improving whos still standing

[toetyper]

instead  of a player climbing a ladder,  make it what it SHOULD be.;   A tournament/

8 players.  Start with a tossup.   Winner gets to select his opponent.  they duel, winner goes to round 2.  6 players  left.    Rinse,  lather; repeat.  every correct answer in round 1 adds $500 to the pot

round  2; 4 players; tossup,  Winner gets to select his opponent. answers add $1000 to  the pot

finals; answers add $2500 to the pot.  Winner gets the pot.    Everyone else drops.  

clean.    simple.  Cant wait to see how yall tear  it down

[clemon79]

You kept the basic premise of the game, the alternating questions until someone misses.

In other words, the precise uninspired premise that makes the show eat balls in the first place.

Congratulations.

[TLEberle]

You kept the basic premise of the game, the alternating questions until someone misses.

In other words, the precise uninspired premise that makes the show eat balls in the first place.

I don't think the hot-potato element by itself is what's uninteresting. It is made uninteresting because the material is dog easy and you always get 20:0 on your clock no matter what. The first first first things I would do after I wheel toetyper out of my EP office is 1) make the material start at moderately difficult and increase as the game goes on and 2) replace the current time control with a Fischer clock. Every right answer adds some amount of time to the clock, so as long as you continue to give right answers you can't lose, but after Ben is done reading the time begins to drain from your clock.

Only after I was assured that those two things would be in place would I begin to dismantle the stupid framework that they used to give out money.

The question format worked on Grand Slam, it can work here.

/If you have to say "rinse, lather, repeat" in your proposal, fix what is boring.

[clemon79]

I don't think the hot-potato element by itself is what's uninteresting. It is made uninteresting because the material is dog easy and you always get 20:0 on your clock no matter what. The first first first things I would do after I wheel toetyper out of my EP office is 1) make the material start at moderately difficult and increase as the game goes on and 2) replace the current time control with a Fischer clock. Every right answer adds some amount of time to the clock, so as long as you continue to give right answers you can't lose, but after Ben is done reading the time begins to drain from your clock.

Okay, but that's not the basic boring format anymore, that's Grand Slam, and I like Grand Slam just fine. That's my point.

[TLEberle]

That's my point.

In which case I read you five-by-five and entreat you to join me in a round of Frosty Cold Ones.

[J.R.]

Here's my proposal to improve Who's Still Standing:

Cancel it.

Clean. Simple.

clean.    simple.  Cant wait to see how yall tear  it down

Troll harder next time.

[BrandonFG]

The problem is that it's Merv Griffin's Crosswords meets Russian Roulette, minus the excitement or strategy of the latter, but adding the ambiguous answers of the former. A better trivia format could work...say answers have increasing number of letters AND difficulty. Right now it's just a pedestrian tennis match...back and forth, back and forth. And there's no fun in seeing the contestant pick an opponent arbitrarily because he or she doesn't like Skippy's Argyle sweater.

Just to tinker with it, assign each opponent a category, with escalating difficulties. That way, the main contestant could use some strategy in who to play first to build the bank. It's not much better, but it gets rid of the tennis match going on now. I do like the idea of the Grand Slam clock. A lot.

I'd even suggest allowing the contestant to add a letter or "buy a clue" (Get it?! That's rich!), but with a penalty

And drop the trap door concept (no pun intended), and come up with a different title.

[PYLdude]

Here's my proposal to improve Who's Still Standing:

Cancel it.

Clean. Simple.

clean.    simple.  Cant wait to see how yall tear  it down

Troll harder next time.

Damn, Joe, whose cat has been crapping on your newspaper lately?

(The cynical Raygor is fun to watch, I gotta say- although I think the "troll harder" thing was a tick and just a teensy tick overdoing it. Other than that, though, well done.)

[J.R.]

Damn, Joe, whose cat has been crapping on your newspaper lately?

It's from Ohio and the name is "Banoodles". I think it's revenge for beating him in a fantasy playoff game...

/And fair enough on your other statement. That might've been too harsh.

[TLEberle]

I do like the idea of the Grand Slam clock. A lot.

I did add the bit that you get some extra time after a right answer, but yes, I do think that actually having to manage your time would help things out a great deal. Riffing upon your idea, I would take a page from Scrabble, and every five seconds or so you get additional information in the puzzle. If things are going that badly you're up a creek anyhow.

Format one: In the fashion of 21, two players bat the answers back and forth, building a pot with each right answer. Winner claims it, challengers are paid from the bankbook of outgoing champs. Champions are allowed to continue risking their money until they just cannot bear the tension and excitement for another femtosecond.

Format two: two speed rounds with five players each. Right answers build the bank, the winner of each returns at the end of the half hour to win the contents of the bank.

[Clay Zambo]

/If you have to say "rinse, lather, repeat" in your proposal, fix what is boring.

Well, see, here's the problem.  In this situation, you end up with a head full of bubbles.  RINSE is last.

Clearly the producers forgot this basic tenet.

[PYLdude]

Damn, Joe, whose cat has been crapping on your newspaper lately?

It's from Ohio and the name is "Banoodles". I think it's revenge for beating him in a fantasy playoff game...

/And fair enough on your other statement. That might've been too harsh.

1) Aw come on, I like Banoodles.

2) Yeah- toetyper may be quite a few things, but a troll? I wouldn't go that far.

/Oh, BTW...if anybody caught the really subtle reference I was trying to make with that statement, you're even crazier than I am.

[MikeK]

1) Aw come on, I like Banoodles.

I just told Banoodles you like her.  Explain why she is putting a noose around her neck.

[PYLdude]

1) Aw come on, I like Banoodles.

I just told Banoodles you like her.  Explain why she is putting a noose around her neck.

...because she didn't get to wear the Santa hat and TC did?

[MikeK]

1) Aw come on, I like Banoodles.

I just told Banoodles you like her.  Explain why she is putting a noose around her neck.

...because she didn't get to wear the Santa hat and TC did?

Wrong.

Taking this thread away from my cats, the best way to correct Who's Still Standing? is reduce the number of contestants to 4, ask multiple choice questions, increase the possibility of dropping depending on how many questions had been asked up to that point in a round, and have a $10,000 end game with the chance to risk the money for $100,000.  Since it will never turn into Russian Roulette, I'm with Joe.  I can't take a show seriously when the second part of an episode is played with entirely different rules, typeface sizes, and dollar amounts than the first part.