That's a wrap! We're now officially through four shows.
Results: 2 out of 6
Total Winnings: $80,550
I think the setups in this show were generally a bit easier than I've made them in the past. After a while you get tired of forcing losses. We still only managed two wins, but they were both on car games.
Through four shows, the stats are as follows:
4 wins (Triple Play, Give or Take, 2 for the Price of 1, Lucky Seven)
2 bailouts (Pay the Rent, Step Up)
18 losses (Squeeze Play, Rat Race, Take Two, Secret "X", Cover Up, Switch?, Make Your Move, Check-Out, Gas Money, Freeze Frame, Pathfinder, Bargain Game, Stack the Deck, Flip Flop, Most Expensive, Now... or Then, Plinko, Match Maker, Lucky Seven)
Here are some game-by-game notes. As always, I welcome your feedback.
2 for the Price of 1
I had a feeling that I made this game a little too easy. Once catfan2002 picked the second number, it was over.
Most Expensive
This was kind of a toss-up between the piano and the drum set. Maybe it was a little tricky, but definitely not as evil as it could have been.
Now... or Then
THIS one was pretty evil. There were actually four Thens on the board (candies, honey, soap, hot sauce) and two Nows (chocolate bar, cream cheese). Now, I’m not one to mess with an unwritten rule, but I like to give you guys a challenge, and this game is impossible to lose if you know the rule. I dropped the hint at the beginning of the game that it might not be the usual 4-2 because I didn’t want to spring it on anyone suddenly, but it looks like it took its victim down regardless.
On a different note—what did you think of the set? I’ve always hated NoT’s board, so I thought I would design one, and the G-T asterisk seemed to fit well with the six products and the retro idea.
Plinko
If you’re wondering, I made the Plinko board in Game Maker. I’ve always been a fan of Game Maker, and I’ve used it for about 10 years now, although not as often as I used to. It was a fun challenge trying to make a Plinko board with realistic physics, and I’d say I didn’t do a terrible job.
Unfortunately, priceguy fell victim to awful luck with those chips. I did actually want to see a decent haul in Plinko, so I set the SPs up just like on the show. Never did I think the first four chips would all go into the zeroes.
One flaw of my board: the chips seem to get stuck on the triangles on the sides. I haven’t been able to figure out how to program the chip to bounce off of the wall consistently. I actually had to do several retakes of the last chip because of glitches.
Match Maker
What’s the verdict? I was originally going to put Double Cross in this spot, but I came up with the idea for this instead. I thought it was interesting because it’s basically Quadruple Prices, but it gives you two ways to win. You can go with whichever prize you feel more confident with.
The game itself was sort of supposed to be a memory match theme. I envisioned these two boards, slightly angled toward each other, being played at center stage (although maybe Door #2 would work as well/better).
Lucky Seven
What I loved about this game was that I made all of the graphics and I was done. There was no manipulating images in-game, and that made things a whole lot easier for me.
I actually intentionally set this game up to be easy, since I thought maybe someone would go to the extremes given my history of tough setups—sort of a reverse psychology thing. Kourtney was fantastic, though; he nailed the second digit, and went the right way with the third, and it was a walk in the park from there.
Showcases
Here are the breakdowns:
Past
Appliances: $9,075
Jukebox: $9,495
Ireland: $8,537
Total: $27,107 (if only Fireball had been playing!)
Future
Solowheel: $1,995
Computer: $2,419
Printer: $2,199
Car: $30,174
Total: $36,787
The hotels listed in the Dublin trip actually do the Dublin-Ashford split trip as described. It’s called the Town & Country Package. I thought it sounded super cool, and the timing worked out perfectly.
Other
As per tradition, the trips in this show were places I had traveled recently. I visited Paris and Dublin (plus Amsterdam and London) during the summer, and took the pictures you saw during the prize reveals.
It’s likely no one knows this, but every show, I’ve promised an MDS for a certain number of wins. The first show was 5, the second was 4, and the third was 3. This show was 2, and with the two car wins, my fifth show will now officially be an MDS. I honestly cannot tell you when that will be; I’m not a student anymore, and I don’t have the kind of free time that I used to. But be on the lookout, because if I ever get around to it, it’s going to be a doozy!
