‘Card’ Games

[DYC]

Season 36, at the dawn of Drew’s tenure as host, pricing games were slowly trickled in week by week as Drew became more comfortable hosting. 3 games never resurfaced since Barker’s last months- Hit Me, Poker Game and Joker. Though Hit Me seemed to disappear early on in Bob’s last season, Poker Game and Joker stayed in the rotation reasonably until the end of Season 35. Any ideas on why they’d nix all (but one) of the shows playing-card based games all at that time?

[123123123]

I'm not sure if there's any big anti-card agenda behind it, but more that they were all decently flawed games that just so happened to use cards. I think Card Game is slightly flawed as is, but nowhere near the level of the other games you named

Joker was a worse version of Bonus and Shell, Poker Game was a Let's Make a Deal game masquerading as a pricing game and Hit Me has the dubious distinction of being the only game my younger self couldn't figure out how to win. The card connection is just a lucky (or unlucky) coincidence 

[JayC]

Hit Me was retired early in season 35 because too many contestants found the rules of the game to be confusing.

Joker was retired because it could still be lost despite perfect pricing, something that Drew didn't like. It wasn't exactly a fan favorite either. The bonus was added onto 1/2 Off so that the contestant still wins something if they chose all three correct SPs but then picked the empty box-- originally it was $500 per correct answer then it became $1,000 for getting all three.

Not sure what the official reason for Poker Game's retirement was. The retirements were related to the rules of the games at least for Hit Me and Joker, being card based was just a coincidence.

[gamesurf]

Hit Me was confusing. It was impenetrable to contestants who didn’t understand blackjack, and the pricing portion didn’t help matters. Asking nervous contestants to multiply and divide prices in their head usually didn’t have good results. Bob usually had to walk contestants through playing the game himself by asking “okay, which price is exactly right? Now which price is multiplied by ten?” There was just too much going on for either a nervous contestant or a new viewer to process on the first try.

Even if you were a viewer who did understand what was going on, it wasn’t terribly exciting to watch. There’s little opportunity for the game to build to an exciting climax. Either the contestant wins straight away or they screw up and have to correct their error.
When the unexpected happens in Hit Me, it’s bad, because the contestant loses.

Poker Game didn’t really fit in with other pricing games by the 21st century. The prizes it offered weren’t impressive, the gameplay had nothing to do with pricing (nobody can just “pick a price with nines in it”), and the game was only played like twice a season.

Joker was seen by some as redundant when both Bonus Game and Shell Game around, and some have speculated that Roger had it retired once Drew made it clear he was not a fan of games where you can do everything correctly and still leave with nothing.

I agree with 123123123, it’s not a question of targeting card games, but “games that are confusing or not exciting” and those just happened to be card-themed. There’s definitely room for pricing games based off poker or blackjack, as long as their gameplay is made accessible to a first-time player and their presentation is streamlined. But I can’t say I miss any of those three games terribly (although I confess I miss Joker’s presentation a little bit)

[RatRace10]

Joker was retired because it could still be lost despite perfect pricing, something that Drew didn't like.

Then why do we still have Secret X? It's the same concept, just with two SPs instead of four. 

[Roadgeek Adam]

Joker was only tossed because Drew didn't like doing everything right and still losing. I understand Drew's sentiment here, and Roger didn't like having to do it. In reality, Joker isn't really needed anymore. Game diversity is nice. Sure, Roger could've changed the rules to Joker by allowing a free pick or a 5th SP, but he didn't want to. (Note of course, Stack the Deck, another card game, still has this problem and Drew seems to be okay with it.)

Poker Game is still doable, but the stakes would have to be raised to make sure the game fits the $5000 or more pricing game budget. The major problem is that a person has to know what Poker hands are better than which, and I can understand if that would confuse the contestant, or more importantly Drew.

Card and Stack seem to be just fine in terms of producing a card-based game, even if calling Stack a "card game" is a stretch.

[gamesurf]

Then why do we still have Secret X? It's the same concept, just with two SPs instead of four. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Secret X is more fun to watch? It's also easier to set up for a guaranteed win (nobody wants to bend down to put the X on the bottom row if they don't have to)

(Note of course, Stack the Deck, another card game, still has this problem and Drew seems to be okay with it.)

Somebody who attended a taping claims that Drew absolutely does not have warm feelings about Stack the Deck:

2. Drew HATES Stack the Deck. After the loss but before throwing to commercial, Drew gave an emphatic apology to the camera saying something like, "on behalf of Rachel, the cast, the crew, and all of us at CBS, I apologize for Stack the Deck." And then during the break went on a tirade about how the game is practically un-winnable, even when contestants get all three grocery items right. I've been to three tapings this season and was a contestant myself a few months back (lost Lucky 7). Drew genuinely wants everyone to win, and he keeps a real positive "let's stick it to the man" vibe through and through with the audience. It's infectious and endearing. I know he takes a lot of flack here, but he cares deeply about the contestants.

Stack the Deck at least can get away with being disguised as a "pricing" game. If they wanted to fix Stack the Deck's reputation, all they'd need to do is set it up as they did in Season 36. In a fair setup, the three GPs would be gimmes and the contestant would only need to figure out the first two digits. Its brokenness seems to be by design.

[wheelfan1991]

I guess this begs the question: why is Stack still around then? Personally, I've never liked it either because it's probably one of the most difficult car games to win, perhaps next to 3 Strikes. I would figure with as much pull as Drew has, he would've had the game axed years ago.

[LiteBulb88]

Unlike Let em Roll, Spelling Bee, 3 Strikes, etc, contestants who know the price of the car are guaranteed to win Stack the Deck. I'm not saying I'm a big fan of the game, but it doesn't have the "perfect pricing doesn't guarantee a win" aspect those other games do.

[gamesurf]

I guess this begs the question: why is Stack still around then?

Because the producers like having a very difficult car game as a budget saver, and the producers have more pull than Drew.

If the producers wanted the game to be won more often, they could easily fix that by using setups like the ones in S35-36. They choose not to. The producers want the game to be lost very frequently.

Drew understands that the show has to have a budget and sometimes forced losses need to happen, even if he (rightfully) objects to how they go about it.

[Casey]

I've often thought Poker Game could be modified to be played with grocery products for a prize package or a trip.  I'll admit that in the later years it was played it wasn't my favorite, but seeing the reruns on Pluto TV makes me think it could be a better game with more variety in the prices. A lot just depends on the presentation.

[BillyGr]

Even if you were a viewer who did understand what was going on, it wasn’t terribly exciting to watch. There’s little opportunity for the game to build to an exciting climax. Either the contestant wins straight away or they screw up and have to correct their error.
When the unexpected happens in Hit Me, it’s bad, because the contestant loses.

It could happen, though.  While the (often obvious to those who watched enough or were at least a bit good at math) answer led to the easy win, having a player who picked other items could cause excitement in either direction.

They might wind up picking items that still added up to a 21 (which provided the excitement in the last choice, hoping that was the one that would be enough to get you there but not too much to make you go over), or they could wind up with the case where someone stopped with a seemingly low number (like 15) and then it was the climax of the house having a number where it had to hit and seeing if it would get a big card to go over and cause a win, or get just enough to stay and cause the contestant to lose.

[name456]

I don’t understand how Hit Me was so confusing. It’s basic multiplication and division. Even under the lights it shouldn’t be hard to understand.

Poker Game only used three digit prices which was cheap near the end. Using four digit prices would give too many four and five of a kinds, I guess.

[wheelfan1991]

I feel as if I've seen more people who don't understand Hit Me whatsoever win the game than those who do, which was always exciting to see because their reaction was priceless.

[therealcu2010]

Math is hard. Don't you know?