tweak.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Neumms on June 01, 2011, 01:12:23 AM
Squeeze Play. Because the prop is even uglier than Pick-a-Number and the chance of winning is about the same.

Or Money Game. Its prop is ugly. They play it too much. The basic conceit of the game, that you get the pittance in cash, is even dopier now than it was in 1974. And five-digit car prices screwed it up so now there's an obvious block of front two choices and another of back two choices. Seems like by now they could have taken the pairs-of-digits idea and turned it into something more colorful.

Or Bonus Game. Shell Game is the same thing but by choosing shells, more than one small prize actually matters. If they have to keep Bonus Game, then make the four prizes bigger and make the bonus cash so it actually feels like a bonus, as in something extra. (The old Shell Game counter and sign were more conceptual and iconic than the current all-in-one counter, though.)
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 01, 2011, 01:23:34 AM
Squeeze Play. Because the prop is even uglier than Pick-a-Number
Quote
(The old Shell Game counter and sign were more conceptual and iconic than the current all-in-one counter, though.)
So, wait, the Shell Game counter is iconic, but the Squeeze Play prop is ugly?

Um, pick one.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on June 01, 2011, 01:51:25 AM
If they have to keep Bonus Game, then make the four prizes bigger and make the bonus cash so it actually feels like a bonus, as in something extra.
Aside from the fact that your credibility was shot to bits from the Pyramid thing, you're going to say that a bonus prize isn't bonus enough.

I don't think we've had a wow in a long time, so "Wow."
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: chad1m on June 01, 2011, 01:53:12 AM
Half-Off, Let 'em Roll and Pass the Buck.
Aww, those are probably in my top ten of favorite games.

I could live without ever seeing Stack the Deck played again. I haven't liked it since it debuted, "good" setups or not.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: MTCesquire on June 01, 2011, 02:26:42 AM
Secret X is dull to me.  If they pulled it from the lineup tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear.

Also since they dumbed down Card Game with the $1,000 to $5,000 deck it hasn't been as enjoyable to me.  They can toss that aside, too.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: LA the DJ on June 01, 2011, 05:17:33 AM
Definitely either Stack the Deck or Pick a Number. Any game that requires you to know the tens or ones digit in a $1,000+ item seems ridiculous. It goes from being about knowing the value of an item to being "guess a number".
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on June 01, 2011, 08:43:27 AM
For me the two games that would be first on the chopping block are Half-Off, Let 'em Roll and Pass the Buck.
This is why they retired Hit Me.  :-P
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Jay Temple on June 01, 2011, 11:31:09 AM
I second Secret X.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: xavier45 on June 01, 2011, 11:52:08 AM
That's too Much! Even when the game was winnable, it was still a dull game to me.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on June 01, 2011, 12:22:29 PM
For me the two games that would be first on the chopping block are Half-Off, Let 'em Roll and Pass the Buck.
This is why they retired Hit Me.  :-P
But they retired Hit Me because people couldn't cou- oh, I get it. VERY well played. Who's got the sheet of gold stars?

I'm going to take back my last answer and retire Range Game instead. In this day and age, the $150 range seems....chintzy. It's an easy fix, and they could make it something more like $500, but I'd rather just get rid of it. I really think that the only reason it stayed around so long was because of the 37 hours joke.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on June 01, 2011, 01:28:02 PM
For me the two games that would be first on the chopping block are Half-Off, Let 'em Roll and Pass the Buck.
This is why they retired Hit Me.  :-P
Haw, I see what I did there. I thought of Half-Assed and Let 'em Win first, then remembered PTB, but forgot to change two to three. Derp.

/Information got dispersed in my general direction. Well played.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: BrandonFG on June 01, 2011, 01:35:59 PM
At first I wanted to say Joker, but it turns out TPTB shot that broken-legged horse a few years ago. Good.

I guess I'll go with Pick-A-Number.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: JasonA1 on June 01, 2011, 01:51:10 PM
The thing I always take away from these threads is that if we all got our way, TPIR would have a slim, slim rotation. You're not going to like every game on a show like Price. If we did a thread like this about Jeopardy categories, it would feel the same way to me.

-Jason
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 01, 2011, 04:18:48 PM
The thing I always take away from these threads is that if we all got our way, TPIR would have a slim, slim rotation.
Which is another reason that "What don't you like" threads are pretty annoying and generally serve no useful purpose.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: SRIV94 on June 01, 2011, 04:29:06 PM
The thing I always take away from these threads is that if we all got our way, TPIR would have a slim, slim rotation. You're not going to like every game on a show like Price. If we did a thread like this about Jeopardy categories, it would feel the same way to me.
Hey, not every game can be Plinko.  :)

/Don't really dislike any game, but like some more than others.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Casey Buck on June 01, 2011, 04:36:38 PM
The thing I always take away from these threads is that if we all got our way, TPIR would have a slim, slim rotation. You're not going to like every game on a show like Price. If we did a thread like this about Jeopardy categories, it would feel the same way to me.

-Jason

To quote Roger: "Every game is somebody's favorite".
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 01, 2011, 04:45:33 PM
To quote Roger: "Every game is somebody's favorite".
You show me the man whose favorite game was Double Prices, and I will show you a flying pig, because both have an equal chance of existing.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: WarioBarker on June 01, 2011, 06:38:32 PM
To quote Roger: "Every game is somebody's favorite".
You show me the man whose favorite game was Double Prices Professor Price, and I will show you a flying pig, because both have an equal chance of existing.
FTFY.

/Pick-A-Number.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on June 01, 2011, 07:23:25 PM
You show me the man whose favorite game was Double Prices, and I will show you a flying pig, because both have an equal chance of existing.
STDfan.

(I don't really believe him, but he certainly claimed it was...probably just another attempt to make himself stand out.)
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 01, 2011, 07:24:09 PM
STDfan.
I said "man." :D
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on June 02, 2011, 10:12:13 PM
The thing I always take away from these threads is that if we all got our way, TPIR would have a slim, slim rotation. You're not going to like every game on a show like Price.
No, but the list of "if I had one free stamp-out" games looks very small. I think that for the most part people have decent reasons, though I think it is interesting that people tolerate Squeeze Play but loathe Pick-a-Number, even though they're both the same idea.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Twentington on June 02, 2011, 11:11:50 PM
Double Prices.

Seriously, it's the least taxing "game" on TPIR. "Is it $x or $y?" I pity anyone who gets called onstage to play that. At least with Switch?, there's some degree of something happening when the models show the prices and/or move them from one prop to the other.

I'd also say 10 Chances, because it takes way too freaking long and nobody seems to know how to play it. When's the last time someone won this? 2004? </hyperbole>
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Sodboy13 on June 02, 2011, 11:24:30 PM
Bonus Game. Ugly, outdated game board, uglier gameplay. I really hope that thing breaks and dies soon.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: PYLdude on June 03, 2011, 02:59:45 AM
Double Prices.

Seriously, it's the least taxing "game" on TPIR.  At least with Switch?, there's some degree of something happening when the models show the prices and/or move them from one prop to the other.

Yet that, Side by Side, Coming or Going, and Flip Flop all operate on that principle, don't they? And maybe to a certain other degree, Five Price Tags?
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Jimmy Owen on June 03, 2011, 07:14:10 AM
The title of this thread led me to create a new pricing game using six stars writing down how much they think an item costs.  The contestant chooses a star who reveals what he/she thinks is the price.  It is up to the contestant to figure out if the star's price is higher or lower than the actual retail price.  Get all six right and win a new car.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: SuperMatch93 on June 03, 2011, 07:57:51 AM
The title of this thread led me to create a new pricing game using six stars writing down how much they think an item costs.  The contestant chooses a star who reveals what he/she thinks is the price.  It is up to the contestant to figure out if the star's price is higher or lower than the actual retail price.  Get all six right and win a new car.

That's a good idea for an April Fools episode. Have the Match Game set, get six celebrities, do the opening like Match Game (Get ready to price the prize!) and have a sign saying "The Match is Right".
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Ian Wallis on June 03, 2011, 08:50:12 AM
For me, Punch-a-Bunch.  Don't get me wrong - I actually like the game a lot, but it's just that it's one of those games where a contestant can do everything right, and still come away with only $100 - and that senerio happens much more frequently than big wins.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: dmota104 on June 03, 2011, 10:28:24 AM
If I could get rid of one pricing game, it would be <BLANK>.


(card) [PICK A NUMBER]

In fairness, if there was some sort of mechanical break down with another game, easily put Pick A Number in its place.  (As a TV producer, I'm a firm believer in having a Plan B.)  

But when Pick A Number is actually listed on the rundown?  Give me a break.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 03, 2011, 01:04:06 PM
Yet that, Side by Side, Coming or Going, and Flip Flop all operate on that principle, don't they? And maybe to a certain other degree, Five Price Tags?
Well, the first two you mention, at least, are precisely Double Prices, just with a gimmick as to what the possible answers are. Flip Flop is effectively Triple Prices, which can also be said of Pick-A-Number, Squeeze Play (when it's a four-digit prize) and Balance Game (among others I'm sure). Five Price Tags is a bit of a reach since the number of chances the contestant gets is variable. But all of the others: one chance to select the right price out of a short, finite list of options. Nothing more.

(Note that I think there's a slight difference between "guess the price of this prize" and "guess the prize this price belongs to", which is why I'm not including One Right/Wrong Price in this discussion.)

I think the reason Pick-A-Number is coming up so often isn't just because of the lame binary/ternary (hey, I learned a word today!) format, but because the prop itself is just plain FUGLY. I mean, it's awful. The colors are garish, the font they use for the numbers is horrible, it's just bad.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Matt Ottinger on June 03, 2011, 01:20:22 PM
Late to the party, I agree that Bonus Game doesn't seem to be relevant so long as Shell Game is in the rotation.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: tpirfan28 on June 03, 2011, 01:57:28 PM
Late to the party, I agree that Bonus Game doesn't seem to be relevant so long as Shell Game is in the rotation.
Bonus Game is probably going to stick around as long as the new "get all 4 chips, pick the ball, get the prize + cash equivalent of said prize" rule is in place for Shell Game.

I really wouldn't get rid of any game, just stick a couple of them on an crazy slow rotation (looking at you, Punch a Bunch).
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on June 03, 2011, 02:35:06 PM
Late to the party, I agree that Bonus Game doesn't seem to be relevant so long as Shell Game is in the rotation.

Remember, Bonus Game was almost retired in 1974 around the time of Shell Game's debut, so the production staff must have also considered Bonus irrelevant. Essentially, Bonus Game = Shell Game except if you win SP #1, you must put the chip beside shell #1 and so on down the line--and of course, no cash bonus opportunity if you win all four SPs.

Maybe I'm a little partial to Bonus Game since that was the game I played on the show in '96, but I think it's different enough to keep around, especially with its (on occasion nowadays--GRRRR...) unique turntable reveal.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TimK2003 on June 03, 2011, 04:54:36 PM
I think the reason Pick-A-Number is coming up so often isn't just because of the lame binary/ternary (hey, I learned a word today!) format, but because the prop itself is just plain FUGLY. I mean, it's awful. The colors are garish, the font they use for the numbers is horrible, it's just bad.


Ditto for Pathfinder -- on the fugly-looking set point -- the color scheme needs to be redone, or at least get rid of the orange.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: alfonzos on June 03, 2011, 05:41:57 PM
Quote
For me, Punch-a-Bunch.  Don't get me wrong - I actually like the game a lot, but it's just that it's one of those games where a contestant can do everything right, and still come away with only $100
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on June 04, 2011, 03:44:18 AM
Remember, Bonus Game was almost retired in 1974 around the time of Shell Game's debut, so the production staff must have also considered Bonus irrelevant.
One of these days, I want to find out what was up with that.  The game was absent on the daytime show for almost the whole third season (and much of the beginning of Season 4, too), but it kept showing up on the nighttime show like nothing had happened, as did Shell Game.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: chris319 on June 04, 2011, 01:18:35 PM
No one has mentioned Pay the Rent. It's an overmounted white elephant IMO.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: SamJ93 on June 04, 2011, 04:30:26 PM
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!

Technically, not quite...if a Pass the Buck contestant prices both groceries correctly, they're guaranteed to win at least $1000.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on June 04, 2011, 05:40:57 PM
Quote
For me, Punch-a-Bunch.  Don't get me wrong - I actually like the game a lot, but it's just that it's one of those games where a contestant can do everything right, and still come away with only $100
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!

...and make all wrong decisions in Pass the Buck, Let 'Em Roll, Stack the Deck and Hole in One, yet still win.

Also, if you win Pathfinder, the more mistakes you make, the more you win. You don't get a chance to price the SPs unless you mess up along the way. I've always argued that the contestant should get a chance to price the three SPs before they step to the numbers and be told that they can make up to X mistakes. Of course, time is more of a factor these days, but AFAIK, Pathy has always been played that way.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: PYLdude on June 04, 2011, 07:31:47 PM
Quote
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!

...and make all wrong decisions in Pass the Buck, Let 'Em Roll, Stack the Deck and Hole in One, yet still win.

Issues I have with that point:

1) Considering that you win something as long as you don't pick LOSE EVERYTHING in Pass the Buck, even if you don't necessarily win the car, it seems to me that you aren't guaranteed a win if you make "all wrong decisions" because the possibility exists that you can make a right pick and then pick LOSE EVERYTHING twice and lose, doesn't it? That's really the only wrong decision.

2) Hole in One's a game based more on physical skill than anything. Remember, the pricing aspect plays second fiddle to the putting. You could play the game perfectly and miss the short putt.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: NickintheATL on June 04, 2011, 08:31:59 PM
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!

Technically, not quite...if a Pass the Buck contestant prices both groceries correctly, they're guaranteed to win at least $1000.

Not necessarily.  They could hit Lose Everything, then $1,000 and then the other Lose Everything.  Then they end up with nothing.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on June 06, 2011, 11:00:35 AM
Late to the party, I agree that Bonus Game doesn't seem to be relevant so long as Shell Game is in the rotation.
From a production standpoint, Bonus Game is much more useful, because all you have to do to force a loss is place an impossibly-devious SP next to the BONUS window.  Shell Game can't force a loss unless you do that with all four SP's.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 06, 2011, 12:10:18 PM
because all you have to do to force a loss is place an impossibly-devious SP next to the BONUS window.
The term "force a loss" is not only pretty charged, but also pretty ludicrous when you are talking about a binary decision. If I can close my eyes, clap my hands over my ears, yell "LALALALALALALALA" during the description, and still have a 50% chance of being correct, you're not doing a whole lot of "forcing."
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on June 06, 2011, 12:18:18 PM
because all you have to do to force a loss is place an impossibly-devious SP next to the BONUS window.
The term "force a loss" is not only pretty charged, but also pretty ludicrous when you are talking about a binary decision.
I think that most people can agree that there's a big difference between using a pair of designer shoes that most of the common folk have never heard of and the Libman Wonder Mop.  Its easier to ascertain a correct answer from the mop over the shoes.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 06, 2011, 01:00:58 PM
I think that most people can agree that there's a big difference between using a pair of designer shoes that most of the common folk have never heard of and the Libman Wonder Mop.  Its easier to ascertain a correct answer from the mop over the shoes.
And when the player has no idea of the price of the item...it's still a coin toss. You are not going to be "forcing" jack over squat when the WORST you can reduce the odds to is 50-50.

/and I couldn't tell you what a Wonder Mop costs, either
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on June 06, 2011, 03:00:38 PM
If I have an $81 electric toothbrush in the Prize Vault (and Roger actually did for a time), and ask random people whether the correct price of it is higher or lower than $69, I would be very surprised if 50% of the people surveyed came up with the correct answer.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 06, 2011, 03:31:49 PM
If I have an $81 electric toothbrush in the Prize Vault (and Roger actually did for a time), and ask random people whether the correct price of it is higher or lower than $69, I would be very surprised if 50% of the people surveyed came up with the correct answer.
Which is funny, because the only clue I would have towards what an electric toothbrush costs is that I know the Sonicare ones are around $100, so I'd probably go higher.

Don't get me wrong, I see your point. I just don't think it's statistically significant when you combine a binary decision with the idiots they cast as contestants these days.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Clay Zambo on June 06, 2011, 04:26:13 PM
I think it is interesting that people tolerate Squeeze Play but loathe Pick-a-Number, even though they're both the same idea.

I never thought of that, but of course you're right.

Must have something to do with the fact that one has a cool prop and a scrunchy sound effect and the other is, well, as discussed elsewhere in this thread, unattractive.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on June 06, 2011, 05:30:42 PM
Which is funny, because the only clue I would have towards what an electric toothbrush costs is that I know the Sonicare ones are around $100, so I'd probably go higher.
You're right, that was a worse example than I thought.  I just Googled 'electric toothbrush', and the three results that came up under the 'Shop for 'electric toothbrush'' heading came up as $2, $95, and $19.  I assumed that most people were like me and would only be aware of the two of those three on the shelves as Wal-Mart.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on June 06, 2011, 05:42:12 PM
Quote
A contestant can play Secret "X" and Pass the Buck perfectly and win nothing!

...and make all wrong decisions in Pass the Buck, Let 'Em Roll, Stack the Deck and Hole in One, yet still win.

Issues I have with that point:

1) Considering that you win something as long as you don't pick LOSE EVERYTHING in Pass the Buck, even if you don't necessarily win the car, it seems to me that you aren't guaranteed a win if you make "all wrong decisions" because the possibility exists that you can make a right pick and then pick LOSE EVERYTHING twice and lose, doesn't it? That's really the only wrong decision.

2) Hole in One's a game based more on physical skill than anything. Remember, the pricing aspect plays second fiddle to the putting. You could play the game perfectly and miss the short putt.

I'm 100% with you re: the Pass the Buck scenario. If you make all correct decisions and get LE on the first two picks, you are guaranteed nothing less than $1000, but of course if you pick anything less than the car, even if it's all 3 $ amounts, you still lose the game. Someone else here may have made the argument of the $1000 PtB guarantee; I wasn't trying to make that implication.

You can lose Hole in One if you putt from the line closest to the Hole and miss, but you are still guaranteed the $500 if you get that far.

IIRC, Let 'Em Roll is the only current game where you are guaranteed to win something from the onset. You could make all right or wrong pricing decisions but you will never walk away with less than $500. (You could also roll $7500, but it's still a loss if you don't get all 5 cars.) Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the only other PGs where you were always guaranteed to win something have all been retired: Mystery Price, Give or Keep, Finish Line, Double Digits and Trader Bob. (Grocery Game gave out grocery supplies in its first four playings.)

In Temptation, I never really considered the 4 smaller prizes "gifts" because you still have to make the decision whether to keep them or go for the car. Same with the $2000 on the two free cards in Spelling Bee. You don't get the prizes or the cash if you go all the way for the car but don't win it.

Of all the above mentioned games, Secret X is the only one where you have no chance of winning anything at all if you make all wrong pricing decisions.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on June 06, 2011, 06:55:25 PM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the only other PGs where you were always guaranteed to win something have all been retired:
Any Number.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on June 06, 2011, 06:59:46 PM
Any Number.
Thanks, Mark.

Also forgot about Money Game, which is easy to do the way Drew explains it these days. :/
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: NickintheATL on June 06, 2011, 08:16:47 PM
I'm 100% with you re: the Pass the Buck scenario. If you make all correct decisions and get LE on the first two picks, you are guaranteed nothing less than $1000, but of course if you pick anything less than the car, even if it's all 3 $ amounts, you still lose the game. Someone else here may have made the argument of the $1000 PtB guarantee; I wasn't trying to make that implication.

Obviously you didn't see my post a few posts back...

[quote name='NicholasM79']
Not necessarily. They could hit Lose Everything, then $1,000 and then the other Lose Everything. Then they end up with nothing.
[/quote]

Insert any amount, not just that $1,000 there, and you could still hit the second Lose Everything on the third pick.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: PYLdude on June 06, 2011, 08:44:54 PM
I'm 100% with you re: the Pass the Buck scenario. If you make all correct decisions and get LE on the first two picks, you are guaranteed nothing less than $1000, but of course if you pick anything less than the car, even if it's all 3 $ amounts, you still lose the game. Someone else here may have made the argument of the $1000 PtB guarantee; I wasn't trying to make that implication.

Obviously you didn't see my post a few posts back...

Mine was before yours, Nick, so I don't see why you're complaining- although you did raise another scenario I missed in my original post.

I don't understand how a $9,000 cash win can be constituted as a loss in anything other than Plinko (because of the odd rule quirk where it has to be a top prize win for it to be considered a win).
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on June 06, 2011, 09:34:41 PM
IIRC, Let 'Em Roll is the only current game where you are guaranteed to win something from the onset.
In addition to Any Number and Money Game, there's Ten Chances (unless you're a total idiot -- the bible even states that not winning the first prize is impossible).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the only other PGs where you were always guaranteed to win something have all been retired: Mystery Price, Give or Keep, Finish Line, Double Digits and Trader Bob. (Grocery Game gave out grocery supplies in its first four playings.)
Shower Game.  Also, there was no guarantee of winning anything in Mystery Price or Double Digits.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TimK2003 on June 06, 2011, 11:47:34 PM
IIRC, Let 'Em Roll is the only current game where you are guaranteed to win something from the onset.
In addition to Any Number and Money Game, there's Ten Chances (unless you're a total idiot -- the bible even states that not winning the first prize is impossible).

Aren't you guaranteed to win at least $1.00 in the Grand Game?  I thought it was always said that if you reach the $1,000 level, and miss on the final guess for the $10K, that "...you fall back to $1".  And if you hit an over-target prize at the $10 or $100 levels, you get to keep the $10 or $100 accordingly without dropping back.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on June 07, 2011, 12:45:34 AM
I thought it was always said that if you reach the $1,000 level, and miss on the final guess for the $10K, that "...you fall back to $1".
I never heard that once in the thirty-plus years they've been playing the game.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on June 07, 2011, 12:56:23 AM
Aren't you guaranteed to win at least $1.00 in the Grand Game?  I thought it was always said that if you reach the $1,000 level, and miss on the final guess for the $10K, that "...you fall back to $1".  
The verbiage Barker used was close to this: "If you go for it and are wrong, you don't get $10,000 and you lose the $1,000.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: wdm1219inpenna on June 07, 2011, 03:47:28 AM
Aren't you guaranteed to win at least $1.00 in the Grand Game?  I thought it was always said that if you reach the $1,000 level, and miss on the final guess for the $10K, that "...you fall back to $1".  
The verbiage Barker used was close to this: "If you go for it and are wrong, you don't get $10,000 and you lose the $1,000.

My understanding of the rules are that if you do not reach $1,000, you win whatever is on the board ($1.00, $10.00 or $100.00).  If you have $1,000.00 and try to win $10,000.00 and select one of the 2 products that are higher than the target price, you end up winning $0.00.

I'm surprised with inflation that the game doesn't go to $20,000, though I believe it's one of the easier games to win at times.  The only change I'd make to the game is I'd have the 2 "bad" products' prices be red with white font so it stands out more.

This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only pricing game that does not involve any of the models.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Brian44 on June 07, 2011, 03:58:14 AM
Aren't you guaranteed to win at least $1.00 in the Grand Game?  I thought it was always said that if you reach the $1,000 level, and miss on the final guess for the $10K, that "...you fall back to $1".  
The verbiage Barker used was close to this: "If you go for it and are wrong, you don't get $10,000 and you lose the $1,000.

If you are wrong on the first pick, you do win $1; Bob poked fun at many a contestant when this happened. But if you gamble the $1000 and don't win the $10K, you really do walk away with nothing. Therefore, the $1 win is not guaranteed.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on June 07, 2011, 10:41:00 AM
The only change I'd make to the game is I'd have the 2 "bad" products' prices be red with white font so it stands out more.
The buzzer and losing horns don't make it blatantly obvious?
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on June 07, 2011, 02:31:16 PM
Not if you're deaf or watching on a muted TV.  

That said, it'd still be a pointless change, unless you're completely clueless about how numbers work.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: TLEberle on June 10, 2011, 12:17:11 AM
I think the reason Pick-A-Number is coming up so often isn't just because of the lame binary/ternary (hey, I learned a word today!) format, but because the prop itself is just plain FUGLY. I mean, it's awful. The colors are garish, the font they use for the numbers is horrible, it's just bad.
I absolutely could not give a tinker's damn about green-orange-yellow or the font. If I decide to make the pilgrimage, ride the pine for however long, get called to Come on Down! and win my way up on stage, I'd like to be able to use some knowledge or common sense to improve my lie on whatever game I'm playing. When the game is Pick-a-Number, the prize has something impossible to quantify (ten visits with a personal trainer, I think it was) and the digit to be selected is the ones digit, well, I may as well pluck something out of thin air, shouldn't I? If the digit to be chosen is the thousands place, well, that's at least asking me to use some of that knowledge/sense to win whatever monstrosity was foisted upon me, so at least I have that. That's the problem I have with several of the one-decision games; that many times you're expected to blindly guess the right answer.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on June 10, 2011, 12:41:33 AM
When the game is Pick-a-Number, the prize has something impossible to quantify (ten visits with a personal trainer, I think it was) and the digit to be selected is the ones digit, well, I may as well pluck something out of thin air, shouldn't I? If the digit to be chosen is the thousands place, well, that's at least asking me to use some of that knowledge/sense to win whatever monstrosity was foisted upon me, so at least I have that.
In all fairness, Pick-a-Number is sometimes (...okay, was sometimes) set up this way to go for an easy win.  If the choices for the ones digit are, say, 3, 8, and 0, they usually want you to pick 0.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: clemon79 on June 10, 2011, 01:44:17 AM
That's the problem I have with several of the one-decision games; that many times you're expected to blindly guess the right answer.
Do not disagree, at all. I was simply postulating why Pick-A-Number comes up for execution more often than the other blind-guess games.
Title: TPiR meets Match Game
Post by: WarioBarker on June 10, 2011, 02:15:17 AM
When the game is Pick-a-Number, the prize has something impossible to quantify (ten visits with a personal trainer, I think it was) and the digit to be selected is the ones digit, well, I may as well pluck something out of thin air, shouldn't I?
Ten massages "at a spa of your choice", which I remember seeing; I felt really uncomfortable by it, and moreso when it was revealed the contestant had to pick the last digit, partly because 1) the choices were 3-5-7 and 2) you can't possibly know which spa the contestant will go to and how much their massages cost.

Didn't help that it led off a show that also had Drew acting uber-childish in Hi-Lo and Amber massively botching Switch?, to the point where I figured all three games were going to be retired.