TPiR Recap - 9/18/2017 (TPiR Season 46 Premiere)

[tpirsuperfan99]

Well, here are my thoughts on the season premiere, I think that Gridlock is a very fun game to watch, but more on that later.

Plinko - Roderick should have got all 4 SP's correct, but he did end up with $21,000(including the bonus).

1 Right Price - Very easy, shoes are never that expensive on here.

Cliff Hangers - Fairly easy setup for a car, but it is always fairly easy for most people.

Dice Game - This was sort of tricky, but not that bad, if Nicholas had gone with the odds, he would have won.

Coming or Going - ITS ALWAYS GOING!, but I suppose that Crystal wasn't an LFaT and doesn't know the rule.

Gridlock - I think this is a very interesting new game, and this shouldn't have been lost, with the 02 being so obvious, and the last two numbers being 70, I thought Dwight would have picked the 70.

[therealcu2010]

Coming or Going - ITS ALWAYS GOING!, but I suppose that Crystal wasn't an LFaT and doesn't know the rule.

Except for when it's actually coming, which it was 9 times in 23 playings last season. 

Of those nine occurrences, it was won exactly once.

[ThatDonGuy]

Didn't somebody say sometime last year that they were retooling Penny Ante?  I only mention that because Gridlock appears to be Penny Ante (a) with one penny instead of three, (b) with three choices per item instead of four, and (c) with the choices being pairs of digits in a car rather than prices of an item.

[mechamind]

Well, they can't always debut a pricing game with a win, no matter how hard they try, but I look forward to future playings.

[JayC]

Maybe my expectations were too high, but I found Gridlock! a bit underwhelming. It looked like it had potential to be a spiritual successor to Hurdles based on the pics, but the way the cars move is just...blah. There's no fun or suspense, just "pick a number and look at the screen to see if you're right." It would have been better if the player made both choices at once, then the cars travel down the track, joining together if they're right and stopping if they're wrong. Neat-looking set, but it looks like they completely whiffed the presentation.

You have a good idea here although I wouldn't say they completely whiffed. It would be a little more interesting if they had the contestant pick both of the cars at the beginning and the first digit car stops if the contestant makes a wrong choice. It is a good game though, a more interesting version of Money Game with less room for error.

[kingpin623]

Gridlock! = Money Game - the money + set/props inspired by Bump and/or It's Optional.  Meh.  It's okay I guess, especially for a "quickie" car game, but this game is more about the set/props than it is content or gameplay.  Cliffhangers was easily my favorite game in today's lineup.

I too wonder if there's only one mistake allowed for the entire game or one mistake per pair of digits.  No doubt we'll find out eventually, whether by explanation of the rules beforehand or on the fly when it actually happens.

Incidentally, I believe Gridlock! is only the second pricing game with an "!" as part of its name, the other being That's Too Much!

JBK

[Flerbert419]

What a fun set and pretty moving pieces for what ends up being a bland game when you cut through the smoke and mirrors. I'm actually surprised to see the positive reviews so far for Gridlock! considering it's basically Money Game played at center stage again. But I suspect that some of the thoughts might turn sour after a couple more playings.

Mathematically speaking, the game is actually worse than Money Game if you were blindly trying to win. Money Game has a 50% chance to be won while Gridlock has a 33% chance (assuming you are only allowed to make one mistake - if you can make a mistake with both the first and second groups of cars this rises to 44%). I'm hoping the rest of the rules get filled in when they get around to making an entry for it on the official website.

The problem is going to be when two incorrect choices are made by a contestant on the first group of cars - which is going to happen a third of the time. The game is over, and we've spent more time on the car description than we have playing the game.

As has been mentioned by a couple of posters the reveal is flawed. It's almost as if they don't playtest these in front of an audience because they naturally thought that when the numbers showed up on the board it was a correct answer. No, it just pops up on the screen and then we need to check, which is not needed even if they wanted to use that yield graphic. It reminds me of Temptation, where even though the number comes up Drew doesn't do a good enough job explaining that it doesn't mean it's correct until after the fact and everybody has applauded.

They also tried to get the game won on it's first playing, as it should be, but the fact is that $30,270 isn't that nice looking of a price. Yes, there was only one real choice for the first car but Dwight managed to find a way to lose. Maybe if they had ended it with a 5 instead?

As far as the rest of the show goes, the extra bonuses were unnecessary and we were also forced to confront a Plinko "win" again. Nice to see a 3-car day. Bob sending the flowers was a pretty classy move.

[SteveGavazzi]

Something tells me Roderick's had that shirt of his for a while -- it had the Barker logo on the front, and the back of it said, "Rod, pick me!"

Speaking of Roderick, I really don't think Mike only wanted him to have three Plinko chips -- two of the items ended with 0, and the other two were toss-ups at worst.

I like Gridlock!.  The presentation seems a little clunky, but I like the set nonetheless, and it's a neat format (although, like many of you said, it's not clear at this point whether you're allowed one mistake per color or one mistake period).  It also sort of reminds me of Bump, and it would probably remind me of It's Optional if I'd been watching on a regular basis when that was in the rotation.

Speaking of Gridlock!, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be won.  The first pair of numbers was the lowest choice possible, and the second pair's least correct-looking choice was, in fact, wrong.  I still can't understand why Dwight picked that 16.

Bob's note to Drew on the flowers he sent was hilarious.

It's been a rocky first decade...but you know what?  The show's on solid footing.  Much like in the old days, I can't wait for tomorrow.

Incidentally, I believe Gridlock! is only the second pricing game with an "!" as part of its name, the other being That's Too Much!

Super Ball!! would like two words with you.

[tpirsuperfan99]

Except for when it's actually coming, which it was 9 times in 23 playings last season. 

Of those nine occurrences, it was won exactly once.

Sorry, what I meant was it's always going when it's a trip, not all time, I didn't think that through correctly.

[GameShowFan1987]

Pretty good season premiere if you ask me.  Gridlock! certainly has potential.  I wholeheartedly agree with everyone who's saying the presentation needs a bit of work, but I like the overall premise no less.  Better than Hot Seat in my personal opinion.

[Archviler]

Gridlock's okay, but I feel it needs some more pizazz. It's a quick and simple game, so maybe some more visual wizardry or some gimmick to help hide that and make the game more interesting, ala Cliffhangers and Yodely Guy falling off the mountain.

Anyway, pretty good premiere otherwise, good energy and it was fun.. The note from Bob was a nice touch, too. Congratulations, Drew. I hope you have many more seasons.

Speaking of Gridlock!, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be won.  The first pair of numbers was the lowest choice possible, and the second pair's least correct-looking choice was, in fact, wrong.  I still can't understand why Dwight picked that 16.

I remember thinking that Dwight was playing it like a LFAT trying to win a tough car game in budget mode, rather than an easy set up in the game's debut. Feels like he outsmarted himself on the second number.

[Wayoshi]

I bet the full rules were edited out. Seems like something they would do nowadays.

[kingpin623]

I still can't understand why Dwight picked that 16.

I thought he actually had a fair chance at a win when he picked the 16.  0 and 9 are common end numbers, of course, but it seems that a fair number of cars have a 1 as the 4th digit, depending on the game.

Super Ball!! would like two words with you.

D'oh!  I can't believe I forgot SuperBall!! on the subject of games with an exclamation point in the name, more so since it had 2(!!)

JBK

[Axl]

I bet the full rules were edited out. Seems like something they would do nowadays.

It seems equally likely that Drew just didn't bother to explain them.

While I appreciate that they continue to make new games with practical moving props instead of monitors alone, this one has the largest ratio of "complicated mechanics:dull gameplay" since Hurdles.  The underlying game would be okay as a quickie, but having to wait for the damn cars to move three inches doesn't add any excitement.

And yet again, it's a game (like Pay the Rent and Vend-O-Price) where the setup is a prop in search of a premise.  The cars move from one lane to another because... of what, exactly?  At least in Hurdles, the visual concept made sense (too high a price would trip up the hurdler).  If you lose Gridlock, the cars just suddenly move into the correct position.  If you win Gridlock, do the cars just sit there and do nothing?

[Kev347]

This was a decent enough debut playing for Gridlock, but we'll see how much everyone likes this game when all the options for the 2nd/3rd digit are bunched up within 1k of each other and -16 is actually right for the ending with, say, a fake -95 and fake -75 This will be a good budget quick game for them.