5 Least Favorite Current Pricing Games

[Steve Gavazzi]

I've been saying pretty much since the game debuted, but there should be a traffic light on the prop. When Drew asks "Is (s)he right?" the green or red light lights up. Easy for everybody to understand and then they can ditch the awkwardness of playing two sound effects at once on the reveals because it's not immediately intuitive what the revving engine and squealing tire sounds mean.

The first two times Gridlock! was played, they actually did something like this -- a "Caution" sign or something along those lines would show up on the price display when the buzzer sounded.  I think they stopped because they decided to just stay on a shot of the cars during the reveals instead of doing a wide shot, but it was kind of a neat effect while it lasted.

[jdhernandez]

This one is tough for me, because there's definitely 4 least favorite games, and one game that simply annoys me.

Pay the Rent: This one tops the list easily. Too often, the contestant will stop at $10,000 because it is damn near impossible to win the grand prize of $100K. While I get that this game is like a puzzle of sorts, the majority of contestants will not realize that and just try to pick the more expensive prizes as we ascend. Plus, the "secondary" prize for this game is the grand prize in "Grand Game"? Yeah... take the $10K and run.

Time is Money: How often is the $20K won on THIS game? Almost never. In fact, how often is this game even won with any money? Also not often. This is one of the more frustrating games to watch and plays like a more chaotic and disorganized version of "Race Game."

One Wrong Price: Of all the quick-play games, this one has always rubbed me the wrong way because isn't the point to get the prices... right?

Double Cross: Another game with a ton of buildup and rock music that feels unnecessary. This is like a quick game that doesn't play like a quick game.

Cover Up: I do like this game... when it is played the right way. Years ago on the old atgs boards, I feel like this game was discussed at length because one contestant seemed to try and miss all the numbers on purpose... only to actually miss all 5 numbers on the first go. As Drew states, "You only need one number right to remain in the game." I've always felt that the "right way" to play this is get the first number right, miss the 2nd one on purpose and go from there. This act alone increases your chances of winning the game. When I see contestants try to get all the numbers correct right away, that annoys me when they later wind up losing.

[whewfan]

This one is tough for me, because there's definitely 4 least favorite games, and one game that simply annoys me.

Pay the Rent: This one tops the list easily. Too often, the contestant will stop at $10,000 because it is damn near impossible to win the grand prize of $100K. While I get that this game is like a puzzle of sorts, the majority of contestants will not realize that and just try to pick the more expensive prizes as we ascend. Plus, the "secondary" prize for this game is the grand prize in "Grand Game"? Yeah... take the $10K and run.

Time is Money: How often is the $20K won on THIS game? Almost never. In fact, how often is this game even won with any money? Also not often. This is one of the more frustrating games to watch and plays like a more chaotic and disorganized version of "Race Game."

One Wrong Price: Of all the quick-play games, this one has always rubbed me the wrong way because isn't the point to get the prices... right?

Double Cross: Another game with a ton of buildup and rock music that feels unnecessary. This is like a quick game that doesn't play like a quick game.

Cover Up: I do like this game... when it is played the right way. Years ago on the old atgs boards, I feel like this game was discussed at length because one contestant seemed to try and miss all the numbers on purpose... only to actually miss all 5 numbers on the first go. As Drew states, "You only need one number right to remain in the game." I've always felt that the "right way" to play this is get the first number right, miss the 2nd one on purpose and go from there. This act alone increases your chances of winning the game. When I see contestants try to get all the numbers correct right away, that annoys me when they later wind up losing.

Pay the Rent was much more impossible when there was only ONE combination that worked. After a number of playings, they decided to increase the chances by creating more than one winning solution. Still, 9 times out of 10 this results in walking away with $10k and calling it a game.

I like Time is Money 2.0 far better than it was when Bob hosted. Still, it's possible to walk away with a good hunk of money if you're fast enough.

Double Cross: I don't like that the default setting is a possible choice for two correct prices, and Drew fails to mention that one of the numbers of the price of both prizes DOUBLE CROSS. That's why it's CALLED Double Cross! In theory, the player could just not touch the game at all and leave it as is... making it more like "Switch?"

Cover Up: I didn't understand Drew's aversion to having the wrong numbers displayed. MANY pricing games have an element of "This price is wrong... correct it somehow." Still, when the staff decided to surprise him with 5 images of Drew instead of the numbers, he had a good laugh. Of course since then someone tries to tie in some theme to the 5 images.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Cover Up: I didn't understand Drew's aversion to having the wrong numbers displayed. MANY pricing games have an element of "This price is wrong... correct it somehow." Still, when the staff decided to surprise him with 5 images of Drew instead of the numbers, he had a good laugh. Of course since then someone tries to tie in some theme to the 5 images.

That said, considering that the starting price on the board had no connection to the right price, I actually like that they gave this game a spin for Drew. Also really liked when they used old pricing games as the starting marks for S50.

[Brakus]

3. Gas Money (under its current rules): I would LOVE to see the show bring back the original "Deal or No Deal"-style rules, where you're stuck with your original choice throughout the game.

If they brought back the original rules, I say this: if it gets down to the last 2, first, ask the contestant if they want to stop or go, and if they go, then give them the option to swap - swap the prices at the cost of all the money they've gotten until now, and if they reveal the pink slip, they still lose, but if they reveal the one remaining money amount, they win the car plus the money they revealed. Either way, the outcomes will still be the same - car+money or nothing. The only way to win the full $10,000 is just as before, they had to pick the right price to begin with. The contestant would basically giving up $6k-$9k to swap the prices, and they will have already committed to play on - no takesie-backsies -  so maybe it might make the contestant really think about it.

[wdm1219inpenna]

One problem with that idea about the option to swap, too much like Barker's Markers/Make Your Mark, which was a game screwed up on thus causing its retirement.

While I do wish they would go back to the original rules where you select the price you believe is the price of the car and remove it from the others, this game is still okay to me.

[Vgmastr]

The problem with the old rules to Gas Money is that it's clunky to explain.  It's much easier to say "Don't pick the price of the car until the end to win." vs "Pick the price of the car, now eliminate prices one by one to earn money and you have to eliminate all the prices to win."  Plus I think it's bad game design to have a game where the contestant winning the car is decided immediately and then having to go through the process to earn cash when the final result has already been decided.

[TLEberle]

I thought it worked fine. It's Car or No Car as a pricing game.

[Joe Mello]

The current version of Gas Money is easy to parse if it's phrased as "Earn $10,000 before picking the car and you win everything." It also tracks to some extent that if you get a pink slip you're done.

I agree with everyone who thinks the game of Gridlock! is lacking, but the set piece is reminiscent of all those pricing game contraptions of the 70's and 80's, so it has a little bit of charm.

[TLEberle]

I agree with everyone who thinks the game of Gridlock! is lacking, but the set piece is reminiscent of all those pricing game contraptions of the 70's and 80's, so it has a little bit of charm.

The problem for me is that the mammoth set piece basically hides a nothing game. Money Game at least has the charm of wrong answers paying off and you get more chances. Gridlock is a game where I groan and hit fast forward.

I don't have a problem with Gas Money but wouldn't mind if they cranked up the risk factor with nicer but not luxury cars.