Author Topic: Bonus Rounds (Read 5051 times)

Dbacksfan12 · « **on:** June 30, 2005, 11:06:21 AM »

Which bonus rounds, in your opinion, are too easy, or too hard?

Too easy: Blockbusters, Password Plus, Super Password. I think a 45 second time limit would have sufficed, as, IMO, the words were usually easy enough you could convey it on 1 or 2 clues. That is, unless you never wipe after you use the toilet.

beatlefreak84 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 30, 2005, 11:55:12 AM »

Here are some I consider to be too hard:

Nick Arcade-The only conceivable way to have a reasonable amount of time for the third level would be to do the first two almost flawlessly. Also, in the third level, all it takes is for one of the two to not be paying attention and the team would lose!

Stump the Schwab-Yeah; I know it's supposed to be hard, but when only 4 out of almost 80 people win it all year, and there are NO consolation prizes except for the 1 winner of the Tournament of Champions, it seems pretty cheap to me.

Shop 'Til You Drop-In each bonus round, there is one prize worth around $800-$1,000, and the ONLY way to win the bonus round conceivably is to get this prize. I have NEVER seen a team win without getting this "most expensive" prize.

Caesar's Challenge (second bonus round)-Unless you nailed those first two or three words almost immediately, that 30 seconds will run out WAY too fast! In my one episode on tape, the person spent almost 15 seconds on the first word alone!

Get the Picture-When they shortened the time to 35 seconds, the team essentially couldn't make a mistake, or they'd lose! Luckily, they'd still pick up some good prizes along the way, but winning this with the time change was darn near impossible!

And one I consider to be too easy:

Lingo (GSN)-Unless you were one of those teams that only got 1 or 2 words, chances are you will most definitely get that $5,000 "Lingo" (I can distinctly remember only three losses since the second season started).

This was fun; I'm interested to see what others come up with!

Anthony

aaron sica · « **Reply #2 on:** June 30, 2005, 11:56:03 AM »

I seem to remember WoF's bonus round being laughably easy when they first started the "you get RSTLN E on your own, pick 3 more consonants and one more vowel".

Also, when CP started the "turnabout" round, I thought that was easy too..

As for hard bonus rounds...CR's "Instant Reaction" could be, depending on what format was used...

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #3 on:** June 30, 2005, 12:07:03 PM »

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Caesar's Challenge (second bonus round)-Unless you nailed those first two or three words almost immediately, that 30 seconds will run out WAY too fast! In my one episode on tape, the person spent almost 15 seconds on the first word alone!

I agree with "Caesar's Challenge". Another that I thought was too hard is "Classic Concentration". I never liked that bonus round.

On the easy side..."Break the Bank 76" comes to mind. Just pick a card and hope it doesn't say "Bust". For that matter, I guess any bonus that is essentially a game of change would classify as easy. Many Barry-Enright shows would fit the bill.

I guess one way of telling if something's too easy or hard is the number of times it was won. If something's won just about every time it's played - it's too easy. The second "Caesar's Challenge" bonus was only won 3 times in about 60 playings - that's definately too hard.

bossjock967 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 30, 2005, 12:46:21 PM »

Just about any B&E bonus round is too easy. Keep spinning/picking/whatever until you either hit the set goal or hit the bad guy.

TLEberle · « **Reply #5 on:** June 30, 2005, 12:53:14 PM »

[quote name=\'bossjock967\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 09:46 AM\']Just about any B&E bonus round is too easy. Keep spinning/picking/whatever until you either hit the set goal or hit the bad guy.

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And the "Shop 'til you Drop" bonus could fall in that category too, since you're randomly picking six items out of fourteen with no knowledge of what's inside.

Thinking about Blockbusters/Password; perhaps they were made easy by design?

Does someone who was around to watch the show frequently know what was a rough win percentage for the Gauntlet of Villains?

whewfan · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2005, 01:08:02 PM »

Too hard

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego- racing around to place flags on 7 continents was hard enough, but then they changed it to 8! Darned near impossible! Perhaps a "Race Game" esque format could've worked... place all 7 flags on the continents, and make changes.

Legends of the Hidden Temple- My goodness, the contestants would have to know that temple like the back of their hands to make it all the way through. Very confusing maze of rooms.

Break the Bank- stunts took too long to complete, as well as to explain. Perhaps if they dropped the main game portion altogether and developed a format around the stunts, it would've been better.

Too easy

25k Pyramid- It seems the longer the show ran, the easier it became to win the bonus money. Even Mad Magazine pointed out the Winner's Circle was looking much too easy to win.

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2005, 01:10:14 PM »

[quote name=\'bossjock967\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 11:46 AM\']Just about any B&E bonus round is too easy. Keep spinning/picking/whatever until you either hit the set goal or hit the bad guy.

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On the other hand, considering the relatively low payouts of most B&E bonus games--$1,000 plus some prizes--maybe an easy game is appropriate, especially considering most B&E main games weren't exactly J!-level themselves.

Perhaps the difficulty of the bonus round should correspond somewhat to the difficulty of the main game as well as to the payout for winning the bonus round. It also helps if it has some connection to the main game.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2005, 10:14:48 PM »

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As for hard bonus rounds...CR's "Instant Reaction" could be, depending on what format was used...

It was one extreme or the other for the first month they were on...the first wk's "8 in 60 secs" bonus round was too hard, and the one they used for the next 4 wks ($1-$10-$100-$1K-$2K-etc.) was too easy...could you really feel bad for a contestant who fell one answer short of the $10K, and "only" won $5K instead?

And even once they went to the familiar "$100-$200-$300-etc." format, there was still room for improvement the first two wks, when you needed 10 (instead of 9) in 90 secs, which may explain why there was only one(?) $10K winner during that brief period.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2005, 11:42:50 PM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 12:08 PM\']Too hard

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego- racing around to place flags on 7 continents was hard enough, but then they changed it to 8![/quote]

Geographers would find that especially challenging.

(ITYM "countries" and/or "states")

BrandonFG · « **Reply #10 on:** July 01, 2005, 12:58:28 AM »

Gold Run/Rush on Blockbusters was easy only by description. They actually had some very challenging questions, and I think many contestants needed every bit of those :60, esp. when they've been blocked and have to go all the way around Robin Hood's barn to cross the board.

Alphabetics is not as easy as it looks IMO. You have to be on your toes to be able to equate a one-word clue with the word on the board, even if you do have the first letter in mind.

I think Wheel's bonus round is way too easy for a potential $100,000, even though it's barely won. I also agree with the thoughts that Carmen Sandiego was just way too complicated.

"Carmen has gone to.......Russia!"
-CONTESTANT: F$%#!!!

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #11 on:** July 01, 2005, 02:08:01 AM »

[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 10:08 AM\']Legends of the Hidden Temple- My goodness, the contestants would have to know that temple like the back of their hands to make it all the way through. Very confusing maze of rooms.
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True this. My friend swears up and down that there was an episode where the artifact was in the Crypt. This is the first room you enter when you enter the temple. To this day, I still laugh when I think about it. I imagine if someone set it up like that, they'd be looking for work the next day...

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 01, 2005, 02:37:19 AM »

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jul 1 2005, 01:08 AM\']This is the first room you enter when you enter the temple. To this day, I still laugh when I think about it. I imagine if someone set it up like that, they'd be
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I doubt it. Though in seasons 2-3, you weren't guaranteed automatic entry.

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #13 on:** July 01, 2005, 04:37:19 AM »

I agree most B&E shows utilize the win x dollars before you hit bad guy approach tends to be easy only because it's basically random luck. OTOH, most Nick game shows' bonus rounds are very hard & are mostly lost because players either were too slow or weren't paying any attention to the action.

Final J! more recently went into Tripple Stumper mode the last couple weeks. That irks me a bit. The clues sometimes were so twisted, the players thought they knew what it was untill Alex gives the correct response.

For me, too easy is any B&E luck based round.

As for too hard(I know it can only be won once) but the $100K Pyramid WC during its TofC shows. You'd be quick to come up with sharp clues for the subjects shown to the audience & the cluegiver

BrandonFG · « **Reply #14 on:** July 01, 2005, 08:03:04 AM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Jul 1 2005, 03:37 AM\']Final J! more recently went into Tripple Stumper mode the last couple weeks. That irks me a bit. The clues sometimes were so twisted, the players thought they knew what it was untill Alex gives the correct response.

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You didn't go Mike Tyson or throw any TVs, did you? Better yet, did you pull a Napoleon Dynamite and yell out "Gosh!"