[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'245695\' date=\'Aug 10 2010, 10:18 PM\']Keep in mind, too, that if the turn goes through all three players and back to the beginning without affecting the scores (nobody adds to their score and nobody loses money to a failed vowel purchase or a Bankrupt), they'll edit out the three non-advancement turns to fit in more gameplay. This theoretically could make shorter puzzles more attractive -- although there are issues with the extra editing and adjusting the timing of the show on the fly.
So since they're still tending toward the longer puzzles, I'd also guess that they prefer the higher stakes that longer puzzles can bring.[/quote]
The only problem with this theory, and I understand what you're saying I think...Suppose all 3 players spin a dollar amount, all 3 call consonants that are not in the puzzle? If that gets edited out, we, the home viewer, will never know what 3 consonants were already called, yet that event happening would, in effect, not affect the scores at all. If on the other hand all 3 hit Lose A Turn, or all 3 hit Bankrupt in succession, I could see them editing that out perhaps.
And yes, it's true, the later round can, and often does, give you a winner. One person could solve all 3 toss-ups, and all 3 of the first 3 round puzzles, and one lucky $6,000 spin and a few consonants could win the game for someone else who had solved 0 puzzles up until that moment. Family Feud, the first few rounds really in essence mean next to nothing. Jeopardy! Someone could answer twice as many clues, but one lucky selection of a Daily Double, or one come from behind victory in Final Jeopardy, in essence making just 1 clue really all that matters decide the game, all can make the rest of the game itself seem almost pointless, kind of like the $100 Super Password puzzle. The winner of that first round got $100, which is better than Turtle Wax, but as far as it deciding the game's outcome, it never did. In essence, Super Password was the best 2 out of 3 puzzles, with the first puzzle being more or less a "warm up". So I guess it all depends on how you look at the semantics (sp?) of the game. Most every game played, on tv, or in parlors, have some elements of luck to them. And while we might bemoan the fact that one person solving 6 puzzles loses to a lucky stiff who just happened to get 6 T's in a speed up puzzle where the wheel landed on the $5,000 space, the other side of this coin is, all 3 players play with the same wheel, by the same rules, so if it can happen to one, it can happen to one of the other 2 just as easily. That being said, I always preferred games of knowledge, skill & strategy, perhaps with a little luck thrown in. Tic Tac Dough's main game (before they had all those dopey red boxes polluting the board) & Blockbusters are 2 shining examples that spring to mind.
