Changing Up The Odds

[tvmitch]

When the budget was lean, we've discussed how the writers on Pyramid could adjust the difficulty of Winner's Circle categories, and how the increased difficulty of the Gauntlet bloopers on Whew! caused a dry spell for winners in the middle of the show's run.

Watching the newer episodes of Concentration with the match-the-prize element added in Double Play made me think...

If a contestant ended up matching an expensive prize package, would the show have the freedom (with a very quick turnaround) to load-in more difficult puzzles? I'm wondering if this would be allowed by S&P (did all material have to be finalized and approved at the start of the show?), let alone if it was possible to have more than one set of prize puzzles and solution supers at the ready.

I've been catching up on these shows, and when a contestant ends up playing for a $1000-ish "potpourri leftovers" package, it seems as if the puzzles are very simple.

Wondering if there are any other examples like this as well.

[Dbacksfan12]

ISTR an account on G-R that a game and/or showcase was dependent on how Triple Play went.  I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong.

[TLEberle]

My recollection is for the 30th anniversary special Plinko’s center slot would be $10k after a Triple Play win or $20k after a loss.

[Bryce L.]

My recollection is for the 30th anniversary special Plinko’s center slot would be $10k after a Triple Play win or $20k after a loss.

Since your recollection lines up verbatim with what's on the GR timeline, did they point-blank say this on the air, or did we hear about this after the fact from Roger, or... ?

[Sodboy13]

Pre-match-your-prize era on Concentration, if a player won the car in the first game and made it to the Double Play a second time, both puzzles were of the "lengthy factual statement" variety, making a two-car win highly improbable.

[Neumms]

Dick deBartolo said he separated hard questions and easy questions on the original Match Game to either slow down a game or improve the scoring. It sure appeared 70s Super Match Head-to-Heads were selected based on how the budget was holding up.

The Price Is Right can certainly manipulate the difficulty of games, a prime example being cars with 1s and 9s in the price in Lucky Seven.

[knagl]

did they point-blank say this on the air?

You're asking if Bob Barker said, "William, you were going to have a chance to win $100,000 in cash, but because Laurine won three cars in Triple Play earlier in the show we're reducing the amount you're playing for to $50,000."?

No, he didn't say that.

I am interested in the legitimacy of the whole thing though -- they had a large physical prop showing the top prize amount.  While it would be trivial to change out the amount listed on the center slot of the Plinko board, I think it would have been a bigger deal to switch out the large flippy prize display prop mid-show. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it seems a little suspect.

[JasonA1]

While it would be trivial to change out the amount listed on the center slot of the Plinko board, I think it would have been a bigger deal to switch out the large flippy prize display prop mid-show. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it seems a little suspect.

When they first played $50,000 Plinko in daytime, they didn't even flip the sign around, choosing to have Bob reveal the change afterward. They could have done something similar to that here.



-Jason

[MSTieScott]

On Steve Harvey Family Feud, if one team enters the third question with a score of more than 100 points, then the third question will be one where the total value of the responses, when doubled, will not be enough to give that team the win.

[Steve Gavazzi]

My recollection is for the 30th anniversary special Plinko’s center slot would be $10k after a Triple Play win or $20k after a loss.

Since your recollection lines up verbatim with what's on the GR timeline, did they point-blank say this on the air, or did we hear about this after the fact from Roger, or... ?

I heard it eons ago from someone with backstage access at the time, although I'm not sure who it was anymore.  I certainly wouldn't mind having it re-confirmed.

[Long live Jeopardy]

On Steve Harvey Family Feud, if one team enters the third question with a score of more than 100 points, then the third question will be one where the total value of the responses, when doubled, will not be enough to give that team the win.

I noticed this actually started halfway through Richard Karn's run, though there would be a 3-round win maybe once a season until this episode from John O'Hurley's second season:

http://www.gameshownewsnet.com/shortshots/110907.html

[Mr. Armadillo]

The Price Is Right can certainly manipulate the difficulty of games, a prime example being cars with 1s and 9s in the price in Lucky Seven.

Speaking of which, I remember being told that during one of the 2008 MDS's, they were supposed to play Three Strikes, but they gave away so many prizes during the two MDS's taped the day before, they swapped it out for Lucky Seven and played it for a $32,591 car.

It was won anyway.

/By a contestant who tried to guess 0 for the final digit with $1 leeway
//But still

[Steve Gavazzi]

Speaking of which, I remember being told that during one of the 2008 MDS's, they were supposed to play Three Strikes, but they gave away so many prizes during the two MDS's taped the day before, they swapped it out for Lucky Seven and played it for a $32,591 car.

It was won anyway.

I don't remember hearing that, but looking at the lineups, it would certainly explain how Lucky $even ended up appearing three times in six episodes.