Author Topic: Pricing Games Around The World  (Read 253067 times)

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Offline brosa0

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Pricing Games Around The World
« on: February 27, 2019, 06:16:21 AM »
About 5 years ago I had an idea that we could compare international versions of pricing games one by one - after all, there is always keen interest when games are refurbished on the US version, so seeing how different countries interpret the look of the games and their staging might also be of interest.  Of course life got in the way...

I've revisited it this year and collected as many images of the various games from every international version as I could find.  A lot of the ones I collected years ago were from various TPIR websites including our own Golden Gallery, but Youtube has also been valuable in this endeavour.

My intention is to post a new game in this thread every couple of days for anyone interested to rank the various versions and comment on.  The rankings are just to encourage a bit of engagement, so nothing strict; you are welcome to rank them all, or just your favourites and least favourites, and to include the US versions of the games in your rankings for comparison if you wish.

I might post a couple of games together where there are not many international versions of those games.

There are some versions of the games I couldn't find, so feel free as we go to add images of others that I don't have for the relevant game.  Where a country has had several iterations of a game, I've added an approximate year that each version would have existed to differentiate between them.

With all that said, here is the first game...

Any Number
https://imgur.com/iTBnz8e or see attachment.

Some initial comments: With this first game you'll quickly notice which TPIR versions are influenced by the various main template sets (e.g. the 'Bob-era' US set, 'Drew-era' US set, UK Bruce-era set, or the more recent French/international two storey sets). 

The new Argentina TPIR premiered at the start of February and appears to be the first to use just a plain big screen for Any Number rather than its own physical prop.  And if you look closely, the early Spanish versions were ahead of their time with a feature that others didn't adopt until years later...

I'll add my own rankings and further comments later on.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2019, 06:26:14 AM by brosa0 »

Online b_masters8

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2019, 07:19:40 AM »
It seems as though the Indonesia and Thailand versions use the current Drew Carey routine (numbers on top, possibly crossed off as they are used, so as to provide a complete picture of the game situation), whereas the 70s Australian version was similar to that of the early years of the Barker game here.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2019, 07:24:11 AM by b_masters8 »

Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2019, 07:51:34 AM »
This is *awesome.* My favorites might just be the Italy ones--before Italy started using the Euro, the exchange rate for Italian Lira to US Dollars was about 1800 to 1, so that's why you see all the extra 0's on their board. Thanks for putting this together!

Offline JayC

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2019, 12:00:36 PM »
The France set actually being a giant piggy bank is cute. I wouldn't necessarily like a set like that for the US version, but it certainly makes it unique from the others.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2019, 06:54:16 PM »
Brosa, this is a fantastic idea.  I love what you've done with the pictures, as well -- it'd be hard to think of a better way to compare the various sets.

Also, LiteBulb, it's great to see you around here again!

The 1985 picture of the Brazilian version really makes me wonder about the people producing it -- I mean, I guess there's technically no rule that the first number in the car can't be the 0, but it looks chintzy as all hell.

Italy and Spain, if I'm not mistaken, didn't use 0 at all, having just two digits in the piggy bank, although given how many zeros were already in every game pretty much by default (at least in Italy), that's kind of understandable.

Speaking of Spain, I'm sure it's really not, but that picture from 1990 makes it look like the Any Number board is built into the Turntable.
"Every game is somebody's favorite." -- Wise words from Roger Dobkowitz.

Offline brosa0

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2019, 04:57:37 AM »
That early Spanish version of the show is a sight to behold - there are some really peculiar design choices for all of the games and several others follow the 'built in' look of that second Any Number board.

The line of numbers on the Spanish '88 set displays numbers 1 to 0, but there are only 9 blank spaces to start the game.  When the turntable opens, the 0 is already blanked out so is not an option for the contestant to choose (I assume this is why 0 was removed from the second set).

The Indonesian prop amuses me.  They went to the effort of copying the US prop... and then just cut out a single big rectangle to dump a screen in.  Also an odd choice to capitalise some of the name.

The Mexican '99 prop is one of the ugliest I saw of any game in any series, with the big gaudy orange circles overwhelming the tiny board.  I always found the pink Australian prop to be gaudy too, but they made up for it by giving any piggy bank winners a literal piggy bank, similar to the ones held on the UK versions and the first playing of the US version.

My favourites would be the Chinese one (very stylish) and the first two French pigs (neat idea and that pig is adorable).

Offline tpir04

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2019, 02:51:27 PM »
Very nice assortment, Brosa! Please provide more pricing games!

My favorites are the Finland (love the large digital readouts), the Mexico 99 (love the color) and the China sets.
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Live for the present.  Embrace the future.  Our favorite game show is still producing excellent, high quality, exciting, hour-long* shows every weekday throughout its traditional season window.  It’s as good as it’s been in a long, long time.  If the 1980s were the ‘good ole days’ for the Barker era, so is RIGHT NOW for the Carey era.  Don’t worry about what the future holds.  It will play out in due time.  Enjoy what we have right in front of us in the meantime!

Offline DRPrice

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2019, 07:39:40 PM »
     My favorites are the 2001 France and Bruce's UK sets (also, the green numerals on Spain '88 are fairly nice).

     None of the others do much for me.  The worst are Mexico '99 (looks like it belongs on an SF or space-exploration show) and France '09 (looks like it belongs on Barney and Friends).

Offline brosa0

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2019, 04:51:48 AM »
3 Strikes
https://imgur.com/KULazfB or see attachment.

A couple of notes:

- The Australian version's display was not electronic; the model uncovered the correct numbers and strikes as necessary.
- The bag for the Spanish version is attached to a green pole that was folded in against the prop; the model folded it out as the doors opened.
- The Russian version was played with all 6 numbers and 3 strikes in the bag.  The Mexican version gave the first number free and I think only had one strike in the bag.

Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2019, 06:01:32 AM »
Again, great work. I can't believe how cheap some of these prizes are--3 digits in the UK Leslie case! I can't picture 3 Strikes being played for anything less than a car, and given how hard it is to win, luxury cars feel right. But that's just me as an American, of course.

Also, LiteBulb, it's great to see you around here again!

Thanks, Steve! I attended a couple of tapings recently (I'll report on those when they air) so I figured I'd check out what was happening here. I saw this thread and had to post.

Online b_masters8

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2019, 06:22:33 AM »
It seems that the Italian version has red, white and blue Xs.

Offline tpir04

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2019, 09:54:37 AM »
Again, fantastic work! Favorites include the two Netherlands and the Spain '90 sets. Honorable mention goes to the Mexico 2010 set for the visible baseball on the prop.
CSS: Exacta, 6/3/2019
Lifetime earnings: $1,896,732
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FPG: 2019-2020 Finals Champion
...............................

Live for the present.  Embrace the future.  Our favorite game show is still producing excellent, high quality, exciting, hour-long* shows every weekday throughout its traditional season window.  It’s as good as it’s been in a long, long time.  If the 1980s were the ‘good ole days’ for the Barker era, so is RIGHT NOW for the Carey era.  Don’t worry about what the future holds.  It will play out in due time.  Enjoy what we have right in front of us in the meantime!

Offline DRPrice

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2019, 12:44:44 PM »
     My favorite is probably the Mexican set, although the numbers could be brighter and the space between the first and second strike lights is a distraction.  But actually, I also like the Australian one quite a bit: sleek, clean and pleasant red color, although it could be a bit taller and the strike lights larger.

     The worst, by quite a distance, is the Portuguese set: a completely befuddled, headache-inducing mess.

Offline JayC

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2019, 04:30:39 PM »
The American versions of the game definitely have a much better looking set. The Mexico '10 set is the only one I would say even holds a candle to it.

The Brazil version just has a way too small price display and it's very minimalist. Russia's looks like a mix of the Joker set with the Dawson Family Feud face-off podium in the middle and the France '09 set looks like a UFO landed outside a theatre at night.

Offline Grand_game2004

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Re: Pricing Games Around The World
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2019, 06:55:09 PM »
I like the Netherlands set because of the "eggcrate" type display.