GSN Revives Lingo

[vtown7]

The French version of Lingo, Motus, has recently popped up on the France 1ere channel on my dish, and I'm quite enjoying it.  Here's why:

1. Challengers get to pick the length of the word for the day - 8, 9 or 10 letters.

2. Motivation to actually score a Motus - *both* boards reset back.

3. Last word is worth 100 points - quite often game is close enough to warrant this relevant.

4. SuperPartie: need to clear 10 words off in the bonus to win the jackpot - time is associated with length of words - longer words warrant more time.  Have time left over?  Get one more word in the time remaining and score 1000 Euros more.

5. Champs can stay a max of three shows.

Of note... it's been on French morning television for *20* years.

R.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'vtown7\' post=\'255258\' date=\'Jan 21 2011, 07:52 PM\']3. Last word is worth 100 points - quite often game is close enough to warrant this make the rest of the game irrelevant.[/quote]
Fixed that for you.

[vtown7]

Well played Mr. Lemon.

Upon retrospect, the last word isn't very necessary, but often the game gets in anywhere from 5-8 words in the entire show.  This is due to the fact that you have a 5 minute bonus round, and the French shows generally don't mind using game time to talk a lot.

[Brig Bother]

The host of Motus appears to be the most laid back man in the entire world.

This is not particularly relevant but amuses me all the same.

[chad1m]

If anyone here is interested in giving it a shot, applications are being accepted.

[xavier45]

http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/rules-to-gsns-updated-lingo-leaked/

Quite a few changes have been made to the game. Here are a few of the big changes:

-Clues will now be given to each word

-There are now three rounds, round 1 will have 3 words, Round 2 will have 4 words, and round 3 will have 3 words

-Every correct word is now worth money. Round 1, correct guesses are now $100. Round 2 they are worth $200, and Round 3 is $500.

-Prize balls have been added

Now Bonus Lingo has also been changed:

-The winning team has 90 seconds to solve 5 words

-Each correct word is worth money. First correct word matches what they won in the main game. After that, the money is then doubled for every correct word. If a team can guess all 5 words in 90 seconds, they will then win $100,000. There are no bonus letters except for the first word, and there are no clues.

Nothing else was reported on being changed, so it looks like the rest of the game stays the same. BTW, there will be no co-host.

[BrandonFG]

It's more than Lingo...it's Lingo Plus!

It's the word game you've played all your life, but never quite like this???

[Matt Ottinger]

Now Bonus Lingo has also been changed:

-The winning team has 90 seconds to solve 5 words

-Each correct word is worth money. First correct word matches what they won in the main game. After that, the money is then doubled for every correct word. If a team can guess all 5 words in 90 seconds, they will then win $100,000. There are no bonus letters except for the first word, and there are no clues.

I will be very interested in seeing how this plays out, because five in 90 doesn't seem at face value to be a crazy-impossible thing to do.  A big question I have would be whether you still only get five chances on each word.  I'm assuming that you'll only get the initial letter instead of two letters.

It also appears that the five-in-a-row element of the basic game has now been rendered even less relevant.

[TLEberle]

It also appears that the five-in-a-row element of the basic game has now been rendered even less relevant.

That's fine with me. I never much cared for the filling of the bingo card on the GSN version. The problem is that there's only ten words and the rounds are 1-2x-5x, so I suppose that's kinda washed out. I'd prefer lots and lots of game play, and by teams who are able to use the yellow circled letters plus some word knowledge to be able to solve a word rather than stand there blankly.

My main problem with the balls was that sometimes your reward for solving the word was losing your turn. That seems remarkably counter-intuitive.

[toddyo]

Can't a revival of a game show be just that? A revival with little or no game change. Pyramid is a great example of how to screw up a great game show (and we won't discuss the MG/HS Hour).

Here's a concept: a game show without a crane, black or dark set, game play with fun interaction and no editing! The Jimmy Fallon Password segments have nailed it - minus the music. Game play, fun, and the show moves (and it's 30Rock based too). If they can do it, why can't Sony/Fremantle?

[clemon79]

The Jimmy Fallon Password segments have nailed it - minus the music.

Do you genuinely think, in 2011, if those Password segments were extended out to a half-hour show, that people would watch?

I suggest that you are utterly deluded if you do.

[toddyo]

The Jimmy Fallon Password segments have nailed it - minus the music.

Do you genuinely think, in 2011, if those Password segments were extended out to a half-hour show, that people would watch?

I suggest that you are utterly deluded if you do.

If it were treated properly, yes, I do think it would succeed. Take the extremes out of the Fallon bits, you do have a good, workable concept. Have I seen worse? Yup. Even Million Dollar Password was horrible. It didn't succeed because of everything the Fallon pieces have - non edited, off the cuff fun with true wordplay. Not everything needs a 20 part toteboard and a million dollars with jib shots and stagnated pauses.

[Clay Zambo]

...Not everything needs a 20 part toteboard and a million dollars with jib shots and stagnated pauses.

Stagnated Pauses--I loved them.  Wasn't their second album the one with nine different covers of John Cage's 4'33"?

[clemon79]

If it were treated properly, yes, I do think it would succeed.

Then see "deluded, utterly".

Not everything needs a 20 part toteboard and a million dollars with jib shots and stagnated pauses.

I don't disagree with this - to a point. For example, and I've said this before, bring back The $25,000 Pyramid with a set that calls back to the original version (or a reasonable facsimile thereof - for example, the set for that Tim Vincent pilot when they were pining to get the LMaD timeslot would be just fine) and the same format, and I think it could work. But '60s Password doesn't. And I love the game of Password; it's one of my all-time favorites. But a half-hour behind a single unadorned desk, pretty much three static shots, a broken scoring system, and a repetitive, bone-dry format? No way.

[TLEberle]

If it were treated properly, yes, I do think it would succeed.

Here's the problem with that. If you believe that "treated properly" means "wholly lifting the staid gameplay of the original version," then it will crash and burn and be gone in 13 weeks. MDP had plenty of problems, but there was a good game in there.

If you were to take any two people on the board here and say "how would you revive Password?" you'd get different answers. I'd have lots of sub games and changing parts built around the clue/guess mechanic. Other people really like the Password Puzzle idea. I thought that the Cashword was implemented brilliantly in the most recent version, but there were other things that I didn't care for.

Can a revival be just the game with little or no change? Yeah, I guess, but if the show was that great shakes it would still be on the air, wouldn't it?