Author Topic: Lingo payoff suggestion (Read 4609 times)

Casey · « **on:** December 23, 2003, 09:42:12 PM »

Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

If it were up to me, the bonus for getting Lingo would be $1000 for each word solved correctly, while still leaving the consolation money as $100 for each word. This way, a good team can win around $10,000, while a struggling team still can get $2,000 or $3,000. I can't imagine this would be a budget busting change.

What do you all think?

zachhoran · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2003, 09:48:09 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:42 PM\'] Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

If it were up to me, the bonus for getting Lingo would be $1000 for each word solved correctly, while still leaving the consolation money as $100 for each word. This way, a good team can win around $10,000, while a struggling team still can get $2,000 or $3,000. I can't imagine this would be a budget busting change.

What do you all think? [/quote]
UNder your system, Any team getting eight or more words is guaranteed to win a jackpot of at $8K or more, as a team will get a Lingo by the eighth ball(12 balls given free, and eight more spaces filled in with the balls, assuming at least one space on either of the long diagonals is filled in at the outset).

JayC · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2003, 10:16:41 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:48 PM\'] [quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:42 PM\'] Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

If it were up to me, the bonus for getting Lingo would be $1000 for each word solved correctly, while still leaving the consolation money as $100 for each word. This way, a good team can win around $10,000, while a struggling team still can get $2,000 or $3,000. I can't imagine this would be a budget busting change.

What do you all think? [/quote]
UNder your system, Any team getting eight or more words is guaranteed to win a jackpot of at $8K or more, as a team will get a Lingo by the eighth ball(12 balls given free, and eight more spaces filled in with the balls, assuming at least one space on either of the long diagonals is filled in at the outset). [/quote]
What's wrong with that? I don't really understand what your trying to say.

I like his idea.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #3 on:** December 23, 2003, 11:24:58 PM »

[quote name=\'JayC\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 10:16 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:48 PM\'] [quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:42 PM\'] Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

If it were up to me, the bonus for getting Lingo would be $1000 for each word solved correctly, while still leaving the consolation money as $100 for each word. This way, a good team can win around $10,000, while a struggling team still can get $2,000 or $3,000. I can't imagine this would be a budget busting change.

What do you all think? [/quote]
UNder your system, Any team getting eight or more words is guaranteed to win a jackpot of at $8K or more, as a team will get a Lingo by the eighth ball(12 balls given free, and eight more spaces filled in with the balls, assuming at least one space on either of the long diagonals is filled in at the outset). [/quote]
What's wrong with that? I don't really understand what your trying to say.

I like his idea. [/quote]
So do I, and maybe as an incentive, any team that draws Lingo on the first pull wins double their jackpot.

GameShowFan · « **Reply #4 on:** December 23, 2003, 11:52:00 PM »

This is a nice idea on paper, but isn't in reality. Zach very correctly points out that at 8 balls, the probablity of making Lingo is very close to 1. Thus, you are virtually guaranteed to give out large jackpots, and probably won't give out many small jackpots. Good for the good players, probably good for the budgetm but bad television.

Any other suggestion (such as jackpot multipliers for hitting Lingo in 3 balls or less) gets too complicated for an end game -- you start to get a Wolpert-like "We'll explain it as we go along" effect.

'Brian

Starkman · « **Reply #5 on:** December 23, 2003, 11:56:43 PM »

I still say 5000 per lingo, play out all the balls won, new lingo card after each lingo, (smaller) bonus prize for a lingo pulled on the 1st ball of a card.

GS Warehouse · « **Reply #6 on:** December 24, 2003, 12:03:06 AM »

I made this proposal at ezBoard: $100 per word, win or lose; additional $5,000+$1,000 for each lingo in the front game; doubled if made on first pull. Or if this is too complex, just make it a straight $10,000 for a one-draw lingo.

Casey · « **Reply #7 on:** December 24, 2003, 10:47:46 AM »

[quote name=\'GameShowFan\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 11:52 PM\'] This is a nice idea on paper, but isn't in reality. Zach very correctly points out that at 8 balls, the probablity of making Lingo is very close to 1. Thus, you are virtually guaranteed to give out large jackpots, and probably won't give out many small jackpots. Good for the good players, probably good for the budgetm but bad television.

Any other suggestion (such as jackpot multipliers for hitting Lingo in 3 balls or less) gets too complicated for an end game -- you start to get a Wolpert-like "We'll explain it as we go along" effect.

'Brian [/quote]
I don't really see that. Very rarely do teams get more than 6 words correct anyway. I think I've only seen 8 or more happen 3 or 4 times in the time I've been watching Lingo, with the vast majority getting around 4 or 5 correct.

And $8,000 for a win still isn't a lot of money. (Less than the value of the prize package + $5,000 anyway).

Speedy G · « **Reply #8 on:** December 24, 2003, 02:01:35 PM »

One idea I saw a few months ago had *two* Bonus Lingo cards. They first play for the $5000, and then if they win that, a second card is set up and they play for the trip with whatever draws are left.

The big plus I see in this is that it helps bring out the luck aspect in the bonus round for the people who do really well. Certainly, it eliminates the "I got 10, and won less than the lucky morons who got 1?!" possibility.

On the other hand, I'm sure there would be a painfully obvious edit to set up for the second card...

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 24, 2003, 02:05:02 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:48 PM\'] [quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 09:42 PM\'] Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

If it were up to me, the bonus for getting Lingo would be $1000 for each word solved correctly, while still leaving the consolation money as $100 for each word. This way, a good team can win around $10,000, while a struggling team still can get $2,000 or $3,000. I can't imagine this would be a budget busting change.

What do you all think? [/quote]
UNder your system, Any team getting eight or more words is guaranteed to win a jackpot of at $8K or more, as a team will get a Lingo by the eighth ball(12 balls given free, and eight more spaces filled in with the balls, assuming at least one space on either of the long diagonals is filled in at the outset). [/quote]
My initial thought; and as someone else has stated; how often do we see a team reach 8 words?

Jay Temple · « **Reply #10 on:** December 26, 2003, 12:30:45 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 08:42 PM\'] Forgive me if we've talked about this before. The bonus round reward for Lingo seems unfair for those who do well in the bonus round. It bothers me that a team can struggle, get 2 words in 2 minutes, and win $5000, while another team gets 10 words in 2 minutes, and wins $5000.

What do you all think? [/quote]
I agree that I'd rather see a bonus that gives a bigger advantage to players with a really good 2:00, but as long as you're using lingo cards, I think it's unavoidable. My idea would be to throw out the Lingo card in the bonus and have a two-part bonus round.

Part 1: Up to six words can be solved (in whatever amount of time makes the show "work"), and each word has one letter that transfers to part two. Score $100 for each word solved here. If all six are solved, there is no Part 2, and the team wins $5,000 plus the bonus prize.

Part 2: The team has up to six attempts to guess two words, and each word solved in the Part 1 has one letter that is a "bonus letter" in one of two words, à la the newspaper feature Jumble. If one of two words is solved, they get another $1,000 on top of what they won in Part 1. If both words are solved, they get $5,000 total. (Possible stipulation: Assuming that one word has more bonus letters revealed than the other, the one one with fewer comes first.)

Brig Bother · « **Reply #11 on:** December 26, 2003, 06:17:20 PM »

I do wonder if you're putting too much emphasis on the word solving aspect. Lingo has a rather large luck based element and to do away with it is a bit silly.

What was wrong with the original (and classical) 'avoid the lingo' from a) days of yore and b) what most other countries seem to do?

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #12 on:** December 26, 2003, 06:38:41 PM »

[quote name=\'Starkman\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 11:56 PM\'] I still say 5000 per lingo, play out all the balls won, new lingo card after each lingo, (smaller) bonus prize for a lingo pulled on the 1st ball of a card. [/quote]
The problem...

Every lingo card must offer the oppertunity to get a lingo in one pull in order to be fair. Say you get 10 or 11 words. (It's possible.) Then you get a lingo on every ball you pull. It ain't likely, but it can happen, and if it does, that's $50-60,000 plus whatever bonuses they win. That would trash the budget.

cyberjoek · « **Reply #13 on:** December 26, 2003, 06:52:23 PM »

I like the idea of the more balls you earn the more you can get. Perhaps the idea of as many lingos as you can get but with each being worth less (5k-4k-3k-2k-1k for each after) so if you got 10 balls and drew lingo first time out on each then you would have $20,000. Of course you could get 10 and have just one lingo but dems the breaks.
-Joe Kavanagh

tommycharles · « **Reply #14 on:** December 26, 2003, 08:24:24 PM »

[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Dec 26 2003, 06:17 PM\'] What was wrong with the original (and classical) 'avoid the lingo' from a) days of yore and b) what most other countries seem to do? [/quote]
Absolutely nothing...except that without tweaking it a little they cannot control payouts. The original, IIRC, had the money doubling with each succesive word. GSN probably doesn't want to have a sky's the limit pay out on any show.

Not that it's at all likely that someone would keep doubling until the budget broke, but the possibility exists.

Author Topic: Lingo payoff suggestion (Read 4609 times)

JayC

Starkman

GS Warehouse

tommycharles