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Here's the gist of it:
A bunch of prizes are made available at the MSRP, and those prices are given at the start of the game. (Optimally, no two would have the exact same price.)
Players earn money with which to buy the prizes by answering questions whose value increases with the level of difficulty.
The first player to buy three prizes wins the game.
The dollar values that I'm using here are for illustrative purposes. It could work just as well with higher or lower values.
The prizes are worth between $2,002 and $3,999. At the beginning of the game, each player declares which prize he wants. If two players or even all three want the same prize, they may all do so.
The questions have four values (actually 1,002): $2000, $1500, $1000 and variable. On the last one, the contestant who chooses it specifies the exact dollar value. (Just to be clear, there's no such thing as a $732 question, just questions that are assigned to the variable-value pool.)
For the first question, and whenever no one answers a question, use a $1 toss-up question. Once you have enough money to buy your prize, you do so. You also choose a new prize, and if anyone else was pursuing that prize, they choose a new one.
It is possible under these rules that one or both of the other two players will be forced to choose a new prize and will already have enough to buy one of the remaining prizes. If both players choose a prize for which they already have enough money, the right to buy a prize is based on these criteria, in this order:
1. If it would be the third prize for one and not the other, the other counts first.
2. Failing that, if they choose different prizes, the more expensive prize counts. (This is one reason I would prefer that no two prizes be worth the exact same amount.)
3. If they choose the same prize, the player with more money buys the prize.
4. If they have the same amount of money, a $1 toss-up question determines the right to buy the prize.
Note that because the least valuable prize is at least $2,002, it is not possible to win a prize on the very first question chosen.
The reason for the variable value is a situation like this: I have $2,500 and my prize is worth $2,689. My opponent has $2,000 and his prize is worth $2,500. I want my question to be worth enough so that I can buy my prize if I'm right but not enough for him to buy his prize if he's right.
Note that because there is less than $2,000 difference between the most and least expensive prizes, you will never have enough left after buying one prize to buy another without answering another question.
The player who buys his third prize gets to keep any cash he has left in the game and faces two more opponents.
Details not set in stone:
1. whether the losing contestants get to keep their prizes. If there are seven new prizes in each game, and all of them are plugged at the beginning, I could probably afford to give away all prizes purchased, which is my preference. If they're only plugged when they're won, the prize budget most likely wouldn't allow it.
2. whether prizes not won in the current game are reused in the next. The only way I have a preference is if it affects whether I can give losing contestants the prizes they won.
3. the number of prizes available in a given game. Obviously you need at least seven, but there's no reason you couldn't have more. (Check that: It may be that having exactly seven makes a weird situation less likely at the end after someone buys the sixth prize.)
4. whether a player buying a prize retains control of the board or another toss-up question is used
(ETA) 5. whether a player within $998 of his prize is obliged to take his question for the exact amount needed
I don't have a title for the game, but if you assume the three-prizes-out-of-seven format, you could probably have something catchy with "3" in it.
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Hey, I have a name for it after reading the first sentence: Sale of The Century. A game show person could find this is just Sale with minorly altered rules. Yes, I know that you made it so you have to buy 3 prizes to win, but the format of answering questions for prizes was already done, and this one seems boring to me.
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Why would I EVER not select the lowest-priced prize?
And it's just straight Q/A other than that? Bor-ring. Next.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 9 2004, 10:41 PM\']Bor-ring. Next.
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[TPiR losing horns] Another Free4All tape winner. We're really moving those out this week.
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It's similar to a concept I devised and produced exactly 19 years ago, but mine had an intermediate game element which is missing from this, and mine had a little more drama than there is here. If I'd still been at G-T at the time I would have pitched it and called it "The New Say When!".
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The title I've come up with is "3!...To!...Win!"
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 10 2004, 06:04 PM\']The title I've come up with is "3!...To!...Win!"
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I'm still tossing around "This Still Sucks", myself. :)
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This is the only part of the format I'm going to defend:
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 9 2004, 09:41 PM\']Why would I EVER not select the lowest-priced prize?
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First, not everyone wants the same prizes.
Second, once one of your opponents buys a prize, you'll have a head start on yours. That means that if the game isn't a total blowout, there's a very good chance that you'll get at least one prize. Why not make it the one you actually like? (This, admittedly, is based on my preference that non-winners get to keep the prizes they purchase.)
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I'm still tossing around "This Still Sucks", myself. :)
My oh my! R u guys harsh or what?
I don't know if it'll make u feel better at all Jay, but I've had to deal with the same... they apparently don't like my idea of whatchamacallit too much.... ;)
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 10 2004, 07:56 PM\']
I'm still tossing around "This Still Sucks", myself. :)
My oh my! R u guys harsh or what?
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What, mainly. :)
(Sorry, but I go back to the days when R.L. Stine was the editor of a comical magazine with occasional lifestyle overtones called BANANAS, not this writer of children's books. Stine would answer "Letters to the Editor" asking similar queries in such a fashion.)
Doug
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 10 2004, 08:56 PM\']My oh my! R u guys harsh or what?
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We're not harsh.
When you post something to a discussion forum and ask for feedback; you get it. Granted, it may not be the feedback you want, but its feedback nontheless.
It may encourage people to reconsidering posting their revival of "Give 'N Take".
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 12:41 AM\'][quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 10 2004, 08:56 PM\']My oh my! R u guys harsh or what?
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We're not harsh.
When you post something to a discussion forum and ask for feedback; you get it. Granted, it may not be the feedback you want, but its feedback nontheless.
It may encourage people to reconsidering posting their revival of "Give 'N Take".
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There's a difference between constructive criticism and going all Simon Cowell on someone, though. And we've got more than our share of Simons here.
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 12:41 AM\'][quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 10 2004, 08:56 PM\']My oh my! R u guys harsh or what?
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We're not harsh.
When you post something to a discussion forum and ask for feedback; you get it. Granted, it may not be the feedback you want, but its feedback nontheless.
It may encourage people to reconsidering posting their revival of "Give 'N Take".
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Being respectful is a rule here, but there's nothing against being brutally honest when someone asks for our opinions.
Given what we've seen proposed in the past week or so, I'm beginning to wonder if we should rename this the Lame Show Forum.
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[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Dec 9 2004, 10:13 PM\']Hey, I have a name for it after reading the first sentence: Sale of The Century. A game show person could find this is just Sale with minorly altered rules. Yes, I know that you made it so you have to buy 3 prizes to win, but the format of answering questions for prizes was already done, and this one seems boring to me.
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No, Alex, you got it all wrong. With it having the "boring" factor in place, why not call it "Sale of the Microsecond?"
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[quote name=\'mystery7\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 02:49 AM\']There's a difference between constructive criticism and going all Simon Cowell on someone, though. And we've got more than our share of Simons here.
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[Simon]You call that criticism? I don't mean to be rude, but you can go to any forum in America and hear that. That was simply dreadful.[/Simon]
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[Simon]You call that criticism? I don't mean to be rude, but you can go to any forum in America and hear that. That was simply dreadful.[/Simon]
I won't be posting any more ideas of mine on here. There's always someone who's gonna hate it, apparently this forum has plenty of those kinda people...
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 07:02 PM\']I won't be posting any more ideas of mine on here. There's always someone who's gonna hate it, apparently this forum has plenty of those kinda people...
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There's always some people who hate everything. Some people here hate Wheel of Fortune. Nothing can be loved by everyone.
ObGS: I'd like to try out for Wheel.
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There's always some people who hate everything. Some people here hate Wheel of Fortune. Nothing can be loved by everyone.
ObGS: I'd like to try out for Wheel.
I agree with you 100%. BTW, me too for Wheel!
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 07:02 PM\']
[Simon]You call that criticism? I don't mean to be rude, but you can go to any forum in America and hear that. That was simply dreadful.[/Simon]
I won't be posting any more ideas of mine on here. There's always someone who's gonna hate it, apparently this forum has plenty of those kinda people...
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The reason people hate it is because it is not a good idea. No one is personally badmouthing you or anything, it was just a lousy idea. Everyone, or at least most people, have been told they have had a lousy idea. Just get over it.
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 05:02 PM\']I won't be posting any more ideas of mine on here. There's always someone who's gonna hate it, apparently this forum has plenty of those kinda people...
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So, in other words, you weren't posting your ideas because you wanted honest feedback about them, you wanted everyone to tell you how great they thought they were, even though they had more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.
Save the martyr act. It doesn't work that way.
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 07:02 PM\']
[Simon]You call that criticism? I don't mean to be rude, but you can go to any forum in America and hear that. That was simply dreadful.[/Simon]
I won't be posting any more ideas of mine on here. There's always someone who's gonna hate it, apparently this forum has plenty of those kinda people...
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So it's OK for you to say you don't like someone else's idea, but we're not allowed to dislike yours, eh? My BS alarm is going off full throtle right now.
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In the general area of creating game shows, over the past half-century of television, is there anything new under the sun? All the really good concepts have been tried and anything new would be a variation of something that happened before. That doesn't mean the show would have no chance of getting on the air, though. Merv probably didn't worry about a lawsuit from the makers of "Down You Go," when he sold WOF and Chuck Barris didn't consult Ted Mack or Major Bowes when he came up with "The Gong Show." I always wondered how Goodson felt about the Nick show "Double Dare," which stole the title from one old G-T show and the concept from BTC/CUS. And what about all those word definition shows? I'm never going to be a game show producer, but I enjoy the thought process involved in creating a game show concept. If I put up a concept I'm not fishing for compliments, but I find my perceived brilliance of my idea blinds me to it's flaws and any insight good or bad here is welcomed, to help make it a better concept. If you do want to become a real game show producer and you are serious about creating a show, it's probably a good idea not to post it here, because if someone beats you to air, it would be unclear whether it was a case of two minds with the same thought or one guy "borrowing" an idea from another.
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[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 07:20 PM\']The reason people hate it is because it is not a good idea. No one is personally badmouthing you or anything, it was just a lousy idea. Everyone, or at least most people, have been told they have had a lousy idea. Just get over it.
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So it's safe to assume that you won't come after me when I tell you how annoyed I get playing Super Jackpot and I'm on "Handle Lock?" :-P
ObGameShows: At the West household, Randy is cooking breakfast. When it's ready, he's yelling up to his wife and kids "COME ON DOWN!" as if he were still announcing on TPIR. :-P
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[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 10:30 PM\'][quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Dec 11 2004, 07:20 PM\']The reason people hate it is because it is not a good idea. No one is personally badmouthing you or anything, it was just a lousy idea. Everyone, or at least most people, have been told they have had a lousy idea. Just get over it.
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So it's safe to assume that you won't come after me when I tell you how annoyed I get playing Super Jackpot and I'm on "Handle Lock?" :-P
ObGameShows: At the West household, Randy is cooking breakfast. When it's ready, he's yelling up to his wife and kids "COME ON DOWN!" as if he were still announcing on TPIR. :-P
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Counting that probably 3 or 4 people here know what that is, I probably won't.
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1. If you think posting your game show concept here in a public venue is a good idea, you shouldn't be in the game show business.
2. If you don't have the emotional maturity to detach yourself from your concept, you shouldn't be in the game show business.
3. If you can't take criticism of your idea, even if it's harsh, you shouldn't be in the game show business.
If you fail tests 2 and 3 above and your show somehow makes it to air, don't say we didn't warn you about the nervous breakdown you'll have when your show is ultimately cancelled ;-)
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So it's OK for you to say you don't like someone else's idea, but we're not allowed to dislike yours, eh? My BS alarm is going off full throtle right now.
So, in other words, you weren't posting your ideas because you wanted honest feedback about them, you wanted everyone to tell you how great they thought they were, even though they had more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.
Save the martyr act. It doesn't work that way.
First off... let me begin by saying that there is such a thing as constructive criticism, and just plain harsh criticism... Anybody that wants others opinions should expect criticism... but it SHOULD BE constructive, not harsh... some of the people here have posted more harsh criticism than CONSTRUCTIVE criticism... which is not right.
And BTW, u can hate my idea to death if u want... but if ur gonna tell me u don't like it, instead of telling me how stupid it is, how it should get some kinda scarecrow award or some other S*** like that... give me an idea of how to improve it so U COULD LIKE IT MORE!
Plus, I've already decided that if someone else posts an idea for something... I won't be harsh to them... I'd probably just stay from that topic... Or I'd give them an idea on how to IMPROVE a concept.
BTW just for the heck of it... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 12 2004, 11:33 AM\']First off... let me begin by saying that there is such a thing as constructive criticism, and just plain harsh criticism... Anybody that wants others opinions should expect criticism... but it SHOULD BE constructive, not harsh... some of the people here have posted more harsh criticism than CONSTRUCTIVE criticism... which is not right.
And BTW, u can hate my idea to death if u want... but if ur gonna tell me u don't like it, instead of telling me how stupid it is, how it should get some kinda scarecrow award or some other S*** like that... give me an idea of how to improve it so U COULD LIKE IT MORE![snapback]66949[/snapback]
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One bit of constructive criticism. U don't get as much credibilty by not spelling out the word "you."
Carry on. :)
Doug
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 12 2004, 12:33 PM\']First off...
(tantrum snipped)
BTW just for the heck of it... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????
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Give my regards to Adam when you're permanently playing The $64,000 Challenge with him. I sense that day may be soon approaching.
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 12 2004, 12:33 PM\']
So it's OK for you to say you don't like someone else's idea, but we're not allowed to dislike yours, eh? My BS alarm is going off full throtle right now.
So, in other words, you weren't posting your ideas because you wanted honest feedback about them, you wanted everyone to tell you how great they thought they were, even though they had more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.
Save the martyr act. It doesn't work that way.
First off... let me begin by saying that there is such a thing as constructive criticism, and just plain harsh criticism... Anybody that wants others opinions should expect criticism... but it SHOULD BE constructive, not harsh... some of the people here have posted more harsh criticism than CONSTRUCTIVE criticism... which is not right.
And BTW, u can hate my idea to death if u want... but if ur gonna tell me u don't like it, instead of telling me how stupid it is, how it should get some kinda scarecrow award or some other S*** like that... give me an idea of how to improve it so U COULD LIKE IT MORE!
Plus, I've already decided that if someone else posts an idea for something... I won't be harsh to them... I'd probably just stay from that topic... Or I'd give them an idea on how to IMPROVE a concept.
BTW just for the heck of it... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????
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OK, fine, walk into any game show producer's office with one of your ideas, and see just how constructive he is. Oh, and make sure, when you do your proposals, to add a whole bunch of "OMG" "u" and exclamation points.
BTW, if you can't stand the heat...
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One bit of constructive criticism. U don't get as much credibilty by not spelling out the word "you."
Okay, I can understand that, I'm just use to doing that online with my AOL buddies. I can stop that.
OK, fine, walk into any game show producer's office with one of your ideas, and see just how constructive he is. Oh, and make sure, when you do your proposals, to add a whole bunch of "OMG" "u" and exclamation points.
Okay then, I might just take you up on that idea. It won't be Whatchamacallit, because I actually did get some decent feedback from some people on it, and I can work with that more. Maybe I'll propose one of my other ones instead. :)
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 12 2004, 10:33 AM\']BTW just for the heck of it... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????
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That's okay. I dismissed you as an idiot long before this post.
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[quote name=\'wheelloon\' date=\'Dec 12 2004, 12:33 PM\']First off... let me begin by saying that there is such a thing as constructive criticism, and just plain harsh criticism... Anybody that wants others opinions should expect criticism... but it SHOULD BE constructive, not harsh... some of the people here have posted more harsh criticism than CONSTRUCTIVE criticism... which is not right.[/quote]
And it's not right...because? We're not in 1st grade anymore.
And BTW, u can hate my idea to death if u want... but if ur gonna tell me u don't like it, instead of telling me how stupid it is, how it should get some kinda scarecrow award or some other S*** like that... give me an idea of how to improve it so U COULD LIKE IT MORE!
Save from 50 Playboy bunnies stripping at the end; there's no way your show could be improved.
BTW just for the heck of it... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????
You're making it worse for yourself--is that constructive enough? Nah. You're an idiot. There's "harsh" criticism.
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give me an idea of how to improve it so U COULD LIKE IT MORE!
Bad idea. If I were to tell you how to improve your concept then I'm entitled to some form of compensation for my contribution, and AFAIK you and I haven't entered into a deal to co-develop your show.
Sorry, but the business world is harsh that way.
Then there is the matter of your idea's resemblance to Your Surprise Package ...
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Trust me, I never got that idea from Surprise Package. I had heard of it, but I hadn't really known much about it until I got on this forum. Though learning the rules of it... I see the similarities, and yes, that would be a problem in the end.
Oh well! Next idea...
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Exactly, wheelloon - so before you beat yourself up too much (and have others join in on the fun) -
a) every inventor thinks they have the greatest idea since sliced bread. Ideas are like children - no matter how ugly they are to the neighbors, we always think they're beautiful. We invest emotions into them, and when they come up against the cold world of facts and statistics, we get a brutal awakening. It seems harsh, but you can't ask for reviews and not get impartial opinions that burst bubbles.
b) Bro. Owen said the same thing a bit ago - there have been so many ideas, twists, spin offs and the like that it will be tough to come up with things that haven't been done in times past. Even a neat book like The EOTVGS doesn't always tell you every game mechanic or related details ever used before, so welcome to the crowd of us who thought we had a great idea for a 1980s style game and found out later it had already been done in 1953 - or maybe even earlier on radio. The old pros weren't dummies - they were clever, too.