Author Topic: "Concentration" question (Read 6045 times)

TLEberle · « **on:** May 16, 2004, 04:05:30 AM »

On the old 'Concentration.' if you matched a prize (for example, a stove) with a wild card, only those two pieces would be turned around; the other stove card would still be out there, a sitting duck, never to be matched. What happens if you pick the stove and other wild card on the same turn?

I bring it up because every other version of the show seems to have figured out a way around this: the box game has one wild card, Classic reveals both pieces, but not the oldest one.

-TL

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2004, 04:24:57 AM »

Not sure about the original Concentration, but I DO remember in later versions when a prize is matched up with a wild card, the original matching prize is ALSO revealed, thus avoiding the so-called "leftover" pieces on the board.

Speaking of wild cards, I also remember that if a player matched 2 Wild Cards, s/he wins a cash bonus. I think it was a $500 bonus on Classic Concentration. Not sure about the earlier versions.

clemon79 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2004, 04:46:45 AM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'May 16 2004, 01:24 AM\'] Not sure about the original Concentration, but I DO remember in later versions when a prize is matched up with a wild card, the original matching prize is ALSO revealed, thus avoiding the so-called "leftover" pieces on the board.

Speaking of wild cards, I also remember that if a player matched 2 Wild Cards, s/he wins a cash bonus. I think it was a $500 bonus on Classic Concentration. Not sure about the earlier versions. [/quote]
Thank you for repeating exactly what he said in the last line. GEEZ!

But seriously folks, I believe the extra piece simply went unmatched, and could either be matched up with the OTHER Wild Card (in which case two of that prize would be in circulation), or it would just sit and rot until everything else was matched off, and then they would be turned around to reveal the rest of the puzzle for that One Last Guess.

Michael Brandenburg · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2004, 09:02:32 AM »

In response to TLEberle's question below that started this thread:

Quote

On the old 'Concentration.' if you matched a prize (for example, a stove) with a wild card, only those two pieces would be turned around; the other stove card would still be out there, a sitting duck, never to be matched. What happens if you pick the stove and other wild card on the same turn?

TL, I'm old enough to remember the original edition of Concentration (with the 30-box board), so I can tell you that in this situation, you'd get a second stove on your side of the board!

Theoretically, you could also win two cars (or whatever that game's most valuable prize was) via this method, or, for that matter, two of any of the other prizes in that game -- although my most remembered game in which this event happened was one in which the contestant ended up with two "Fireflies," one of that game's "gag" prizes that they would have to lessen the pain of matching up any two of the board's six "Forfeit 1 Gift" cards.

Other notes: Late in the NBC run of the show (1958-73), turning around both "Wild Cards" in a player's turn won him/her a new car, plus the chance to turn around two additional numbers for prizes to match with the two "Wild Cards," after which they would go up on the player's prize board. (Pity the player, though, who would turn over a game card for say, a new car, followed by any one of the board's "Forfeit 1 Gift" cards that would immediately send that prize over to the opponent's prize board!)

Also, if the last two boxes on the game board contained non-matching prizes, the player who uncovered the game's last matching pair would have the last chance to guess the puzzle. If he/she failed, the other player would have the last guess of the game, and if that guess failed, the game would end in a tie. (The box game rules, but not those of the studio game, allowed the un-matched prize cards to be removed for a final guess by both players in this situation.)

Michael Brandenburg
(Of course now, if the show were still on the air today with the "gag" prizes and the "Forfeit" cards, one of the "gag" prizes for a game might be "500 Cicadas"!)

DrBear · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2004, 10:11:36 AM »

[quote name=\'Michael Brandenburg\' date=\'May 16 2004, 07:02 AM\'] (Of course now, if the show were still on the air today with the "gag" prizes and the "Forfeit" cards, one of the "gag" prizes for a game might be "500 Cicadas"!) [/quote]
Chris Lemon would call this a case of "Mo' Cicada Syndrome."

JasonA1 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2004, 10:34:55 AM »

I don't believe this was mentioned yet, but those rarely used extra columns to the sides of the regular prize boards helped denote a "second" of the prize. A checkmark would be slid in next to the first stove, for example, if that contestant had two. Otherwise, another "stove" card would slide in on the other player's board.

-Jason

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 16, 2004, 02:52:21 PM »

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'May 16 2004, 07:11 AM\'] [quote name=\'Michael Brandenburg\' date=\'May 16 2004, 07:02 AM\'] (Of course now, if the show were still on the air today with the "gag" prizes and the "Forfeit" cards, one of the "gag" prizes for a game might be "500 Cicadas"!) [/quote]
Chris Lemon would call this a case of "Mo' Cicada Syndrome." [/quote]
No, I think that's just the right amount of cicaidas for a gag prize.

davemackey · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2004, 05:40:10 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 16 2004, 04:46 AM\'] But seriously folks, I believe the extra piece simply went unmatched, and could either be matched up with the OTHER Wild Card (in which case two of that prize would be in circulation), or it would just sit and rot until everything else was matched off, and then they would be turned around to reveal the rest of the puzzle for that One Last Guess. [/quote]
Chris is right... I remember that Mr. Downs or Mr. Clayton would display the final two prizes to prove that they didn't match and then have them swing around to reveal the entire puzzle.

Robair · « **Reply #8 on:** May 16, 2004, 06:20:50 PM »

One other aspect of the tie games...on the network version, the players could carry over up to three prizes for the second game. That made things a little dicey because a Forfeit could even zap you on the first match of the game.

The checkmarks were never used on the Narz version, though, and they just put up a duplicate prize card.

davemackey · « **Reply #9 on:** May 16, 2004, 10:41:16 PM »

I really loved the 1973 "Concentration". The music and wild mirrored set design really kicked the show into the new decade. But....

It's just amazing the infrastructure that made it from New York to Los Angeles when Goodson-Todman decided to produce "Concentration" out there. We have heard the stories from Chris Clementson and Mark Bowerman and others about rebuilding the old-style electromechanical game boards and other ephemera... you think that Ted Cooper could have come up with more imaginative ways to do things on that show, given his track record.

BTW, I've seen still frames from the Orson Bean pilot of "Concentration" from the mid-1980's... correct me if I'm wrong, but does anyone know if Steve Ryan was creating the rebuses for that version as well? And the artwork on the puzzles shown there really look like they're still the work of Bernie Schmittke who worked on every single version of "Concentration".

Jim · « **Reply #10 on:** May 16, 2004, 11:34:14 PM »

Building on what has been said before:
If after all the pieces of the puzzle had been revealed, and both players didn't answer correctly, both players stuck around for a brand new game. They were each permitted to keep up to three of the prizes they had earned. If they had only prize, too bad, that was the only one you carried forward, even if it was a zonk type of prize.
NEW QUESTION:
Did Goodson-Todman produce the Downs-Clayton version?
ANOTHER QUESTION:
Any thoughts as to why Bob Clayton never got another hosting gig? I thought he was pretty good. Was he respected in the industry?

J.R. · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2004, 12:21:22 AM »

[quote name=\'Jim\' date=\'May 16 2004, 10:34 PM\'] Building on what has been said before:
If after all the pieces of the puzzle had been revealed, and both players didn't answer correctly, both players stuck around for a brand new game. They were each permitted to keep up to three of the prizes they had earned. If they had only prize, too bad, that was the only one you carried forward, even if it was a zonk type of prize.
NEW QUESTION:
Did Goodson-Todman produce the Downs-Clayton version?
ANOTHER QUESTION:
Any thoughts as to why Bob Clayton never got another hosting gig? I thought he was pretty good. Was he respected in the industry? [/quote]
I belive the 1958-1973 version was run by NBC, not Goodson-Toddman

Sadly, Bob Clayton died around 1979.
-Joe R.

chris319 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2004, 01:52:06 AM »

Ira Skutch, who directed the Narz version, told me that version of Concentration was done on the sparest of budgets. That's why they were giving away bottom-end Chevys and taped at Metromedia. They did spend money having a new controller for the board built, but with the old game board and slips arriving lock, stock and barrel from New York, what else would you have done differently with 1973 technology?

zachhoran · « **Reply #13 on:** May 17, 2004, 09:54:40 AM »

[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'May 16 2004, 11:21 PM\']
Any thoughts as to why Bob Clayton never got another hosting gig? I thought he was pretty good. Was he respected in the industry? [/QUOTE]
I belive the 1958-1973 version was run by NBC, not Goodson-Toddman

Sadly, Bob Clayton died around 1979.
-Joe R. [/quote]
Barry-Enright produced Concentration early on, but NBC picked the rights to it after the scandals. NBC hired G-T to produce the two Hollywood-based versions on Concentration.

CLayton didn't get another hosting gig(unless he did a pilot after the original Concentration went bye-bye), but Bob STewart thought enough of Clayton to give announcing gigs on several shows for the last few years of his life(Pyramid, Blankety Blanks, Shoot for the Stars, Pass the Buck)

The Ol' Guy · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2004, 11:17:05 AM »

someone correct me if necessary, but I thought NBC purchased the rights to B&E's game shows previous to the scandals, due to their success, for right around two million. Just like CBS purchased WML? and possibly IGAS from G-T for, among other reasons, tax breaks. In the radio days, CBS lured many top NBC stars to the struggling web with the promises of setting up financial plans that helped protect the stars and/or their production companies from paying too much in taxes.