The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Bryce L. on July 26, 2011, 07:37:46 PM
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As a hobby of mine, I create revival concepts for the classic shows. I know they will never be picked up, but oh well.
For Sale of the Century (Perry years), I am trying to figure out how the purchase prices for the end game prizes went... Here is what I remember (correct me if I am wrong anywhere)
The first prize cost roughly $85, OR if the winner had not achieved that score on Day 1, they could buy the prize for their full score.
The car cost $530; every prize on stage was $640; and finally, every prize PLUS the jackpot was $750.
What I want to know is what the in-between items cost on average (I can't recall if there were 5 or 6 prizes), AND if you guys were to redo the show, how you would value the prizes.
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$420
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huh?
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What I want to know is what the in-between items cost on average (I can't recall if there were 5 or 6 prizes),
170-265-335-440-530-640-750.
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Thank you Mr. Eberle! That's EXACTLY what I was looking for...
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Regarding the shopping round, is it true that you had to get EXACTLY $750 in order to buy the whole thing?
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Regarding the shopping round, is it true that you had to get EXACTLY $750 in order to buy the whole thing?
You needed at least $750.
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Regarding the shopping round, is it true that you had to get EXACTLY $750 in order to buy the whole thing?
Of course it was.
(Really?)
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Regarding the shopping round, is it true that you had to get EXACTLY $750 in order to buy the whole thing?
Absolutely not. If someone went into the game with $745 and had to get $750 on the nose, it would be just a smidgen difficult to win the game with $5.
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Absolutely not. If someone went into the game with $745 and had to get $750 on the nose, it would be just a smidgen difficult to win the game with $5.
I could absolutely get my score down to five bucks. Winning the game from that position, that's another matter entirely. :)
And what's to say you didn't pick up an instant bargain or six along the way, leaving your account on something like $721. You not only have to win the game on that low a score, but you have to make sure that you spend mod-1 in the gift shop.
(Yes, one of the contestants won his lot spang on the money. Another managed to rip off twenty correct answers in a row to squeak it by four bucks. For the others, it wasn't really an issue.)
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What would be typical examples of the $85-$170-$265-$335-$440 prizes? I know $530 was the car, $640 was everything, and $750 was everything + $50,000.
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Absolutely not. If someone went into the game with $745 and had to get $750 on the nose, it would be just a smidgen difficult to win the game with $5.
I could absolutely get my score down to five bucks. Winning the game from that position, that's another matter entirely. :)
OK, Mr. Smart Guy. What if you're at $749 and need $1 to win? What are you gonna do there? Huh? Huh???
;-)
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OK, Mr. Smart Guy. What if you're at $749 and need $1 to win? What are you gonna do there? Huh? Huh???
Pray for Jokers and meteor strikes. :) (Touche, and well done, sir.)
(Really, people. The answers to the questions were available in copious amounts on YT. Watch an episode and that will tell you the prices of each prize level. Find an episode with a lot win and that will tell you the answer to needing to hit the 750 bullseye, which sounds laughable on its face. Please do a little legwork on your own.)
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A shame the budgets became too much for both the NBC and syndicated version Sale to handle, hence why they changed endgames. The shopping format will always be the best. The other two had absolutely nothing to do with the game.
Reminds me of another Reg Grundy show that sort of went the same way in Scrabble. Originally, the highest anyone could win was $55,500. Then it was changed to $40,000 in 1985. Finally, in 1986, when the bonus sprint was adopted, the money for winning the sprint round was $1,000 instead of $1,500, and the jackpot started at $5,000 (+$1,000 if it was not claimed). The minimum average amount of money a contestant could win under the 1986-1990 format was $47,500 (three $1,000 bonuses for guessing the word on the pink square, + $500 for winning the front game + $1,000 for winning the sprint round + $5,000 for winning the Bonus Sprint, wash, rinse and repeat for the next 4 days).
However, even with that said, while Sale's format got worse, I think Scrabble's format got better. But that's another story.
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A shame the budgets became too much for both the NBC and syndicated version Sale to handle, hence why they changed endgames. The shopping format will always be the best. The other two had absolutely nothing to do with the game.
You could still become an undefeated champion and walk away with 6-figures with the other bonus formats, and this was in the 1980s. In fact I believe Mark DeCarlo did so. The formats may not have had anything to do with the show, but I find it hard to believe the budget had anything to do with the changes. The way I read it was that NBC wanted an end game that felt more like a bonus round, where you could actually win something each day.
Then it was changed to $40,000 in 1985. Finally, in 1986, when the bonus sprint was adopted, the money for winning the sprint round was $1,000 instead of $1,500, and the jackpot started at $5,000 (+$1,000 if it was not claimed). The minimum average amount of money a contestant could win under the 1986-1990 format was $47,500 (three $1,000 bonuses for guessing the word on the pink square, + $500 for winning the front game + $1,000 for winning the sprint round + $5,000 for winning the Bonus Sprint, wash, rinse and repeat for the next 4 days).
I don't see how that's really such a massive budget cut and never even considered it until now.
However, even with that said, while Sale's format got worse, I think Scrabble's format got better. But that's another story.
The bonus formats you mean? The shows themselves pretty much stayed the same.
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You could still become an undefeated champion and walk away with 6-figures with the other bonus formats, and this was in the 1980s.
Until the Money Game, I don't think it was possible to reach the pinnacle of the game and win less than a hundred grand. One of the things that amuses me is the guy who won the $109,000 cash jackpot at the beginning of the network run, and twenty-five years later, I bought a home for less than that.
It was damn good money for a champion who was willing to back himself to that degree, and that was one of the reasons the show is so beloved today.
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Regarding the shopping round, is it true that you had to get EXACTLY $750 in order to buy the whole thing?
"Oooh, I'm so sorry. You answered one too many questions, so you lose. Good day sir."
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You could still become an undefeated champion and walk away with 6-figures with the other bonus formats, and this was in the 1980s.
Until the Money Game, I don't think it was possible to reach the pinnacle of the game and win less than a hundred grand. One of the things that amuses me is the guy who won the $109,000 cash jackpot at the beginning of the network run, and twenty-five years later, I bought a home for less than that.
It was damn good money for a champion who was willing to back himself to that degree, and that was one of the reasons the show is so beloved today.
I can never remember, but the Money Game was what...$5,000/6K/7K/8K/9K/10K/car/50K? They started giving away more moderate-priced cars by then (upper teens), so that's $95K in cash plus the car and any front game winnings. Unless I misunderstood the pay structure.
/Would gladly take $109K in cash right now, let alone 25+ years ago
//And since Travis pointed it out, would "settle" for $50K now or in 20+ years ago
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I can never remember, but the Money Game was what...$5,000/6K/7K/8K/9K/10K/car/50K? They started giving away more moderate-priced cars by then (upper teens), so that's $95K in cash plus the car and any front game winnings. Unless I misunderstood the pay structure.
No, you got it right. So if you won all eight times, that's $95,000 cash plus a midsize sedan-to-luxury car. So you're on $120,000 not accounting for the winner's prize that you scooped each of eight days. Then again, you could muff everything but the car and have fifty grand.
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What would be typical examples of the $85-$170-$265-$335-$440 prizes? I know $530 was the car, $640 was everything, and $750 was everything + $50,000.
Pretty sure there are episodes on YouTube that would have prize rounds.
/I might even be in one of them.
//Except for the prize round.
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I have your episode, Matt, courtesy of YT. It might have been reckless to buy some of those Instant Bargains, but at least you got something to remember the show by...
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What I want to know is what the in-between items cost on average (I can't recall if there were 5 or 6 prizes),
170-265-335-440-530-640-750.
Heck, the first few months were 55-120-185-250-335-420-(500/510)-600 before the speed round. The speed round adjusted those scores afterwards.
Usually the first prize would be 4-digit cheap, then progressively higher. By the time you get the car, its 20-40K (depending on the year, make, and model).
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Couldn't the argument be made that the syndie Sale made the change for the sake of convenience? I mean, one show had one format, the other another.
(I'm aware that there wasn't a lot of time that passed between the daytime show's switch to the board and the premiere of the nighttime show, but then again it took quite awhile for the switch to occur there.)
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Then again, you could muff everything but the car and have fifty grand.
Actually, didn't the rules go that if you muff the car, you're gone, and winning it was the only way to have a shot at the $50K?
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Actually, didn't the rules go that if you muff the car, you're gone, and winning it was the only way to have a shot at the $50K?
Yup. You win the car, which is about twenty to thirty thousand dollars, plus seven daily prizes at three grand each, plus the other slurry of stuff you pick up: fifty grand.
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Actually, didn't the rules go that if you muff the car, you're gone, and winning it was the only way to have a shot at the $50K?
Bingo. You lose the car, and you are out the door; at least that's MY reading of the rules...
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Actually, didn't the rules go that if you muff the car, you're gone, and winning it was the only way to have a shot at the $50K?
Bingo. You lose the car, and you are out the door; at least that's MY reading of the rules...
Wiki agrees with you, stating that you retired undefeated.
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It happened at least twice that I can remember where a player was retired upon losing the car. One was early in 1988 where a champ retired with about $42K and the other was during the finale week where the champ retired with $70K plus.
I wanna say it happened a third time but I'm not sure.
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Bingo. You lose the car, and you are out the door; at least that's MY reading of the rules...
What's the difference between YOUR reading of the rules and reality? I said that a champion could lose out on all the bonus money opportunities, but with a victory of the Winner's Big Car Game could have a seven-day winnings total of $50,000, most of which would be the car and the prizes that you received for winning the day's competition. Nothing about the final cash prize.
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Don't forget that in the earliest episodes, before the cash jackpot, the most expensive prize was a $50,000-or-so car plus about $5000 in cash (the amount of cash varied depending on the other prizes, as the total amount of all the prizes was exactly $95,000.)
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Bingo. You lose the car, and you are out the door; at least that's MY reading of the rules...
What's the difference between YOUR reading of the rules and reality? I said that a champion could lose out on all the bonus money opportunities, but with a victory of the Winner's Big Car Game could have a seven-day winnings total of $50,000, most of which would be the car and the prizes that you received for winning the day's competition. Nothing about the final cash prize.
What I meant when I said MY reading of the rules is that I could have been misremembering them. That's all.
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I don't recall the various levels of the shopping round, but the one that seems to stand out for me was:
$85 - First level prize 2K to 3K
$175 - $3K to $4K
$260 - $4K to 5K
$340 - 5K to 9K
$445 - $10K to $15K
$530 - Luxury car, Mercedes, usually over $25,000
$640 - All prizes
$750 - All prizes plus a cash jackpot of $XX,XXX
Loved $ale, didn't care for "Temptation" much, but I did like how Temptation allowed extra shopping dollars to be earned in their end game. I really miss this show. Jim Perry was superb!!! They don't make them like this anymore...
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Funny thing is that the daytime edition seem to get it a bit wrong for some reason: The cash jackpot by itself was the second-to-last level, while the entire lot was the last level.
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Funny thing is that the daytime edition seem to get it a bit wrong for some reason: The cash jackpot by itself was the second-to-last level, while the entire lot was the last level.
Which led to everybody except Barbara Phillips retiring at the penultimate level, and Barbara only won because she scored $120 playing for the cash.
And that leads to the question: would Barbara have retired had she won with less than $120?
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And that leads to the question: would Barbara have retired had she won with less than $120?
I don't think if she had $115 she would return for another day.
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...didn't care for "Temptation" much, but I did like how Temptation allowed extra shopping dollars to be earned in their end game.
Well, I would have rather them had those few minutes back for gameplay, and just lower the prize plateaus to agree with main game scores. Temptation was such a letdown for me because it felt like the staff went "Hey, we know how this game is supposed to work, but let's fark it up here and there. and see what happens".
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...didn't care for "Temptation" much, but I did like how Temptation allowed extra shopping dollars to be earned in their end game.
Well, I would have rather them had those few minutes back for gameplay, and just lower the prize plateaus to agree with main game scores. Temptation was such a letdown for me because it felt like the staff went "Hey, we know how this game is supposed to work, but let's fark it up here and there. and see what happens".
I got the impression that the staff watched an episode or two on Youtube and used that as a general idea of what to do, but without studying what made Jim Perry's or the Aussie versions work. Just because you understand the rules doesn't mean you understand the show.
I had no problems with the pop culture element or the mini-games, but the execution was awful, esp. the fact that the main game ended so early. I understand you gotta plug your prizes, but that could've been another speed round or something.