The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: aaron sica on August 08, 2016, 09:13:59 AM

Title: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: aaron sica on August 08, 2016, 09:13:59 AM
Took in an episode of "Pass the Buck" over the weekend on YouTube. In case you've not seen it, it's based around lists, with 4 contestants answering a question like "Name a section of the newspaper" and dropping out when they can't answer. The bonus round consists of 4 items, then 3, then 2, then 1. Naming all of the items in the list nets you $5,000, but if you can't name all of them, naming at least 1 will allow you to advance.

The contestant got all the way to the top tier, where there is only 1 answer. The question? "Name a word starting with Z". They must have *really* been strapped for cash! :)


Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: Jay Temple on August 08, 2016, 11:10:58 AM
A couple candidates ...
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: SamJ93 on August 08, 2016, 05:28:04 PM
So...which answer ended up being in the top box?
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: aaron sica on August 08, 2016, 09:22:41 PM
So...which answer ended up being in the top box?

Zany.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: TLEberle on August 09, 2016, 12:33:09 AM
Aw, dang. I said "3."
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: Jay Temple on August 10, 2016, 10:25:08 AM
I don't know how I managed to forget this one, from Greed. It was the first, maybe the only, question for the top prize: Which of these (nine) smells are the most recognizable?
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: Kevin Prather on August 10, 2016, 01:20:57 PM
I don't know how I managed to forget this one, from Greed. It was the first, maybe the only, question for the top prize: Which of these (nine) smells are the most recognizable?

The fact that Dan was able to nail three of them was amazing.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: Bob Zager on August 10, 2016, 02:14:13 PM
Some of my buddies thought a "bonus" question used on the 30th Anniversary College Bowl special (w/Pat Sajak), wasn't properly worded:

1.  Take the total number of dots that appear on a pair of dice.  42

2.  Subtract the number of players each team sends out in a professional football game.  11

3.  Then, multiply the difference by the number of squares on a checkerboard.  64

4.  Look at the final result, and tell me--Where were the Winter Olympics held that year?


The answer:  Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (the final number should be 1984)
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: TLEberle on August 10, 2016, 02:33:08 PM
What's the way it should be worded? I see just a viciously hard story problem.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: SamJ93 on August 10, 2016, 03:41:55 PM
I'm guessing it may be confusion over the exact meaning of the word "difference." Though it does seem to be used in the proper mathematical sense in the question, assuming it was worded exactly the same way as above.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: Bob Zager on August 10, 2016, 04:04:37 PM
Some thought that the part about the football players was misleading, but the keyword in that portion is "each."  Some didn't seem to understand that when they say "each," that doesn't mean the combined total of the two teams in one game!

With that being a "Bonus," question on College Bowl, I'm sure it was only meant to be a humorous, tricky question, and with very little time to come up with the answer, remember, you had to name the location of the Winter Olympics, not the year.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: weaklink75 on August 10, 2016, 06:17:25 PM
I'd think the "See-Saw" incident on the 70's version of Jackpot! was pretty unfair: It was a Super Jackpot riddle, and it was worth $50,000: "My first name is present tense, my last name is past tense- what am I?" Allegedly after the answer was revealed the audience started booing and continued to boo for several minutes...

Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: trainman on August 11, 2016, 12:14:25 AM
Some thought that the part about the football players was misleading, but the keyword in that portion is "each."  Some didn't seem to understand that when they say "each," that doesn't mean the combined total of the two teams in one game!

I thought "sends out" was actually the more misleading part. (Sends out of the locker room? Sends out onto the field of play?)
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: MikeK on August 11, 2016, 06:35:44 AM
Maybe this is the math teacher in me talking, but when you get to the second to last step, quick mental math comes into play.  30 x 64 is 1920.  Adding 64 takes you to 1984.. So you have a 50/50 shot.  If you knew that the Winter Olympics weren't played until 1924, you get the right year pretty easily.

But it's fun to say this over 3 decades afterwards and at 3:30 AM local time while in a hotel room 2250 miles from home.
Title: Re: Hardest/most unfair question on a game show?
Post by: CeleTheRef on August 11, 2016, 06:53:20 PM
We had one of these in Italy some years ago:  "What is the past participle of splendere (to shine)?"

the contestant took a shot with "spleso", but the host said it was "splenduto"

according to most grammar books, it doesn't exist.