Author Topic: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?  (Read 5596 times)

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Offline ThatDonGuy

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Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« on: March 24, 2020, 02:56:20 PM »
Watching Secret X made me think...what pricing games are there where, even if you know all of the prices in advance, you can still win nothing without even having the chance of winning anything and then giving it back (in, for example, Pass the Buck)?

I seem to recall that one of the producers didn't like this, which is why, for example, there's the $1000 bonus for getting all three prices correct on 1/2 Off. However, there are still two games I can think of where you can win nothing: Secret X, and 3 Strikes. (There was also Joker, which is retired, and the "original rules" of Pass the Buck, where it was possible to choose three Lose Everythings.)

Offline tpiradam

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2020, 03:10:36 PM »
Hole in One is another although that's due to skill rather than luck.

Pass the Buck although getting all three chances you could still get a 'LOSE EVERYTHING' or $1,000. Same goes for Rat Race having three rats and winning the smallest of the three prizes.

Spelling Bee: Winning all the cards but not spelling C-A-R.

Pocket Change to a lesser extent. You could make one mistake having the car priced at .50 and not have enough pocket change.

This brings a question I've had for sometime: Has there ever been or was it ever possible for someone to make four purchases all in the + in Super Saver and not get up to $1.00?

Offline therealcu2010

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2020, 03:29:40 PM »
Technically, the only way to truly win "nothing" in Secret X is to fail to win a single additional X. You win any small prizes you correctly guess.
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Offline RatRace10

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2020, 03:38:38 PM »
Hole in One is another although that's due to skill rather than luck.

Spelling Bee: Winning all the cards but not spelling C-A-R.

Hole in One awards a $500 bonus if the pricing portion is done perfectly, and Spelling Bee awards any prizes that are correctly priced within the $10 range, or all three if one is on the nose, so in those cases, you wouldn't leave with nothing.

Offline ThatDonGuy

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2020, 04:14:07 PM »
Clarify: I am not including games where you can win small prizes.

Hole in One is another although that's due to skill rather than luck.
As has been pointed out, there's the $500 bonus.

Pass the Buck although getting all three chances you could still get a 'LOSE EVERYTHING' or $1,000.
Same goes for Rat Race having three rats and winning the smallest of the three prizes.
I am not talking about not winning the largest prize; there are quite a few of those, including Let 'em Roll, Master Key, and Plinko. I am talking about not winning any prizes (well, except for the "small" prizes in a game like Secret X).

There's another one for the list - Plinko, if all five chips score zero.

Spelling Bee: Winning all the cards but not spelling C-A-R.
You have the option of stopping with $5000.
Let 'em Roll also has a $500 guarantee.
Punch-a-Bunch has a $100 guarantee if you get at least one punch.

Pocket Change to a lesser extent. You could make one mistake having the car priced at .50 and not have enough pocket change.
If you know the price of the car, then you don't make any mistakes, and you already have the 25c needed to win the car in that case.

Offline gamesurf

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2020, 04:27:06 PM »
Clarify: I am not including games where you can win small prizes.

With that caveat: Only 3 Strikes.

Half Off guarantees six small prizes and $1,000.
Let Em Roll guarantees $500.
Master Key guarantees two small prizes and at least one of the non-car prizes.
Plinko guarantees four small prizes.
Punch a Bunch guarantees four small prizes and $100.
Rat Race guarantees three small prizes and at least one large prize.
Secret X guarantees two small prizes.
Spelling Bee guarantees three small prizes.
Hole in One guarantees $500.

It is possible to win nothing in Pass the Buck with three picks, but it requires risking something and finding a lose everything.

Card Game used to be included before the $1,000 minimum.
On The Nose would be included, but not Super Ball.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2020, 04:29:15 PM by gamesurf »
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Offline gamesurf

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2020, 05:08:38 PM »
Brain fart: forgot On the Nose offered a $1,000 bonus for getting all four tries. Strike that from the list.

So of the games where you can know all the pries and not "win":

Games where you are guaranteed nothing
3 Strikes
Card Game (before the $1,000-$5,000 special deck)
Double Bullseye (if you are the second player)
Professor Price (if you get tripped up on all three general knowledge questions)

Games where you are guaranteed nothing but will have a bailout opportunity
Pass the Buck ($1,000-$5,000)

Games where you are guaranteed nothing but small prizes
Plinko (and it's happened--one woman won $0 with all 5 chips)
Secret X
Joker
Spelling Bee (although you will have the chance to bail with $5,000)

Games where you are guaranteed nothing but small prizes and some cash
Punch a Bunch ($100 min)
Half Off ($1,000)
Super Ball ($300, assuming they make you reroll any ball that falls short of the $50)

Games where you are guaranteed only a small amount of cash
Let Em Roll ($500 min)
Hole in One ($500)
On the Nose ($1,000)
Phone Home Game ($1,400 min, split two ways)

Games where you are guaranteed some SPs and at least one "big" prize
Rat Race
Master Key
Quote from: Bill Todman
"The sign of a good game, is when you don't have to explain it every day. The key is not simplicity, but apparent simplicity. Password looks like any idiot could have made it up, but we have 14 of our people working on that show. There is a great complexity behind the screen. It requires great work to keep it simple."

Offline ThatDonGuy

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2020, 06:11:06 PM »

Games where you are guaranteed nothing but small prizes and some cash
Super Ball ($300, assuming they make you reroll any ball that falls short of the $50)

Games where you are guaranteed only a small amount of cash
Phone Home Game ($1,400 min, split two ways)
I have seen SuperBall players fall short of the $50, and they were not allowed a reroll.

Also, I think the minimum on The Phone Home Game was $1200; I'm pretty sure the prize breakdown was 10,000-3000-2000-1000-1000-100-100.

Offline blozier2006

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2020, 10:28:17 PM »
Also, I think the minimum on The Phone Home Game was $1200; I'm pretty sure the prize breakdown was 10,000-3000-2000-1000-1000-100-100.
Close... one each of $10K, $3K and $2K, two $1K, and two $200's.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2020, 11:02:11 PM »
If I'm reading the original question correctly (i.e. small prizes don't count, but anything else does), the correct answer to it is:
  • Card Game (prior to May 11, 2005)
  • Double Bullseye (if you're the second bidder)
  • 1/2 Off (in the Barker era)
  • Joker
  • Pass the Buck's original format
  • The Phone Home Game
  • Plinko
  • Professor Price
  • Secret "X"
  • Super Ball!! (unless Bob is in a bad mood)
  • 3 Strikes
Technically, you could also include Rat Race, but I'm pretty sure that if the game screwed up badly enough for someone not to win something under those circumstances, they'd just redo the race.

The Phone Home Game is also debatable...in theory, you should win something if you know all the prices, but if your partner keeps saying items instead of prices, you can end up without any turns.
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Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2020, 11:34:03 PM »
Under the rules used only for its first playing, it was also possible to play Pocket Change perfectly and lose.

Offline jhc2010

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2020, 09:40:10 AM »
  • Super Ball!! (unless Bob is in a bad mood)
What do you mean about Bob's mood?  I have not seen a ton of Super Ball!! playings.

Offline SamJ93

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2020, 11:07:53 AM »
What do you mean about Bob's mood?  I have not seen a ton of Super Ball!! playings.

I think he's referring to balls that fail to land in a circle. In some cases (usually if the ball was thrown hard enough to roll back down) he would give the contestant a do-over, but other times he would scold the contestant and count it as 0.

Also, just out of curiosity, has anyone ever actually lost Hole in One putting from the first line, even in the pre-"Or Two" era? It's obviously possible as we discussed, but it seems like it would require such spectacularly bad hand-eye coordination that it's hard to believe...
« Last Edit: March 25, 2020, 11:10:32 AM by SamJ93 »

Offline TPIRfan#9821

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2020, 12:16:47 PM »
^Someone lost once in the "in One" era, on April 17th, 1981.
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Offline ThatDonGuy

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Re: Games where you can know the prizes and win nothing?
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2020, 02:53:08 PM »
Also, just out of curiosity, has anyone ever actually lost Hole in One putting from the first line, even in the pre-"Or Two" era? It's obviously possible as we discussed, but it seems like it would require such spectacularly bad hand-eye coordination that it's hard to believe...

I saw two misses from the closest line in the pre-"Or Two" era. One managed to leave the putt short, and the other rimmed the cup.