Hardest of bonus rounds

[Offshored2007]

There were times on Whew! that too many of the bloopers Tom read in the Gauntlet were just too hard, and at times, the bloopers were a bit too long, making it next to impossible to win the $25,000, even with the bonus seconds.

[Blanquepage]

Having recently had the treat of screening Baffle, I'd definitely add that as one of the most ridiculous bonus rounds.
The contestant has 30 seconds to guess 5 random words out of 3 displayed letters, with no category at all that links the words.
Example: CJL for "cajole", or FLP for "floppy". Any correct answer was worth 3 seconds to guess a final 'tougher' word for the grand prize.

[colonial]

A few years back, I caught about 15-20 episodes of "The Link," a BBC quiz from the mid-2010s hosted by the guy who played Ron Weasley's dad in the "Harry Potter" films (Mark Williams).

The bonus game was essentially the last incarnation of the SOTC bonus game on steroids. Per Wiki ...

The team has 60 seconds to identify the links between sets of items. One contestant plays at a time, and is shown one item at a time in a list of 10. The clock begins to run when the first item is revealed, and stops when either the contestant buzzes-in to guess the link or all 10 items have been revealed, whichever comes first. A correct response moves the team one step up a six-level money ladder, using the same values as Round 1, but a miss requires the same contestant to play a new list.

After any correct answer, the team may choose to stop the game and keep the money won to that point, or risk it and continue playing. If they continue, the partner of the contestant who played the last list takes control. Identifying six links in 60 seconds awards £2,000 plus the cash total brought in from Round 2. If time runs out, the team leaves with nothing.


I did not catch a single bonus win during my viewings. No team came close to having a stone's throw of winning the jackpot. It wouldn't surprise me if there were 1-2 bonus wins max in the 65 episodes aired.


JD

[PYLdude]

I’d add “Save to Win” and “Funny You Should Ask”. Both involve a blind shot in the dark for a measly $5,000.

I would add the bonus round on the 1970s editions of You Don’t Say to that, because you really need to be on the ball with your clues and even then you’re not guaranteed to win the big bucks.

[Neumms]

The concept of the Concentration '73 bonus round wasn't difficult in and of itself IMO, but when the showrunners insisted on solutions like "JIMMY STEWART WAS A FAMOUS ACTOR WHO STARRED IN IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" and "MY VERY EXCELLENT MOTHER JUST SERVED US NINE PIES," it definitely became one of the hardest.

Did they make the puzzles any shorter when they changed to the variety of prizes?

[Neumms]

One has to be The $100,000 Pyramid during $100,000 weeks. They weren't going to let it be won before at least a week went by, no way, no how.

[Allstar87]

I’d add “Save to Win” and “Funny You Should Ask”. Both involve a blind shot in the dark for a measly $5,000.

In Save To Win's case, nobody ever won the $5,000. One of the clip shows at the end of the season actually faked a clip of a team winning the bonus round; said team did indeed win their episode, but didn't really win the $5K, and didn't pick the spaces that were revealed in the fake clip. The most that anyone ever truly won was $1,900, the clip show played that round in full.

FYSA's bonus round has been won a scant few times, but it's much more difficult than it should be. Season 3 didn't see a bonus round victory until four months in.

[BrandonFG]

One has to be The $100,000 Pyramid during $100,000 weeks. They weren't going to let it be won before at least a week went by, no way, no how.

Not quite. Out of the 12 Clark tournaments, seven were won in the first week. Of the remaining five, only one went into a third week.

All five of Davidson's tournaments lasted one week.

[Kevin Prather]

One has to be The $100,000 Pyramid during $100,000 weeks. They weren't going to let it be won before at least a week went by, no way, no how.

Not quite. Out of the 12 Clark tournaments, seven were won in the first week. Of the remaining five, only one went into a third week.

All five of Davidson's tournaments lasted one week.

Neumms' post would probably be more accurate to say "They weren't going to let it be won before at least three days went by, no way, no how."

I believe Keefe was the only one to win it on a Tuesday, and Monday in particular was seemingly designed to be impossible. Logical, as they probably wanted to be sure the third player got at least one shot.

[TheInquisitiveOne]

I have to echo the sentiment of the “Winner’s Big Money Game” in the late portion of NBC $ale. Players have virtually no margin for error; one wrong answer or a delayed response by even a second or two would’ve taken the champion out of contention for winning the big one. The difficulty could’ve been slightly tempered if they used the same clock system that sister show Scrabble utilized, adding tenths of seconds to the timer to loosen the restrictive play, if only a little bit.

Speaking of Scrabble, the Bonus Sprint can qualify for the same reasons as the WBMG.

Also gotta give a nod to High Rollers’ “Big Numbers,” which is largely luck based.

The Inquisitive One
 

[TimK2003]

One has to be The $100,000 Pyramid during $100,000 weeks. They weren't going to let it be won before at least a week went by, no way, no how.

Not quite. Out of the 12 Clark tournaments, seven were won in the first week. Of the remaining five, only one went into a third week.

All five of Davidson's tournaments lasted one week.

Neumms' post would probably be more accurate to say "They weren't going to let it be won before at least three days went by, no way, no how."

I believe Keefe was the only one to win it on a Tuesday, and Monday in particular was seemingly designed to be impossible. Logical, as they probably wanted to be sure the third player got at least one shot.

Let's say that a $100K Tourney was won on Day One:  Would the 3rd "odd man out" player be invited back to the next tourney?

[TLEberle]

No, why? The reward of posting a faster time is getting to play first.