Really short-lived rules

[Twentington]

While composing my Wheel of Fortune timeline, I noticed that there are three categories that they only used once: Show/Song and Composer/Song in the 1995-96 season, and What Are We Making? in 2007. Also, What's That Song? was used only four times, and they used those 1/2 car wedges for only one week.

Are there any other rules, gameplay elements, etc. that were similarly short-lived? (As in, "lasted way the heck less than a season".) I can think of a couple more off the top of my head:

* Professor Price was played twice, Telephone Game three times, and Double Digits and Bullseye five each (nine if you count the four Double Bullseye playings).

* The "bonus" categories on Jeopardy! Each clue had two correct responses, and a contestant could choose to give them both, or leave the other one. J! Archive has only three instances of this being used.

* Blockbusters' Gold Run/Rush used the $2,500/$5,000 payoff for how long? A month?

[TimK2003]

While composing my Wheel of Fortune timeline, I noticed that there are three categories that they only used once: Show/Song and Composer/Song in the 1995-96 season, and What Are We Making? in 2007. Also, What's That Song? was used only four times, and they used those 1/2 car wedges for only one week.

Are there any other rules, gameplay elements, etc. that were similarly short-lived? (As in, "lasted way the heck less than a season".) I can think of a couple more off the top of my head:

Play The Percentages -- You name it!!

[Jimmy Owen]

The half-zeroes on "Chain Reaction" come quickest to mind.

[joker316]

The first bonus round on The Joker's Wild. Six weeks, maybe less.

[parliboy]

Eubanks Card Sharks did not originally limit you to one change per line in Money Cards. Instead, you changed up to three times, period, even if it meant changing the same card twice.

[JasonA1]

The rule from Match Game '75 where you couldn't go head-to-head with the same celebrity twice in a row.

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....

Several game shows of recent cable past did retooling after their first tapings. Whammy not giving $1000 from the start, Cram having Graham Elwood hit the buzzer in "The Rant," 1 vs. 100 changing its money ladder, etc.

-Jason

[SRIV94]

GONG gave you 20 seconds for free before you were able to be gonged.  By Week 2, it was 30 seconds.  And by the second or third month, it was 45 seconds.

[Twentington]

With the pricing games I mentioned, there's also Shower Game at 10 playings.

Found a lot more short-lived wrinkles from Wheel too:

* Big Money wedge: for the first taping only, any amounts on it (it randomized among $5,000, $7,500, $25,000, Lose a Turn and Bankrupt) couldn't be spent on vowels, but for some reason, they could for the rest of the season. Odd decision to make, IMO.

* Similarly, I've heard mentions that the $10,000 wedge was flipped over and used as a cash space for one week. (Someone else also mentioned an episode where it was placed upside-down by mistake, and a contestant hit it.)

* Hourlong Wheel. Six weeks and it was done.

* Apparently, very early on, there wasn't a gift certificate option in the shopping rounds; if it wasn't enough to buy another prize, or if you wanted to stop shopping, it was "on account" or nothing.

* Buy a Vowel, of course.

[MikeK]

* Similarly, I've heard mentions that the $10,000 wedge was flipped over and used as a cash space for one week. (Someone else also mentioned an episode where it was placed upside-down by mistake, and a contestant hit it.)

Not only did someone land on the $10K, but they used the Double Play for that turn.

[Twentington]

* Similarly, I've heard mentions that the $10,000 wedge was flipped over and used as a cash space for one week. (Someone else also mentioned an episode where it was placed upside-down by mistake, and a contestant hit it.)

Not only did someone land on the $10K, but they used the Double Play for that turn.

That would be Peter Argyropolous and Deborah Cohen, right?

[Kevin Prather]

* Similarly, I've heard mentions that the $10,000 wedge was flipped over and used as a cash space for one week. (Someone else also mentioned an episode where it was placed upside-down by mistake, and a contestant hit it.)

Not only did someone land on the $10K, but they used the Double Play for that turn.

That wasn't when it was upside-down though. It was right side up, and the team got a $20,000 prize instead of $10,000. Interesting, because the $10,000 space is technically a prize, is it not?

As for things that didn't last long: on the first episode of British WWTBAM, an actual phone was used on set for PAF.

[PYLdude]

Original Card Sharks- only allowed to change the first card in Money Cards

Back to TPIR for a minute- how many times was Time is Money played before it bit the dust? And there's one that fits the category of short lived rules (what with the 15 second, $500 voucher rule).

[Twentington]

That wasn't when it was upside-down though. It was right side up, and the team got a $20,000 prize instead of $10,000. Interesting, because the $10,000 space is technically a prize, is it not?

Any idea when either incident (upside-down on purpose, upside-down by mistake) happened?

Back to TPIR for a minute- how many times was Time is Money played before it bit the dust? And there's one that fits the category of short lived rules (what with the 15 second, $500 voucher rule).

I counted 15, in a timespan just under a full season (September '03-April '04). That would make it closer to Megaword than What Are We Making? in that regard.

[CJBojangles]

Back to TPIR for a minute- how many times was Time is Money played before it bit the dust? And there's one that fits the category of short lived rules (what with the 15 second, $500 voucher rule).

Punch-a-Bunch had some whacked-out rules on its first several playings before changing to what we know today.

[jmangin]

Another is the pricing game Split Decision and the rule change from 30 seconds to only three chances to guess the right price. It was back to the time-based game within two or three playings.