What if Wheel brought back "Double Play?"

[Steve Gavazzi]

Maybe I\'m missing something, but I\'m not sure how there could be \"consolation money\" involved in this, seeing as the other Mystery Wedge is a Bankrupt.

[clemon79]

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.

[Mr. Armadillo]

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.)

[TLEberle]

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.\"

Precedent FTDubs.

[clemon79]

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.

[TheInquisitiveOne]

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.

[Jeremy Nelson]

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.

[J.R.]

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.

[clemon79]

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.

[Twentington]

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.

[PYLdude]

I don\'t understand how not giving the prize puzzle prize to a viewer has anything to do with the perceived superfluousness of the puzzle itself. That\'s about as useful an argument as \"It\'s not Solve Puzzle 3 of Fortune it\'s Wheel of Fortune\".

[Mr. Armadillo]

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?

[Kevin Prather]

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.

[clemon79]

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.

[wdm1219inpenna]

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?