Shows That "Assumed" You Knew Everything About Rules/Scoring.

[TimK2003]

Over on one of the FB threads, while discussing the complexity of the rules, and scoring, on Whew.  I brought up another show where it took me a while to figure out the scoring and some of the rules of another game:  Three On A Match.

In all of the copies in the trading/streaming world, I don't ever recall Bill Cullen ever saying how they determined the amount if money in the 3-category pot (later figuring out that it was $10 x the number of questions bid by the contestants).

I'm sure the average viewer was likely confused as well if they weren't watching from the beginning when Bill likely explained it all (like how Tom Kennedy did on the first weeks of Whew).

Does anybody else know of a show that slowly stopped explaining potentially-confusing game play or scoring?

[trainman]

I feel like a J! contestant choosing to bet $5 on a Daily Double is potentially confusing if you don't know that it's the minimum amount, and that's something that Alex didn't always mention (and I think it came up at least once with one of the guest hosts, who didn't mention it either).

[Clay Zambo]

Well, the thing about THREE ON A MATCH is that there are so *many* rules that it’d take a half hour to explain them. Moreover, the only surviving episodes are from after the show was well established. JEOPARDY! hosts don’t have to explain “the jeopardy…” and only mention “answer in the form of a question” if a player needs to be prompted—though both of those things were done regularly in the early days of the current era.

But, yeah, what I wouldn’t give for (a) a tape of the ToaM premiere or (b) a copy of the show bible.

[Dbacksfan12]

A youngster watching TPiR these days likely doesn't understand the rules to many of the pricing games.  Drew does a piss-poor job explaining the majority of times.

[BrandonFG]

A youngster watching TPiR these days likely doesn't understand the rules to many of the pricing games.  Drew does a pisa-poor job explaining the majority of times.

I dunno...contestants getting confused by the rules goes back close to 40 years.

/Don't even get me started on the Ten Chances girl who lucked into winning a car

[nowhammies10]

A youngster watching TPiR these days likely doesn't understand the rules to many of the pricing games.  Drew does a pisa-poor job explaining the majority of times.

I dunno...contestants getting confused by the rules goes back close to 40 years.

I get so infuriated watching Bob explaining Grocery Game in the old days.

"You need to spend $7.00. But don't go over $7.00, because if you go over $7.00 you lose. If you get within 25¢ of $7.00, that is $6.75-7.00, then you win!"

Just farkin' explain to the poor girl that she's gotta get to $6.75! Who cares about the $7.00 business?

"Now you've spent $5.63, so you're $1.37 away from $7.00!"

/headdesks

[Adam Nedeff]

The worst offender for "assuming" the viewer got the game, bar none, is the 1986-87 run of "Cross-Wits." I dare anybody to show me one episode where they explain how score is kept.

[BrandonFG]

The worst offender for "assuming" the viewer got the game, bar none, is the 1986-87 run of "Cross-Wits." I dare anybody to show me one episode where they explain how score is kept.

It’s weird, because they spent time on the animation telling you how a crossword puzzle works, yet no point structure.

[JMFabiano]

Any version of Family Feud after the Dawson version.  When the later versions started, there was no need to re-explain the rules. 

[Unrealtor]

On the other side of the Atlantic, Countdown has entered the "on for long enough that it's assumed everyone tuning in knows the rules" category, although even in the videos I've seen of the early days they didn't seem to explain them in a lot of detail.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Any version of Family Feud after the Dawson version.  When the later versions started, there was no need to re-explain the rules.

Who stopped mentioning the goal score during the first question? I know Ray did it, but I remember Karn doing it when the goal score was re-established, and then never seeing O'Hurley explain it.

A youngster watching TPiR these days likely doesn't understand the rules to many of the pricing games.  Drew does a piss-poor job explaining the majority of times.

Funnily enough, he's very good at explaining the rules to games that have premiered since he became host.

[alfonzos]

"Let's Play Post Office" is the first game I can remember that began the show playing the game without explanation. Don Morrow would declare "Let's Play Post Office," reveal the maximum value of the first letter, reveal the answer to the home audience, and then play the first game. The show would go off the air a few weeks later.

[JMFabiano]

Any version of Family Feud after the Dawson version.  When the later versions started, there was no need to re-explain the rules.

Who stopped mentioning the goal score during the first question? I know Ray did it, but I remember Karn doing it when the goal score was re-established, and then never seeing O'Hurley explain it.

I think O'Hurley and Harvey mention it going out to the first commercial.

What I meant originally, though, was...aside from the point goal, every version besides Dawson's did not (need to) explain how the game in general works.  Think the first weeks or so of Dawson was the only time I heard the game explained in detail during the first Face-Off.  ("XX people said it, that goes into our bank, now here's how you build the bank...")  Though just saying "try to find the most popular answer" is the show in a nutshell. 

Aside from obvious cues during the game, Combs and the current version did not start with the "101" explanation that the show did when it debuted. 

This may be cheating, but...the Money Cards in Eubanks/Rafferty Card Sharks when the car game was being played.

Everyone knows how to play Password, even Allen said that much on the first PW+ episode.   

The stand-alone Hollywood Squares averted this pretty much, as everyone did the "three stars in a row" spiel for as long as the show was on.  Except I think there was a time or two Peter just said "Our contestants know the rules" or words to that effect...maybe I'm thinking of the NBC finale?  And later on, Bergeron simplified the rules spiel.  Actually, only MG/HS seemed to assume we knew everything, since Bauman only explained the scoring and that whoever's ahead wins the game. 

Wheel is like that too...of course it's been around for 40+ years so I'd hope we know how to play it.  But for most of its existence, the only rules explanation was how the wheel worked (what the top value was and don't hit Bankrupt, essentially) with little said on screen about the puzzles.  Then less so when they went to all-cash. 

[Neumms]

Everyone knew how to play Password, but I don’t recall Allen ever saying first to 25 points won.

[SuperMatch93]

Everyone knew how to play Password, but I don’t recall Allen ever saying first to 25 points won.

I think early on when a pair scored for the first time in a game he would say "That's the first score towards a 25-point goal" or something like that.