Two questions about Supermarket Sweep

[WarioBarker]

I've been watching some Big Sweeps and Bonus Rounds online, and two things crossed my mind:

* Did any "Team 3" ever win the Big Sweep? It really doesn't seem like it happened all that often, given that Team 3s usually had to wait anywhere from about 20 seconds to over a minute before they could play -- I even recall several Team 3s that only had their 1:30 base time for use in the Big Sweep (such as this 2001 episode, in which their total was a puny $374).

* Did the Big Sweep ever end in a tie? In all my time of watching the show (including before finding it on YouTube), I honestly can't recall any Big Sweep ending in a tie.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[JasonA1]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'239338\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 08:22 PM\']* Did the Big Sweep ever end in a tie?[/quote]

I imagine it didn't. They started the Lifetime run by including cents in the totals, later rounding to the nearest dollar. But on those rare occasions when it was that close, the cents were brought back in to the mix. It would be quite something to get a tie to the penny.

-Jason

[WhirlieBird74]

Having been a fan of Supermarket Sweep since 2/5/1990, I can tell you that it is very rare for the 3rd team to win the Big Sweep.  But, it has happened a handful of times.  Remember the 'Twin Car Giveaway' Finals?  The 3rd team won the first sweep with $1,520, only to be bested by Team #1 from the second sweep with $1,592.  Of course, each team had an even 3:00 of Sweep time.  

I do recall several Team #3s, win with 1:50 to 2:30 in Sweep time.  The first two teams relied heavily on bonuses, but failed to pick up enough groceries to win the Sweep.  As David Ruprecht always said, "Smart shopping makes all the difference in the world."

As for ties, it has never happened.  In fact, during the week of 2/12/1990 (I think it was 2/13/1990--as it happened on the Tuesday show), one of the Big Sweeps was so close they had to reveal the Sweep totals in dollars & cents.  If memory serves me correctly, Team #1 beat Team #2 by 17 cents.

[Loogaroo]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'239338\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 07:22 PM\']* Did any "Team 3" ever win the Big Sweep?[/quote]
I remember seeing it in at least one episode in the Lifetime run. Ruprecht even noted that Yellow Team wins were a rarity.

I've also seen episodes where all three teams had the same time bank, so conceivably it could happen in those situations. Almost makes you wonder if there was a logistical advantage to starting in one position over another with regards to what was on each of the aisles. I noticed that Team 1s in the PAX run usually started with the olive oil, while Team 2s went for the diapers first. The far end of the market didn't seem to have much down that aisle except for the clue monitor and the cheeses in the very back.

Here's another question: was there any rule in the bible about being require to roam the market? I've noticed teams stocking up on one expensive item while ignoring another item right next to it. (Aluminum pans and garden hoses, specifically.) I could imagine someone camping out in the health & beauty aisle and throwing in pain medication, hair coloring, razors, inhalers, teeth whiteners, and so on - all of which would cost a whole bunch while taking up very little space in your cart. Unless the 5-per limit covered entire families of products (only 5 baby care items per customer, for example) instead of individual ones.

[WarioBarker]

I've also seen episodes where all three teams had the same time bank, so conceivably it could happen in those situations.

Yes, and I'm both including and excluding those situations -- including, in that if any "Team 3" ever won; excluding, in that tied time banks don't really give anybody a disadvantage unless the difference is steep (such as 3:10/1:40/1:40, 2:50/2:50/1:50, or 3:00/3:00/1:30).

* Did any "Team 3" ever win the Big Sweep?

Yep. (skip to the results)

Um...Team 1 was victorious there. I asked if the yellow-shirted team (Team 3) ever won -- in that video, Team 3 lost by about $200.

[Casey Buck]

Whoops; wrong link.

Here's the right one. (skip to the results)

[Jeremy Nelson]

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'239349\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 08:43 PM\'][quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'239338\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 07:22 PM\']* Did any "Team 3" ever win the Big Sweep?[/quote]
I remember seeing it in at least one episode in the Lifetime run. Ruprecht even noted that Yellow Team wins were a rarity.
[/quote]
I remember David saying an a few occasions something along the lines of "You don't have to shop the fastest, just the smartest" when the yellow team won- this usually being the case when the yellow team faced a 30+ second deficit.

Team 3 can win if they figure what takes the least amount of time to execute, and if they have a plan of attack before hand, any deficit can be overcome. They just have to:
1) Go for the major bonus objective, as long as it doesn't apply to Point 2 (Bread Center, TV monitors, Yogurt, and Super Sandwich all fit here)
2) Avoid bonuses that take too long. I always thought the candy and coffee were traps, especially in later years when that $100 meant less, and the Manager's Special/ Crackerjack bonus can take forever. I remember one where you had to stack cans, too.
3) Hit all of the big name items as quickly as possible- My strategy would have been to pick up the meats and diapers at the front of the market right away so you could grab a fresh cart 20 feet away when you're done, and THEN go deeper into the market.
4) Make sure that they get a bonus across the line.

Points 1 and 4, if executed, could give you $500 before you ring up a single item. The yellow team, if far behind, lives and dies on the bonus money.

[golden-road]

Let me add one here: Was there ever a case of 3:40/1:30/1:30, and the team with 3:40 still losing?

[Marc412]

That would be HIGHLY unlikely.

[WarioBarker]

Let me add one here: Was there ever a case of 3:40/1:30/1:30, and the team with 3:40 still losing?

That would be HIGHLY unlikely.

Unless Team 1 got a big head and started playing Tortoise-and-Hare, the possibility of them losing was incredibly low. I'm sure that 2:10 advantage, if spent wisely, could've resulted in a $2,000+ score.

Which reminds me: did any team finish the Big Sweep with $2,000 or more?

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Casey Buck\' post=\'239355\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 07:28 PM\']Whoops; wrong link.

Here's the right one. (skip to the results)[/quote]Well hm, my math was wrong, I thought Team Three won because Team One's runner shanked the Bread Bonus, but that was only $250.

The Bonuses may be commonly the equivalent of the Daily Double, but team three wasn't at too bad a time disadvantage and out-shopped the other teams.

[Craig Karlberg]

The 3:40/1:30/1:30 scenerio is theoretically impossible because there's at some point the "which of these products  is over/under/$x.xx" game offers a 30 second bonus if each of the 3 teams guessed the same item & are correct.  Of course no correct answers = no time added.  I haven't seen a 3:40 on one episode of Sweep but I do remember seeing a sweep time of 3:30.

As for a $2K+ sweep total, never saw one though I thought I saw one where a team racked up about $1,700 or thereabouts.

And even if the Super Bonus was $250(sometimes, it was $300), there's still some expensive items to get like the bulky cheeses & the garden hoses  During the PAX run, David mentioned that the players had a free roam of the market before they played which I thought was something that was instituted when they were on Lifetime but was never made public.

The one mini-game I didn't like was the box stacking game.  If one team stacked the boxes to their table, the next team can do the same thing & then the third team before the first team puts the stack back.  That was kinda confusing to follow.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'239398\' date=\'Apr 13 2010, 01:51 AM\']The 3:40/1:30/1:30 scenerio is theoretically impossible because there's at some point the "which of these products  is over/under/$x.xx" game offers a 30 second bonus if each of the 3 teams guessed the same item & are correct.  Of course no correct answers = no time added.[/quote]
Then it's not theoretically impossible, is it?

Post less.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'WhirlieBird74\' post=\'239342\' date=\'Apr 12 2010, 08:55 PM\']As for ties, it has never happened.  In fact, during the week of 2/12/1990 (I think it was 2/13/1990--as it happened on the Tuesday show), one of the Big Sweeps was so close they had to reveal the Sweep totals in dollars & cents.  If memory serves me correctly, Team #1 beat Team #2 by 17 cents.[/quote]
I can vouch this happened, but I thought it happened in the second season.  As Jason said, the first season, at least the first weeks, used totals with dollars and cents.  I couldn't tell you the date since I was too busy doing something besides remembering where I was when this epic event occurred.

[cool245]

Someone told me years ago that they remember a shopper during the Lifetime run who only had 1:30 running in the market without their cart and using their entire sweep time trying to get a bonus list and failing to do so in time causing their total to be $0. I have a feeling that were just kidding, but does anyone actually remember an event happening. I know their were times when a shopper went into the market without their cart but it was usually just to get a inflatable bonus they saw.