Author Topic: BB87 Recycling (Read 6815 times)

TV Favorites · « **Reply #15 on:** May 12, 2005, 09:37:24 PM »

I know the "Name a Famous George" question on Family Feud has been used at least 3 times (Dawson, Combs, and Karn Versions). I believe each time, there was a repoll since the answers/values/positions were different.

That Don Guy · « **Reply #16 on:** May 12, 2005, 09:41:34 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:25 PM\']This I wonder. Has Wheel Of Fortune repeated a puzzle? Or Concentration a rebus? Match Game '7x a fill-in-the blank statement? Card Sharks a survey question? Family Feud a survey topic? The Joker's Wild a definition?

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Family Feud has reused at least two survey topics; as a matter of fact, in one of them, they re-used the original survey. The re-used survey was, "Name something with a hole in it"; the three answers were doughnut, bagel, and ring. When they re-used a question with a different survey, Richard pointed this out; the question was, "Name a famous Henry." This was when Happy Days was at its peak, so the top answer was Henry Winkler; I think Richard said that Henry Fonda was #1 the first time.

Speaking of reusing games: I remember a Jack Clark Cross-Wits where they only gave two clues and revealed one word when the time ran out; Jack then announced that they would not reveal the answer because they wanted to use the puzzle again on a future show (although they would change the two clues that had been read).

-- Don

Fedya · « **Reply #17 on:** May 12, 2005, 10:04:22 PM »

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:09 PM\']It totally makes sense that they would re-book unused material, especially on a game where you get to a quarter, maybe half the material at most. However, it is a little surprising that they would do it in such a blatant fashion.

Does anybody know if the clues were placed in certain positions on the board because of their relative difficulty? It seems really easy to create a "budget-friendly" board simply by putting in one column of difficult clues -- and it would look far less obvious or blatant than booking "Things that are shabby" on Pyramid.

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Certain clues in the Gold Run were placed in the top or bottom hexes because those were slightly scrunched compared to the rest.

There were a limited number of main game board layouts in the Cullen version because it would be much cheaper to reuse the same boards over and over. What's surprising is that the Rafferty version used the same layouts. Since they had gone to a computer-generated board, you'd think they could put whatever letters wherever they wanted. (And would it really have been that expensive to write a program to place the letters randomly?)

dazztardly · « **Reply #18 on:** May 12, 2005, 11:05:20 PM »

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 12 2005, 09:04 PM\'][quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:09 PM\']It totally makes sense that they would re-book unused material, especially on a game where you get to a quarter, maybe half the material at most. However, it is a little surprising that they would do it in such a blatant fashion.

Does anybody know if the clues were placed in certain positions on the board because of their relative difficulty? It seems really easy to create a "budget-friendly" board simply by putting in one column of difficult clues -- and it would look far less obvious or blatant than booking "Things that are shabby" on Pyramid.

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Certain clues in the Gold Run were placed in the top or bottom hexes because those were slightly scrunched compared to the rest.

There were a limited number of main game board layouts in the Cullen version because it would be much cheaper to reuse the same boards over and over. What's surprising is that the Rafferty version used the same layouts. Since they had gone to a computer-generated board, you'd think they could put whatever letters wherever they wanted. (And would it really have been that expensive to write a program to place the letters randomly?)

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I don't think it would have been expensive to make them random. Coming from a programmer of 8 years, it doesn't take much to do it.

But I assume for the Gold Run, the writers offstage have to follow a chart of sorts that replicated the board layout[or maybe they were alphabetized]. Chris319 could possibly answer that one...

-Dan

mystery7 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 12, 2005, 11:07:54 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:25 PM\']This I wonder. Has Wheel Of Fortune repeated a puzzle? Or Concentration a rebus? Match Game '7x a fill-in-the blank statement? Card Sharks a survey question? Family Feud a survey topic? The Joker's Wild a definition?

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The Stumpers category of the real Joker's Wild was entirely recycled questions that players missed. Recycled definitions on Pat Finn's version? I doubt it since there was only a season's worth of shows. The writers would have to be really lazy if they couldn't fill one full seaon of material.

GS Warehouse · « **Reply #20 on:** May 13, 2005, 12:05:47 AM »

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 12 2005, 09:04 PM\']There were a limited number of main game board layouts in the Cullen version because it would be much cheaper to reuse the same boards over and over. What's surprising is that the Rafferty version used the same layouts. Since they had gone to a computer-generated board, you'd think they could put whatever letters wherever they wanted. (And would it really have been that expensive to write a program to place the letters randomly?)

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Considering the PYL board wasn't random (yes, I know BB came after PYL, but still...), I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. OTOH, maybe they wanted to spread the letters out strategically, i.e. don't put A, B, and C so close to each other. And such possibilities are not exactly infinite, especially if you want to use Q, X, or Z so rarely. Has anybody noticed that:
- Q and Z always appear in corners?
- Between the two versions, whenever a Q or Z came up, it was picked to start the game almost every time? Doesn't seem so random to me.
- As best to my knowledge, X has appeared only once in Blockbusters history. (Yes, it was picked to start the game as well.)

Last year I worked on a Blockbusters game (it's been on hold on months), and I developed a way to try to make Q, X, and Z appear only sporadically with random boards (I wasn't aware of the preset boards at the time). Sure enough, I still got two of those letters more often than none.

And as for Gold Run, I've seen the letters BC a lot in Cullen's version, and no less than three of those BC questions referred to a certain game show host who had those very initials.

Computer mice. Rafferty's getting technical on us. :-)

clemon79 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 13, 2005, 12:26:06 AM »

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'May 12 2005, 09:05 PM\']Last year I worked on a Blockbusters game (it's been on hold on months), and I developed a way to try to make Q, X, and Z appear only sporadically with random boards (I wasn't aware of the preset boards at the time). Sure enough, I still got two of those letters more often than none.
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Easy. Figure out what percentage of the time you want a given letter to NOT be featured in a given board, to however many decimal places pleases you. (This should total 100%.) Then assign the alphabet to a percentage chart, kinda like those Random Monster Tables you see in D&D games. (So, say, 0%-1% is A, then 1.1%-3% is B, and so forth, until you get Z at 81%-100%.) Then you write a quick routine that a) selects a percentage, consults the chart, and knocks that letter out of the possible 20, repeating if it selects a letter that has already been selected, and further repeating until you have six letters. Randomize the rest of the letters into an array, and there's your board.

Fedya · « **Reply #22 on:** May 13, 2005, 10:38:01 PM »

And if you don't want, say, Q and Z to appear together, you can set up a routine that automatically eliminates one of them when the other is picked.

If, for example, you were simply picking slips of paper out of a hat, you could just write "Q/Z" on one of them, and if you picked that one, flip a coin for which letter actually gets used. :-)

uncamark · « **Reply #23 on:** May 16, 2005, 07:25:13 PM »

And songs were repeated on "Name That Tune" all the time.

In the case of "Whew!", the categories on the show were a small and finite list, so unused bloopers were sure to be booked on the boards again. I personally think that there was not that much difference between a $20 blooper and a $50 blooper, between you and me, so Wolpert could move them around at will.

And of course, as Trebek says on "J!", the responses are reused, it's just the clues written for them that change every year or so. With that in mind, I'd love to say what they've used over the years to elicit the response "Who is George Washington?"--and when they used "The Father of Our Country." Just "The Father of Our Country."

Don Howard · « **Reply #24 on:** May 16, 2005, 09:52:50 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 16 2005, 06:25 PM\']In the case of "Whew!", the categories on the show were a small and finite list, so unused bloopers were sure to be booked on the boards again.

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Ah, okay. Good to know. Damn, that show had too short of a life. Reruns of Alice indeed. Why, I ask you, why? WHY? WHY?!? Plus, it cut Doug Edwards down to a minute a day.

aaron sica · « **Reply #25 on:** May 16, 2005, 10:03:24 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'May 16 2005, 09:52 PM\']
Ah, okay. Good to know. Damn, that show had too short of a life. Reruns of Alice indeed. Why, I ask you, why? WHY? WHY?!? Plus, it cut Doug Edwards down to a minute a day.

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WHP-TV 21 (Harrisburg, PA) expressed its displeasure at the cancellation of "Whew!" by airing reruns of "Maude" for the summer of '80. It relented in the fall, picking up "Alice" by then.

(Yes, I know they probably weren't ticked at Whew! ending, but it was fun to say so)

ObGameShow: I remember being totally excited in fall '82 when that sitcom hour was replaced by $25K Pyramid and Child's Play.

zachhoran · « **Reply #26 on:** May 16, 2005, 10:18:47 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'May 16 2005, 08:52 PM\'][quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 16 2005, 06:25 PM\']In the case of "Whew!", the categories on the show were a small and finite list, so unused bloopers were sure to be booked on the boards again.

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Ah, okay. Good to know. Damn, that show had too short of a life. Reruns of Alice indeed. Why, I ask you, why? WHY? WHY?!? Plus, it cut Doug Edwards down to a minute a day.

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I suspect bringing on luminaries such as John Saxon and Trish Stewart in an effort to increase ratings couldn't have helped any.....

Don Howard · « **Reply #27 on:** May 17, 2005, 12:37:06 AM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'May 16 2005, 09:18 PM\']I suspect bringing on luminaries such as John Saxon and Trish Stewart in an effort to increase ratings couldn't have helped any.....

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Ah, John Saxon. That one-man stud farm from The Bold Ones.
John Saxon, Pat O'Brien and a hot tub. It'd be better than Spartacus.