The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: The Pyramids on August 09, 2014, 08:32:56 AM

Title: Rat Race
Post by: The Pyramids on August 09, 2014, 08:32:56 AM
Is anyone a particular fan of 'TPIR's game Rat Race? I just don't think it plays well on tv.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Jimmy Owen on August 09, 2014, 08:52:24 AM
It might be better if they used real rats.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: aaron sica on August 09, 2014, 09:58:07 AM
I think some would want, if there were real rats used, for one to bite Drew Carey.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Brian44 on August 09, 2014, 10:02:08 AM
It might be better if they used real rats.

<--- This vegan DISAPPROVES. :(

(Bob was one of two celebrities who inspired me to go vegan.)
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: MikeK on August 09, 2014, 12:19:17 PM
I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.

(Bob was one of two celebrities who inspired me to go vegan.)

While in Florida for my cousin's wedding 3 years ago, my dad saw Rat Race for the first time.  After the game, dad turned to me and said "Bob Barker wouldn't approve this game."
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 09, 2014, 03:44:05 PM
That I don't get; he wouldn't approve because mechanical rats are racing?
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Brian44 on August 09, 2014, 04:11:56 PM
That I don't get; he wouldn't approve because mechanical rats are racing?

My feeling is that it's the way the rats are portrayed that would strike a nerve with Bob, not whether or not the game used live animals. Look at all the times that TPIR in the Barker era featured greyhounds up for adoption that had been exploited in racing. I'd even go so far as to say that if Finish Line were still around by the time the show stopped giving away furs--or at least by the time Bob became EP--that game would have gotten the ax.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: MikeK on August 09, 2014, 04:26:32 PM
That I don't get; he wouldn't approve because mechanical rats are racing?

My feeling is that it's the way the rats are portrayed that would strike a nerve with Bob, not whether or not the game used live animals.
Precisely this.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 09, 2014, 04:46:06 PM
Is anyone a particular fan of 'TPIR's game Rat Race? I just don't think it plays well on tv.
I like the play-in bit (though I make a pained face whenever someone bids lower than twice the range at hand), and the race is a different way to give out the prices, but the payoff is there less often than it isn't, and I think Master Key does the same thing better. I'd rate it higher than Double Cross and Pay the Rent but lower than Gas Money and Do the Math. Taking care of racing dogs who get to retire and live out a long, full and leisurely life in the pasture the exploitation of rats angle doesn't bother me.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Neumms on August 09, 2014, 05:01:32 PM
Is anyone a particular fan of 'TPIR's game Rat Race? I just don't think it plays well on tv.

Heck, I do. Nice graphics, nice pricing mechanism. I like the race. Would it be better on radio?
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Jimmy Owen on August 09, 2014, 06:32:27 PM
It might be better if they used real rats.

<--- This vegan DISAPPROVES. :(

(Bob was one of two celebrities who inspired me to go vegan.)
If it's any consolation, I don't eat rat either. :)
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Thunder on August 09, 2014, 09:23:06 PM
One can take one's advocacy causes way too far.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Flerbert419 on August 09, 2014, 09:55:33 PM
That I don't get; he wouldn't approve because mechanical rats are racing?

The man didn't allow plastic meat on grills.  Anything with animals would be subject to elimination.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: clemon79 on August 09, 2014, 10:28:27 PM
The man didn't allow plastic meat on grills.

Ironic, considering how much meat he put in girls.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Mark McNeil on August 09, 2014, 11:49:36 PM
Simply put, I love it!  :)
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: JasonA1 on August 10, 2014, 03:55:09 AM
I like it. Looks beautiful and big on television, the pricing mechanic is a welcome return to a device we last saw in Walk of Fame, etc. I don't think they get much mileage out of having the 2nd and 3rd place prizes. I'd have at least play-tested/pitched having four rats and playing for only the car if a rat you pick comes in first.

-Jason
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: curtking on August 10, 2014, 08:23:32 AM
The man didn't allow plastic meat on grills.

Ironic, considering how much meat he put in girls.
You win, sir.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 10, 2014, 05:56:38 PM
I like it. Looks beautiful and big on television, the pricing mechanic is a welcome return to a device we last saw in Walk of Fame, etc. I don't think they get much mileage out of having the 2nd and 3rd place prizes.
I like the lesser prizes because it allows someone who is good at the play-in to increase the chance that he'll win something from a luck game even if it isn't the car. I just thought of a way to make it a cash game, but there's enough of those as it is.

My mind was blown the first time I saw a wide shot of the set and realized that the race track was in the shape of a dollar sign.

Quote
I'd have at least play-tested/pitched having four rats and playing for only the car if a rat you pick comes in first.
The question I'd ask is why you'd have this game while Bonus Game and Shell Game co-exist.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 11, 2014, 01:17:37 PM
I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.
What don't you like/how would you do it differently?
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: MikeK on August 11, 2014, 04:03:44 PM
I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.
What don't you like/how would you do it differently?
The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: JasonA1 on August 11, 2014, 05:06:07 PM
Some stats, for what they're worth, as of 8/11/14:

In bidding for the third rat, $100 worth of leeway, contestants have been in the range 38 times, and outside of it 14 times.

Out of 156 possible rats, contestants have earned 87 of them (55%). With the above stat, that means 44% of the rats came from the third item.

The game has an overall win/loss record of 16-36 (a win being whenever the contestant wins the car).

-Jason
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 11, 2014, 05:30:25 PM
Jason, since you're here: what would you say to a setup where there's two things to bid on <$1,000, you win whatever you're near enough on, but your rat has to come in first to win the car, there's no consolation prizes in the race?
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: JayDLewis on August 11, 2014, 07:31:42 PM
I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.
What don't you like/how would you do it differently?
The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

Yes, but given how many contestants will guess $50 (or something similarly inane) on the last prize...
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: JasonA1 on August 11, 2014, 08:02:53 PM
Jason, since you're here: what would you say to a setup where there's two things to bid on <$1,000, you win whatever you're near enough on, but your rat has to come in first to win the car, there's no consolation prizes in the race?

Not sure how many play-in items you'd have total (if you meant just two, or two nicer items plus a third), or the number of rats in this case, but something like this wouldn't bother me. I understand what you're saying, because it is a luck-based game. If they came away from a bad day at the races with some nicer-than-usual small prizes, it would be a positive.

I guess I'm not too wrapped up on what they come away with in general because there's inequity elsewhere if you want to look for it. See: the odds of winning $5,000 in Punch-a-Bunch vs. winning $5,000 in Pass the Buck. Not all games were created equal, and that's...<Stuart Smalley>okay</SS>.

-Jason
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 11, 2014, 08:03:11 PM
Two items would be on the pedestal, yes. I read you clearly, but I would also change up Pass the Buck to where if the contestant fails at winning either of the grocery problems the car is revealed on the board and cannot be won with the free pick. But that's me and I hate fun, so there y'are.

To inequity, of course things are different (and I notice it and wince sometimes) because you shouldn't play the same game six times in a day. I'm looking through the lens of "does it feel right for it to be this way," and lots of times that clashes with what's good for TV.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Unrealtor on August 11, 2014, 10:36:01 PM
I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.
What don't you like/how would you do it differently?
The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

ISTR seeing a playing of Walk of Fame on YouTube where the contestant had a $25 range on a $30 prize, so too-wide ranges are not exactly a unique problem to this version of the game, even if the potential stakes are higher.

Personally, my biggest issue is that the actual racing seems kind of silly, but I don't know if there's a better option that does the same thing.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: TLEberle on August 12, 2014, 02:04:57 PM
The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.
Yesterday's rerun was of the Halloween episode and what do you know, we got Bat Race and Cliff Hangers, and sticking to twice the acceptable range (bids of $19 and $200) won the second and third bats; she was way short of the $6.59 bag of Reese's mini cups.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Thunder on August 12, 2014, 02:10:41 PM
...won the second and third bats...

Although that's a typo, "Bat Race" would be a hell of a lot more fun to watch.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: SuperSweeper on August 12, 2014, 02:18:07 PM
...won the second and third bats...

Although that's a typo, "Bat Race" would be a hell of a lot more fun to watch.

It's not a typo.  The rats were dressed up as bats to fit in with the Halloween theme.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: Thunder on August 12, 2014, 02:22:24 PM
I stand corrected and highly amused.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: GSBOY92 on August 14, 2014, 10:20:41 PM
Rat Race is an awesome game, unless the rats malfunction.
Title: Re: Rat Race
Post by: chrisholland03 on August 15, 2014, 10:14:15 AM
At least they don't leave droppings...then again, maybe you could give the contestant a $100 bonus for each turd left on the table.

(I actually like Rat Race)