Proposed format for Concentration

[whewfan]

I was trying to think of a way to revive Concentration and make it faster paced, and hopefully, more exciting...

The gameboard has 25 squares like Trebek's version. However, each pair has their OWN 25 square puzzle to solve... which will make sense in a moment...

Two pairs play. One pair starts the first part of the game... A 15 square board is shown, with 7 matching pairs of prizes. The pair has 30 seconds to make as many matches as they can. One calls the first number, and the other calls the next, alternating in the same manner for the full 30 seconds. The prizes they match also correspond to the 25 square gameboard, and those squares where the prizes are hidden are revealed. (So, a maximum 14 of the 25 squares can be revealed.) Any prize they match goes on their side of the board. They try to solve the puzzle, and if they can't, then the other pair plays the next 15 square board in the same manner, then tries to solve THEIR 25 square puzzle. If the pair should solve their puzzle on the first try, then the other pair MUST solve their puzzle on the first try, or the first team gets to play the bonus game.
(Alternatively... this could also be a 2 out of 3 match.)

Another twist: During the course of the 15 square matching round, there's one prize with no match. A button is in front of the pair. If they think they revealed the prize that is a NO MATCH, they hit the button, which grants them an extra 5 seconds in the bonus game. (No extra puzzle piece reveal)

Note: I thought each pair should have their own puzzle, as it would be unfair for the second pair to play off the same puzzle with theoretically most of the board revealed.

Note: With this format, more than 2 puzzles are played per game.

Note: Neither puzzle will be given "freebie" pieces to start, and of course, no wild cards, so this means three pieces will not be revealed.

The bonus game- A gameboard of 50 squares (Double of 25) is shown. This time, dollar figures are hidden and must be matched. The pair has 60 seconds (Plus any bonus time won in the main game), again alternating number calls, to make as many matches as they can. No mini boards... they're playing the 50 square board. If they can solve the bonus puzzle, they win all the cash accumulated.

Thoughts?

[BrandonFG]

You have some clever ideas (I kinda like the mini game that adds prizes to the main board) but I had to re-read this a few times to get an understanding. It’s too many extra changes for the sake of change that don’t add anything to the game. Nothing about Concentration is really broken enough to need that much fixing and by the time the rules are explained, it’ll be time to roll credits.

To your point about having individual puzzles to prevent an unfair advantage, I could solve a Wheel puzzle that’s 90% filled in without even calling a letter. And I wouldn’t say a player has an unfair advantage on Concentration. You still have to put 2+2 together with the rebus.

[Jimmy Owen]

Celebrity paired with contestant. Celebrity picks first, contestant tries to match. Both confer on solving the rebus. Wild card stays. Two teams play same puzzle. 25 squares on big screen monitors on set.

[whewfan]

You have some clever ideas (I kinda like the mini game that adds prizes to the main board) but I had to re-read this a few times to get an understanding. It’s too many extra changes for the sake of change that don’t add anything to the game. Nothing about Concentration is really broken enough to need that much fixing and by the time the rules are explained, it’ll be time to roll credits.

To your point about having individual puzzles to prevent an unfair advantage, I could solve a Wheel puzzle that’s 90% filled in without even calling a letter. And I wouldn’t say a player has an unfair advantage on Concentration. You still have to put 2+2 together with the rebus.

What I was thinking, regarding the mini board was, the 25 piece gameboard still has prizes hidden on it, but to reveal those pieces, you have to match that same prize on the mini board. The mini board, for me, recalls the bonus game of Classic Concentration, repurposed, and also, makes it easier to reveal more than 2 pieces at a time. With the potential of having a puzzle solved fast, it means more puzzles per game. I thought that using the 25 square board and allowing 30 seconds of gameplay would likely allow for more than 2 pieces at a time, but then I thought saving that for a bonus game would be better.

Regarding celebs on Concentration as part of the pair... I don't know... I think the game would work just fine with civilian pairs. The pairs of course could be married couples, siblings, co-workers, etc.

[Jeremy Nelson]

What happens if neither team gets their puzzle right in the speed round?

A gameboard of 50 squares (Double of 25) is shown.

Considering that we often had contestants who had trouble making seven matches on a gameboard a third of this size in that time limit, that sounds like a nightmare to watch and to play.

I like that you're giving some thought to this, but you're overcomplicating what's meant to be a simple game. If you can't explain the game in a sentence or to a six year old, then it's too complicated.

[Kevin Prather]

What does a 50-square board look like anyway? 10-by-5?

[PYLdude]

No. Just no.

A 50 square board? Are we trying to give the audience eyestrain?

What would stop someone from hitting the buzzer every time a prize came up? All for five extra bonus round seconds?

What’s the point of having two separate puzzles?

And why are you purposely leaving any puzzle completely unrevealed? It just seems like change for the sake of change.

[TLEberle]

No. Just no.

And why are you purposely leaving any puzzle completely unrevealed? It just seems like change for the sake of change.

While I don't want to outwardly discourage Matt from thinking about different ways to do game shows, I think the very first step if you're making a change is to understand why the show did it that way in the first place and explain why it would be better.

For example; I know that the computerized board made revealing relevant bits of information faster, and because the game was now against a clock a 25 piece board with three wilds (as well as revealing parts of the puzzle) made the game go faster to get either two puzzles and two car games in or three puzzles one car. I do however think there's something more than a little charmless about "Whoops! Times up! Put your hands on your buzzers" and off into a fast reveal. To that point I know I had put together an idea where in some wonderful world where Concentration 2025 is a streaming property that games just take as long as they do--whoever solves the puzzle wins, plays a variant of the fifteen-piece end game and then dives right back into another match.

If time is no longer a factor, there's no reason to go to fast-reveal unless the two players are so inept at finding matches/solving the puzzle that the enterprise deadballs.

[Loogaroo]

The biggest obstacle for a show like Concentration nowadays is that short of TPIR and LMAD, game shows hardly give small-scale prizes away anymore. The prizes that do exist are either cars or trips. When Classic Concentration was on, you still had manufacturers willing to offer up merchandise either for free or at a significant discount in return for getting their wares featured on the show. Without that as a way to barter for prizes, productions would have to pay out-of-pocket for any prizes they have on the board, and nobody wants to do that anymore.

[PYLdude]

I thought the 70s version got it as close to “right” as you could get.

You play two games, two bonus rounds, and if you’ve got enough time for a third game, have fun with it.

As far as the bonus round, as I said before, the car match and Double Play both work; at that point it’d just be a matter of what you’d consider to be more of the crux of the game, the rebuses or the memorization of patterns. (IIRC my solution was to have Double Play but give the champion ten seconds for each rebus as opposed to ten total seconds for both.)

[SuperMatch93]

A while back, I posted in a Discord server a dream I had regarding a new format for Concentration, and this seems like the appropriate place to share it:

-Two games of Concentration are played with two different players each game.
-The winner of each game returns for a playoff round called the "Three-bus." A rebus is revealed piece by piece (randomly, not in order) and the first player to buzz in with the correct answer wins a point. A wrong answer reveals the whole puzzle to your opponent, CC sudden death-style. Three points and you win the day.

My dream didn't contain a bonus round, but one I've thought of in the past is basically Quintuple Play. You get 30 seconds to solve five fully revealed rebuses. $250 for each one, $10,000 if you get all five.

Was the above a dream or a nightmare? You decide!

[TLEberle]

I think in a world of clip art where every image can be stored and keyed into a server and you can grab-drag-drop that creating puzzles would not be a problem. (If you need the word "again" you grab an egg and a hen.) I think Quintuple Play could be interesting as a way to build time for a matching game--the puzzle solving never felt particularly dramatic when against the clock.

The one issue you might have is going to five rebuses (rebi?) before declaring a winner, which is a lot of content without a palate cleanswer in the form of a bonus round.

[TimK2003]

One thing I miss from the original is the Forfeit cards.
 
Granted, the show would throw in cheap gag gifts on the board to use in the forfeits, but occasionally you had situations where a player had to part with a decent prize to fulfill the forfeit.

Using forfeits in modern day games, when all prizes are decent would throw in another layer of strategy for players.

[Clay Zambo]

The biggest obstacle for a show like Concentration nowadays is that short of TPIR and LMAD, game shows hardly give small-scale prizes away anymore. The prizes that do exist are either cars or trips. When Classic Concentration was on, you still had manufacturers willing to offer up merchandise either for free or at a significant discount in return for getting their wares featured on the show. Without that as a way to barter for prizes, productions would have to pay out-of-pocket for any prizes they have on the board, and nobody wants to do that anymore.

But why does it have to be prizes? Concentration works perfectly well with amounts of cash or playing cards. *We* know it as “the game of puzzles and prizes,” but a new generation wouldn’t.

[Jeremy Nelson]

A while back, I posted in a Discord server a dream I had regarding a new format for Concentration, and this seems like the appropriate place to share it:

-Two games of Concentration are played with two different players each game.
-The winner of each game returns for a playoff round called the "Three-bus." A rebus is revealed piece by piece (randomly, not in order) and the first player to buzz in with the correct answer wins a point. A wrong answer reveals the whole puzzle to your opponent, CC sudden death-style. Three points and you win the day.

My dream didn't contain a bonus round, but one I've thought of in the past is basically Quintuple Play. You get 30 seconds to solve five fully revealed rebuses. $250 for each one, $10,000 if you get all five.

Was the above a dream or a nightmare? You decide!

Threebus is a great name!

I think we're dealing with a similar issue with timing for this version. Assuming we're trying to fit this into 22 minutes, you're adding a whole new element- a playoff- into a show that often called time halfway into the second puzzle. Maybe if you reduce the size of the rebus again (20 spaces?) maybe we can fit all of that in.