$OTC - Shopping or Winners Board

[tpirsuperfan99]

I have been watching the syndicated version of $ale on Buzzr and YouTube. I got to a point where they switched from the shopping round to the Winners board. I liked the shopping format, it was more challenging to win the prizes. When the Winners Board debuted, it was made really easy to win cash or a car. There was also no purpose to the dollars you won in the game, except you could buy instant bargains, where in the shopping format, they were very important to being able to buy things. While the Winners Board wasn’t terrible, I liked the shopping format much more. Which format did you prefer, Shopping or Winners Board?

[gamesurf]

Shopping; the Winner's Board had its good points, but the show ain't called "Pick Numbers Until You Find A Match Of The Century".

[Superballer]

Tough call, but I'd give a slight edge to the Winner's Board for being a bit more exciting in the heat of the moment.  True, the fact you were guaranteed to walk away with something, even if it was essentially banked to be risked later, did give it a bit of an anti-climactic feel, but on the other side of the coin, so does, to an extent, telling them they've won something but had a whole commercial break to think over whether they wanted to take it or not. 

This is likely a minority opinion, but the Winner's Big Money Game, on its own, wasn't a terrible end game, albeit a very difficult one; it was just the wrong option for Sale, and would have done much better on a different show where solving puzzles was the primary gameplay. 

Were it my call to oversee a revival, my version of the bonus game would essentially blend elements of both accepted end games:  essentially, the champion would play a second speed round, having to successfully answer, say, 10 questions in 60 seconds to win the available prize of the day--as with classic Sale, there would be a tier of 7-10 prizes of increasing value that they'd be going for one at a time, probably with a car next to last and a cash jackpot between $10,000 and $25,000 last.  Should they successfully win the prize of the day, they could choose to take it--and any other prizes accumulated to that point--and leave, or risk them to go on (if they failed the bonus speed round in that case, they automatically would come back the next day, but that prize would be out of play for the moment).  If they made it through all, say, 10 episodes, they would be given the final choice to take everything won to that point and leave, or risk everything for the final game.  Lose that, and they go home with nothing; win the last game, and they win everything, including the prizes they missed the first time around, and a grand prize jackpot--$100,000 would probably work best today. 

[blozier2006]

While the Winners Board wasn’t terrible, I liked the shopping format much more.

You have my sympathy in advance of getting to the Winner's Big Money Game episodes. You can tell the show was out of gas by 1988.

This is likely a minority opinion, but the Winner's Big Money Game, on its own, wasn't a terrible end game, albeit a very difficult one; it was just the wrong option for Sale, and would have done much better on a different show where solving puzzles was the primary gameplay.  . 

Seconded. It felt like it was bolted-on by network executives looking to save money, nothing more.

[IncoG5nito]

I would've liked the Winners' Board format much better had they kept the growing jackpot instead of keeping it nailed down to $50K.

[pannoni1]

I would've liked the Winners' Board format much better had they kept the growing jackpot instead of keeping it nailed down to $50K.

IMO in addition to the jackpot continuing, the rule where you'd have to risk what you'd won on the Winner's Board would have to apply after every show, and not just for the jackpot. This would allow for a combo of early bailouts if the Car/$10,000 was won early, and allow more to go for it if they wind themselves closer, along with keeping the importance of front game prizes as safe havens. But I still enjoy how it produced more "winners" who would lose after a certain point, but it took away the value of the front game besides simply winning. Its still a close second and the home game is loosely based on that format.

Now for the Winner's Big Money Game format, I would have tweaked it where if the contestant lost at the car round or the jackpot (not just a fixed $50,000), they could opt to come back on the next show while risking any cash won in the bonus along with those prizes they won for winning the game.

[blozier2006]

IMO in addition to the jackpot continuing, the rule where you'd have to risk what you'd won on the Winner's Board would have to apply after every show, and not just for the jackpot.

I believe that's how the Australian Sale did it (though with a few other tweaks).

[gamesurf]

Winner's Board may have been a better final segment--but shopping made for a better show.

Sale is all about character arcs and storylines, and no other game show does it better (no, not even Price). Its format encourages tense races and frequent lead changes. And to win the big payouts, a player not only has to be smart but also confident enough to back themselves. That's a bit deeper than your average quizzer, and that framework gives Sale leeway to tell some interesting stories: comebacks, hubris tales, "what would you do" situations, players cracking under Jim's salesman act--the whole thing can produce some extremely good storytelling.

Under shopping, everything ties into one overarching goal (buy ridiculous prizes for a few hundred bucks--it says so right there in the show's opening spiel). A player will encounter many obstacles to that goal: the opposing players, the Instant Bargains, even Jim Perry's wrangling. But the goal is clearly stated, easy to understand, and it provides a neat benchmark. You know exactly how far a player has come and what else they have to do to get to the big jackpot. That hook is completely unique and gives Sale an extra dimension. Sale was always building suspense in some interval of time, whether it was in weeks or seconds, and it frequently produced some of the best drama you'd ever see in a game show.

For example, the Money Cards in the Fame Game weren't only important for determining who the winner was--they also could also mean the difference between an 8-day lot run and a 7-day one. The Instant Bargains didn't only cut the lead between first and second place, but they affected the big picture as well: "Sorry, you were $8 short of the car and you have to come back tomorrow if you want to play for it--but hey, at least you bought a swingset a few minutes ago! Hope it was worth it. We'll find out tomorrow if he made the right choice!"

The speed round at the end was where the show's hook really shined. If the champ's beating their opponents by $35 going into the speed round, you already have a pretty good idea who's going to win. But what if the champ is $100 from buying the prize she wants, but she's only going into the speed round with $70? Can she make up the difference in 60 seconds, or will she have to come back tomorrow? That's an interesting story!

When the Winner's Board went in place, most of those extra layers fell away, and the player's stated goal simply became "beat your opponents". Now, there's nothing wrong with that, most other shows do it too. But it dulled the show's central hook. There's still a solid game in place, and, yes, the Winner's Board had its good points--but shopping gave the whole package an extra coat of polish that made a great format into a fantastic one.

[b_masters8]

Sale is all about character arcs and storylines, and no other game show does it better (no, not even Price).

So basically, the shopping format was sort of like the game show as a daytime serial (with the cliffhangers and all on who would win, would the winner have enough money for X prize, would that winner get it all [or one of the nicer prizes]), etc.-- is that it?

[geniusinmath]

I prefer shopping myself. It was a great element.

[Superballer]

Regardless of which end game was played, though, Sale always had one of the best transitions to the bonus round of any show in the genre.  One always felt a swell of anticipation once the winner left their seat, walked over to join Jim at the doors, and trudged up the ramp to the bonus area as the music majestically crescendoed. 

[Alfonzo]

Shopping was awesome. Winner's Board was OK. Winner's Big Money Game...yuck!!! Way too difficult and you could just hear the disappointment in Jim's voice when he knew the contestant wasn't going to win. That, and $ale was a VISUAL game show, like Let's Make a Deal, Price is Right or Wheel of Fortune. Part of the appeal was seeing the big prize at the end. The final bonus game took away that.

[blozier2006]

Winner's Big Money Game...yuck!!! Way too difficult and you could just hear the disappointment in Jim's voice when he knew the contestant wasn't going to win.

Exactly. To be honest, I don't think I've seen even one instance of a player missing a puzzle (or passing), and still winning after that. One mistake, you were pretty much dead in the water at that point.

And one thing strikes me as odd.. when time was running low, Jim would warn the player that they needed to ring in "before the double-zero" (00). If timing was so critical, why not have a clock calibrated in tenths of seconds (like Scrabble used for its Sprint rounds)? Wasn't a bad game in and of itself, but didn't fit Sale at all.

[Chief-O]

(WBMG) Wasn't a bad game in and of itself, but didn't fit Sale at all.

It would've worked on, say, "Super Password" (as it was essentially the SP/P+ puzzles with a clock ticking).

$OTC was founded on the shopping principle (going back to the Kelly/Garagiola days), and the shopping round will always be tops. I don't mind the Winners Board, though.

[styleguy]

Shopping was best.  Winners Board was fine but not as good as the Shopping Bonus Round.  The last bonus game after Winners Board didn't really fit with the show.  The budget cuts were obvious as others had mentioned when Winners Board & the last bonus game were in play. 

I love Sale of the Century.  I miss it and can't wait for a revival that follows the Perry version.  Temptation from 2008 doesn't exist to me.