Pay the Rent Discussion

[ThereseW]

I believe the game is mean. 

Not only is it mean, the whole game is like a grand scam.  Unless Drew says something to the extent like '"be very careful, the cheapest item MIGHT not be the best to put on the first floor" I'll bet that every single contestant will always put the cheapest on the first floor. the show knows that they will never (except by absolute dumb luck)  give the money away. There is a better chance winning the $100,000 whatever in Golden Road than the grand prize in this game.

I don't mind hard challenging games but this one is deceptive to the contestant and the show knows this!

[sideshowPA]

I don't mind hard challenging games but this one is deceptive to the contestant and the show knows this!

Well said.  The prize is certainly big: 100K.  But that doesn't excuse having a game as convoluted as this.  I understand that it is supposed to be difficult to win such a big prize.  But I suspect that anyone who actually wins this game will do it by accident, rather than by skill.

[brosa0]

What rubbish.  It's a hard game as it should be for $100,000.   People who think it is impossible can just walk away with the $10,000, which is perhaps the easiest $10,000 to walk away with on the show.   I think there's as much chance of someone winning this game as there is of someone winning a game like It's In The Bag which, from what I recall from reading here only seems to get won no more than once per season.

A reasonable strategy for the game would be to note what you think the most expensive item is and guess the price of it.  You'll then realize that it is unlikely for the next two most expensive items to be less than that.   Strategies take time to filter down to everyone so it may take 5-10 playings for contestants to realise how to approach the game.

[Off_trak]

Remember, this is / was / will be the game's first official playing. They may tweak the rules with more playings, if they discover the contestant's are having too many difficulties understanding it, etc, etc..  Frankly, I didn't fully understand how the game should be played until it was over (although I knew the cat food wasn't overly expensive, and knew she had lost before the reveals).

As for it's difficulty level, I think it's appropriately difficult for the prize it's offering. Contestants will actually have to be aware of the prices of the grocery items, and do a little mental math in to order to win. I don't see that being overly unfair for the size of the award that can be won.

Will the first winner be due to dumb luck? Totally likely! How many people over the course of 38 years have won their prize with having no clue what they were doing? I think it's safe to say several thousand of them.

Finally, for everyone who's bitching and moaning that the set up is too hard.. They'll be the the exact same group of people who will Prizes and moan that the set up was too easy when the game is finally won.

[Demerolguy]

They never learned how to approach cover-up (and that has been played quite a bit).  Need I also say "10 chances" and "check game"

The game is deceptive, deceptive, deceptive.

It will be interesting to see the first real dumb contestant get up there, not understand the game, "stupidly" put an item on the first level that is not the cheapest (with the audience booing and going crazy over the "bad" choice) and then winning the game.  I hope this happens a lot so that Mikey really gets screwed with this supposedly budget protecting game!

It will serve him right for putting on this bad spirited game.

[sideshowPA]

People who think it is impossible can just walk away with the $10,000, which is perhaps the easiest $10,000 to walk away with on the show. 

This I agree with.  Easiest 10K ever.  So the risk will need to be stressed more as this game is played more.  Drew seemed to explain the game well, but I was surprised how quickly the contestant gave up the 10K.

I don't feel the game is deceptive.  I just feel the game takes too much thought for the minute or so you would have to actually pick the products.

[Hag]

I was thinking that when watching the video. Most people would walk on Punchboard with the $5,000 slip, and it looked pretty easy to me for the contestant to win at least 5K on Rent. But, of course, visions of $100,000 will be dancing in many folks' eyes, whether or not that's what TPTB intended.

[mrbrown2195]

I hope this happens a lot so that Mikey really gets screwed with this supposedly budget protecting game!

If Mikey and Co. wanted to protect the budget, the mere possibility of winning $100k wouldn't exist.

[spoon14]

You are kidding about the gaps right? The gaps for the game we saw were pretty much $0.50 at each step requiring D.O.B. accurate pricing of each item at every step of the way.  Whether or not it plays out on a consistent basis that the most expensive GP goes on top and the 2nd most goes on the bottom, who knows.  Speaking from experience, most people will not be able to remember that much at that point in time, much less be able to add 1.49 and 5.49.

Nope, I'm definitely not kidding. I think you taking "solid shot" and "gaps" to mean a much different thing that I meant it to be. I said that if all players understood the point of the game (like the pairing cheap with expensive) and all went for the $100,000, we might get a win rate as high as 25% with a set-up like that. Of course, weren't not going to get players that knowledgeable and we'll get our share of bail-outs.

I know the gaps of the combos to win are tight. That wasn't my point. My point is that gaps between individual items are big, so that significantly reduced the number of appealing combos to try. There are two dollars gaps (more less) between the cheapest to the next two, then to the next two, and then to the highest. If one understands the combo trick and the gaps between grocery prices are that big, that cuts down the combos significantly. A competent player trying for the $100,000 will, right off the bat, never put the $1 prize at level 1 and always put the $7 prize at level 4.

There are only so many ways to juggle it. It's tough for a player to determine which is 2nd most expensive and which is 3rd, but if they get that guess right, it cuts the odds. Then it essentially comes down to deciding between placing the 3rd/6th combo on level 2 and the 4th/5th combo on level 3 or vice versa.

If the gaps are that blantant you have a good at knowing this is definitely 1st (i.e. most expensive), these are 2nd and 3rd (which is which is dicey), these are 4th and 5th (which is which is dicey), and this is definitely 6th. Then, it's matter of correctly picking which is 2nd and which is 3rd among two close prices and whether the 3rd/6th or 4th/5th is higher. I do mean it's a shoo-in. I mean it's not such a crazy long shot assuming (a) the price steps between 1st, then 2nd/3rd, then 4th/5th, then 6th remain so big, (b) every player understood how the combos work in the games strategy, and (c) everyone went for it instead of bailing.

[Axl]

If Mikey and Co. wanted to protect the budget, the mere possibility of winning $100k wouldn't exist.

Not if the game is deliberately set up to require a slide rule in order to get an earned win.  I'm almost a little surprised they didn't just go ahead and make it a million-dollar prize... that wouldn't be won either, and they'd save themselves the money it took to change the sign.

This game just seems to cement the idea that TPiR will forevermore be a show of big prizes and few wins.  Bad idea, IMHO.

[spoon14]

As for it's difficulty level, I think it's appropriately difficult for the prize it's offering. Contestants will actually have to be aware of the prices of the grocery items, and do a little mental math in to order to win. I don't see that being overly unfair for the size of the award that can be won.

Yes, $100,000 should be hard as heck. And as noted, if one chooses to aim for $10,000 instead of strategizing to win $100,000, then that $10,000 is the easiest big money prize in the game. If you choose to simply stack them from lowest to highest, the gaps are big enough between the individual prizes at each level. Heck you don't even have to differentiate between which two are $5 and change and which one is $7 and change. All you've got to do is put the cheapest one at bottom, the next two cheapest second from the bottom, mix up the three most expensive any way you want, and take home $10,000.

[brtsimpson142]

This game just seems to cement the idea that TPiR will forevermore be a show of big prizes and few wins.  Bad idea, IMHO.

I disagree.  Give them about another half-season and their ratings will fall enough to go back to the old ways.

(Yes, I know "big prizes and few wins" sounds exactly like WWTBAM, which is still on the air despite not having a winner in forever--but PiR is a different show that shouldn't have to rely on big prizes to attract viewers--I for one get less from seeing a contestant lose out on a big prize than I do on the same contestant winning something like a grandfather clock, $10,000, or the coveted new car)

[FPGWillyT]

Nope, I'm definitely not kidding.

My bad.  But I'll tell you what.  The project I'm working on and will through the weekend has already turned up some interesting things, but I need more info and really analyze the data to prove my point, if there is one.

But I think that from top to bottom everyone agrees that the best way to play this game every time is to play for the 10k and screw the 100k.  If that happens, it only proves the above point brtsimpson made very well:  Offer something big that can't reasonably won.  That's not what I want to watch.

[tpirfan28]

A reasonable strategy for the game would be to note what you think the most expensive item is and guess the price of it.  You'll then realize that it is unlikely for the next two most expensive items to be less than that.   Strategies take time to filter down to everyone so it may take 5-10 playings for contestants to realise how to approach the game.

Hit the nail on the head.  Kathy and Adam need to really make sure Drew explains the rules very, very well for the first 5-7 playings.  As long as the rules are explained well, I don't have a problem.  If you know the rules and the prices, this should be a cinch.

It would not surprise me if a pattern develops (i.e. 4/3+2/5+1/6) after a while of no wins to try and produce the "big win".

/I sincerely hope they don't change Hans's clothes...we'd probably be divided about that too!

[smbryant]

I don't think we have much to worry about. With such a big prize, this game won't be trotted out as often in a season as you might think.