Nearly unwinnable situations...

[aaron sica]

The post about "painting yourself in a corner" in Grocery Game (i.e. making it pretty much unwinnable by managing the items badly) got me thinking..What other situations in a game show would allow you to leave the game virtually unwinnable?

I thought of "High Rollers", specifically the Big Numbers. Leaving only a "2" on the board would only leave one possible roll to win, but even more, just leaving a "1", you've screwed the pooch..

[MikeK]

Golden Balls:  Showing at least 2 killers in the front row was the kiss of death, since the player would likely have to lie about the back row values and nobody would allow such a large quantity of killer balls to advance in the game.  It's all about luck and chance, just like High Rollers.

[Marc412]

Hitting a Whammy on your last spin.

[Kevin Prather]

There are the obvious ones like losing a True Daily Double late in the game and such.

[BrandonFG]

Piggybacking off of Kevin's point, going into Final Jeopardy! in second place, but the leader has more than twice your score. Unless you're going up against a true gambler, you're pretty much playing to keep your $2,000.

I'd also say that a Fast Money round where the team has less than 150 points going into the last survey question or two.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Losing the Prize Puzzle on Wheel of Fortune.

[WhammyPower]

Golden Balls:  Showing at least 2 killers in the front row was the kiss of death

I'd like to see someone show three killers in the front row.

[MikeK]

Golden Balls:  Showing at least 2 killers in the front row was the kiss of death

I'd like to see someone show three killers in the front row.

Whoops.  I thought three balls were shown in the front row of round 2.  They only show two balls in the second round.  It's been some time since I've seen Golden Balls.

/It's on my short list of the next overseas home game purchase.

[clemon79]

Losing the Prize Puzzle on Wheel of Fortune.

I lol'd.

[jjman920]

Someone calling a vowel and then solving the Speed-Up puzzle when they're behind by just about the amount of the final spin.

Someone ending their guesses in 10 Chances in a number other than 0 or 5 since that hasn't been a solution in any playing of the game in at least 15 years, if not more.

[clemon79]

Someone ending their guesses in 10 Chances in a number other than 0 or 5 since that hasn't been a solution in any playing of the game in at least 15 years, if not more.

Aaaaand we're rapidly approaching "twitch, twitch" territory.

[TLEberle]

Aaaaand we're rapidly approaching "twitch, twitch" territory.

Which is just as well; this was a topic that needed to be taken out behind the shed early on.

Is it revolutionary to say "Whammy on last spin" or "miss a clue 60 Daily Double?" No, because those are obvious.

There was an episode of daily Weakest Link where one of the team was doing all of the heavy lifting while the alliance of dumbs plinked off everyone else leaving him to increase the pot. When it was two dumbs to Smart Guy, he saw that the handwriting was on the wall and stalled several seconds and then gave a wrong answer every time in order to add no more money to the pot before he was voted out.

[jjman920]

Someone ending their guesses in 10 Chances in a number other than 0 or 5 since that hasn't been a solution in any playing of the game in at least 15 years, if not more.

Aaaaand we're rapidly approaching "twitch, twitch" territory.

Okay, you call it what you want. I'm not twitching over a contestant who doesn't know a hidden rule in one game that isn't played anywhere near as often as it used to be. But if the question was asked, that is a valid answer. Sorry if it sounds too fanboi-ish for this thread.

[clemon79]

But if the question was asked, that is a valid answer. Sorry if it sounds too fanboi-ish for this thread.

The reason I mock you is because a) It is *exactly* Price-fanboi-ish, and b) it's not a valid answer. There's a difference between "working yourself into a bad situation" like the original Grocery Game example and leaving the 1 laying in the Big Numbers (especially when the latter can happen through no fault of your own) and "being an out-and-out dumbass" or "not knowing an OMG-secret rule." And it was only a matter of time before someone conflated the two and rendered the thread moot. Well done.

[jjman920]

I'll admit that looking back at the OP again, my answer is not valid and you're right, since you can't paint yourself into a corner if you don't even have the brush in your hands.

Sorry my single half a post could render this thread moot.