Play perfectly, win less?

[Chuck Sutton]

Pretty sure there's been a few J! episodes where the champ won less than the $1,000/2,000/3,000 consolation money. There's also Darryl Scott who infamously won with $1, whereas his opponents won some consolation prizes that were obviously worth way more.

Wouldn't a perfect Jeopardy be win the buzzer race every time and respond correctly everytime

However, even in that extremely unlikely event if hit daily doubles early you could still win less than many a James Holshower game.

[BrandonFG]

Fair. That's why I said "If I'm reading this correctly."

[Casey Buck]

I don't remember his name, but I do recall there being a contestant who intentionally lost the car game because he wanted more prizes. I remember thinking it was silly but different strokes.

This guy (Ben, from the finale week in August 1991):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIGOr3pmrPk&t=9m59s

[Dbacksfan12]

Given the choice between a Yugo CV and a chance to win a trip to the Bahamas, I might take the chance to win a trip.

[SuperMatch93]

On TTD, if you get the Tic and the Tac in the bonus, you automatically get the dough, but not necessarily as much as if you had gotten a few dollar amounts that totaled more than $1,000.

[knagl]

I don't remember his name, but I do recall there being a contestant who intentionally lost the car game because he wanted more prizes. I remember thinking it was silly but different strokes.

This guy (Ben, from the finale week in August 1991):

Did Ben's gamble pay off?

No, no it didn't. Ben went on to lose the next two games in a row and did not win any additional prizes and basically threw away a Subaru Justy.

[Kevin Prather]

I don't remember his name, but I do recall there being a contestant who intentionally lost the car game because he wanted more prizes. I remember thinking it was silly but different strokes.

This guy (Ben, from the finale week in August 1991):

Did Ben's gamble pay off?

No, no it didn't. Ben went on to lose the next two games in a row and did not win any additional prizes and basically threw away a Subaru Justy.

And one thing that I don't think was ever mentioned previously, a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

[TLEberle]

I sort of understand why NBC/MGP changed the rules from win up to five games and up to five cars, and I believe there was a significant step down in the fabulousness of the grand prize cars on offer, but it's an odd position to be in as a player that a talented contestant cannot stay on and win a pile of loot.

When playing along I scope out the car list and pick the two I would most like to have but it's rare to see someone execute such a strategy--there are few of the imported subcompacts where I would rather try again and go through another game then to try for the Camaro IROC-Z or even a base level Honda Civic than

At the same time i understand that is a risk I would say as much as opposed to "I want to win more prizes!"

My colleague from a bit north is also correct: the championship weeks not only had spiffier cards like the Thunderbird and Mustang, but also a significant cash prize as well as whatever swag could be accrued from the two main games. I get it, but "Here's a rope tied in a knot, then the arrows are pointing to the tiger saying "GRR!" then an 8, followed by Scrooge and his worker Mr. Cratchit."

[Kevin Prather]

When playing along I scope out the car list and pick the two I would most like to have but it's rare to see someone execute such a strategy--there are few of the imported subcompacts where I would rather try again and go through another game then try to win again to try for the Camaro IROC-Z or even a base level Honda Civic.

At the same time i understand that is a risk I would say as much as opposed to "I want to win more prizes!"

Even if I just wanted to be a greedy asshat, I'd probably make that my explanation. "Golly, I just really want that Camaro" sounds better than "I want more prizes!" Maybe even make up some story about it being my dad's favorite car or something.

[vtown7]

Playing devil's advocate: did the contestant know it was the last week? Did the staff? If the former's the case, I still think it's not a great move, but I can see why he did it.

Side note: a friend of mine (the guy that kicked my butt on "Countdown" in 2009) went on "All New Blockbusters" on challenge in the UK in 2012 and didn't exactly make friends with host Simon Mayo when he purposely lost the Gold Run in an effort just to win cash instead of the prize on offer.

Ryan.

[Allstar87]

Playing devil's advocate: did the contestant know it was the last week? Did the staff?

Judging from some of the behavior in the last week, it feels like they knew, but hedged their bets in case NBC reversed course. There's also an odd exchange at the end of the finale where Alex asks the champ if they'll be back next week, and they say "I absolutely will!" When Alex asks Marjorie if she'll be back next week, she goes "eh, maybe", and Alex follows with "If you're not coming back, I'm not coming back!"

The CC finale had a contestant plug, but other Goodson finales have had contestant/ticket plugs when they knew the show wouldn't be around to honor them anymore, so there is precedent for that.

[Ian Wallis]

The CC finale had a contestant plug, but other Goodson finales have had contestant/ticket plugs when they knew the show wouldn't be around to honor them anymore, so there is precedent for that.

The last Card Sharks ran a contestant plug and coming out of it, Bob shook his head and stated something like "beats the heck out of me".

I'm also kind of confused as to why they did that.

[TLEberle]

A good contestant for Card Sharks is likely to be a good contestant on other shows, though at that point it would be Now You See It, maybe Super Password and eventually Match Game.

I forgot how bleak 1989 was for network game shows generally, though ABC certainly put their head start to good use by not having a network game show after 1987 I don't think.

[SRIV94]

I forgot how bleak 1989 was for network game shows generally, though ABC certainly put their head start to good use by not having a network game show after 1987 I don't think.

MG9x aired on ABC (and it's funny--you just mentioned it in the opening paragraph before this).

[BrandonFG]

There was also Animal Crackups, albeit on weekends.