We all know that the 80s version of Sale of the Century had three different bonus games (Shopping, Winner's Board, and the Winner's Big Money Game). From what has been said about the arrival of the WBMG, it was due to budget cuts but I beg to differ because if a contestant won all eight bonus rounds, they would have won over $120,000. ($5K, $6K, $7K, $8K, $9K, $10K, Car valued at least $25K, and $50K)
Isn't this more money that could have been won versus the two previous bonus rounds that they had? Also wouldn't the new bonus round call for a natural increase in the budget anyways? say for example, you had a new champion on Monday and won $5K and then lost on Tuesday to a new champion, and then lost on Wednesday and lost and etc. 5 new champions but they won their bonus round. That's $25,000 in bonus money, not including any Instant Bargains, Fame Game prizes, and the bonus prize for winning the main game.
Also, why did Sale switch over to the Winner's Board from the shopping format? Did it not work well with viewers? Was it something NBC asked to change to bring in new viewers or spice up the show however they did implement this format in the syndicated version before it carried over to the network version.
I think the WBMG could have been a step up from the Winner's Board as far as prize value is concerned unless someone out there with some facts can debunk my theory.
Any thoughts?