Though I doubt it would ever happen, I thought of what it would be like if such occurrence took place, with all the new wrinkles that have been added to the show over the years since.
During the \"Double Play\" season, just about every time somebody picked up the card, he/she would use it immediately, rather than hold on to it for a future round (like trying to use it in the round w/$5,000 space, for a possible $10,000 per consonant!).
With the new twists, I could see maybe trying to earn $2,000 per consonant in the \"Mystery Wedge\" round (or even $20,000!); maybe when hitting a \"1/2 Car\" card with your \"Double Play,\" crediting you with the car; or maybe carrying it over to the Bonus Round to double your prize there (a potential $2 MILLION payout!)
Any thoughts?
If they did, I\'m sure it would be used for just monetary spaces in the regular game. No bonuses or prize spaces...definitely not the million dollar wedge. :-)
Wheel\'s fine as it is without the \"Double Play\" wedge. I even forgot it existed before I read this topic.
With everything on the wheel now, DP would make things more muddled. One of the potential uses of the Wild Card serves a similar purpose (which Pat mentions only after the contestant has landed on a big money wedge, enhancing its usefulness).
The Inquisitive One
I think Double Play only lasted a season because it was rarely hit, and only ONCE did it create excitement as someone spun $10,000 after using the DP and won a lot of money.
Bloviation and speculation aside, the problem with Double Play is that you\'re asking a lot of brain cycles from everyone involved: the viewer has to remember who has it, if they\'re going to use it, and your player has to remember \"hey, I have a Double Play token that\'s about to rot because we\'re hip deep in round four.\" If the Wheel got rid of the Prize Puzzle, had some/more values between $1,000 and $2,000 and ditched the $1,000 add-on for Final Spin letters, I would say to have the Free Play and Double Play come up on alternate spins: if you spin DP and call a letter you spin for double stakes on the next go.
/As \"boring\" as some among us think that the late 80s through 90s period of the show was, at least it was watchable and easy to follow along with.
Bloviation and speculation aside, the problem with Double Play is that you\'re asking a lot of brain cycles from everyone involved: the viewer has to remember who has it, if they\'re going to use it, and your player has to remember \"hey, I have a Double Play token that\'s about to rot because we\'re hip deep in round four.\"
Same applies to the Wild Card- which, to me, is a fairly useless token 95 percent of the time anyway. The only time the viewer (or even the player, at that) is reminded of the token is when they hit a Bankrupt, hit top dollar and Pat makes light of the obvious strategy, or the bonus round. Double Play would be the same, but I could see it being utilized over the course of the game more often than the former.
I know Wheel wouldn\'t consider it for budgetary reasons, but a Double Play token carried into a bonus round for a minimum $60,000 payoff would be pretty boss.
If the Wheel got rid of the Prize Puzzle, had some/more values between $1,000 and $2,000 and ditched the $1,000 add-on for Final Spin letters, I would say to have the Free Play and Double Play come up on alternate spins: if you spin DP and call a letter you spin for double stakes on the next go.
i would say just make it a Round 3 space in lieu of the Prize Puzzle. But i agree with the rest- we\'ve been arguing wheel value balance for years.
The main problem with Double Play was that you had to turn it in before spinning the value that it would affect. But if you change that, it\'s basically a copy of the Wild Card.
If the double play token had to come back in some form, I\'d suggest completely retooling it, so instead the contestant that picks it up wins double the cash for that round if they solve the puzzle. (Yes, I know, spending Sony\'s money is fun)
I agree they should get rid of the trip prize puzzle. It\'s not exciting, particularly since it will always be won; it gives a rather large advantage to the player that gets it; and frequently leads to players solving the puzzle the moment the guy next to them loses their turn. I felt it was at least tolerable when they were using it as a means to give prizes to home viewers with the Spin ID thing, but they don\'t even do that anymore.
Then, a proposed fix to William\'s dilemma: Prizes don\'t count toward a player\'s score.
Then, a proposed fix to William\'s dilemma: Prizes don\'t count toward a player\'s score.
SO much this.
While we\'re talking about score structure, here\'s my question to the group: in the Mystery Round, do you think a player should get credit for the letters in the puzzle if he or she finds the $10,000 wedge? (Currently, any letters found go uncredited if the player decides to go for and successfully uncover the $10,000 wedge.)
It may seem like another \"spending other people\'s money\" deal, but the wife and I find it weird that contestants don\'t get the $1,000 per letter just because of a 50/50 risk.
The Inquisitive One
It may seem like another \"spending other people\'s money\" deal,
...because it is...
but the wife and I find it weird that contestants don\'t get the $1,000 per letter just because of a 50/50 risk.
\"There are 5 T\'s. Now. You can have $5,000, or you can decide to flip the wedge, which may have $10K or may have Bankrupt, expected value $5,000.\"
The idea is to incent people to take the risk. Offering money for not doing it fails to that end.
but the wife and I find it weird that contestants don\'t get the $1,000 per letter just because of a 50/50 risk.
\"There are 5 T\'s. Now. You can have $5,000, or you can decide to flip the wedge, which may have $10K or may have Bankrupt, expected value $5,000.\"
The idea is to incent people to take the risk. Offering money for not doing it fails to that end.
I think that\'s what he\'s saying, Chris. If you decide to go for it and you find the $10K, you should also get the $1K/letter for those 5 Ts. I don\'t believe the show does that, do they?
I think that\'s what he\'s saying, Chris. If you decide to go for it and you find the $10K, you should also get the $1K/letter for those 5 Ts. I don\'t believe the show does that, do they?
No, they don\'t. Because $10K in your bank is its own friggin\' reward.
If that was indeed his lone argument, then yes, bring forth the Lesko.
There\'s been lots of stupid-dumb throwing around of Bradley Bucks here for whatever reason, but I don\'t think that saying \"you turned over the proper mystery wedge so your bet is refunded to you,\" (which happens at the blackjack table) is speaking out of turn.
Well, hold on. Maybe I\'m not understanding how it works now. Do they say \"You can have $1000 per letter or you can flip the wedge and whatever happens happens\" or do they just offer the wedge or not with no consolation money and TIO is suggesting adding some? My comments were based on the latter inference and if that\'s not the case then I apologize.
Suppose you have $2,000 in front of you when you hit the Mystery wedge. You find two S\'s, and rather than take the $2,000 for those S\'s, you decide to flip over the wedge, finding the $10K on the other side. You now have $2,000 to spend plus the $10,000 cash prize.
Maybe I\'m missing something, but I\'m not sure how there could be \"consolation money\" involved in this
Apparently if you decline to flip the wedge, you get $1000 per letter, whereas if you choose to flip, you get $10K or Bankrupt but no money for the letters themselves. I think it\'s being suggested that you ought to get the $1000 per letter regardless, and if you flip the wedge and you\'re right, well, then you have the $10K plus $1000 per letter. Personally, I still think spending other people\'s money is fun, but I don\'t think it\'s as egregious a suggestion as I did when I didn\'t realize the $1000 per letter option already existed.
It\'s the only space on the wheel with a dollar value that isn\'t awarded 100% of the game when you land on it and call a letter, which is awkward. Obviously, yeah, the $10k is its own reward, but it struck me as odd that there\'s an extra step between \'calling a letter\' and \'getting your cash\', which is \'resolving the Mystery Wedge\'.
There\'s also the fact that you can\'t buy a vowel if you hit it on your first spin and get the $10,000, which can be a bit of a feel-bad. I mean, you have all that cash right in front of you, but you can\'t spend any of it!
(On the other hand, being able to buy four vowels off the bat when you have a powerful incentive to solve ASAP might be too strong.)
There\'s also the fact that you can\'t buy a vowel if you hit it on your first spin and get the $10,000, which can be a bit of a feel-bad. I mean, you have all that cash right in front of you, but you can\'t spend any of it!That was the case when the Mystery Prize was a brand-new-car, and it was also the case when you picked up the $10,000 sliver wedge too. Or a prize. Or the surprise. \"But you don\'t have any (spendable) cash, so you need to spin.\"
It\'s the only space on the wheel with a dollar value that isn\'t awarded 100% of the game when you land on it and call a letter, which is awkward.
I feel like a broken record today, but again, I bet the average Wheel Watcher doesn\'t think twice about it. Pat says \"You can have a grand per OR you can go for the Big Fella.\" That\'s really not a hard concept to digest.
There\'s been lots of stupid-dumb throwing around of Bradley Bucks here for whatever reason, but I don\'t think that saying \"you turned over the proper mystery wedge so your bet is refunded to you,\" (which happens at the blackjack table) is speaking out of turn.
Well, hold on. Maybe I\'m not understanding how it works now. Do they say \"You can have $1000 per letter or you can flip the wedge and whatever happens happens\" or do they just offer the wedge or not with no consolation money and TIO is suggesting adding some? My comments were based on the latter inference and if that\'s not the case then I apologize.
Pretty much.
This is what I was trying to get at...
Find the $10,000 wedge = $10,000 wedge + $1,000 for each letter found
Bankrupt = lose everything, see you next turn
That\'s really it. The current format doesn\'t bother me. I personally just find it logical to give the player the credit for the letters called for the successful gamble. There\'s nothing to apologize about. Handshake?
The Inquisitive One
P.S. If what i said was out of turn, allow me to apologize back.
This is what I was trying to get at...
Find the $10,000 wedge = $10,000 wedge + $1,000 for each letter found
Bankrupt = lose everything, see you next turn
That\'s really it. The current format doesn\'t bother me. I personally just find it logical to give the player the credit for the letters called for the successful gamble.
The reward for the gamble is that you get the highest paying single wedge on the wheel. For me, that\'s logical enough. But this is a forum, and there always will be differing opinions.
Just an observation and maybe I\'ve posted this before...
I kinda miss the days when, in order to win big, you actually had to spin the wheel. It seems that, too often, people today win games just solely on the extras/bonuses. Just doesn\'t seem \"right\" that you can win a Fortune without having to go to the Wheel very often.
But, it\'s hardly a crime. It\'s not a dealbreaker for me. I\'m still going to watch, because I enjoy figuring out the puzzles and it\'s always a fun competition at the Raygor Household to see who gets \'em first.
Just airing that out.
The reward for the gamble is that you get the highest paying single wedge on the wheel. For me, that\'s logical enough. But this is a forum, and there always will be differing opinions.
There\'s another interesting point here, too: Like I said before, regardless of what is on the other side of that wedge, the producer in the booth should want them to flip it over, because that\'s exciting.
So we do it TIO\'s way: let\'s give them the money and then ask if they want to flip it over. In every single case, the player is going to be less likely (or at least not any *more* likely) to take Pat up on his offer and reach for the wedge, simply by virtue of putting money in front of them they wouldn\'t have otherwise.
Or you can still do it TIO\'s way, and pay it out afterwards, but if you think it\'s unintuitive the way they do it now, try going back to Pat and having him say \"Hey, yeah, you got the $10,000! Now if you will recall there was $1,000 on the other side of that piece of cardboard you\'re waving around like an idiot and you found two H\'s, so we\'ll give you $2,000 more.\" That\'s just confusing, and there is a piece of cardboard that says $10,000 on the screen, who gives a damn about $2,000 more?
Or you can do it like they do it, offer it as a consolation prize / bribe of sorts, and offer them money that they can\'t see unless they turn down the offer. Psychologically, they\'re more likely to pull the trigger and the whole transaction makes sense from front to back.
But, it\'s hardly a crime. It\'s not a dealbreaker for me. I\'m still going to watch, because I enjoy figuring out the puzzles and it\'s always a fun competition at the Raygor Household to see who gets \'em first.
Glad to see I\'m not the only one who thinks that way.
It does seem there has been a bit of a shift towards re-balancing the Wheel this season. They changed an assload of dollar amounts this season, with a little more emphasis on the $700-$900 range. (You\'d be surprised how quickly even $1,900 per letter adds up in a Speed-Up — I\'ve seen more than one game that hinged on that amount.)
Also, hitting the prize wedge, Wild Card, gift tag, or a 1/2 Car tag now gives you $500 per letter, as opposed to just a piece of cardboard. IMO, this was a great decision, since it doesn\'t leave the contestant\'s hands tied if they pick up some cardboard on the first spin.
That said, I still wouldn\'t miss the Prize Puzzle that much, since it seems superfluous now that they no longer give the trip to a viewer, and I still think it wouldn\'t hurt to add at least one more four-figure amount to the Wheel.
So we do it TIO\'s way: let\'s give them the money and then ask if they want to flip it over. In every single case, the player is going to be less likely (or at least not any *more* likely) to take Pat up on his offer and reach for the wedge, simply by virtue of putting money in front of them they wouldn\'t have otherwise.
I don\'t see how it\'s different than the way they do it now, since Pat mentions the money they are risking if they pick up the wedge before asking if they want to do it; it just isn\'t added to the scoreboard. His spiel goes something along the lines of \"Those R\'s are worth $2,000; you already have $1,750, so you\'d be risking a total of $3,750 to have a look under there. Wanna take the gamble?\"
Besides, if the only change being debated here is adding money to the contestant\'s tally in the event that they go for it and get lucky, wouldn\'t that make them *more* likely to go for it and not less?
Also, hitting the prize wedge, Wild Card, gift tag, or a 1/2 Car tag now gives you $500 per letter, as opposed to just a piece of cardboard. IMO, this was a great decision, since it doesn\'t leave the contestant\'s hands tied if they pick up some cardboard on the first spin.
Yet we don\'t want to add the Mystery Wedge to that list?
Besides, if the only change being debated here is adding money to the contestant\'s tally in the event that they go for it and get lucky, wouldn\'t that make them *more* likely to go for it and not less?
It would make me more likely to go for it. As it stands, if I have $1750 and I spin the mystery for 2 R\'s, I\'m risking $3,750 in either of the two scenarios, but the way it\'s currently done, I can only win another $8,000 instead of the $10,000.
But that\'s more thought than your average WoF contestant or viewer is giving it, of course.
I don\'t see how it\'s different than the way they do it now, since Pat mentions the money they are risking if they pick up the wedge before asking if they want to do it; it just isn\'t added to the scoreboard. His spiel goes something along the lines of \"Those R\'s are worth $2,000; you already have $1,750, so you\'d be risking a total of $3,750 to have a look under there. Wanna take the gamble?\"
I am suggesting that there is a psychological difference, regardless of what Pat says, because the player is still looking at that monitor offstage that reads \"$1,750\" until such time as they say no. It could be spelled out to them verbally until the cows come home, but it\'s human nature to consider money we can actually physically *see* before money we can\'t. (Same thing is the basis for pretty much the entire credit card industry.
While I don\'t watch the show as often as I once did, I do still tune in from time to time.
I like that the first three rounds are distinctive and all 3 rounds offer a chance at something big.
Round 1 - Jackpot, Round 2 - Mystery, Round 3 - Prize Puzzle.
Part of the problem with the Prize Puzzle, as many have stated earlier, it\'s a guaranteed win for somebody, and it can impact the game\'s outcome tremendously.
If the Prize Puzzle was not guaranteed, it might make the game a bit more on an even playing field.
To win a prize off of the wheel, players must land on that wedge, put it in front of them, and solve the puzzle before hitting a Bankrupt. I wouldn\'t mind seeing the show do this, instead of having it be a guarantee. I realize it is kind of neat when the player so often seems to forget it is a Prize Puzzle, and when Pat mentions it, and what the prize is, the winning player has an added excitable reaction. No reason why the wedge couldn\'t simply say \"PRIZE\" on it. It could be on the wheel in addition to other pre-described prizes that are known from previous rounds. It would also potentially add time to the game, as the prize for the \"Prize Puzzle\" round would not always be won. The drawback to that of course is that\'s one less fee for doing one less plug.
Having Round 4 usually turn into the \"Speed-up\" Round, and adding $1,000 to the value of the spin is one way and one effort to try to offset to some degree a big Prize Puzzle win. Everybody has a shot at winning it, unless one lucky player maintains control of the wheel throughout the round, and solves it. Between the possibility of winning a jackpot of over $5000 in round 1, $10,000 in round 2 with the Mystery wedge, and a car, having this \"guaranteed\" prize in Round 3 kind of acts as a potential \"offset\" for those things happening during the first 2 rounds of play.
I have only one \"beef\" is with \"Free Play\". Yes, I love that you can get a free vowel with it, or $500 per consonant if you are right, and I love that if you select an incorrect letter, you keep your turn. The only thing I dislike is \"You can try to solve the puzzle right now.\" Well, if you know it, or think you know it, why would you not select a letter that you know is in the puzzle, especially if it repeats several times, and earn $500 per consonant first, THEN solve the puzzle and win even more cash?