Author Topic: New TPiR game coming: Rat Race (Read 31039 times)

TheLastResort · « **Reply #30 on:** June 03, 2010, 06:24:53 PM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'241868\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 05:50 PM\']Why can't you just refurbish/modify a half-dozen computer mice, and build a gravity-dependent, maze-like course?[/quote]

Maybe because it would be meaningless and stupid?

TheLastResort · « **Reply #31 on:** June 03, 2010, 06:28:19 PM »

New game coming next season! It's called Roach Hotel, and it's played for three trips. Each roach has a price tag attached to its antennae, and you have to put each roach in the hotel that goes with the trip with the matching price.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #32 on:** June 03, 2010, 07:17:08 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'241849\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 02:26 PM\']The idea of doing everything right, but still losing really does not sit right with me.[/quote]Same could have been said with 1/2 off prior to Drew's arrival.

That said, I think its better than the flip side of it--doing everything wrong and still getting something for it (e.g. Plinko).

BrandonFG · « **Reply #33 on:** June 03, 2010, 07:26:18 PM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'241880\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 07:17 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'241849\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 02:26 PM\']The idea of doing everything right, but still losing really does not sit right with me.[/quote]Same could have been said with 1/2 off prior to Drew's arrival.
[/quote]
I thought about 1/2-Off, but excluded it because they did later offer a consolation for getting all the way to the end and still coming up empty.

Unrealtor · « **Reply #34 on:** June 03, 2010, 08:11:25 PM »

My guess on what happens if a rat doesn't make it across is that they put it in order based on how far they did manage to go.

Personally, I wouldn't have minded having the winning rats picked in advance. Just put some kind of art card down at the finish line and let a model reveal that rat #3 was always going to come in first place. It's what would have been done for most of the last 38 years, if this game had been around then.

The concept sounds interesting, but I'm not sure that the execution is going to be great.

JayDLewis · « **Reply #35 on:** June 03, 2010, 08:23:27 PM »

If you have to have a "rat race" why not do it ala Finish Line and/or Give or Keep? Attach the prices of the 3 you don't keep to one rat and the one you do keep to a 2nd rat.

It's not luck-based and there's a clear outcome.

WhammyPower · « **Reply #36 on:** June 03, 2010, 08:47:34 PM »

Did Enrico Pollini get left out because his narcolepsy kicked in again?

TLEberle · « **Reply #37 on:** June 03, 2010, 09:09:02 PM »

[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'241885\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 05:11 PM\']My guess on what happens if a rat doesn't make it across is that they put it in order based on how far they did manage to go.[/quote]Except we've already been told, if a rat doesn't make it over the finish line, it can't win. So you can win all three play-in bits, none of the rats finish, and Drew throws to break.

Yay.

TLEberle · « **Reply #38 on:** June 03, 2010, 11:35:10 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'241831\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 09:32 AM\']That may be the only place you hear it. I don't know whether M. the R. is hip to the concept of scripted lines the emcee has to memorize. I've a feeling they simply teach Drew how the games work and let him fumble around as to how to describe it.[/quote]The New Order of TPIR seems to think that they can reinvent everything without having to pay attention to why The Way Things Were Done, and they don't seem to be learning that lesson very well.

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'241825\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 08:53 AM\']Animation means the outcome is predetermined and you have to convince the audience that the outcome isn't being controlled on the fly, if you get my meaning.[/quote]Which is the reason why TPIR has pull tabs, cards and every sort of physical prop you can imagine, so that question doesn't enter into the mind of the viewer.

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'241838\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 10:11 AM\']In other words, you'd slap Yet Another Skin on Most Expensive.[/quote]And I already think there are far too many of those "is the price X, Y or Z?" games where the contestant makes one decision and sits back down. I surely don't want another of them, no matter the chrome.

[quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'241872\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 03:24 PM\']Maybe because it would be meaningless and stupid?[/quote]Except it wouldn't. You have a neat visual pun, actual props that would work (you have someone put a different amount of ballast in each mouse, making sure that three will finish) and you avoid a problem that should have been spotted and fixed in the first stage of development.

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'241880\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 04:17 PM\']Same could have been said with 1/2 off prior to Drew's arrival.

That said, I think its better than the flip side of it--doing everything wrong and still getting something for it (e.g. Plinko[/quote]But you're still doing something; you had to win your way up on stage, right? And I'll happily say this for years and years: you don't wheel out your iconic game and then make winning chances so hard that the player to be only gets one chance. (And if that fluke happens, it is exciting when the $10k is hit.)

If there was an actual order that the five mice went in, at least getting all three play-ins wins you something. But viewers aren't going to like it when the game ends in a total anticlimax because the props don't have enough gas to get over the line.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #39 on:** June 04, 2010, 12:06:51 AM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'241904\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 11:35 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'241831\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 09:32 AM\']That may be the only place you hear it. I don't know whether M. the R. is hip to the concept of scripted lines the emcee has to memorize. I've a feeling they simply teach Drew how the games work and let him fumble around as to how to describe it.[/quote]The New Order of TPIR seems to think that they can reinvent everything without having to pay attention to why The Way Things Were Done, and they don't seem to be learning that lesson very well.

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'241825\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 08:53 AM\']Animation means the outcome is predetermined and you have to convince the audience that the outcome isn't being controlled on the fly, if you get my meaning.[/quote]Which is the reason why TPIR has pull tabs, cards and every sort of physical prop you can imagine, so that question doesn't enter into the mind of the viewer.

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'241838\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 10:11 AM\']In other words, you'd slap Yet Another Skin on Most Expensive.[/quote]And I already think there are far too many of those "is the price X, Y or Z?" games where the contestant makes one decision and sits back down. I surely don't want another of them, no matter the chrome.

[quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'241872\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 03:24 PM\']Maybe because it would be meaningless and stupid?[/quote]Except it wouldn't. You have a neat visual pun, actual props that would work (you have someone put a different amount of ballast in each mouse, making sure that three will finish) and you avoid a problem that should have been spotted and fixed in the first stage of development.

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'241880\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 04:17 PM\']Same could have been said with 1/2 off prior to Drew's arrival.

That said, I think its better than the flip side of it--doing everything wrong and still getting something for it (e.g. Plinko[/quote]But you're still doing something; you had to win your way up on stage, right? And I'll happily say this for years and years: you don't wheel out your iconic game and then make winning chances so hard that the player to be only gets one chance. (And if that fluke happens, it is exciting when the $10k is hit.)

If there was an actual order that the five mice went in, at least getting all three play-ins wins you something. But viewers aren't going to like it when the game ends in a total anticlimax because the props don't have enough gas to get over the line.
[/quote]
Just for clarification's sake, that quote attributed to me was actually made by Chris Clementson.

TLEberle · « **Reply #40 on:** June 04, 2010, 12:08:49 AM »

Quote

Just for clarification's sake, that quote attributed to me was actually made by Chris Clementson.

It was? Really? M'bad. I apologize. I figured that most of our lot was well-versed in the goings-on of game shows to realize why animation wouldn't be used in this instance, so I was surprised to see it brought up.

Hurry up and say something else so I can quote you, Jimmy.

Mr. Brown · « **Reply #41 on:** June 04, 2010, 02:31:49 PM »

[quote name=\'ClockGameJohn\' post=\'241833\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 11:39 AM\']Mike has already put his mark on a new game and that will be forthcoming after the Rat Race.[/quote]

Mike's game can't be too bad -- he's shown absolutely no creativity on Let's Make a Deal (e.g. "Choose the curtain or the box!"), so I would expect an equal lack of creativity (and thus, a lesser possibility that the game is a clusterf***) here.

ClockGameJohn · « **Reply #42 on:** June 04, 2010, 03:10:18 PM »

[quote name=\'Mr. Brown\' post=\'241930\' date=\'Jun 4 2010, 02:31 PM\'][quote name=\'ClockGameJohn\' post=\'241833\' date=\'Jun 3 2010, 11:39 AM\']Mike has already put his mark on a new game and that will be forthcoming after the Rat Race.[/quote]

Mike's game can't be too bad -- he's shown absolutely no creativity on Let's Make a Deal (e.g. "Choose the curtain or the box!"), so I would expect an equal lack of creativity (and thus, a lesser possibility that the game is a clusterf***) here.
[/quote]

Ahhh, but this will soon show just exactly how little you know about this show.

Bill Neuweiler · « **Reply #43 on:** June 04, 2010, 03:25:30 PM »

There are a lot of unclear speculations as to weather or not the mice will go the distance. I would like to think that whomever is in charge would have the good sense to construct a game where this is not the case. Imagine the execution and all five mice get stuck three feet down on a ten foot track. <insert loser horns> And Drew says..."Oh that was so close, but you won the water bike to get up here...."

Although as I type this I remember reading they're getting real good at editing out the booing...regardless my point is it wouldn't make for very good television, let alone a 'fair' game. I think we will see a guaranteed three rats crossing the finish line in a distingushable order, first-second-third place. Maybe the other two don't even cross over the finishe line, who knows.

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #44 on:** June 04, 2010, 03:38:15 PM »

I think they should use real rats and have celebrities bet on which one will win. Mr. Plager (played by Howard Hesseman), one of Dr. Hartley's occasional patients on The Bob Newhart Show, once suggested a game show called The Rat Race that was played just like that. He balked, however, when the network insisted the rats be given numbers rather than painted different colors; one must maintain some artistic integrity, after all.