Author Topic: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games  (Read 8010 times)

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Offline pricefan18

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2020, 06:01:26 PM »
They probably would go $1000 for budget reasons, but it's agreed.

$1,000 would be more sensible to me. Maybe higher during Big Money Week or something. $2,000 or $2,500 seems like a  lot even now.

Offline Flerbert419

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #16 on: June 20, 2020, 06:26:20 PM »
You could make it $10,000 if you want when only one contestant has made it there in the last 11 years.
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Offline 123123123

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #17 on: June 20, 2020, 06:33:39 PM »
It's always nice seeing behind the scenes stuff from way back.

Throughout the first page of the memo, there are many instances of referring to the contestant as she. I might be reading way too into it, but In the early years of the show were they trying to purposely appeal directly to the female demographic or were most of the players women?
« Last Edit: June 20, 2020, 06:35:49 PM by 123123123 »

Offline pricefan18

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #18 on: June 20, 2020, 07:03:15 PM »
You could make it $10,000 if you want when only one contestant has made it there in the last 11 years.

Has it been THAT long? Wow. I can't imagine Bob's era ever had such a streak, although could be wrong. Could anyone verify that? That $500 in 1977 BTW would actually equate to $2,115.46 now, just to get that info out there too to finish the money list completely. So $2,000 or $2,500 actually would be in line with where it should be then.

Offline MSTieScott

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #19 on: June 20, 2020, 07:05:34 PM »
I might be reading way too into it, but In the early years of the show were they trying to purposely appeal directly to the female demographic or were most of the players women?

Yes.
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Offline gamesurf

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #20 on: June 20, 2020, 07:13:25 PM »
It's always nice seeing behind the scenes stuff from way back.

Throughout the first page of the memo, there are many instances of referring to the contestant as she. I might be reading way too into it, but In the early years of the show were they trying to purposely appeal directly to the female demographic


That’s who pretty much any show on daytime TV in the 1970s was explicitly targeting.

You could make it $10,000 if you want when only one contestant has made it there in the last 11 years.

Yep. That’s not a coincidence or bad luck. That’s a deliberate decision. The setups have been such that normal contestants aren’t even likely to get close.

The amount of the bonus doesn’t matter much when it’s basically impossible to win in the first place.
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Offline Alfonzo

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #21 on: June 20, 2020, 08:04:42 PM »
You could make it $10,000 if you want when only one contestant has made it there in the last 11 years.

That's pretty much my reasoning for making the bonus $2,000 or $2,500. If you aren't going to make it winnable at least make it look more appetizing.
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Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #22 on: June 20, 2020, 08:23:28 PM »
Ten Chances (a sub-$100 prize, and that’s assuming the contestant doesn’t do something moronic like repeat a guess five times).

For the record, it's literally written in the rulesheet for Ten Chances that the first prize will always be won.
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Offline 123123123

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #23 on: June 20, 2020, 08:33:09 PM »
That's pretty much my reasoning for making the bonus $2,000 or $2,500. If you aren't going to make it winnable at least make it look more appetizing.

Much different scenarios, but that's basically the MO of Pay The Rent and it seems to be doing its job there.   :-)

I never knew about Penny Ante's original rules before reading this. Do we know if any of its playings under the original rules included a product or fake price of $1.00 or more, making it possible to lose after a single pick?

Offline pricefan18

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2020, 08:46:42 PM »
That's pretty much my reasoning for making the bonus $2,000 or $2,500. If you aren't going to make it winnable at least make it look more appetizing.

Has anyone even gotten to the second line back in this span of all those who have failed to get the first one? Curious if that's been as rare as going all the way has been.

Offline Alfonzo

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #25 on: June 20, 2020, 09:06:27 PM »
I never knew about Penny Ante's original rules before reading this. Do we know if any of its playings under the original rules included a product or fake price of $1.00 or more, making it possible to lose after a single pick?

Not sure about that, but here's some vidcaps John Sly made a few years back showing Penny Ante with its original set and rules: http://www.golden-road.net/gg/thumbnails.php?album=10
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Offline MSTieScott

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #26 on: June 20, 2020, 10:01:10 PM »
That's pretty much my reasoning for making the bonus $2,000 or $2,500. If you aren't going to make it winnable at least make it look more appetizing.

Counterpoint: Does Drew even mention the bonus when he's explaining the rules? Or does he only do it when the price reveals get close enough for the bonus to be a possibility? Because the latter rarely happens anyway.


For the record, it's literally written in the rulesheet for Ten Chances that the first prize will always be won.

I think that's because the rules assume the contestant will have the presence of mind to not keep duplicating bids and timing out.

It's also built into the board that the first prize is expected to be won -- the third panel would run into the edge before the first panel could get all the way behind the tenth writing area.
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Offline pricefan18

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #27 on: June 20, 2020, 10:30:49 PM »
I think that's because the rules assume the contestant will have the presence of mind to not keep duplicating bids and timing out.

Would they even be ALLOWED to duplicate bids? I can't imagine Drew, Bob or Doug woulda let them. I'm sure Bob wouldn't have at least. Now if S&P would take issue with that maybe is another story, but I can't see them just letting the repeat bids on their own.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2020, 10:34:06 PM by pricefan18 »

Offline 123123123

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #28 on: June 20, 2020, 10:50:06 PM »
Would they even be ALLOWED to duplicate bids? I can't imagine Drew, Bob or Doug woulda let them. I'm sure Bob wouldn't have at least. Now if S&P would take issue with that maybe is another story, but I can't see them just letting the repeat bids on their own.

I don't see why they wouldn't let you repeat prices. If there's an invalid guess, like a guess with a duplicate digit, that makes sense to let the player know.

However, if the contestant doesn't want to take the time to check, the host shouldn't have to take the time to check for them. It's a nice thing to do and I'm pretty sure all the hosts have done it, but the host can't be too much at fault if a duplicate gets through.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: April 6, 1978 CBS Memorandum: Details on Upcoming Pricing Games
« Reply #29 on: June 21, 2020, 03:52:16 AM »
It's happened, but I think it'd be pretty damn noticeable if somebody did it with the first prize.
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