The crux of Concentration.

[PYLdude]

I recently went on a trip through the archives and found a older discussion about the use of bonus rounds on the 1970s and 1980s editions of Concentration. Specifically, I felt that there really was no wrong answer as to which was more fitting/superior, but what it came down to was what you felt was the more important part of the gameplay. If you feel it's the rebuses then Double Play was the way to go, and if it was the matchmaking element then it was the car game.

So I figured, especially now that both series have found a spot on our televisions again, I'd repose the question.

What do you think is the more important part of the Concentration game? The puzzle solving or the matching? And is there really a wrong answer?

[Clay Zambo]

Why not do both? How about a 16-square board, 45 seconds to match as many pairs as you can, then reveal the matched spaces to solve a puzzle for the grand prize?

(Personally I preferred Double Play, but I like the Car Round too. I don’t think there is *a* right answer.

[calliaume]

I liked both end games, but obviously it was a lot easier and cheaper to do the 1980s matching game than creating six puzzles per episode as was done in the Narz version. The 1980s version is also more interesting to the viewer, rather than watching the contestant go "Uh...." for 10 seconds.

As for overall, you've got to be able to solve the puzzles to win anything. (Which is why I might not have been a very good contestant.)

[chrisholland03]

I think the episodes of CC airing on Buzzr now (best 2 out of 3 puzzles plays car match) is my favorite Concentration format.  The pacing is right, you get the speed-solve element from the Narz version if you go to a 3rd puzzle, and a bonus round that has multiple facets played once per show.

If only they had ditched those stupid palm trees...

 

[BrandonFG]

I think both made a great use of the skills of the game (DP the revises, CC the matching). I think I lean more towards CC because it was a guaranteed car on the line.

[TLEberle]

Why not do both? How about a 16-square board, 45 seconds to match as many pairs as you can, then reveal the matched spaces to solve a puzzle for the grand prize?

I literally proffered this exact idea however many months ago as a way to marry the two elements together. One of the great things about Concentration is that it has two intertwined elements and it isn't like "answer a question for the chance to do X", it is that you have to be good at both parts of the game. Everything about it works on all cylinders for me.

(Personally I preferred Double Play, but I like the Car Round too. I don’t think there is *a* right answer.

The original run went nearly fifteen years without any sort of end game. I can see how that would get dry too. The right answer seems to be whatever you grew up with or are most fond of is your right answer.

Assuming I'm Lord High Commissioner of Game Shows: put smallish prizes or money amounts on the end game board, and solving the accompanying puzzle is worth $5,000. Alternating episodes would allow the contestant to match the trunk, engine and cabin of an automobile to win that in the main game. I'd go back to a thirty square board to allow the main game to breathe as well with an aim towards having one main puzzle then a bonus round per show.

[KrisW73]

Assuming I'm Lord High Commissioner of Game Shows: put smallish prizes or money amounts on the end game board, and solving the accompanying puzzle is worth $5,000. Alternating episodes would allow the contestant to match the trunk, engine and cabin of an automobile to win that in the main game. I'd go back to a thirty square board to allow the main game to breathe as well with an aim towards having one main puzzle then a bonus round per show.

I like this concept - what would you do in the case of a miracle solve (like "Night Court")?

[TLEberle]

Part of the problem with a game like Concentration is that it can be over very quickly or it can take what feels like forever. (And we've also increased the amount of time of the end game as well. I would love if a game took as long as it did and was spread across whatever editions were recorded and chunkified appropriately so that if someone solved it early everyone would tuck into the next game and off they went. "We started a game with a few minutes to go yesterday so here's how that resolved."

[Clay Zambo]

Why not do both? How about a 16-square board, 45 seconds to match as many pairs as you can, then reveal the matched spaces to solve a puzzle for the grand prize?

I literally proffered this exact idea however many months ago as a way to marry the two elements together.

I knew such a good idea couldn’t have been wholly mine!

[KrisW73]

Part of the problem with a game like Concentration is that it can be over very quickly or it can take what feels like forever. (And we've also increased the amount of time of the end game as well. I would love if a game took as long as it did and was spread across whatever editions were recorded and chunkified appropriately so that if someone solved it early everyone would tuck into the next game and off they went. "We started a game with a few minutes to go yesterday so here's how that resolved."

Perfect - I like it!

[tvwxman]

I have my own ideas for a Concentration revival that involve....charades.

Just kidding.

Question about "Double Play", which I preferred as a bonus....when did they switch to the 9 number board, and what did you have to do to play for the car? none of the eps currently out there have the answer.

[TLEberle]

Either match the pair of car cards among the nine boxes or have a car showing when the one wild card was revealed, which put every prize revealed to that point at stake.

[Bryce L.]

One question I'm hoping to have answered by these episodes (assuming the nine-number board is present in this batch), is what happens if you find the Wild Card on your first pick.

[clemon79]

(assuming the nine-number board is present in this batch)

I did not read this as "batch" at first.

is what happens if you find the Wild Card on your first pick.

IIRC you play for the next thing you pick.

[Neumms]

Classic Concentration made such smart changes to the main game. Going to 25 squares. Revealing the natural match after a wild card. Getting rid of forfeits. The changes were far less severe than Narz's three squares in a turn.

I thought Double Play was goofy. Rebuses should be pretty straightforward when you see the whole thing, and I don't like a climactic grand prize game in only 10 seconds. (I didn't like it on Scrabble, either.)

My idea for a show format: self-contained, two puzzles out of three, the third puzzle a tie-breaker with hands on buzzers. If one player wins both regular games, he plays the third puzzle against the clock for extra seconds in the end game. I'd use the car game format but with dollar amounts. Then they could put cars in the main game, either halves of the car or a random shot.