Trader Bob Observation

[Brian44]

Hello!

In most playings of Trader Bob I've seen on PlutoTV, after Johnny O. plugs each SP, the models roll the first SP into place and whichever SP the contestant keeps in each pair, then they pull the blue brand name card to reveal a red Trader Bob card. What was the purpose of that? Was it just for aesthetics or were they expecting the sponsor to pay a second fee when the SP was shown again at the end of the game? In other games when the SPs were always shown a second time, such as Cliff Hangers or Secret X, the blue brand card still appeared. (Of course by the late '90s or so, the blue cards were permanently abandoned in favor of on-screen graphics) 

Interestingly, in at least one playing, only the red Trader Bob cards appeared on the podiums and alas, looking through the end credits, I noticed that no SPs that day were sponsored.

[actual_retail_tice]

I'm guessing aesthetics. Whoever was in charge of those things probably decided it looked nicer to have all matching Trader Bob cards on display than an assortment of different sponsor logos.

[NickintheATL]

I've always read that as this: after they get their plugs, the names don't stay on screen because they didn't pay to have it seen so many times. So, they take the cards out and you don't see them during the price reveals.

[actual_retail_tice]

Semi related question: What was the point of revealing the price of the item the contestant didn’t choose? It makes it obvious, sometimes very early in the game, if the contestant lost.

[CBSpromoman]

Semi related question: What was the point of revealing the price of the item the contestant didn’t choose? It makes it obvious, sometimes very early in the game, if the contestant lost.

If they don't reveal them then, there's no way to reveal them afterwards...those prizes are whisked away as soon as the contestant makes the choice. It'd be silly to wheel the prices back out after the fact to show them.

[Alfonzo]

If they don't reveal them then, there's no way to reveal them afterwards...those prizes are whisked away as soon as the contestant makes the choice. It'd be silly to wheel the prices back out after the fact to show them.

It wasn't necessary to know the price of the unchosen small prizes. We've had quite a few games in the lineup which didn't reveal the price of every prize. Worse case scenario they could have put the prices on some sort of holder until the end of the game.

Trader Bob was always one of my least favorite games ever because you can always predict whether it was won or lost before the final reveal. Even Bob noticed it a few times and told the contestant that they were pretty much doomed long before the game was over. Didn't make the game too much fun at all.

[Brian44]

As many have said here before, Trader Bob was essentially Give or Keep with no room for error. Give or Keep was always intriguing to watch when the contestant blew it on the first pair of SPs but made up for the loss on the second or third or pair.

[actual_retail_tice]

If they don't reveal them then, there's no way to reveal them afterwards...those prizes are whisked away as soon as the contestant makes the choice. It'd be silly to wheel the prices back out after the fact to show them.

Then my question is, why reveal them ever? It's irrelevant to the gameplay and spoils the outcome.

I'm surprised TB made it for five years, and I'd like to think the reason was it made so little impression on anybody that no one thought of retiring it.