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Of all the home games that have been released, which is your favorite?
And, of all games, which ones probably shouldn't have been released?
And, of all game shows that did not have a home game released, which shows do you think should have?
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I know that there's one now, but when I was growing up, I desparately wanted a Card Sharks home game, complete with larger-than-usual cards. I never understood why this game, which seems like a logical transition to a home game, never panned out until recently. (And this new version has small cards. Shame.)
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The Price is Right (1986) was one of my favorite game show board games, because of it's sheer interactivity and versatility. Even though they only had little gamecards for 10 games, you could still create tons of other games easily just by using the various prize and product cards. Sure, it didn't have a showcase showdown spinner, but heck, you can buy the Endless Games release just to scrap for parts because it's so cheap.
And, although they're so abundant they're beginning to take over thrift stores across America, the old MB Family Feud games. The board was so well designed. It was always fun to pull out the little plastic slides, and to change the answers on the boards instantly with the turn of the dinky knob. There were always plenty of questions to go around also. It's those little things that make a game so much better (Ex. Sliding out plastic slides vs. writing on cardboard with a thick, stubborn messy crayon, as seen in the Endless Games versions.) Which bring me EXACTLY to my next point...
Tons of Endless Games games should not have been released. Newlywed Game, Whats My Line? The boxes look good from the outside, and they're official releases and all, but most of the games were just flimy cards or wipe-off boards...Nothing that couldn't be made at home, or survive a trip through a paper shredder. Minimal on the plastic.
Doug
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Easily, "$ale of the Century" is the best home game ever. They adapted the TV format so well, I actually used the pack-in rules for once! Granted, you can take it a step further and pre-arrange a fame game board and stuff...but it's pretty cool. And going so far as to include a real buzzer instead of any lame substitute makes it that much better. There's prize cards, cool pieces...wow.
Honorable mention goes to "Jackpot" because it's all so cool, but you'll never get 16 people to play.
Shouldn't have been released? Uhhh...yeah, I have to agree with that last poster, but go a step further and single out "Newlywed Game."
And could've been? Uhh..."Super Password." I had a few I could've tossed in here, but SP had a long enough run to come up with something. Heck, P+ had three editions in its run!
-Jason
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well-designed favorites - Concentration and Jeopardy, 1958 Lowell Price Is Right, Video Village, Password Plus. Hon mention: Seven Keys
not so liked ones: Finders Keepers, Hasbro Dating Game - hon. mentions: Jackpot (sorry, Jason - mostly because the reasons you mentioned), Window Shopping, MB Blockbusters, GE College Bowl.
Like to see: Cross Wits, Whew, Chain Reaction.
Favorite - humility forbids. It's a homemade model.
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Which one shouldn't have been released? I'd have to say "Price is Right" - the recent second edition from Endless Games and Freemantle Media. When I got home and opened the box, I though "is that all there is?" The one I have from the '70s is a lot better - despite the fact there were only six pricing games in it.
Among my favorites: although my collection is relatively small compared to some of you, I really enjoyed the "Concentration" and "Joker's Wild" home games from the '70s. Currently, I'd have to say the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" home game is pretty good - especially when you turn down the lights and have the British theme CD playing in the background!
Games I'd like to get: "Card Sharks". Haven't seen it anywhere in my area.
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 04:49 AM\']Of all the home games that have been released, which is your favorite?[/quote]
Given the obscene number of times I've played it over the past few months, "Password" by a dozen lengths.
And, of all games, which ones probably shouldn't have been released?
"The Price is Right," hands down. It doesn't age well, the games from the '86 version aren't a good group, and it's silly to try and win a cardstock representation of a sports car, or 1000 yards of carpeting. For that matter, did they ever try to give away straight carpeting, and not as part of something else?
"TV Scrabble" was a bit of a disappointment, and "Let's Make a Deal" as well. Hitting that magic formula is quite hard, and only a few games have done that.
And, of all game shows that did not have a home game released, which shows do you think should have?
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"Split Second," not a doubt in my mind. I would still lay out a decent bundle of money for a fair representation of the Wonderwall, as well.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 12:22 PM\']Games I'd like to get: "Card Sharks". Haven't seen it anywhere in my area.
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Really? I seem to remember K-Mart carried the complete line of Endless Games. Most recently, I remember them selling some of them on clearance.
Here's a link to the game for you, only $10.99....click here (http://\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/toys/B00006697Y/qid%3D1124388142/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-6387464-2476103\") .
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[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 08:18 AM\']Easily, "$ale of the Century" is the best home game ever. They adapted the TV format so well,
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Let me preface this by saying that I have the $ale home game, and have enjoyed it thoroughly.
That said, the game is horribly broken.
Yes, yes, it's very neat that the game has a nice little lockout system that you can use in other games. But it's painfully obvious they spent NO time at all making sure the prize cards were balanced. The Winner cards are worth so much, in the vast majority of cases, that there is NO reason to buy an Instant Bargain at ANY level.
And, "cool pieces"? Since when is using the punchouts from the game board for scoring markers "cool"?
Yeah, it's neat, but best EVER? I don't think so, Tim. There are too many games out there that offer balanced play.
My #1? Password. Bog-standard Password. I'm no fan of the 10-to-1 scoring system, but it's true to the show at the time, it's simple, everything you need (aside from a pencil, and a rummage through the junk drawer fixed that soon enough) is in the box, and it's nice and compact.
Shouldn't have been released? With apologies to our esteemed moderator, the What's My Line box game is a joke. It's a freakin' list of jobs. Hint, kids: a game that you could have published as a book shouldn't be in a box. My BS radar starts firing full-tilt pretty much whenever Endless announces another release; you can always count on them cheaping out somewhere.
Coulda been? Chain Reaction would have been a GREAT box game, and you could use the same slider system the MB Family Feud games used for the game board.
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Point to Lemon. WML? isn't WML? if you just go eeeny meeny miney mo with any old job for funsies, sorry.
I also have to agree with TPiR...it doesn't really translate all that well to the wonderful world of board games. DVD games, we soon shall see, I hope.
I like the recent Password games Endless has put out...maybe they can revamp the P+/SP format in a future edition.
I know someone else on here might like this game, so lemme beat em to it. One of the first board games I wanted as a kid was the Davidson era Hollywood Squares game. And lo and behold on my 7th bday, I got it. That said, the Bergo HS era board game was better.
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Agreed with Jason earlier, Sale was well produced. Wonderful game, and most of the questions are really general knowledge, with a few based on 1986. Gotta love the quizzard. Also honorable mention to the Deluxe Wheel of Fortune game, also from 1986.
Worst game? I really haven't played one that was really bad, but the least interesting one from my collection is the many passwords I have there. Boring.
TV Scrabble along with HS86 would be fun to have. I'd love to have Classic Concentration once again as well :).
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I'll second the "never produced" vote for Chain Reaction. Someone get me Kevin McNulty. This would be GREAT for Endless to produce.
I'd count GO as a good home game that was never produced but Patch kinda plagiarized the "build sentences a word at a time" concept for Talkin' Tango.
On games that were produced, Cardinal's and Endless's versions of Pyramid were nice improvements over MB's (even though Endless's seems like a warmed-over Cardinal in new packaging). Good to have a bonus round that played like the show's, for once.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 02:43 PM\']Shouldn't have been released? With apologies to our esteemed moderator, the What's My Line box game is a joke. It's a freakin' list of jobs. [/quote]
With apologies accepted, keep in mind that your esteemed moderator is pretty much on record as saying a WML? home game is "dumb":
http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/inside/wml/index.htm (http://\"http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/inside/wml/index.htm\")
Still, what I had was the opportunity to at least give the Endless people the actual rules to the TV show, which were quite different than the awkwardly written rules to the 50s home version that they were about to use verbatim. Being thanked (in just about the smallest font size I've seen on an instruction sheet (http://\"http://www.endlessgames.com/instr/wm.pdf\")) and getting on their freebie mailing list was a nice little reward, but it's not like it was my idea for them to do WML? or anything.
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Actually, I thought the 60s Match Game was pretty good - it's a nice little time killer at a small party, it's simple to explain and you can get some laughs out of it. (This, of course, has the "name a kind of cereal" questions.) Especially cool were the wipe-off boards for answers.
Didn't work - Eye Guess, if only because you had to somehow get the eight lids off the openings at once to make it look like the show :)
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 02:13 PM\']Being thanked (in just about the smallest font size I've seen on an instruction sheet (http://\"http://www.endlessgames.com/instr/wm.pdf\")) and getting on their freebie mailing list was a nice little reward, but it's not like it was my idea for them to do WML? or anything.
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In looking at that page, I note that the copyright is held by Grundy. Hmmm.....
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[quote name=\'mystery7\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 01:06 PM\']I'll second the "never produced" vote for Chain Reaction. Someone get me Kevin McNulty. This would be GREAT for Endless to produce.
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Gawd no. I don't want Endless ANYWHERE NEAR that. I can buy a $4 whiteboard at Staples and acheive the same thing Endless would.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 03:24 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 02:13 PM\']Being thanked (in just about the smallest font size I've seen on an instruction sheet (http://\"http://www.endlessgames.com/instr/wm.pdf\")) and getting on their freebie mailing list was a nice little reward, but it's not like it was my idea for them to do WML? or anything.
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In looking at that page, I note that the copyright is held by Grundy. Hmmm.....
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What is now Fremantle acquired Grundy and it seems that for a while, all of the copyrights for the game shows Fremantle owns were under Grundy's name, probably for tax purposes in some country or another (it seems to me that the company they listed was Dutch).
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Okay..modesty be damned! My favorite home game is my home version of Chain Reaction. It follows me to most all parties and get-togethers, and people who have never seen the tv program really wind up enjoying the game. I used the wipe-off board concept - though I agree with Mr. Lemon's assessment that MB's Family Feud or Tyco's "Babble On" plastic pull tab idea is a good one, too. It's a bit of a hybrid, tho..to accomodate individual players instead of teams of 3, the main game is Cullen version, and the end game is the "first letter of the word" chain version - guess all 7 words by asking for no more than 10 letters. I hate to say I'd settle for an Endless version, but somebody ought to do it..even if they never mention it's association to the tv game. A line on the cover could say, "From the creator of TV's The $25,000 Pyramid".
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It was almost a ritual for the Mackey Bros. to have virtually any TV game show adaptation that came out from the mid-70's to about 1981 or 1982. However, we did miss a couple. We never had the Dealer's Choice home game, for example. But we did have quite a few that got lots of play as kids.
We went through several versions of Concentration, Password, The $10,000 Pyramid, we had Blockbusters (which was a little hard to find until I saw a dusty copy one day in the Branch Brook in Hazlet and picked it up), Price Is Right, PDQ, Joker's Wild, High Rollers (Big Numbers), Jackpot, Eye Guess, Say When!, we even had an old Name That Tune with the record!
We even drew our own puzzles for Concentration (proving to be no competition for Bernie Schmittke in the process) and made up newer, more contemporary phrases for PDQ during its resurrection era as Baffle.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 01:43 PM\'][quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 08:18 AM\']Easily, "$ale of the Century" is the best home game ever. They adapted the TV format so well,
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That said, the game is horribly broken.
Yes, yes, it's very neat that the game has a nice little lockout system that you can use in other games.
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The one annoying thing about that lock-out was the delay between pushing a button and finding out who was first--all the lights flashed for a few seconds. It may have been the technology of the time, although the instructions claimed it was to build tension. Still, I agree it was fun.
Password, #1. Pyramid, #2. Concentration, #3 (too easy to lose the prize cards, unless that was a function of youth).
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Classic Concentration was a keeper for me only because of the outstanding box art. But the game itself lacked important aspects. For example, there were no color rebuses in this version, when the UK version did. They also forgot some type of bous round (although I drew the car cards and backgrounds without haste).
It took Jeopardy 35 years to finally get the number of categories right, and then they messed it up again with the "new" Pressman edition last year.
Wheel Deluxe Edition was the only one that I really enjoyed, although i liked that the Parker brothers version used prizes.
On the electronic end, however, I would have liked to see what Sierra could have done after their $100K Pyramid release. Match Game seemed like it would have worked.
TPIR 98. Worst Game Ever.
You guys make me want Chain Reaction that much more (Knowing Endless, Blake Emmons would be on the cover with a chain pertaining to him on the back. )
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 06:49 AM\']Of all the home games that have been released, which is your favorite?
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Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Editions. I begged Mommy and Daddy to get it for me when I was five, and when a little thing called Ebay came along years later, it was one of the first things I bought. An actual by-God WHEEL instead of a spinner--that was just too cool.
Runner-up is "Eye Guess," the only box game I have that my non-Game Show-fanatic family actually like enough to play with me.
And, of all games, which ones probably shouldn't have been released?
Match Game 70s editions...Collectable as they are, they seem to lack any type of redeeming function. If it was me, I would have just released a book of questions, some cards, and plackards in a box and called it a Match Game Party Kit or something like that.
And, of all game shows that did not have a home game released, which shows do you think should have?
That's tough to say because generally speaking, those home games weren't released for a REASON. Some games of the past would have been hard to do just because somehow they were too complex for box game form, although modern technology would have been a friend to some of them (A DVD version of "Hit Man" or "Child's Play" would have been interesting). Some, of course, just didn't have enough fans to justify it--I'm sure if there had been a "Hot Potato" home game, Matt and I would be the only ones to buy a copy, and Matt would only do it for the sake of completion.
If I have to answer (which, truthfully, I don't) I'd say "The Big Showdown" just because the multiple sets of special dice would have been pretty cool.
(Observation that didn't really fit anywhere else in this post--a Namco Plug-N-Play TV Game is a surprisingly effective Starcade home game.)
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Anyone enjoy any version of 'Hollwyood Sqaures'? I've played my Hasbro one from '98 or '99 w/ others and it was pretty dull.
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Honestly, any version of Hollywood Squares would be dull because there are no dazzling (?) stars with funny lines. Just opinions, but the Watkins Strathmore versions weren't bad for starters - the Ideal version was marred by bad question material, MB version 1 in the red box has to be the cheapest game ever made (even Password's sparse material was all good), the blue box version 2 was better, and the Parker version at least gives you some clever bluff material. It's pretty decent. One game I didn't mention earlier that was well-designed was the old Transogram Tic Tac Dough game of the 50s, with the automatic category changer and the "question box".
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As far as favoritte home games go, I'll go with Deluxe WOF because it had all the trappings of the real show(except prizes). In spite of a few missing pegs, the wheel was nice & loose. Even the wedge stickers looked cool. My honorable mention: $ale from 1986. Gotta love that quizzard. Well-designed fornat wise. Too bad there was no "real" Fane Game board but the cards were OK.
Worst game? Gotta be the Davidson HS edition. The hardest part was trying to keep those magnetic-like stickers on the board once you put them there. It was also tough to keep the X's & O's seperate since they're magnetic, they tend to stick to each other.
Game show home game that could've been? Hmm. I was thinking the Magnificant Marble Machine. Sure that thing on TV was huge but at least it would've been nice to come up with a model version on 1/10 scale size. That would've worked for me.
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 04:38 AM\']Worst game? Gotta be the Davidson HS edition. The hardest part was trying to keep those magnetic-like stickers on the board once you put them there. It was also tough to keep the X's & O's seperate since they're magnetic, they tend to stick to each other.
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I'm pretty sure those were stickers, not magnets. I can't remember the name, but they were clingy-type stickers, not adhesive.
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 07:57 AM\'][quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 04:38 AM\']Worst game? Gotta be the Davidson HS edition. The hardest part was trying to keep those magnetic-like stickers on the board once you put them there. It was also tough to keep the X's & O's seperate since they're magnetic, they tend to stick to each other.
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I'm pretty sure those were stickers, not magnets. I can't remember the name, but they were clingy-type stickers, not adhesive.
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Colorforms
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[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 08:02 AM\']Colorforms
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That's the brand name, yeah, but generically they are known as static-cling stickers.
(Sorry, I went Zach for a moment.)
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Has anyone else noticed that the brits put a lot more effort in their home games? (e.g. blockbusters, play your cards right, and concentration)
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 03:18 PM\']Didn't work - Eye Guess, if only because you had to somehow get the eight lids off the openings at once to make it look like the show :)
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Use the box lid to cover the gameboard. Remove the lids covering the answers. Remove the box lid for the time allowed. Cover the gameboard again. Replace the lids. Remove the box lid. Play the game.
By the way, I used an eight-sided die to determine where the 'Stop' card goes in the bonus round.
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My favorites (it has to be plural because I have most of them):
- Concentration (MB) all except the first edition. Some very clever puzzles; all created by Norm Blumenthal, who made them for the series.
- Password (MB) The whole game could fit into a manila envelope but it was cool never the less. Password Plus is okay if you can get someone to act as emcee.
- Jeopardy! (PB) The number of categories is finally correct if only the printing wasn't so small.
- Sale of the Century (MB) Fun to play but there was a rules question: Can the players who lose a game but win a subsequent game use their cash at the sale of the century?
- TV Scrabble (S&R) Some changes where made to the format but it's a fine two-player game.
- Family Feud (MB) It works well.
- High Rollers (PB) Not really a fan of the series but the home game was fun.
- Beat the Clock (MB) The first edition is the one to get. The second edition is a case of going to the well once to often.
- Everybody's Talking! (Watkins-Strathmore) An old-fashioned guessing game we played often when it was new.
- The Match Game (MB) Ditto.
Never should have seen the light of day.
- The Gong Show (American Publishing)
- The Dating Game (Hasbro)
- Seven Keys (Ideal) Only fifteen gameboards! You need seven gameboards for a complete game!
- Supermarket Sweep (MB) Colorful but impractical gameboard.
- Finders Keepers (Cardinal) Rules, a timer and eight empty boxes. Dude, where's my game?
- I've Got a Secret (Lowell)
- Play Your Hunch (Lowell) Boring material.
- You Bet Your Life (Lowell) There is nothing in the box that was ever on the small screen.
- Shenanigans (MB) Whomever lands on the '200 Shenaniganzas' space is the winner.
Could have been a contenders:
- Press Your Luck: A electronic handheld game waiting to happen.
- Gambit: Questions, a deck of cards a gameboard for the bonus round. What was the holdup?
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[quote name=\'rollercoaster87\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 03:27 PM\']Has anyone else noticed that the brits put a lot more effort in their home games? (e.g. blockbusters, play your cards right, and concentration)
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[Rant espousing high-quality of European board games self-censored to conserve bandwidth.] :)
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[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 06:14 PM\']Could have been a contenders:
- Press Your Luck: A electronic handheld game waiting to happen.
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I had an idea for this, using a playing card setup (kinda similar to what TJW did). Place the cards face down on the game board (set up like J! home games), and mark each space with a number.
To choose a space, have the contestant pluck the spinner (an 18-space wheel, similar to WoF's home game). Match the number with whatever space, pick up the card, and voila! PYL home game.
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[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 05:37 PM\'][quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Aug 18 2005, 03:18 PM\']Didn't work - Eye Guess, if only because you had to somehow get the eight lids off the openings at once to make it look like the show :)
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Use the box lid to cover the gameboard. Remove the lids covering the answers. Remove the box lid for the time allowed. Cover the gameboard again. Replace the lids. Remove the box lid. Play the game.
By the way, I used an eight-sided die to determine where the 'Stop' card goes in the bonus round.
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I use the small cardboard lid from the Q & A book holder box to cover the plastic lid and lift it to reveal all answers at once (or sometimes the Bonus Board). EG ranks with the best. Number Please actually works better as a home version than it did on TV.
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I once combined two versions of a game to create a very fun version.
I combined the wheel from the Deluxe WOF with the Puzzle Board (because you could create your own puzzles) and the prize cards from the 1st ed. of the Chuck Woolery Wheel.
Since the 1st ed. only had 20 or so prize cards, I created my own prize cards with 1975 prices and wound up creating 80 prize cards!
Also, I designed my own wheel configurations with paper and colored pencils. The game play is great but the set up between rounds is killer.
and yes I do have way too much free time on my hands.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 05:11 PM\'](Sorry, I went Zach for a moment.)
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S'all right. But where can I get some of these Horanstones vitamins that everyone else here seems to be taking lately?
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[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 08:50 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 05:11 PM\'](Sorry, I went Zach for a moment.)
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S'all right. But where can I get some of these Horanstones vitamins that everyone else here seems to be taking lately?
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Out my arse. Check yours daily , too. :)
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 07:38 PM\'][quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 06:14 PM\']Could have been a contenders:
- Press Your Luck: A electronic handheld game waiting to happen.
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I had an idea for this, using a playing card setup (kinda similar to what TJW did). Place the cards face down on the game board (set up like J! home games), and mark each space with a number.
To choose a space, have the contestant pluck the spinner (an 18-space wheel, similar to WoF's home game). Match the number with whatever space, pick up the card, and voila! PYL home game.
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Why go that far? Just pick a random card on an 18 square board....
I'da bought it.
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- Finders Keepers (Cardinal) Rules, a timer and eight empty boxes. Dude, where's my game?
Care to explain the rules? For some odd reason, my parents bought me this game when I was 1 or 2, so I destroyed most of it, save the boxes, money and hidden picture book. I have no idea how it plays.
And FWIW, "Gambit" and "Split Second" are both very worthy choices of being made as home games. SS in fact could work with the board game title "Split Second" as its buzzer system - color the paddles, and check the stack to see who "buzzed" in what order. If you're not familiar with that game, go here. (http://\"http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1243\")
-Jason
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 07:27 PM\']I once combined two versions of a game to create a very fun version.
I combined the wheel from the Deluxe WOF with the Puzzle Board (because you could create your own puzzles) and the prize cards from the 1st ed. of the Chuck Woolery Wheel.
Since the 1st ed. only had 20 or so prize cards, I created my own prize cards with 1975 prices and wound up creating 80 prize cards!
Also, I designed my own wheel configurations with paper and colored pencils. The game play is great but the set up between rounds is killer.
and yes I do have way too much free time on my hands.
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Yes, you've proven that. Anyway, Wheel and Jeopardy were pretty much the only home games I used to ever play as a kid. I can't say I'm too fanatical about any board games, however.
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Aug 19 2005, 02:38 AM\']As far as favoritte home games go, I'll go with Deluxe WOF because it had all the trappings of the real show(except prizes). In spite of a few missing pegs, the wheel was nice & loose. Even the wedge stickers looked cool. [/quote]I remember getting the 'original' Pressman wheel (flick spinner, top dollar of $750) and thinking as a six-year-old "Wow, this is nothing like either show. The money doesn't go up, the wheels don't change, no prizes to buy. Bleech." Then I got the Deluxe version, and it kinda fixed the money wedge thing, even though there wasn't the $3,500 or $1,500 (Hey, as a young geek, I was a nut for exctness.) Thinking about the way the money skyrockets on the wheel today, what I wouldn't give for $100 to $750, with a Free Spin wedge on the wheel, and "Person does not always mean proper name."
My honorable mention: $ale from 1986. Gotta love that quizzard. Well-designed fornat wise. Too bad there was no "real" Fane Game board but the cards were OK.
The Quizzard was light-years ahead of the crickets or "chip in a bin" from the first Sale, I'll give you that. The format was icky. Only two FGs, that dumb 'double' round, the stairsteps on the board? I realize they were trying to duplicate the Australian version, but they missed something in the translation. And the problem with the prize cards is that if you know there's a $40,000 car or $50,000 cash jackpot in the winner's pile somewhere, are you going to give a second thought to a $500 camera for even $5 off your lead?
Game show home game that could've been? Hmm. I was thinking the Magnificant Marble Machine. Sure that thing on TV was huge but at least it would've been nice to come up with a model version on 1/10 scale size. That would've worked for me.
If I want to play a boring as all get out pinball machine, I will plug in Pinball for the NES, and play that. If I want to instead play an entertaining table, with loops, crossovers, drop targets and all that crazy fun stuff, the Magnificent MM doesn't work. I can understand why they only went with basic pinball stuff, to make it easier to keep track of what's going on, but c'mon, there are a bunch more pinball machines that deserve our quarters.
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Your Deluxe Wheel game didn't have $1500 or $3500 wedges? Huh. Mine did. Well, does, although I haven't taken it out of the box in years.
I thought it would be neat to put all of the bigger money wedges in a row during one game. I soon found out how hard it could be to get the wedges off of the wheel when they were next to each other.
My favorite part of that game, though, were the authentic (by which I mean cardboard) Free Spins.
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My honorable mention: $ale from 1986. Gotta love that quizzard. Well-designed fornat wise. Too bad there was no "real" Fane Game board but the cards were OK.
The Quizzard was light-years ahead of the crickets or "chip in a bin" from the first Sale, I'll give you that. The format was icky. Only two FGs, that dumb 'double' round, the stairsteps on the board? I realize they were trying to duplicate the Australian version, but they missed something in the translation. And the problem with the prize cards is that if you know there's a $40,000 car or $50,000 cash jackpot in the winner's pile somewhere, are you going to give a second thought to a $500 camera for even $5 off your lead?
That's because they removed the prices from the Winner's Prize Cards. In the Aussie game (ALL EDITIONS, mind you), the Winner's Prizes had prices ranging from $35 (for the lowest prize), up to $400 (for the Cash Jackpot, which was $150,000 in the Aussie game and some US editions, but only $50,000 in most US games). Winners of each game can either buy the prize or hold the card as cash to use in future games, trading it in with winnings from a later game to buy the larger prizes. By the time the game reached the US, the Winner's Board was established, and I guess the prices were removed to make the game more like the show at that time. As a result, I ended up making my own prize cards using the prices from the Aussie game; I simultaneously used the Aussie game's "Play Tomorrow Night" rule where you can only trade in the Winner's cards for cash if you have won multiple games in a row, risking what you have in each game, much as in the traditional Shopping Round.
As for the Double Round...well, they couldn't exactly fit enough questions for a Speed Round in there for each game now could they?
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[quote name=\'Game Show Man\' date=\'Aug 21 2005, 07:22 PM\']As a result, I ended up making my own prize cards using the prices from the Aussie game
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All fine and good, but a home game shouldn't be rated based on what you made the game into via whatever hacks you did to it, it should be rated based on the rules and equipment as provided, which is how the vast majority of people will use it. And while this is indeed an international forum, most of us will never see anything other than the US version.
And by that criteria, there are severe problems with the $ale home game.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 22 2005, 01:32 AM\']All fine and good, but a home game shouldn't be rated based on what you made the game into via whatever hacks you did to it, it should be rated based on the rules and equipment as provided, which is how the vast majority of people will use it. [/quote]
By that token, probably the purest game show adaptation is The Who What or Where Game, which doesn't require buzzers and therefore is played exactly as it was played on television. Password can be played using TV rules, but that's not how the instructions are written.
Actual conversation from this past weekend:
Ron Greenberg: What do you do, Matt?
Me: I work in a high school.
Ron Greenberg (joking): You should be using the Who What or Where home game in your classroom.
Me: Mr. Greenberg, I do.
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[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Aug 21 2005, 01:25 AM\']Your Deluxe Wheel game didn't have $1500 or $3500 wedges? Huh. Mine did. Well, does, although I haven't taken it out of the box in years.
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There must be some kind of disparity, then..mine has these wedges:
Bankrupt, $500, $900, $1000, $2500, $3500, $5000.
The back of the box depicts the daytime amounts; $1500, $2000, and $1,000, IIRC.
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Aug 22 2005, 05:35 AM\'][quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Aug 21 2005, 01:25 AM\']Your Deluxe Wheel game didn't have $1500 or $3500 wedges? Huh. Mine did. Well, does, although I haven't taken it out of the box in years.
[/quote]
There must be some kind of disparity, then..mine has these wedges:
Bankrupt, $500, $900, $1000, $2500, $3500, $5000.
The back of the box depicts the daytime amounts; $1500, $2000, and $1,000, IIRC.
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And I had this version and always wanted *just the wedges* from the daytime show, just to make the Wheel more interesting. I remember seeing that this game was produced in different versions, and I had the second, so I thought maybe the first edition used the daytime values. Matt?
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Aug 22 2005, 05:35 AM\']There must be some kind of disparity, then..mine has these wedges:
Bankrupt, $500, $900, $1000, $2500, $3500, $5000.
The back of the box depicts the daytime amounts; $1500, $2000, and $1,000, IIRC.
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The plot thickens. I have both the 1st and 2nd editions and neither one has a $3500 space, nor is the $3500 space mentioned in either instruction book.