Punch a Bunch Modification Suggestion Thread

[superballfan]

If you could change one thing about Punchboard, what would it be?


My change would be to have touch screens instead of holes, and have it randomize the money amounts. After the game ends, show where the top prize is from the people in the back. What do you think about this?

[GameShowFan1987]

I think you're insane.

[rn]

Here's the one change I want: None.  Keep the game the way it is, as touch screens would make the game's name redundant.

[gamesurf]

The problem is, touch screens don't last too long if you make hyper contestants punch them at them at every opportunity. 

Seriously, touch screens would be a bad idea. Not only do you get the uninformed conspiracy freaks at home going on about how the show is rigged, but you lose a ton of the game's flavor. The idea behind selecting a box in 1/2 Off, punching a hole in Punch-a-Bunch, or spinning the Big Wheel really is the same general idea. But in each case, the selection process is handled very differently, and that gives each game its own distinct appeal. Touch screens would kill the fun in the game.

Plus, if they were to "truly" randomize the holes, then the producers would have no control over whether the big money appears in a location likely to be punched (such as the corners) or unlikely to be punched (like the bottom row, random places throughout the board, ect.) That may not be a bad thing, but as far as the producers are concerned, it's simply cheaper and easier to play Punch-a-Bunch with... you know... a punchboard.

[WooWho]

My change would be to have touch screens instead of holes, and have it randomize the money amounts. After the game ends, show where the top prize is from the people in the back. What do you think about this?

Would kinda take the "punch" out of Punchboard...besides, that's just more of an opportunity for people to cry foul that the show is rigged.

Me?  Nothing but the distribution...and goodness knows that's been visited a billion times already.

[PriceFanArmadillo]

Yeah, no changes, please.  It's good enough as is.

Also, this is unusual...but I'm moving this thread TO The Talk is Right.  (With a rename, to make sure no one accidentally thinks something's actually happening to P-A-B.)

[Hag]

Perhaps taking out $50 as a prize. Otherwise, it's fine.

[TPIRighteous]

How is it Punch a Bunch if it's made of touch screens you can't punch?...

Are you Daniel Rosen?

[therealcu2010]

As already stated, change the distribution. Keep the one $25K slip, replace the $10K slip with another $25K, and double the other slips.

Other than that, no other changes.

[mrbrown2195]

Change the distribution.

Light up the slot with the top prize at the end of the game.

[brtsimpson142]

Replacing the holes with touch screens would not only make the game less fun (contestants wouldn't be able to "punch" anymore), it would also make the prop horrendously expensive to maintain.  I mean, would YOU be able to keep your cool and not "punch" a game that was called "Punch-a-Bunch," even if the Punchboard was all touch screens?  I could see an overeager contestant accidentally damaging them quite easily.  (I think back to all the episodes of Stargate Atlantis I ever saw, that had big plasma touchscreens on the sets, and every time David Hewlett or someone else would hit them hard enough for the screen to "ripple", I'd cringe for fear they were damaging it).  Then there's the more mundane life cycle of an LCD monitor--what is it, five years?  You'd have to replace them once every so often, en masse, and that would get horrendously expensive.

We've had this discussion before about 10 Chances.  So not just no, but...WAY no.

[Superballer]

Agreed. 

Although, it might not be a bad idea to show where the top prize(s) is/was if the contestant doesn't select it.  Or does everyone here feel that might be harder in practice than theory? 

[smbryant]

It's a moot point. It doesn't help the game and at the same time it doesn't hurt anything either. But what would be an improvement would have each punched hole light up to indicate which is the next hole to check. Kind of like a cursor.

[brtsimpson142]

Harder in practice than in theory.  Either way, you'd have to outfit EVERY hold with something that lights up to show where the prize is.  That's still a heck of a lot of something they'd have to maintain and replace.  The alternative would be for someone to tell Drew beforehand, but that's a bad idea for many reasons.

Plus, I don't know if there's any pattern to where they put it, but I could see people trying to pull a Michael Larsen once they started showing the right hole every time.  Then there's the letdown factor ("You were TWO SPACES AWAY!").

That's just a bad idea all the way around.

@smbryant:  your reply popped up while I was typing.  Same problem, each hole would have to have some kind of light (or lights) around it.  That's just one more major expensive thing to maintain.

[TPIRGuru]

Perhaps taking out $50 as a prize. Otherwise, it's fine.

Per Mikey, at PIR.com, this may be happening already.