Agreed. Sometimes it's not even that a game is "weaker", it's just that there's no need for it. I loved the brief time we had with Line 'Em Up, but with our version's Temptation having three choices for each digit (usually with one prize only having two), it was the same exact game with an extra freebie. We don't need both, and Temptation is a far more exciting game with how Larry handles them.
I think there's probably ten games (nine old and one new) we can tentatively "confirm" right now, even without knowing what they have planned -- Cliff Hangers, Hole In One, Bump, Safe Crackers, One Dollar Deal, Race Game, Dice Game, Any Number, Two Price Tags, and Pay The Rent. The only one I have even a niggling doubt about is Safe Crackers, but surely it'll be there.
They may not be obvious choices, but Cover Up and Make Your Move definitely need to stay. 5 Price Tags and Money Game too, given how well Larry hosts them. Conversely, while I love the games, I'd be happy never to see Larry try and explain One Away or Switcheroo again. Magic Number is probably out if the prop's been destroyed. Clock Game's awesome Medieval-themed prop absolutely makes or breaks the game. The electrics were already on the way out by the end of the last version, so even if the prop still exists I doubt we'll see it again. Side By Side was pretty much retired to make room for Flip Flop anyway. The former is much less confusing, but they'll keep the latter instead. With the other two quickies (Squeeze Play and Switch?), we'll probably only keep one, but it doesn't really matter which, as neither has the appeal of the US versions without the peppy sound effects -- in fact Squeeze Play's grinding was downright AWFUL. 2 For The Price Of 1 is a crapshoot a lot of the time, and I can see Seven loving that. It stays even though it probably shouldn't. Range Game slows the show down, which Seven definitely doesn't want if the relaunch competes against Hot Seat.
That leaves Grocery Game and Buy Or Sell. Buy Or Sell was a bit weird down here. They built the bank prop to the same four-digit size as the US version, but with price differences almost always less than $100 and frequently less than $50, it was kind of pointless and the game was needlessly difficult. I see More Or Less as the obvious replacement. Grocery Game's electric cash register to coincide with the fugly set revamp ruined the game with how hard it was for the camera to get a decent shot. If it comes back, they'd need to bring back the old register. Again, I'm not sure it still exists or works. Perhaps they could kill two birds with one stone here, combining the grocery aspect of GG and the "save $1" aspect of BOS to give us Super Saver? Highly unlikely, though. I'd think we'd get MOL to replace BOS, and just use PTR as a replacement Grocery Game, even though I'd rather we had more than two grocery games.
That gives us a likely pool of 18 games. We had 27 in the last version, so we'd need to get some more from the US. Of the other retired US games, On The Spot, Bargain Bar, and Make Your Mark are very, very remote chances; nothing else has a hope of being included. Of the current US games that would be "new" (even though some would have been used in Turps's versions - and wouldn't that be a fitting tribute?), there's probably only about eleven that would work down here: Check Out, Danger Price, Gas Money, Golden Road, It's In The Bag, Pathfinder, Push Over, Stack The Deck, Take Two, Ten Chances, and That's Too Much!.
Pathfinder's definitely worth it, especially without the sunken audience pit -- it could even work better here. TTM! could be a worthy replacement for Range Game if they came up with a better set design. Push Over's also in -- it fills a quickie slot without being lame. Larry could even replace "China" with "Hollywood" and make cheesy jokes at Drew's expense. If I'm right in thinking we'll be getting PTR, we don't really need the far superior IITB. Stack The Deck NEEDS to be in -- it's easily the best game of the Noughties. Golden Road is very unlikely, but would be welcome. Danger Price and Gas Money are both cool, but have similar (if not identical gameplay). If we get one, we won't get the other. Danger Price is more likely. Take Two... I doubt it, it hasn't been used outside the US before, right? Check Out is an outside chance but one that probably should happen. If we get Ten Chances, it'll use the original "four-digit final prize" rules.
So, in summary, I hope/predict we'll get 25 games, sixteen old and nine new: Any Number, Bump, Check Out, Cliff Hangers, Cover Up, Danger Price, Dice Game, Flip Flop, Hole In One, Make Your Move, Money Game, More Or Less, One Dollar Deal, Pathfinder, Pay The Rent, Push Over, Race Game, Safe Crackers, Squeeze Play, Stack The Deck, Ten Chances, That's Too Much!, 2 For The Price Of 1, 2 Price Tags, 5 Price Tags. That's a good ratio to keep fans of the old version happy while still allowing for innovation in a tried-and-tested format, and it gives Larry plenty of new material to work with.
