Rat Race

[JasonA1]

I like it. Looks beautiful and big on television, the pricing mechanic is a welcome return to a device we last saw in Walk of Fame, etc. I don't think they get much mileage out of having the 2nd and 3rd place prizes. I'd have at least play-tested/pitched having four rats and playing for only the car if a rat you pick comes in first.

-Jason

[curtking]

The man didn't allow plastic meat on grills.

Ironic, considering how much meat he put in girls.

You win, sir.

[TLEberle]

I like it. Looks beautiful and big on television, the pricing mechanic is a welcome return to a device we last saw in Walk of Fame, etc. I don't think they get much mileage out of having the 2nd and 3rd place prizes.

I like the lesser prizes because it allows someone who is good at the play-in to increase the chance that he'll win something from a luck game even if it isn't the car. I just thought of a way to make it a cash game, but there's enough of those as it is.

My mind was blown the first time I saw a wide shot of the set and realized that the race track was in the shape of a dollar sign.

I'd have at least play-tested/pitched having four rats and playing for only the car if a rat you pick comes in first.

The question I'd ask is why you'd have this game while Bonus Game and Shell Game co-exist.

[TLEberle]

I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.

What don't you like/how would you do it differently?

[MikeK]

I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.

What don't you like/how would you do it differently?

The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

[JasonA1]

Some stats, for what they're worth, as of 8/11/14:

In bidding for the third rat, $100 worth of leeway, contestants have been in the range 38 times, and outside of it 14 times.

Out of 156 possible rats, contestants have earned 87 of them (55%). With the above stat, that means 44% of the rats came from the third item.

The game has an overall win/loss record of 16-36 (a win being whenever the contestant wins the car).

-Jason

[TLEberle]

Jason, since you're here: what would you say to a setup where there's two things to bid on <$1,000, you win whatever you're near enough on, but your rat has to come in first to win the car, there's no consolation prizes in the race?

[JayDLewis]

I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.

What don't you like/how would you do it differently?

The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

Yes, but given how many contestants will guess $50 (or something similarly inane) on the last prize...

[JasonA1]

Jason, since you're here: what would you say to a setup where there's two things to bid on <$1,000, you win whatever you're near enough on, but your rat has to come in first to win the car, there's no consolation prizes in the race?

Not sure how many play-in items you'd have total (if you meant just two, or two nicer items plus a third), or the number of rats in this case, but something like this wouldn't bother me. I understand what you're saying, because it is a luck-based game. If they came away from a bad day at the races with some nicer-than-usual small prizes, it would be a positive.

I guess I'm not too wrapped up on what they come away with in general because there's inequity elsewhere if you want to look for it. See: the odds of winning $5,000 in Punch-a-Bunch vs. winning $5,000 in Pass the Buck. Not all games were created equal, and that's...<Stuart Smalley>okay</SS>.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

Two items would be on the pedestal, yes. I read you clearly, but I would also change up Pass the Buck to where if the contestant fails at winning either of the grocery problems the car is revealed on the board and cannot be won with the free pick. But that's me and I hate fun, so there y'are.

To inequity, of course things are different (and I notice it and wince sometimes) because you shouldn't play the same game six times in a day. I'm looking through the lens of "does it feel right for it to be this way," and lots of times that clashes with what's good for TV.

[Unrealtor]

I think Rat Race is a good game, though I'm not a fan of the way to earn rats.

What don't you like/how would you do it differently?

The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

ISTR seeing a playing of Walk of Fame on YouTube where the contestant had a $25 range on a $30 prize, so too-wide ranges are not exactly a unique problem to this version of the game, even if the potential stakes are higher.

Personally, my biggest issue is that the actual racing seems kind of silly, but I don't know if there's a better option that does the same thing.

[TLEberle]

The pricing aspect.  I appreciate the similarity to Walk of Fame.  However, giving $200 leeway ($100 high, $100 low) on a $175 item is like giving away a free rat.

Yesterday's rerun was of the Halloween episode and what do you know, we got Bat Race and Cliff Hangers, and sticking to twice the acceptable range (bids of $19 and $200) won the second and third bats; she was way short of the $6.59 bag of Reese's mini cups.

[Thunder]

...won the second and third bats...

Although that's a typo, "Bat Race" would be a hell of a lot more fun to watch.

[SuperSweeper]

...won the second and third bats...

Although that's a typo, "Bat Race" would be a hell of a lot more fun to watch.

It's not a typo.  The rats were dressed up as bats to fit in with the Halloween theme.

[Thunder]

I stand corrected and highly amused.