Room for Improvement

[SweepingDeveloper]

Greed: Make the set even darker for seven-figure questions.

US Temptation: Add the lot to the possibility of prizes.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Add a special music bed for the $1 Million question.

Twenty-One 2000: Contestants play for a certain dollar amount per point margin of victory, with ties increasing the stakes.

The Wall: Shower couples who win $1 Million or more with confetti. (It's a rare enough occurrence to warrant it.)

Deal or No Deal: Allow contestants to make an offer to the banker once during the game.

[TLEberle]

Deal or No Deal: Allow contestants to make an offer to the banker once during the game.

Perhaps one of my favorite things that I came up with on this board came about in a thread about the short-lived show Pawnography--the fact that Rick Harrison and the day's winner get to haggle over the buyout to call off the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge amused me and I thought it would work beautifully on Deal or No Deal.

Twenty-one should have had a static prize of $25,000 per game, and I don't mind the idea where everyone on the YDS panel gets their own little bank though you would have to nuke the idea that everyone has to be called on in turn. It would add a little bit of strategy to a game that doesn't have much. To the point about Wheel of Fortune, I would love to see them bring back Friday Finals as a concept since game show contestants want to play again if they can and it allows them to bury the million dollar prize.

[TLEberle]

To Al's point about celebrities not minding being pegged as a 99:1 dullard, I don't know--I think I would take at least a little offense at the implication.

[Jimmy Owen]

On MG, if you choose Rex Reed for Super Match and you match him, it's worth $1 million.

[Jeremy Nelson]

I notice that nobody who has said "Introduce more money into the game" has said why that will improve the situation, much less how Super Password can absorb a $250,000 hit. I know it's not really "just one thing" but hear me out:

Nick Arcade: The game would become College Bowl-ish. Ditch the opening face-off and the map. A toss-up visual puzzle from the library is played and whoever solves it scores 25 points, then goes over to the Video Challenge arena to play a game for more points. Round two would increase the stakes and decide the winner. Two things that bothered me as a youth is that the map was random and the Goal rarely hit, and the Video Challenge should have been the star of the show rather than a side-quest.

I’m in complete agreement with your gripes, but doesn’t that just mean it becomes Starcade with video puzzles?

At the very least, the map board should have been made smaller.

[Scrabbleship]

On MG, if you choose Rex Reed for Super Match and you match him, it's worth $1 million.

So there was a reason why Rex Reed never did MG.../s.

/I literally snorted coffee reading this.
//After a couple bad days, I really needed the laugh. Thanks!

[TLEberle]

I’m in complete agreement with your gripes, but doesn’t that just mean it becomes Starcade with video puzzles?

At the very least, the map board should have been made smaller.

My gripe about the map is that there is no knowledge about whether one square is going to be good, neutral or a bear trap. I posit that the Money Machine from Dream House, the big board from Click, the Magic 8-Ball from Peer Pressure or even Reach for the Stars from Ruckus would be an improvement if the Enemy element was scuttled.

The UK game show "Steal" showed two teams of two the contents of a four by four grid and then rotated it either ninety or 180 degrees--this too would be an improvement.

[trustno1]

Card Sharks:  Adopt the "Push Rule" in the Money Cards
Temptation US: Make it more like the Australian version

[PYLdude]

If I'm doing anything with Temptation it's getting back to the basics. Maybe do a quick speed round in the middle in place of Knock Off and just make everything else be straight questions  the last speed round, which I would lengthen but keep the stakes as they were. You could leave the Fame Game alone and maybe fit one more in (this really didn't bug me).

[BillCullen1]

Card Sharks:  Adopt the "Push Rule" in the Money Cards

I'm pretty sure this was done on the Eubanks and Rafferty versions.

[aaron sica]

Card Sharks:  Adopt the "Push Rule" in the Money Cards

I'm pretty sure this was done on the Eubanks and Rafferty versions.

It was, and also on the Perry version for the last year.

[TLEberle]

If I'm doing anything with Temptation it's getting back to the basics. Maybe do a quick speed round in the middle in place of Knock Off and just make everything else be straight questions  the last speed round, which I would lengthen but keep the stakes as they were. You could leave the Fame Game alone and maybe fit one more in (this really didn't bug me).

There's a couple of points I want to make: the show could have gotten back a minute or so of time from Super Knock-off that they could have used for a Fame Game or a mid-show Sprint Round.

The thing about the Fame Game board in conjunction with the Gift Shop is that there are six chances for everyone to take something home. It may not be something big or something that sets our hearts aflame but it's more than lots of love and fond memories. (To piggyback off of your point, if they didn't do the Fame Game board I would have had three cards--one with a money card, one with a prize and one with ready cash.)

Here's the other thing--Sale of the Century manages to have comedy, suspense, glamour and interesting questions all in one package. Temptation failed at every turn. The Gift Shop was always the same as opposed to the jumping off point for a sketch or moderately clever way to show off the prize. While we're discussing either little rule changes or sweeping ideas, I think that Temptation needed to have a directorial mandate to look like something else.

[BrandonFG]

Everything about Temptation USA was pretty half-baked, as if the producers skimmed through a Youtube clip of the Aussie version and took it from there. Although it seemed like a mish-mash of random game show elements, I didn't mind the question/puzzle portion. What bothered me more than anything was the rule that made it mandatory to retire after five days. If you didn't have enough money for the car, too bad, enjoy your luxury vacation.

Not that I'd pass up a trip, it just seems like bad television to make the contestant accept the second level prize because they couldn't "afford" the big one. So yeah, have a champion play until defeated or until he or she wins enough games/cash to buy the car. Or a cash jackpot. Or The Lot.

/Would've been fine with a $25-50K jackpot
//Would also ditch the QVC-style segments
///At least the set was nice

[Clay Zambo]

Not that I'd pass up a trip, it just seems like bad television to make the contestant accept the second level prize because they couldn't "afford" the big one.

I think there are lots of reasons to dislike TEMPTATION, but I can't get behind you on this one.  I think there is nothing wrong with the rule being "You have five chances to earn as much as you can and buy the most valuable prize you can afford."

[Neumms]

$ale of the Century or Temptation:
Let winners buy something in the big sale AND come back the next day.

This would make the end-of-show decision more interesting. They have to win more games for the grand prize--that's the risk--but they're more likely to buy the catamaran if they don't have to pass up everything. Players retain any Temptation Dollars left over, and the host could lower the price or add bonuses to coax them to buy as in the front game. Perhaps farther up the ladder there's a bribe to leave, say $25,000 if the car is $60,000, and once they get to the car (the grand prize), they buy it and leave or risk it to add the lucite briefcase of cash.

One other small thing: Back in the big sale, winners get a refund of what they spent on bargains in the front. You want them to buy to keep the game close, and this removes a reason not to.