But your bonus round...

[Vgmastr]

One problem I had for years (I think I remember posting something to this effect on a similar thread back in the a.t.g-s days): The show is called "Wheel of Fortune", but the bonus round had nothing at all to with a wheel. Finally, after around 20 years (too lazy to look up the date, I know it's out there), they made it so.

I've always hated the bonus round wheel because they don't show the values as the wheel is spinning, so anticlimactic.  The fun of watching a wheel spin is rooting for it to land on a certain space.  Imagine how lame the front game would be if every value was hidden and was revealed after the contestant called a letter.  Imagine how exciting the bonus round would be if we could see the values on the wheel, see the million dollars get closer and closer and if the contestant landed on it, how much more intense the bonus round puzzle would be.

[BrandonFG]

Finally, after around 20 years (too lazy to look up the date, I know it's out there), they made it so.

Fall 2001, so exactly 20 years after they rolled out the bonus round.

[Clay Zambo]

"Prefect 21" on the 2000 Twenty One revival. It feels very shoehorned in, and the risks involved ($60k to win $40, $100 to win $50) make it a broken game. Seems like something they made up in ten minutes.

To be honest, since PYRAMID, I’ve found most bonus rounds wanting. The idea of turning the game inside out, as the Winner’s Circle does, is such a wonderful mechanic shift that most variants of “Do the same thing you did before, but against the clock” are kind of a let-down.

But Pyramid does that. The clock is the integral part.

Not to speak for Clay, but I think his point is the fact that the Winner's Circle has you doing the opposite of the main game. I think his complaint is against bonus games which are identical to the main game, with the addition of a clock being the only difference. The Lightning Round on Password, for example.

Exactly so, though the Lightning Round gets a pass from me because at that point in our history I don’t believe it had been done before; also, since you were playing only with your partner rather than volleying against the other team I find it interesting. I prefer Alphabetics to the Lightning Round, since it adds the initial letters as a unifying element.

TOTALLY with you on “Perfect 21,” by the way.

[PYLdude]

One problem I had for years (I think I remember posting something to this effect on a similar thread back in the a.t.g-s days): The show is called "Wheel of Fortune", but the bonus round had nothing at all to with a wheel. Finally, after around 20 years (too lazy to look up the date, I know it's out there), they made it so.

I've always hated the bonus round wheel because they don't show the values as the wheel is spinning, so anticlimactic.  The fun of watching a wheel spin is rooting for it to land on a certain space.  Imagine how lame the front game would be if every value was hidden and was revealed after the contestant called a letter.  Imagine how exciting the bonus round would be if we could see the values on the wheel, see the million dollars get closer and closer and if the contestant landed on it, how much more intense the bonus round puzzle would be.

I would find no additional benefit in knowing where the $100,000 space is and really neither would anyone else. Assuming the player doesn't know in that case. And even if the player does know, then you've ratcheted up the pressure on him/her and overcomplicated a simple situation. That's not intensity, that's annoying.

And how much more intense.can a potential million dollar bonus round be? It's for One Million Damn Dollars.

[TimK2003]

  I didn't mind Squares's "Big Money" end game, but it did feel out of place. I loved the H^2 bonus round, but I always thought this or Tic Tac Dough would've benefitted from something similar to the Gold Run on Blockbusters. 

When TTD had it's brief daytime run on CBS, they did have a different Bonus Game set-up: Find the winning 3 X or 3 O  line before hitting the dragon. Not sure why they switched to the standard B&E "Reach $1,000 before hitting the bad space" when they went to syndication.

[Unrealtor]

Along the lines of "the same thing, but against the clock," I'm particularly not fond of any how where the end game is "answer X general knowledge questions in Y seconds," particularly when there's little or no chrome carried over from the rest of the game. I'd put the Gold Run from Blockbusters in this category, but I also give it a pass because the contestant gets a little bit of information and the opportunity to choose their own material, rather than having to go with whatever question stack the writers came up with.

[Kevin Prather]

Imagine how exciting the bonus round would be if we could see the values on the wheel, see the million dollars get closer and closer and if the contestant landed on it, how much more intense the bonus round puzzle would be.

Don't need to imagine. Just watch an episode of Australia's Wheel.

[Clay Zambo]

Along the lines of "the same thing, but against the clock," I'm particularly not fond of any how where the end game is "answer X general knowledge questions in Y seconds," particularly when there's little or no chrome carried over from the rest of the game. I'd put the Gold Run from Blockbusters in this category, but I also give it a pass because the contestant gets a little bit of information and the opportunity to choose their own material, rather than having to go with whatever question stack the writers came up with.

Gold Run also had the twist of multiple-word answers, which I thought helped.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Imagine how exciting the bonus round would be if we could see the values on the wheel, see the million dollars get closer and closer and if the contestant landed on it, how much more intense the bonus round puzzle would be.

Don't need to imagine. Just watch an episode of Australia's Wheel.

And that gets anticlimactic really quick when champs spin way past the car and land on the stove.

What the hidden values allow Wheel to do is hide the distribution. If we actually knew how many house minimum spaces were out there, it wouldn't be a great look.

[chrisholland03]

Unless you saved the wheel spin until after the solve.  Then you get two climaxes.

[Neumms]

I loved how the Blitz Bonanza wheel worked, but the consolation money for each star who got it right was a lame way to shoehorn in the stars and rewarded the player for how easy the puzzle was that they blew.

I hated $ale of the Century's Winner's Big Money Game. Nothing to do with bargain merchandise and, because one particular slot gave it away, it was too easy for the producers to manipulate.

[PYLdude]

Unless you saved the wheel spin until after the solve.  Then you get two climaxes.

Okay, that I can see working. Although in a case like that the envelopes might not even be necessary?

[Neumms]

Also, we try to put it out of our minds, but the Press Your Luck bonus round may be the worst of them all.

[tyshaun1]

Also, we try to put it out of our minds, but the Press Your Luck bonus round may be the worst of them all.

Eh, PYL with a bonus round gives you incentive to play the main game with more strategy as opposed to just plain greed when you don't have a returning champion.

[PYLdude]

Also, we try to put it out of our minds, but the Press Your Luck bonus round may be the worst of them all.

Eh, PYL with a bonus round gives you incentive to play the main game with more strategy as opposed to just plain greed when you don't have a returning champion.

But there's no real jeopardy involved here. They don't add any Whammies to the board, which would up the risk factor significantly. They also don't need to make the round become the entire second half of the show either; surviving a certain amount of spins without Whammying out is fine.