Press Your Luck scenario...

[Kevin Prather]

you're playing 80s PYL...

in round 2, you hit your first whammy on your last spin, so you have $0.

one opponent whammies out of the game.

the other opponent, who entered the round with 10 spins, racks up $7,700, and kept 7 of his/her spins. (s)he passes them to you.

on the first spin, you hit Pick-A-Corner. You're choices are Whammy!, $1500+one spin, or Water Bike.

What do you do?

In due time, I'll say what I think is the ideal move. but lets see what you think.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Aug 12 2003, 11:25 PM\'] on the first spin, you hit Pick-A-Corner. You're choices are Whammy!, $1500+one spin, or Water Bike.

What do you do?
 [/quote]
 Take the $1500. Yeah the water bike is probably worth more, but it's a wasted spin. The $1500+spin gives you a (bad pun) second chance (bad pun) to rack some more money up.

Of course, it could also give you another Whammy.

Besides, I'd rather pay taxes on cash than on a prize that I'd probably decline. On a Pick-A-Corner, about the only prize I'd choose over $$$ is a trip or a car.

[Dan Sadro]

• Take the Whammy
• Take two spins
• Pass to the opponent with $7700

The problem with the Water Bike is that it's useless, both in real life and in the show.  Even saying it's worth a thousand or two, it won't make a big difference in the outcome of the game.

Taking $1500+Spin is tempting, and is obviously not a bad choice, but you still have 6 spins you have to take.  Chances are that you will hit a Whammy later on.  Taking the Whammy at the ideal time (when you have no money and only one previous Whammy) brings you back in control of the game.

This strategy would be a no-brainer if your opponent had 3 Whammies, except in that case you might only want to take 1 spin after the Whammy.

[Adam Nedeff]

I'd actually go with the water bike in my personal scenario. My hometown has a huge man-made pond in the middle of the City Park and you can rent water bikes for 30 minutes to peddle around in there. I could get a fat tax write-off if I donated mine.

[GS Warehouse]

\"Stop at Pick a Corner: a whammy, $1500 and a spin, or a water bike?\"

I would agree with Dan.  If there was ever a scenario where you intentionally take the whammy, this is it.  I can't help but wonder what would happen if a similar situation arose on Whammy!, expect there is a Double Whammy to choose from.  You have no money to lose, and you'd like to clear your passed column, but is it worth it to get stuff dropped on you?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Aug 13 2003, 06:41 AM\'] You have no money to lose, and you'd like to clear your passed column, but is it worth it to get stuff dropped on you? [/quote]
 I hope to GOD my sarcasm detector is merely defective.

[JasonA1]

I can't help but wonder what would happen if a similar situation arose on Whammy

In my opinion, I'd take the spin. On \"Whammy!\" at least. In a situation without returning champs, and a likely huge \"Big Bank,\" $7700 wouldn't be much to overcome. On PYL? Whammy, a few spins, pass.

-Jason

[beatlefreak84]

In this situation, I'd say take the $1500 and a spin.  I know a lot of you are saying to take the Whammy or the water bike, but I'll give my reasons against those two:

1.  Even though the Water Bike is worth at least $2000, that still leaves you 6 spins to take and, now that you have some money, the \"take the Whammy\" strategy is out of play!

2.  If you take the \"Whammy,\" yes, you do get your spins moved to the earned column (6, in fact!).  However, think of it this way:  You now have 2 Whammies.  Hit two more and you're gone; you can very well hit 2 whammies in a row here!  While it's still not a huge possibility (1/36), it's still worse than hitting 3 in a row (1/216!).

3.  If you take the $1500 and a spin, that not only gives you some money to work with as in #1, but you now have 1 spin in the earned column, so, even if you hit a Whammy, you get the same amount of spins that you would've had in scenario 2.

When you have $0, in my opinion, your first mission should ALWAYS be to get some money!  Unless both of your opponents have $0 as well, you can't win the game!  Getting some money not only puts you in good contention to win against your opponent, but, with that one extra spin, pending you do fend off the Whammy, you can still pass it to your opponent and watch him/her squirm!

However, this is quite the paradox.  I, however, wouldn't feel comfortable taking on a second Whammy; how about you?

Anthony

P.S.  I also remember a particular scenario from 1986 where one guy actually fended off 10 passed spins without a hitch!  Let's just forget about the fact that he got passed the final spin and Whammied with over $30,500!

[Kevin Prather]

IMHO: the ideal move would be to go for the whammy.

you don't lose money, you only have 2 whammies against you, and all those passed spins become earned.

you spin two or three times more, rack up some cash, then pass them back, and hope the other guy whammies. he has about 3 or 4 spins he must take. if he whammies, provided you racked up a fairly decent total, it might be dificult for that person to catch up.

[tvrandywest]

All I can say: What a great game if it can generate an argument for each option!

My gut reaction: there are too many variables in this game to reliably predict an outcome with so many spins still to be taken (by somebody) in this episode.

OK, I can't not play-along: I'd stay away from the whammy at all costs. With one player already whammied-out my chance of winning is improved as long as I can stay in the game. Remember the overall odds (according to the contestant crew on the show) are already 1 in 6 that any spin will be a whammy. As such it's likely you'll get one without inviting one. You can pass spins at that point. With no money, I'd take the cash, everything else is trash   ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[The first retired champ on PYL (eps #9, 10 & 11). Damn $25,000 limit!!]

[SteveRep]

If the opponent with $7,700 had three Whammies, I would seriously consider taking my second Whammy, turning the 6 spins to earned and passing them ALL back to the other player -- taking my chance on that player getting Whammy #4 and I come back as a $0 champion.

Taking the Whammy still invokes some interesting strategy.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 13 2003, 10:19 AM\'] [quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Aug 13 2003, 06:41 AM\'] You have no money to lose, and you'd like to clear your passed column, but is it worth it to get stuff dropped on you? [/quote]
I hope to GOD my sarcasm detector is merely defective. [/quote]
I think it still works.  The answer to my own question is: no, take the cash!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Aug 13 2003, 04:11 PM\'] I think it still works.  The answer to my own question is: no, take the cash! [/quote]
 Then I phear for the future.

You are SERIOUSLY saying that if it were a Whammy, you'd take it, but if it were a Double Whammy, you would intentionally make what you believed to be a poorer strategic decision simply to avoid the supposive \"indignity\" of having a bag of grass clippings or fake snow poured on your head?

That's a keeper. That goes right into the \"Stupidest Things I Have Ever Read On A Game-Show Group, And That Includes A Lot Of Proposals\" file.

[Robert Hutchinson]

(In case anyone's wondering, the odds that one will avoid a Whammy in six consecutive spins, assuming complete randomness, are about 1 in 3.)

The only thing that would make me take the Whammy is the future possibility of hitting it on my very last passed spin, and only having one or two spins left afterwards. Once I got those six spins transferred, I wouldn't be so quick to pass them back, either. I'd build up a bank first, and if doing so left me with only two or three spins, I certainly wouldn't pass them at that point. I'd only pass if A) I got a big lead relative to the # of spins left, or B) I hit a third Whammy (and even then, I'd take one more spin to try to have something to potentially win).

[Speedy G]

Take the money and the spin.

That way, if you run through all six remaining passed spins, you at least have one spin you can pass or take as necessary.  Plus, the chances of getting through all six remaining spins and not either A) getting more earned spins to play with later or B) getting a whammy and the balance from the passed moved over is pretty small.  No matter what, you should pass the first moment you have cash to give your opponent a better chance to whammy.