[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'227446\' date=\'Oct 2 2009, 06:02 AM\']For MG, it would have to be "Ruckus."[/quote] So you're saying that a show that had decent (if not mind-bending) gameplay, a show that builds to a reasonable conclusion and one that had some clever bits was worse that a show where the winner was determined either at the very last second or determined after the first round?
The problem with Monopoly is that there wasn't enough time to play the game. Maybe make it an hour strip, have the three contestants or their partners standing on the game board and have Ron Greenberg work on it so we can borrow the "points representing dice" aspect of "The Big Showdown." All contestants play the entire week so there would be a chance to amass some properties and pass go a couple of times.
I don't think time was the problem. The building of properties round is too long no matter what.
Dive headfirst into the game. Roll the dice, and if a property is underfoot, a toss-up is played for some small amount of money. Whoever is right can either bank that money, or risk it and play for the rent with a house. Then two houses, and so on, up to a Hotel. It plays sorta like a Fast Forward: wrong and you lose the cash, and someone else can swoop in and claim the pot, then roll again. Do whatever you like for the railroads and utilities. Everything else functions normally. Most mney at the horn is the winner.
The game shows that were decent translations of board games kept the recognizable aspects of the game, but weren't carbon copies. Monopoly could have done without the building round, and this allows for more time to play the properties in an interesting way.
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'227447\' date=\'Oct 2 2009, 07:19 AM\']My only problem with
Winning Lines was that the qualifying round seemed to take forever. I loved the elimination round, and the seven contestants' numbers serving as the answers to questions.[/quote] Since I'm on a roll: have to "sudden death" games, with ten contestants randomly assigned numbers. The winners/survivors in whatever number you want move on to the final round. Twenty-six letters hide various numbers that are the answer to the questions. To score a point, you have to give the proper letter that hides the correct number. To make things interesting, part of the letters reveal their numbers, then flip over, in an undulating and random way. Whoever scores most/reaches the finish line first plays Wonderwall for whatever grand prize you like.
And to answer the Merv Griffin question, Crosswords, for the broken format (spoiler not saying anything for 18 minutes, then inheriting a nice bank in the 19th), constant rule changes (IIRC, three within the first two months), ambiguous clues, and inconsistent bonus round (some days contestants had 10 clues, other days they had almost 15).
There's one thing that I don't think has been addressed. I did not buy Ty's "Ooh." When Alex Trebek says "Ooh, sorry," you know you've messed up. When Ty says "Ooh, sorry, the word we were looking for was 'ESNE'," I think "You wouldn't know what ESNE was if it wasn't on your screen, you smarmy little toad!" And it was really off-putting, at least for me.
Since three's a crowd, I would have two separate smaller puzzles, each with thirty clues. Player with the last right answer gets next pick, and so on. Hide the Getaway prizes and the Extras, which will truly be "discovered" by the player that finds it. I envision the final round as a fifteen-clue puzzle to be finished in 90 seconds for the standard $5,000 + exotic holiday. If you want to have players stick around for the week, or just have the champ back, that's fine.
