Sale of the Century observation.

[PYLdude]

Now that Sale is on Buzzr five nights a week I've been catching up on episodes I missed when they were on GSN last.

Now, when it comes to the Fame Game, I think I picked up on a reason for the change to the Press Your Luck-style randomizer that was added later.

When you get into the final Fame Game, provided that you haven't already taken one of the money cards off the board, the odds seem pretty stacked in your favor to pick one. Because now, if we consider the $5 money card was on the board, that's a greater than 50% chance that you'll find a card. Improved odds if there was a "$xxx or pick again" on the board that somebody discarded.

Am I crazy for thinking this played a factor in the decision that was made? Or is it plausible?

[MSTieScott]

Because now, if we consider the $5 money card was on the board

I haven't seen every Sale episode that Buzzr has aired, but I've seen quite a few, and I've yet to see a contestant uncover a $5 money card during the third Fame Game round. My suspicion is that if the $5 hasn't been found in the first two rounds, the $25 card replaces it. Speculation on my part, but I've yet to see anything to disprove it. (That would also explain why they only reveal the $10, $15, and $25 at the end -- the $5 may no longer be present.)

Regardless, that wouldn't explain why they switched to the randomizer. After all, the odds are the same of receiving a money card either way. My hunch is that either somebody thought a randomizer would be more visually interesting (possibly with Press Your Luck as their inspiration) or somebody decided it would be better to show the money cards up for grabs rather than have Jim Perry list them all every single time.

[TLEberle]

That's an interesting and fantastic point about the $5 money card: if you're in third coming down the home stretch, you don't want five bucks to your score--you either want one of the big fellas to catch up or a prize to take home. Also a good point abut changing to something that's more visually interesting than waiting for someone to come up with a number from 1-9 for whatever reason.

[clemon79]

It being Grundy, it would not surprised me AT ALL (and especially since Press Your Luck was one of the American formats he "borrowed" to run in Australia, wasn't it?) that he saw that and said "Yeah, let's steal that for our show."

[BrandonFG]

$ale and PYL aired against one another at 10:30 right? I wonder if that played into it; someone at NBC simply noticed and said "Hey, let's use that element in our show!"

Granted, I don't think it brings back any viewers they may have lost to PYL, but I don't underestimate network executives either.

[TLEberle]

It being Grundy, it would not surprised me AT ALL (and especially since Press Your Luck was one of the American formats he "borrowed" to run in Australia, wasn't it?) that he saw that and said "Yeah, let's steal that for our show."

Wouldn't that sort of thing fall on the executive producers and local team rather than the packager figurehead?

[clemon79]

Wouldn't that sort of thing fall on the executive producers and local team rather than the packager figurehead?

Prolly. I'm mostly assuming the attitude trickles down.

[TLEberle]

It might be as simple as looking for a way to repurpose the "clock spinning" game and sound from Time Machine. It wouldn't have anywhere to go on Scrabble and Hot Streak was either not on the air yet or already gone.

[PYLdude]

If I remember the randomizer didn't make its debut on Sale until sometime in 1986, and I wanna say it was pretty early in 1986. Which makes me not fully buy into Grundy simply copying it. For me,  if it was that simple I would think it would've been done much earlier, right around the time PYL started siphoning viewers away in '84. Instead they wait until they retook the lead at 10:30 and PYL got shoved off to the afternoon.

[WarioBarker]

If I remember the randomizer didn't make its debut on Sale until sometime in 1986, and I wanna say it was pretty early in 1986.

If GSN's airings of the syndicated version are anything to go by, the randomizer debuted around October 1985.

[jcs290]

Perhaps as a time-saving measure? Some contestants would agonize over picking a random number.

[ivoryman1986]

Also, the randomizer Fame Game already took place on the daytime version by the Thanksgiving week 1985 shows as well. Based on the old USA airings, the randomizer Fame Game was in place prior to the debut of the Winner's Board and all they had was the ticket plug showed at the end of the episodes with the "Phone Not Operated" message or something like that IIRC.

[Marc412]

I haven't seen every Sale episode that Buzzr has aired, but I've seen quite a few, and I've yet to see a contestant uncover a $5 money card during the third Fame Game round. My suspicion is that if the $5 hasn't been found in the first two rounds, the $25 card replaces it. Speculation on my part, but I've yet to see anything to disprove it. (That would also explain why they only reveal the $10, $15, and $25 at the end -- the $5 may no longer be present.)

On the episode that aired tonight, someone found the $5 in the third Fame Game, so there you go.

[TLEberle]

Who were the contestants, how much did the champion have socked away?

(I don't have an episode guide, I'm just curious for its own sake.)

[Sodboy13]

Because now, if we consider the $5 money card was on the board

I haven't seen every Sale episode that Buzzr has aired, but I've seen quite a few, and I've yet to see a contestant uncover a $5 money card during the third Fame Game round. My suspicion is that if the $5 hasn't been found in the first two rounds, the $25 card replaces it. Speculation on my part, but I've yet to see anything to disprove it. (That would also explain why they only reveal the $10, $15, and $25 at the end -- the $5 may no longer be present.)

Well, so much for that idea. Tonight's Buzzr episode did, in fact, have a player pick the $5 in the third Fame Game. So I guess it's possible that, if someone hit the "Cash or Pick Again" in one of the first two FGs, there would be a 4/6 chance of hitting score money right before the speed round.

Here's a screenshot which, in retrospect, proves nothing, but there's all four values on display.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Sodboy13/Mobile%20Uploads/20170228_000048_zps2snzpcbq.jpg

EDIT: Apologies for just restating what Marc already posted. Reading is apparently not my strong suit.