TPiR Recap - 10/16/2013 (TPiR Season 42 Big Money Week - Day 3)

[SonicWhammy]

OK, here, I have an alternative option to the Cliff Hangers anamoly. You range off the sections of the mountain in a manner reminiscent of the original video slot machines.

If Hans finishes the climb standing on:
21-25 = $5,000
16-20 = $10,000
11-15 = $25,000
6-10 = $50,000
1-5 = $100,000
PERFECT = $250,000

There, now you still have all 25 steps to play with. I know losing 4% of your cushion may not seem like much, but Cliff Hangers has proven often to be a game of inches... or something like that. In spite of it all, I like this premise.

And elsewhere in the show, yep, there's those exact price cars again. How tough that must be to get all the options on the car to round out exactly like that, and they do it twice in a month, AND the month's still only half over.

[Kyle]

Thoughts for today...

Squeeze Play with six digits is usually a tricky affair. Fortunately, the $10,000+ price was the only one that looked reasonable. Solid start to the show/

$250,000 Cliff Hangers had a neat idea, however, what sort of killed the momentum on this one was Drew was getting pretty wordy with his explanation of how money was being deducted. As such, I think a lot of people ended up possibly confused, including myself until I actually tried to put weed through what he was saying and make some sense of it. What surprised me was even though the small prizes didn't follow the usual 20-30-40 pattern of increase, they were still really reasonable prices and could have been nailed on the nose with relative ease, especially with the latter two being $40 and $50 even. However, what took me right out of Kyle's $30,000 win was him bounding around the stage screaming "$30,000! $30,000!" That just reeked of being reshot. I doubt most contestants with that much money on the line with that much math involved with the pressure of being on The Price is Right would have reacted like that. I could buy the excitement of running around, but the "$30,000!" yells seemed faked, to me.

Line 'em Up was a little tricky today. There really wasn't much wiggle room with some of the numbers near the end of the price with 5s, 6s, and 7 in a row like that. At least it wasn't a terribly rotten price like that $19,032 value during the last playing of the game.

Safe Crackers had me fooled. I thought because they were iPad minis that $780 would win out.

Now.... or Then came down to knowing the secrets of the game. Once the two "THEN" prices were revealed, all he had to do was stick with the "NOW" and his victory was assured.

That's Too Much! I have mixed feelings about. Hard enough game as it is, but, with the actual retail price being $25,000 exactly? Whaaa? And a $17,000 price in Gas Money recently? What's up with that?

Second Double Showcase Winner for shows aired this season is nice to see. Seems appropriate given that it's Big Money Week. Also, just a personal sidebar about that, I had tweeted after the show "You know what the three sweetest words on The Price is Right are after 'Come on Down'? 'Double Showcase Winner!'" and it was retweeted by the show's Twitter and CBS Daytime. Kinda neat.

[GuyWithFace]

However, what took me right out of Kyle's $30,000 win was him bounding around the stage screaming "$30,000! $30,000!" That just reeked of being reshot. I doubt most contestants with that much money on the line with that much math involved with the pressure of being on The Price is Right would have reacted like that. I could buy the excitement of running around, but the "$30,000!" yells seemed faked, to me.

Agreed. There are also a couple of similar audience shots during this portion, which may have been to mask edits (as seems to be the norm).

I'd also like to point out that I was confused why they were allowed to start the mountain climber at Step 1. Wouldn't S&P or anyone have some problem with that? (Of course we know they didn't end up having a problem and let them do this, but it just confuses me that they were allowed to make the game artificially harder for this one time.) It's like if they changed Lucky $even to Lucky $ix and only gave the contestant 6 dollars because they were playing for a Viper or something.

Or added a sixth number chip to 3 Strikes because they were playing for a Ferrari.

[TPIRighteous]

Cliff Hangers for $250,000 was an interesting idea that was killed by its poor execution.

1. The reveal was underwhelming AND totally botched. A model standing in front of a monitor? At least do it on Door #4, with huge numbers. I realize you don't want to build a Pay the Rent-style prop for a one-time thing, but it needed something a bit more interesting than basically the exact same thing they do for the $2,500 showcase throw-in.

2. The rules were too confusing. Yes, Drew explained them oddly, but I don't blame him at all. Between having $10,000 still left on 25 and Yodely Guy starting on 1, it tied MY brain in knots, and I'm pretty good at mental math. For a $250,000 game, they couldn't make 25 little overlays with dollar values on them? It would have been SO much easier to see how much money was left at any given point. Even a post-production on-screen dollar amount during the climb would have at least been a good cue for the viewing audience.

There seemed to be a lot of editing, and it's likely out of confusion. If they really did have to stage Kyle's celebration, that's the worst kind of reshoot you can do on The Price is Right. You want someone who just won $30,000 to know it immediately.

[PriceFan07]

Is anyone else really bothered with this Carrie model this week? She just seems to throw her arms around at whatever prize she's modeling and twist her body and it all just looks terrible. If they're going to have guest models, at least give them a crash-course in modeling or hire someone who can actually do a decent job.

[mrbrown2195]

I'd also like to point out that I was confused why they were allowed to start the mountain climber at Step 1. Wouldn't S&P or anyone have some problem with that? (Of course we know they didn't end up having a problem and let them do this, but it just confuses me that they were allowed to make the game artificially harder for this one time.)

They make the rules to the games. I'd assume as long as it is in writing before the taping, there is no problem.

[peiboy91]

If only they had done this when I played Cliffhangers. But yeah, I'm with those who were confused about the money. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to Drew's explanation, but I thought he had won $20,000 because he was two steps away from the top. As TPIRighteous mentioned, the dollar amounts should have been labeled on each step and maybe even a $30,000 graphic when he won. I also didn't like the fact that the contestant was losing money as the game progressed, instead of building it up, which did make it seem a little anticlimactic. But knowing Mike, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned this into a $25,000 game for regular shows.

[dad90]

Another great show!  I wonder on how (spoiler) is going to go.

Squeeze Play: Too easy!
Cliff Hangers: For $250,000?!  At first, this was crazy, but for the rules was pretty straight-forward.  My usual $20-$30-$40 would not work.
Line Em Up: This was supposed to be won.  Shame on you, peanut gallery!  Shame on you!
Safe Crackers: Again, it was 50-50 on this one, and it turns out to be the wrong one.
Now or Then: Nice return and nice win on this game.
That's Too Much: A Car ending with $**,000 again?!

Showcase Showdown: So far, the wheel is HOT!  At least $15,000 has been given out to our lucky contestants.
Showcases: All right!  Our second DSW of the season!

Let's not spoil future shows, okay?

[Richie]

Squeeze Play: I picked five, so did Courtney.

Cliffhangers: I didn't expect this to be the $250,000 game, and I liked the concept.  20-30-40 was headed for disaster.  Maybe for harder playings like this one 30-40-50 would work like in this situation.  I wished Kyle won more, but $30,000 is a nice chunk of change. 

Line em Up: THANKS A LOT AUDIENCE.  You all owe Kevin a new car.  I hate it when the peanut gallery changes contestant's minds.  Trust thy gut.

Showdown 1: I thought it was funny that Courtney kept doing her speech when the dollar hit on her first spin.

Safe Crackers: That was HARD.  I thought 780 too.

Now or Then: That was EASY....IMO, almost botched.

That's too Much: Ouch, THAT'S TOO SOON!!!    I thought Jeune was right.  $25,000?!?!  Damn you Richards, that setup was far more than atrocious.

Showcases: I'm happy Jeune won both showcases after a hard That's too Much playing.  She made a great bid.

[stardf29]

You know, what they should have done for Cliffy was just have the mountain climber start at zero, and then the contestant loses $10,000 for every step he takes... unless the mountain climber stops at the very edge, in which case the contestant wins the full $250,000. Make it a game of chicken, in a way. (My idea for a theoretical MDS-based Cliffy Million Dollar Game was to make finishing on the 25th step the million dollar win condition.) That way, it's also intuitive how much money the contestant lost, while "rewarding" a "true cliffhanger".

Actually, I was thinking of a variation of the game where the contestant starts with $25,000, loses $1000 for every step up to 20. Ending on 20-24 would win the contestant $5,000; ending on 25 wins the contestant $25,000. Probably won't happen on the actual show... (feel free to steal my idea for a HYO, though  )

Anyways, really cool for Jeune, a definite LFaT, to get the DSW, especially after nearly being a First Four leftover and then losing to a tough TTM!.

[SteveGavazzi]

I don't know what I was watching during the second game today...it had the mountain climber, and it had small prizes, and it had yodeling, but it sure as hell wasn't Cliff Hangers.  It felt like one of the half-baked ideas that crop up in Out in Left Field and get responded to with pictures of Matthew Lesko.  As a fan of The Price Is Right whose favorite game is Cliff Hangers, I am embarrassed that that got on the air.

Having the mountain climber start on 1 was weird.  I understand why they did it -- if he'd gone from 0 to 25, all the money would have been gone without him falling off the cliff -- but it still looked extremely odd.  Hell, it took me a good five minutes to figure out why it wasn't a mistake.  It also made the game somewhat harder, since, y'know, the mountain climber could only safely move 24 spaces.

Also, the format change kinda forced Cliff Hangers into one of those weird areas where the win/loss rules don't entirely make sense.  Since it isn't really a cash game, it follows the "package game" rule of "the prize announced at the beginning of the game must be won," which was only possible today if the mountain climber didn't move at all.  (Actually, come to think of it, the cash game rules would give the same outcome.  God, this hurts my brain.)  So technically, Kyle scored a $30,000 partial win that on any other playing would have been a full win.  ...Yeah.

Incidentally, this has nothing to do with today's format, but the last couple times Cliff Hangers has been played, I've noticed that On the Franches Mountains has restarted every time the mountain climber begins moving.  It kinda takes something away from the game, and seeing as Cliff Hangers is one of the most popular games on the show, that's probably not a good thing.  I have yet to see anything that's made me think automating the show's sound effects was a good idea, and this really doesn't help.

That was probably the weirdest Line em Up setup I've ever seen.  I'm also pretty sure it was supposed to be won.

So... does Cliff Hangers count as a win or a loss?  It's times like this you miss Roger and his understanding of the games.

I miss Roger because he never would have done this.

Here's my take on Cliff Hangers today...

I believe [the line in the FAQ] would apply, that since the player accomplished the standard goal of the mountain climber not falling off the cliff, they won.

Except the goal of Cliff Hangers in this context is "win all the prizes," not "keep the mountain climber from going over the cliff."  Normally, you don't have to make that distinction, but today, you do.

You know, what they should have done for Cliffy was just have the mountain climber start at zero, and then the contestant loses $10,000 for every step he takes... unless the mountain climber stops at the very edge, in which case the contestant wins the full $250,000.

I can't decide whether this is horrible or ingenious.  It somewhat encourages getting things wrong, which I don't really like, but from a visual standpoint, it makes more sense than what actually happened.

[Axl]

Incidentally, this has nothing to do with today's format, but the last couple times Cliff Hangers has been played, I've noticed that On the Franches Mountains has restarted every time the mountain climber begins moving.  It kinda takes something away from the game, and seeing as Cliff Hangers is one of the most popular games on the show, that's probably not a good thing.

Okay, I just have to know: How the hell could that possibly take anything away from the game?  That may be the most ticky-tack complaint I've ever read on this site.

[WilliamPorygon]

You know, what they should have done for Cliffy was just have the mountain climber start at zero, and then the contestant loses $10,000 for every step he takes... unless the mountain climber stops at the very edge, in which case the contestant wins the full $250,000.

I was kind of thinking this earlier... except I would've had the prize for stopping on 25 be $5,000 rather than $250,000.  Like Steve, I don't really like the idea of rewarding being wrong, even if it has to be by an exact amount, and it doesn't really require anything except for Drew to mention it. (Of course the way Drew explains things, though...)

Okay, I just have to know: How the hell could that possibly take anything away from the game?  That may be the most ticky-tack complaint I've ever read on this site.

I agree with Steve, actually.   To use an analogy, I've played a lot of old-school video games and one of the most annoying things is when it's programmed in a way where every time a sound effect plays the music starts over, so even it could be playing the best music ever it gets obnoxious because you just keep hearing the first couple seconds over and over.  It kind of feels like that... we should hear further into the music as the climber gets closer to the top, even if it pauses once or twice along the way.

[Mewtwo]

Always nice to see a DSW, and hopefully this quiets the "they should raise the range for a DSW" crowd for a while.

As far as Cliff...a LFaT should have won $110,000 by my estimate, going with 20 for the first losing 14 steps, and then realizing "oh crap, they went with an anti-LFaT setup to dodge 20-30-40, the last two are now 40 and 50", and hit those dead on.  I remember them using a similar setup one other time in the past where.  Alternatively, an LFaT that knows the basic Cliff rule yet knew the first prize was closer to 30 than 20 could have cleared $200k knowing the progression of prizes in this game.  Too bad we'll never get to see someone utilize this when it matters so much again.

[Axl]

It kind of feels like that... we should hear further into the music as the climber gets closer to the top, even if it pauses once or twice along the way.

But there's not really any "further" to go.  The cut is only 15 seconds long, with two nearly identical halves.  The last two bars of the cut don't heighten the tension... they merely resolve the pattern.