Wheel and Jeopardy Return

[imhomerjay]

 It says he felt it worked better on one program and less on another. It’s not favoritism. They are different entities.

[SeaBreeze341]

Wouldn't it be illegal if they added more car wedges than cash prizes?  I guess I haven't paid too close attention but I was certain that it was 50/50 cash & prizes in the Bonus Round.


The landing on $5000 in Round 4, IIRC, used to happen more often than not in the past.  The wheel was set to where Pat would often land on it; Round 4 used to start with the speed up round right off the bat a lot.  I get where you want to give others a chance, but I was never a fan of someone winning the game after starting the round with $0 but then he or she was lucky enough to overtake someone by at least a couple bucks or a few bucks.  In someone, that meant a player did enough (or won everything) prior to Round 4 (with a total of at least $15,000 - $20,000) to deserve to go to the bonus round.  OTOH, if said contestant was leading with a total of $9,000 or something similar, and then lost at the end, then I wouldn't have a problem with it.

If it's a competitive game, then I'm all for $6,000 per letter in speedup.

As for the Free Spin, I'm all for that returning!

I never had an issue with Harry respecting Jeopardy more than Wheel.  I love both, but Jeopardy's earned that

[imhomerjay]

Hmmm, not sure how it would be illegal to configure the wheel with more of one prize than another provided there’s not a statement to the contrary.

[Briguy]

I get where you want to give others a chance, but I was never a fan of someone winning the game after starting the round with $0 but then he or she was lucky enough to overtake someone by at least a couple bucks or a few bucks.  In someone, that meant a player did enough (or won everything) prior to Round 4 (with a total of at least $15,000 - $20,000) to deserve to go to the bonus round.

But that's how Wheel has been for 45 years ... a game where you can have rotten luck for almost the entire game, but get a lucky spin of the wheel or (if it's the Speed Round) call the right letter and you win the game. Not to imply you're thinking this, but having a game like Wheel where the late rounds are meaningless – i.e., the game is such where there's no chance to win the game in the last round and overtake the leaders – wouldn't make Wheel very fun.

Just like the Game of Life – the late 1970s version where you can become a "Millionaire Tycoon" after having rotten luck and being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (by taking a low-paying career and then having a 10-child family, landing on all the wrong spaces, being on the wrong end of "Revenge" raids, losing in the stock market, passing on insurance but landing on disaster spaces, etc.) just by one lucky spin of the wheel. The others, who have dominated the game, are now beaten.

Or "Concentration" – the game where your opponent can, through sheer luck and chance, match almost every prize on the board but just can't solve the puzzle or make the last match ... and then the poor opponent that's been waiting on the sidelines either matches a Take card and swipes a desired prize (in the 1970s, it was almost always the room of furniture, the trip to Las Vegas or any of the other Head Starts) and immediately solves the puzzle.

Or – sometimes – real life. Amazing how a game show that we've loved for 45 years can mirror real life.

And don't forget ... sometimes, a contestant that seems to get by on sheer luck and a few lucky breaks is actually a good player who just didn't get a chance, either because of some good calls that just weren't correct or always seeming to landing on Bankrupt or Lose-a-Turn. But when he/she does get their opportunity, watch out! I mean, look at all the times throughout Wheel's history where a contestant has his/her only shining front-game moment on the last spin or even letter call of the day, solves the puzzle to win the game, and then solves the Bonus Round puzzle for the grand prize.

Brian

[gamesurf]

Then there's the conspiracy theory about setting up the Round 4 Wheel to the point where Pat can't land on the final spin since most of the time nowadays, and also having the "running out of time" bells ring accordingly. On average, Pat misses the $5000 by about seven spaces nowadays. Then there's other budget controls like having shorter puzzles, the Crossword category more often, and more car wedges in the Bonus Wheel if its valued less than the cash minimum. Something seems suspicious out there in Wheel land, something that would have been a complete no-no if Merv was still around.

Those don’t sound like “conspiracy theories.” It sounds like using Occam’s Razor.

Even in the 1970’s, producers using (legal) tricks to control their show’s pacing and prize budget wasn’t some secret plot, it’s literally part of their job description.

Sounds like Sony gave Wheel a massive prize budget in the 00’s-early ‘10’s, and now they’ve painted themselves into a corner because they’re “expected” to offer certain prizes and they’re afraid they’ll look cheap if they walk them back.

And don't forget ... sometimes, a contestant that seems to get by on sheer luck and a few lucky breaks is actually a good player who just didn't get a chance, either because of some good calls that just weren't correct or always seeming to landing on Bankrupt or Lose-a-Turn. But when he/she does get their opportunity, watch out! I mean, look at all the times throughout Wheel's history where a contestant has his/her only shining front-game moment on the last spin or even letter call of the day, solves the puzzle to win the game, and then solves the Bonus Round puzzle for the grand prize.

Brian

Yeah, if I want to watch a show where the most “deserving” player wins, I’ll watch a hard quizzer. When a show is called “Wheel of Fortune”, and the centerpiece of the show is a big spinning wheel, I totally expect luck to play a huge role in winning.

Wouldn't it be illegal if they added more car wedges than cash prizes?  I guess I haven't paid too close attention but I was certain that it was 50/50 cash & prizes in the Bonus Round.

There’s no law or FCC regulation saying a bonus round has to offer certain prizes, it just requires them to be fair about the prizes they do offer. They could use 24 envelopes with different amounts of Rice-a-Roni if they wanted to.

[wheelfan1991]

I don't think they've ever mentioned (and not sure they're allowed to) what the breakdown of the prizes are on the bonus wheel. I just know that since they do the $3x,000 as the lowest amount based on the show's current season, they no longer have $40,000 as an offering. It jumps to $45,000 then $50,000. I feel as if they just have one $50,000 envelope alongside the one $100,000/$1,000,000 envelope, while all the others have multiples of differing amounts, with the $3x,000 being the most (obviously). I just know that over the 19 years it's been in play, the distribution has changed drastically. Honestly, I'd be fine if they went to having just the car of the week, $50,000, and $100,000/$1,000,000 being in play. There would just have to be one more envelope of either the car or the cash, cash preferably.

11 - cars
12 - $50,000
  1 - $100,000/$1,000,000

[gamesurf]

I’m sure they’re allowed to disclose it, I just thought that they didn’t want to because it allowed them more flexibility to change the distribution from season to season.

But then they went with that bafflingly stupid “house minimum is 3X,000 and goes up every year” which totally negates the benefit of doing that.

It’s not like $25,000 was an unimpressive prize.

[SeaBreeze341]

Well put, Brian.  First things first: I agree that a meaningless speedup would not be fun.  Of course, if I'm rooting for someone that would be safe, I'd prefer it.  Other than that, no thank you to meaningless segments.  It's sorta like a runaway score in Final Jeopardy!

At the end of the day, that’s life, and life’s not fair.  However, I wouldn’t mind so much if someone is crushing it, but then his/her/their opponents finally “get on the board” but the game continues because it becomes competitive.  For example, on Family Feud (this applies more to the classic versions with Richard and Ray than what it’s been for at least the most part for over a decade) a family wins each of the first 3 questions but ends up losing the game because their opponents won the last 2.  I’m only with that because someone isn’t losing the game outright after doing everything right but making one mistake to someone that has done nothing.  With Feud, you finally mess up & your opponent is on the board, but it’s not over yet.  It’s anyone’s game.

Overall, I like a competitive game, with Wheel and Jeopardy!  With the latter, it brings strategy through the game and the final.  With Wheel, that means everyone wins (though there can only be one big winner for the bonus round).  The occasional rout is fine (or sweep), and so are the come-from-behind wins.  Just not a fan of it if it’s due to a big round that renders everything else meaningless

[rockyboy34]

It’s not like $25,000 was an unimpressive prize.

It's probably a bit too cheap for today's standards. That's why it was retired in 2010 and the new minimum back then was $30K.

I'm fine w/ $35K being the Bonus Round minimum for future seasons as that's how much $25K was back in '02.

[pricefan18]

It's probably a bit too cheap for today's standards. That's why it was retired in 2010 and the new minimum back then was $30K.

I'm fine w/ $35K being the Bonus Round minimum for future seasons as that's how much $25K was back in '02.

I wonder what happens when they hit $40,000? Stop there maybe? Make that the new min? I can't see them going back down to $35,000.

[rockyboy34]

^ That's what I was afraid of. They really should've stopped at 35.

[gamesurf]

I really don't think the "inflation" case is that strong. A win is a win. I'm struggling to imagine the sort of viewer that will be unimpressed by a $25K win but be impressed by a $30K one, or a $38K one.

It's cycling through the same few prizes that bothers me, way more than the "cheapness".

I imagine it's the same logic behind making every minimum amount on the wheel $500 because they don't want to look "cheap". Yes, it's nice the contestants are winning slightly more money, but the tradeoff is you can only have amounts $500-$900 on the Wheel. That's boring.

I really don't think many viewers are going to care there's slightly more money being won on average. I do care when every bonus round feels exactly the same.

[imhomerjay]

Don’t fall for over analyzing from a game show nerd standpoint. Regular folks by and large don’t analyze things anywhere near so deeply.

[pricefan18]

Don’t fall for over analyzing from a game show nerd standpoint. Regular folks by and large don’t analyze things anywhere near so deeply.

Hell I bet most Barker era Price watchers, the casual ones anyway, didn't even realize they cycled through the same prizes, to the point about what Wheel does. So I doubt that enters minds a lot of those who watch it for the sake of it.

[Flerbert419]

I’m sure they’re allowed to disclose it, I just thought that they didn’t want to because it allowed them more flexibility to change the distribution from season to season.

They have changed the distribution much more frequently than that. There is evidence that they bump it up during Secret Santa weeks and lower it after big wins to keep the budget under control.

Even the contestants do not know when they are on stage what the distribution is at that moment. It's bizarrely secretive.