[quote name=\'grimmte\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 01:38 PM\'] So are you all saying that if you were on the show, playing plinko and they announce the prize as $250,000, that you would turn to Bob and say "THAT'S TOO MUCH!!!" ?
Edited Addemdum --- yes, I know you were all laughing on the inside. [/quote]
Well, um, you just feel free to keep on thinkin' that.
I see it's time for my occasional diatribe again.
When I post here, I post as a fan and as a critic of game shows, not as a potential contestant. OF COURSE I'm not gonna throw back $250K Plinko if someone offered to let me play that.
As a potential contestant, I'm looking to maximize my winnings, bottom line. If I could choose any show to go on, it would be WOF, despite the fact that I _HATE_ WOF, because the ratio of cash money dispensed to chuckleheaded contestants who couldn't solve "C_T" if the category was "Feline Animal" is the highest. And if Pat got up there and said "Welcome to Wheel; the top dollar value today will be eleventy billion dollars", and I happen to be standing behind a colored pointer at that moment, I'm certainly not gonna gripe.
As a FAN, though, whenever this happens, I ask myself "does the increase in excitement for the viewer at home (and potential Nielsen point) justify the increase in prize budget?" And in almost every case, the answer is no. Didn't happen when Plinko went from 25K to 50K, didn't happen with the jump to 100K on the MDS's, and at 250K it's just stupid. It's at the point where that number is so big that it DETRACTS from the game for me.