Nearly unwinnable situations...

[TLEberle]

The takeaway for me is that most game shows don't allow for this to happen. Sometimes a game will be a runaway but rarely is a game completely borked.

Right now I'm watching The Amazing Race and a common (ie, every time it happens) complaint of mine is the airport bunching. That as well as location start times keep most of the group in the race, but I wish there was a way to do something where on the final leg the teams are staggered in their start based on accumulated lead time. (Whether it's improved that every leg is a mass start is something I will leave to the philosophers.)

[BrandonFG]

Now that I look at Aaron's post, my examples aren't as much painting yourself in a corner as they are you just falling into an unfortunate situation.

How about getting "blocked" on every single acronym in a column in the Gold Run on Blockbusters? That's a bit more immediate, in that you get all five wrong, and the round pretty much ends.

/Has that ever happened?

[TLEberle]

0How about getting "blocked" on every single acronym in a column in the Gold Run on Blockbusters? That's a bit more immediate, in that you get all five wrong, and the round pretty much ends.

/Has that ever happened?

Yes, a guy from England was on the show and not up to snuff on American pop culture. He was allowed to run out the time by answering remaining clues at $100 a throw.

[Thunder]

The takeaway for me is that most game shows don't allow for this to happen. Sometimes a game will be a runaway but rarely is a game completely borked.

Right now I'm watching The Amazing Race and a common (ie, every time it happens) complaint of mine is the airport bunching. That as well as location start times keep most of the group in the race, but I wish there was a way to do something where on the final leg the teams are staggered in their start based on accumulated lead time. (Whether it's improved that every leg is a mass start is something I will leave to the philosophers.)

Those airport delays are there to cut a lot of costs out of the production of the show. The Amazing Race has done a a few noticeable things like that to make sure that film crews aren't racking up billable hours waiting for teams to show up and do their things. That's also why they cut the number of Fast Forwards down to 1 or 2. They used to have them available on every leg of the race but teams wouldn't try for them and the camera crews and set-up went unused.

[JMFabiano]

0How about getting "blocked" on every single acronym in a column in the Gold Run on Blockbusters? That's a bit more immediate, in that you get all five wrong, and the round pretty much ends.

/Has that ever happened?

Yes, a guy from England was on the show and not up to snuff on American pop culture. He was allowed to run out the time by answering remaining clues at $100 a throw.

Bill didn't mention it frequently, but he did encourage contestants every so often about continuing on after being blocked out. 

Now, did this happen at all on WordPlay?

[Unrealtor]

I feel like there's a difference between the Grocery Game example and the Blockbusters example, because Grocery Game isn't as binary. Two moves which are good on their own can combine into a bad move, whereas the Gold Run is as simple as right answer=good, wrong answer=bad as long as you're picking the right hexagons.

[thewhammy_2000]

What about spending at least 30 seconds on the first level of Nick Arcade's Video Zone? Sometimes the second level takes a long time, giving them very little time to beat the wizard.

[clemon79]

What about spending at least 30 seconds on the first level of Nick Arcade's Video Zone?

Do you really think "taking a long time" is a strategic decision?

[MSTieScott]

To the extent that a game based on luck can fit this topic, I'll offer the "Press Your Luck" example of being in a distant third place while holding the last spin of the game. Your only two options are either to hope for a miracle run of "+ one spin" spaces or to give up and just spite the leader with a passed spin.

[parliboy]

The takeaway for me is that most game shows don't allow for this to happen. Sometimes a game will be a runaway but rarely is a game completely borked.

Right now I'm watching The Amazing Race and a common (ie, every time it happens) complaint of mine is the airport bunching. That as well as location start times keep most of the group in the race, but I wish there was a way to do something where on the final leg the teams are staggered in their start based on accumulated lead time. (Whether it's improved that every leg is a mass start is something I will leave to the philosophers.)

Those airport delays are there to cut a lot of costs out of the production of the show. The Amazing Race has done a a few noticeable things like that to make sure that film crews aren't racking up billable hours waiting for teams to show up and do their things. That's also why they cut the number of Fast Forwards down to 1 or 2. They used to have them available on every leg of the race but teams wouldn't try for them and the camera crews and set-up went unused.

As a serious question, which came first: the bunching or the FF cutdowns?  Because I wouldn't be particularly incentivized to attempt a FF unless I know I'm behind, given that I won't really get to save any real time from it the next day.

[TLEberle]

As a serious question, which came first: the bunching or the FF cutdowns?  Because I wouldn't be particularly incentivized to attempt a FF unless I know I'm behind, given that I won't really get to save any real time from it the next day.

My recollection is that the Fast Forwards were cutdown before airport bunching was used as a means to keep the race close/costs down.

An unfortunate side affect is that it makes going for the first of two Fast Forward passes a poor choice because the last time a team went for it all of the teams bunched at the next airport and the team that checked in first is the only team that definitely cannot try for the second Fast Forward. Some reward.

Since the Race is all about avoidance of risk (stay with the other teams, book the same flight, do the same tasks, don't break away from the pack) it makes the Fast Forward an unattractive option for all but the teams that lag the farthest behind who have nothing else on which to hang their hat.

[Thunder]

Now that there are only 1 or 2 Fast Forwards on the entire race, I feel the ideal strategy is to jump on the first one you see because you might not be the team in the lead when the second one appears. It's a free pass to the next round and the task isn't usually horrible*.

* = Except gross eating challenges. That's Fear Factor and it sucked there, too.

[PartingGift]

Here's my suggestion for a nearly unwinnable situation: The only available square in Hollywood Squares is Gilbert Gottfried.

[cyclone45]

Here's my suggestion for a nearly unwinnable situation: The only available square in Hollywood Squares is Gilbert Gottfried.

YOU FOOL!

[Kevin Prather]

Here's my suggestion for a nearly unwinnable situation: The only available square in Hollywood Squares is Gilbert Gottfried.

YOU FOOL!

It took you five days to get to your keyboard, Johnny?