Really short-lived rules

[Steve Gavazzi]

Also, Grocery Game carried a $100 bonus for winners during the first few playings.

The second and fifth episodes, and it was won even if the contestant lost by not reaching $6.75 (which happened more than you'd think back then).

[clemon79]

Gee thanks. Do you have me on ignore or could you just not wait to jump in and participate?

Well, now, admittedly, if he had you on ignore, he wouldn't see this question, would he?

[TLEberle]

Gee thanks. Do you have me on ignore or could you just not wait to jump in and participate?

Well, now, admittedly, if he had you on ignore, he wouldn't see this question, would he?

Well played and parry'd. I needed the laugh, it is stacking up to be one of Those Days at the office.

[Twentington]

If I remember correctly, didn't Lane Reaction (or, if you prefer, Lame Reaction) take about a month of people stinking up the bonus round before adding the "stop the clock" rule?

[TLEberle]

If I remember correctly, didn't Lane Reaction (or, if you prefer, Lame Reaction)

Trying joke is trying.

take about a month of people stinking up the bonus round before adding the "stop the clock" rule?

I thought that it was brought about with the second series of episodes and five-in-sixty. Stopping the clock isn't going to make people smarter during the bonus.

[That Don Guy]

Joker's Wild had a slew at the beginning of its life. $150 triples, no question on three jokers, circles around prizes, car on the wheels, 4 wins to get the jackpot, 4 prizes in the jokers/devils game....

The first two, and "4 wins for the jackpot," lasted for the first 10 episodes (something I never would have known had WCBS(?) not discovered the tapes and GSN converted and aired them).  The "circles" end game ran for I think just the first two shows, after which the car (and once that was one, a trip to Mexico) was put directly into the game.  (Anybody remember how long the "leave the show or risk all of your main game winnings" rule lasted?)

A few more to add:

TPIR: in the Dennis James version, originally there was a $1000 bonus (briefly) if you won both prizes in Clock Game and had more than 2 seconds left on the clock.

Celebrity Sweepstakes had a number of changes, but the only two I can think of that might be considered "short-lived" were (a) originally there were three contestants instead of two, and (b) at the end of the show's run, they got rid of having to write down answers before the Homestretch round.

Beat The Clock (Monty Hall version): in the show's last two weeks, both couples played all of the first four stunts (other than only the winners of the first and third stunts playing the second and fourth ones, respectively).

21 (the relatively recent) version changed its payout structure a number of times in a brief period.  The ones I remember were, for each game won:
a) 100K, 200K, 300K, 400K, and then 500K for all wins starting with the fifth;
b) 100K, 200K, 300K, 400K, and then repeat the cycle;
c) 25K, 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K, 750K, 1M, and then repeat the cycle

(I'm not so sure about how brief this one was) Beat the Odds: in a handful of episodes, one of the two "exactly 5 letters" spaces was "7 letters or longer."

Also, how soon into the revised version of The Joker's Wild did they switch from having dollar amounts in the main game to categories?

[clemon79]

TPIR: in the Dennis James version, originally there was a $1000 bonus (briefly) if you won both prizes in Clock Game and had more than 2 seconds left on the clock.

This wasn't short-lived; it merely went on hiatus.

[Neumms]

How soon did Wink's "Tic Tac Dough" go from shuffling categories only before X's turn to shuffling before both players chose?

On Musical Chairs, they switched from eliminating a player after each round to keeping all four until the final round and picking them off one by one. Or was it the other way around? They had a bunch of different bonus rounds, too.

[Kevin Prather]

21 (the relatively recent) version changed its payout structure a number of times in a brief period.  The ones I remember were, for each game won:
a) 100K, 200K, 300K, 400K, and then 500K for all wins starting with the fifth;

Now THIS I wasn't familiar with...

[Steve Gavazzi]

21 (the relatively recent) version changed its payout structure a number of times in a brief period.  The ones I remember were, for each game won:
a) 100K, 200K, 300K, 400K, and then 500K for all wins starting with the fifth;

Now THIS I wasn't familiar with...

Yeah...I think I watched pretty much every episode of that show, and I don't remember this at all.

[Ian Wallis]

The first two, and "4 wins for the jackpot," lasted for the first 10 episodes (something I never would have known had WCBS(?) not discovered the tapes and GSN converted and aired them). The "circles" end game ran for I think just the first two shows, after which the car (and once that was one, a trip to Mexico) was put directly into the game. (Anybody remember how long the "leave the show or risk all of your main game winnings" rule lasted?)

They still had that rule by the time the GSN airings ended (April 1973).  Originally, if you won one "Joker's Jackpot" (by winning three games) you left the show.  Around Feb 1973 they changed the rule that you could stay on and keep playing until you reached the CBS limit of $25,000.
 
I never liked that rule.  It only applied to cash, but if you struck out in the bonus round and lost the next game, you could leave the show with nothing (except some parting gifts).  I always though it you won a game, you should be guaranteed something.

I think it was by the fall of '73 that the "Joker's Jackpot" rule was retired.

[Brian44]

Getting back to Penny Ante for a sec, I think I remembered its humble beginnings.  As usual, there were 2 products used(one on each side of the prop).  Each product had a price on it.  The trick is to find its price before you accumulate 100 pennies.  When you find the price of the product, a YES with an arrow pointing to one of the products would show up.  Find both prices before you rack up those 100 pennies & you won the prize,  I thought it was OK, but somehow, there may've been some confusion as to what price went wuth what product even if you used the arrow to point to that product.  Good thing they changed it up tp the more simpler 1 out of 4 price format for each product & the 3 pennies.

Wow, Craig, after reading your interpretation, my head spun more intensely AND I threw up. :/

[Twentington]

So far it looks like the vast majority of these are just "work out the kinks early in the run". This is why I find things like the three one-shot Wheel categories, the "bonus" categories on J!, etc. interesting — since they were short-lived elements introduced well after most of the "kinks" had been worked out, but for some reason it just wasn't working.

I thought that it was brought about with the second series of episodes and five-in-sixty. Stopping the clock isn't going to make people smarter during the bonus.

Huh. I thought for sure something in the bonus round changed about a month or so in.

[PYLdude]

Re; the 21 rule. You don't remember it that way because it didn't happen that way. IIRC, there was no $500,000 game until the format was switched up and once you won your fourth game everything restarted.

[NickintheATL]

Wow, Craig, after reading your interpretation, my head spun more intensely AND I threw up. :/

How about a fresh explanation?

Two products, eight prices.  Two of the eight prices go with the products.  If you choose a wrong price, an amount of pennies of that price fall down into a hopper.  If you get 100 pennies, the game is over and you lose.  Find both correct prices and you win.

The correct price was indeed indicated by "YES!" and an arrow pointing left or right to the appropriate product.

There are some pictures of this early version over at Golden-Road.net

/Someone had to give a better explanation than Karlberg