The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: aaron sica on September 27, 2012, 10:47:08 AM

Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: aaron sica on September 27, 2012, 10:47:08 AM
Travis's question in the Video forum about a contestant not getting picked during the entire week of "Hollywood Showdown" reminded me of something I used to wonder when watching Wheel during the shopping days..

Back before toss-ups, when turns at the start of the round simply went from left to right, sometimes I would see a round go increasingly long for one reason or another - long puzzle, or not right letters guessed..Many times, 3 rounds was the norm in the shopping days. I always wondered, though - did it ever occur that *both* of the first two rounds ran long,  never getting past player 1 for round 1, and player 2 for round 2, and when it *finally* got to round 3, there was only time for a final spin? Meaning player 3 never even got a chance to spin the wheel..
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Marc412 on September 27, 2012, 10:58:36 AM
Usually when one player monopolizes the wheel in a round, it's over in a couple minutes, so there's always time for Round 3, and thus no chance of a player never getting to spin the wheel.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Twentington on September 27, 2012, 12:01:02 PM
Back before toss-ups, when turns at the start of the round simply went from left to right, sometimes I would see a round go increasingly long for one reason or another - long puzzle, or not right letters guessed..Many times, 3 rounds was the norm in the shopping days. I always wondered, though - did it ever occur that *both* of the first two rounds ran long,  never getting past player 1 for round 1, and player 2 for round 2, and when it *finally* got to round 3, there was only time for a final spin? Meaning player 3 never even got a chance to spin the wheel..

I've been told that this actually happened at least once on daytime. The yellow contestant banked a bunch of Free Spins and used them to hog the Wheel in Round 2. Round 3 began as a Speed-Up with a $2,000 Final Spin, and the blue contestant won without ever touching the Wheel.

I would guess that said game also had a very long Round 1 — back then, it wasn't uncommon for Round 1 to be something really short and devoid of common letters, such as DOGHOUSE. ($200. Yes, there's one S. Spin again... followed by eight or nine duds in a row. Fun times.)
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: TLEberle on September 27, 2012, 12:30:21 PM
Fun times.)
You keep saying this, and I still disagree. Why is that any worse than one contestant plinking off all of the "obvious-er" consonants and solving without letting anyone else play?
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Jay Temple on September 27, 2012, 02:07:06 PM
I won't speak for Bobby, but at least when the contestant picks the obvious consonants, the viewer gets closer to solving the puzzle each time. Multiple wrong guesses don't help in that regard.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: TLEberle on September 27, 2012, 02:55:19 PM
Multiple wrong guesses don't help in that regard.
Bunkum: of course they do. A letter that isn't in the puzzle eliminates huge chunks of possible solutions.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Twentington on September 27, 2012, 04:41:10 PM
Fun times.)
You keep saying this, and I still disagree. Why is that any worse than one contestant plinking off all of the "obvious-er" consonants and solving without letting anyone else play?

I won't speak for Bobby, but at least when the contestant picks the obvious consonants, the viewer gets closer to solving the puzzle each time. Multiple wrong guesses don't help in that regard.

Basically what Jay said.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: TLEberle on September 27, 2012, 06:40:08 PM
I disproved what Jay said. Wrong guesses can be as helpful as ones that fill in blanks.

On the other hand, when there's no wrong guesses the turn doesn't move. What is the exact right and proper ratio of correct letter calls to incorrect calls to penalty spaces landed upon on the wheel?
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: MSTieScott on September 27, 2012, 08:52:54 PM
Knowing which letters aren't in the puzzle can help you eliminate potential answers, but...

How many people watching at home are going to be thinking, "Well, there aren't any Ns in the puzzle, so it can't be this, this, or this..."? If they don't know the answer, then they'd like to see another space get filled in so that maybe they'll know the answer then. Having the puzzle remain static for multiple spins is boring. Unless there's a lot of money at stake or one of the contestants is particularly likeable/unlikeable, the viewers don't care how many times control changes hands.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Fedya on September 27, 2012, 09:06:01 PM
Quote
How many people watching at home are going to be thinking, "Well, there aren't any Ns in the puzzle, so it can't be this, this, or this..."?

Anybody worth their salt ought to be doing this during the bonus round.

(Then again, I haven't watched WOF recently enough to know what the current caliber of contestant is like.)
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Twentington on September 27, 2012, 10:47:56 PM
Quote
How many people watching at home are going to be thinking, "Well, there aren't any Ns in the puzzle, so it can't be this, this, or this..."?

Anybody worth their salt ought to be doing this during the bonus round.

(Then again, I haven't watched WOF recently enough to know what the current caliber of contestant is like.)

It varies. One moment we get someone solving their bonus puzzle even though none of the letters they called were in the puzzle; another time, they obviously knew it before calling their letters; and yet another, they can't figure out GLOBE with only the B missing.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Jay Temple on September 27, 2012, 10:54:14 PM
I overstated it. Having letters up is way more helpful than having no letters up.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: clemon79 on September 27, 2012, 11:25:09 PM
Hey, Bobby?

Can you give us any actual examples of puzzles used on Wheel of Fortune?
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Thunder on September 28, 2012, 12:14:12 AM
_ A T   _ R _ S H

was solved as "PAT CRUSH" back on March 26, 1916.

/Hope that helps.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: J.R. on September 28, 2012, 12:21:02 AM
_ A T   _ R _ S H

was solved as "PAT CRUSH" back on March 26, 1916.

/Hope that helps.
AGTOD?

(Anyone Got That On Daguerreotype?)
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: HYHYBT on September 28, 2012, 03:17:00 AM
Wrong guesses don't help the home audience when they're edited out.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Jeremy Nelson on September 28, 2012, 09:48:28 AM
Wrong guesses don't help the home audience when they're edited out.
A wrong guess would only be edited out if they go around the horn once and there's no change in score. Otherwise, it stays in.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on September 28, 2012, 01:54:21 PM
I've been told that this actually happened at least once on daytime. The yellow contestant banked a bunch of Free Spins and used them to hog the Wheel in Round 2. Round 3 began as a Speed-Up with a $2,000 Final Spin, and the blue contestant won without ever touching the Wheel.

I would guess that said game also had a very long Round 1 — back then, it wasn't uncommon for Round 1 to be something really short and devoid of common letters, such as DOGHOUSE. ($200. Yes, there's one S. Spin again... followed by eight or nine duds in a row. Fun times.)
If there were nine duds in a row, doesn't that mean the blue contestant touched the wheel at least three times?
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Twentington on September 28, 2012, 01:56:05 PM
I've been told that this actually happened at least once on daytime. The yellow contestant banked a bunch of Free Spins and used them to hog the Wheel in Round 2. Round 3 began as a Speed-Up with a $2,000 Final Spin, and the blue contestant won without ever touching the Wheel.

I would guess that said game also had a very long Round 1 — back then, it wasn't uncommon for Round 1 to be something really short and devoid of common letters, such as DOGHOUSE. ($200. Yes, there's one S. Spin again... followed by eight or nine duds in a row. Fun times.)
If there were nine duds in a row, doesn't that mean the blue contestant touched the wheel at least three times?

Derp.

/that was the bonus puzzle on February 31, 2004
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: SRIV94 on September 28, 2012, 04:38:01 PM

I've been told that this actually happened at least once on daytime. The yellow contestant banked a bunch of Free Spins and used them to hog the Wheel in Round 2. Round 3 began as a Speed-Up with a $2,000 Final Spin, and the blue contestant won without ever touching the Wheel.
Yes, but in daytime you had returning champions, so unless it happened to that same contestant the next day, s/he eventually got to spin the wheel.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: Twentington on September 28, 2012, 05:21:13 PM

I've been told that this actually happened at least once on daytime. The yellow contestant banked a bunch of Free Spins and used them to hog the Wheel in Round 2. Round 3 began as a Speed-Up with a $2,000 Final Spin, and the blue contestant won without ever touching the Wheel.
Yes, but in daytime you had returning champions, so unless it happened to that same contestant the next day, s/he eventually got to spin the wheel.

I think it's obvious that I only mean he/she won that particular game without touching the Wheel.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: TimK2003 on September 28, 2012, 06:23:35 PM
While we are on the topic, did all Barry & Enright shows of the 70's & 80's give people who never had a turn a free pass to play in another match?  

ISTR that in the early formidable Joker's Wild days if the champion (who would spin first) won on 3 jokers and the challenger never got to pull the lever, the challenger came back for the next match.  I also thought I remember seeing a Bullseye game in which one player ran the board for a $2,000+ win, and the other player got to play again.  

I can see the potential for running the board on Break The Bank, but were there potential situations for "owning" a match on TTD (during the red box years), or Hot Potato at any point?
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: TLEberle on September 28, 2012, 06:58:16 PM
I can see the potential for running the board on Break The Bank, but were there potential situations for "owning" a match on TTD (during the red box years), or Hot Potato at any point?
Sure. Double or Nothing and the Bonus Category take care of that.
Title: Another round of "not getting to play"...
Post by: SRIV94 on September 28, 2012, 11:20:17 PM
I think it's obvious that I only mean he/she won that particular game without touching the Wheel.
I know.  Couldn't resist the opportunity, though.  :)