Author Topic: Here's how we play the game...or is it?  (Read 8171 times)

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Offline jaydlewis

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Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« on: May 23, 2006, 11:25:17 PM »
With Bob royally messing up Step Up's rules, it got me to thinking about how he blows the rules to a couple of other games.

That's Too Much!
If you listen, he ALWAYS says "The moment you see a price you believe is higher than the actual price of the car..." OK, so I can contend that the price of $20,496 for the Ford Focus in my playing was "that moment" and they owe me a car.

Bob should be saying "The moment you see a price you believe is THE FIRST PRICE higher than the actual price of the car..."


Barker's Markers
When did this EVER get explained correctly?

Here's how I would explain the game:
We'd be happy to give you those 3 prizes and *goes into pocket* $500 cash! *do the price/prize deal and light up the 2 that are right*

Let's look at the board. The cradle is left and you have two prices. $2,500 and $1,298. Your marker is beside $1,298. If you think you've made a mistake, you can move the marker by giving back the $500. If you want to leave it alone, you keep the $500.

However, if you don't move it and you're wrong, you don't win the prizes or the $500. Now, do you think the cradle is $1,298 or do you want to move the marker?


When Bob explains it now, he mentions losing the $500 LAST and almost never gives the contestant an opportunity to change their minds.


If Super Saver really got bounced because Bob couldn't explain the rules properly, then these games may as well be bounced too. (Not that I want them gone...I like all the games in rotation)

In the same vein, if Bob is having trouble remembering the rules to some games now, what happens when they add more games? The man is in his 80s and is obviously having trouble keeping everything straight. Something's gotta give, IMO.

Offline Mallory16

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2006, 11:34:03 PM »
I've often figured Cover Up may be the most likely victim of this.  I mean, Cover Up gets away with far more than Super Saver ever did; I couldn't even guess the last time Bob explained the rules for Cover Up fully before the contestant started--probably sometime last century--which might make it more likely for the contestant to play the game properly.  That game's gotten really lucky not to have too sore a loser.

Offline ug_rulz_all

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2006, 02:03:39 AM »
i think bob should explain step up's rules the same way he does the grocery products on hole-in-one: that is, to pick the least expensive, then the "least expensive of the remaining products, and so on".

as for super $aver, it wasn't necessarily just because of bob's misexplaining of the rules -- it was the fact that the contestant complained to S&P that the misunderstanding caused her to lose. just think -- had she never have picked the marked-up price, she may have blown off the misstated rules, and the game would still be with us today

Offline Mallory16

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2006, 02:27:13 AM »
I know that.  And what do you think would happen if a contestant complained to standards and practices that she lost because she didn't understand all of the rules for Cover Up?  Same thing.

Offline COINBOYNYC

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2006, 11:45:17 AM »
Quote

Frank15 wrote:
. . . what do you think would happen if a contestant complained to standards and practices that she lost because she didn't understand all of the rules . . .

Couldn't a disgruntled loser complain that they didn't understand the rules, when in reality they did and they're just sore about not winning?   :-?
Fun fact: Evelyn Wong, the 5th person to be called on the first show (9/4/72), was actually the very first contestant to directly be called to come on down!  The original first four (Sandy Flornor, Paul Levine, Connie Donnel, Myra Carter) were individually told to stand up, and then, as a group, were invited to come on down.

Offline Axl

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2006, 11:57:29 AM »
I don't get the concern about Cover Up and Barker's Markers.  Is it required that Bob give a complete list of the rules for each game up front?  The only potential "mistake" I could see is that sometimes the BM contestants don't seem to fully understand that they don't keep the $500 on a loss.  Even then, Bob almost always correctly explains it as he gives them the switch option... it's just that the audience is so loud at that point that the contestants don't always hear it.

Offline jaydlewis

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2006, 12:14:52 PM »
Quote

Axl wrote:
I don't get the concern about Cover Up and Barker's Markers.  Is it required that Bob give a complete list of the rules for each game up front?  The only potential "mistake" I could see is that sometimes the BM contestants don't seem to fully understand that they don't keep the $500 on a loss.  Even then, Bob almost always correctly explains it as he gives them the switch option... it's just that the audience is so loud at that point that the contestants don't always hear it.


Maybe...but the last few times this is what happens...

Player: I don't want to switch

Bob: OK. If you had wanted to switch and move the marker from $xxxx to $xxxx, that would have cost you the $500. If you're right, you win the prizes and the money. But if you're wrong you don't win any prizes and I take BACK the $500. Light up the price please!

At no point is the contestant allowed to reconsider after hearing the complete spiel about the consequences.

Offline WilliamPorygon

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2006, 12:29:23 PM »
Quote

jaydlewis wrote:

Player: I don't want to switch

Bob: OK. If you had wanted to switch and move the marker from $xxxx to $xxxx, that would have cost you the $500. If you're right, you win the prizes and the money. But if you're wrong you don't win any prizes and I take BACK the $500. Light up the price please!

At no point is the contestant allowed to reconsider after hearing the complete spiel about the consequences.


I'm pretty sure I remember at least one time where a contestant changed his mind about not switching after Bob did that spiel, and Bob allowed it.  (And incidentally, he would have ended up winning if he'd not moved it.)

As for Cover Up, say Joe Contestant gets up there, and Bob explains the rules the same way he normally does these days.  Joe gets all but the 4th number right on the first try, and then loses.  Then Joe's friend, an audience member, or whoever, tells him how to earn extra turns in the game.  So what's to stop Joe from claiming he would have messed up a couple of numbers on purpose if he'd known that rule and Bob's failure to explain it may have caused him to lose?  Not everyone who gets on the show is a LFAT, and it's definitely possible a contestant could get up there and not have seen the game before, or at least not seen it played with someone getting more than two turns so the rule was actually kind of explained.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2006, 12:52:27 PM »
Quote
jaydlewis wrote:  
Quote
Axl wrote:  
I don't get the concern about Cover Up and Barker's Markers.  Is it required that Bob give a complete list of the rules for each game up front?  The only potential "mistake" I could see is that sometimes the BM contestants don't seem to fully understand that they don't keep the $500 on a loss.  Even then, Bob almost always correctly explains it as he gives them the switch option... it's just that the audience is so loud at that point that the contestants don't always hear it.


Maybe...but the last few times this is what happens...

Player: I don't want to switch

Bob: OK. If you had wanted to switch and move the marker from $xxxx to $xxxx, that would have cost you the $500. If you're right, you win the prizes and the money. But if you're wrong you don't win any prizes and I take BACK the $500. Light up the price please!

At no point is the contestant allowed to reconsider after hearing the complete spiel about the consequences.


I'm not sure I see the concern here.  At no point is the contestant coerced into giving up the $500, nor is he told anything that would cause him to not switch solely because of the money, and if he had the last marker wrong to start with, there's no way he could win the money at that point, anyway.  Actually, I'd say this is the safest way to explain the game.
"Every game is somebody's favorite." -- Wise words from Roger Dobkowitz.

Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2006, 01:29:20 PM »
The one risk here is that the contestant may not realize they lose the $500 if they keep the marker where it is but it's wrong, as they're not being told until after their decision is final.  And it does make a difference in the gameplay--if they get to keep the $500 no matter what, who would switch the marker unless they knew for certain they should?  But if they realize they could lose it, then they would go for the price that they think fits the last item.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2006, 01:39:40 PM »
Quote
LiteBulb88 wrote:

The one risk here is that the contestant may not realize they lose the $500 if they keep the marker where it is but it's wrong, as they're not being told until after their decision is final.  And it does make a difference in the gameplay--if they get to keep the $500 no matter what, who would switch the marker unless they knew for certain they should?  But if they realize they could lose it, then they would go for the price that they think fits the last item.


...that doesn't even make sense.  If you didn't think there was any way to lose the $500, why would that factor at all into deciding whether or not to move the marker?

I am completely failing to see how the two halves of that sentence relate to one another.
"Every game is somebody's favorite." -- Wise words from Roger Dobkowitz.

Offline sullim4

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2006, 02:30:15 PM »
Quote

SteveGavazzi wrote:
...that doesn't even make sense.  If you didn't think there was any way to lose the $500, why would that factor at all into deciding whether or not to move the marker?

I am completely failing to see how the two halves of that sentence relate to one another.


I think he's talking about the situation where the contestant can't use (or doesn't want) any of the four prizes.  Bob will often neglect to tell the contestant that if they decide to leave the marker where it is and it's the wrong choice, they lose the $500.  He'll still tell them that they can move the marker for $500.  Since the contestant doesn't know that you have to win the prizes to keep the $500, they don't move the marker because they would just assume have the cash instead of the four prizes.

Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2006, 07:36:33 PM »
Apologies...the contestant knows that to switch, they must give up $500.  The contestant doesn't know that if they don't switch, they lose the $500 if they're wrong.  In other words, they think they are guaranteed the $500 if they don't switch, and they know they are guaranteed NOT to get the $500 if they don't switch.  Thus, if they are up in the air about which price remaining is correct, they won't switch unless they are certain about the switch.  If, for example, it's only a 50/50 shot, or even a 60/40 shot, in their mind about switching, then why switch if they're guaranteed $500 for not switching?  That's why I'm saying this could affect the gameplay.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Here's how we play the game...or is it?
« Reply #13 on: May 24, 2006, 10:07:10 PM »
I can't imagine the thought process you just described actually going through any contestant's head.  If Bob tells them to put the marker on the proper price without mentioning the money, I would imagine they'd base their decision on whether or not to move it on where they thought it belonged, not on anything involving the $500.

In short, you are way overthinking this.
"Every game is somebody's favorite." -- Wise words from Roger Dobkowitz.