TPiR Recap - 10/31/2022 (TPiARRGH Season 51 Halloween Special: Pirates)

[Mr. Weatherman]

My immediate reaction in Discord when four-digit L7 appeared was "I both love and hate this."

I've had roughly 24 hours to process what I saw here.  I still absolutely 'love' it.  I turn 29 in January, and this is the only time in all my years on this earth L7 has been played for a four-digit prize in a first-run episode.  Very few 'not car' prizes would have worked here to be on the higher-end of a four-digit prize and for the tugboat to be able to bring it out, yet they picked the perfect prize for the occasion paired with an absolutely perfect reveal.  This much was freakin' awesome!

Something still bothered me, though -- enough that I've tried to think through ways for such a four-digit playing to make more sense in the context of what the game is.  Adjusted for inflation going all the way back to L7's inception, this has to be, by far, the least expensive prize ever offered in the game.  I think for one playing, I'm OK with this exception, but the purest in me takes issue with this game being won for a prize that is worth significantly less than even the cheapest 'normal' prize.  My solution to this (if four-digit L7 is to ever be played again) would be to introduce a fairly simple, yet healthy bonus element tied to the number of dollar bills a contestant has left at the end of the game.  One dollar still buys the prize.  Any remaining dollars are multiplied by $10K.  Obviously in this one instance, no bonus cash would have been awarded, but for a savvy contestant with, say, $2 remaining after paying $1 for the prize, they would walk away with the prize + $20,000.  This gives the game a potential total prize payout in line with a typical automobile playing -- and for a very 'lucky' contestant who can correctly give all four numbers, they would walk away with as much as $60,000 + the prize (albeit extremely unlikely to happen). 

I think of it like the times we've seen Plinko played for a car.  The car offered is worth substantially less than the total payout of a normal $50,000 Plinko playing.  How is this issue resolved?  The first chip that lands in the 'car' slot wins the car, and the slot subsequently returns to $10,000 -- so in theory, a contestant can win the car + $40K, which would be a total payout worth more than a typical playing. 

Again, this is the pricing game purest in me speaking.  We'll probably never see four-digit L7 again, so for the one playing, there was no need to tie-in a bonus element.  But if this were to become a more regular thing, I think a bonus would help shore up the issue of playing for a prize worth significantly less than what is considered normal for this game.

[C8]

Something still bothered me, though -- enough that I've tried to think through ways for such a four-digit playing to make more sense in the context of what the game is.  Adjusted for inflation going all the way back to L7's inception, this has to be, by far, the least expensive prize ever offered in the game.  I think for one playing, I'm OK with this exception, but the purest in me takes issue with this game being won for a prize that is worth significantly less than even the cheapest 'normal' prize.  My solution to this (if four-digit L7 is to ever be played again) would be to introduce a fairly simple, yet healthy bonus element tied to the number of dollar bills a contestant has left at the end of the game.  One dollar still buys the prize.  Any remaining dollars are multiplied by $10K.  Obviously in this one instance, no bonus cash would have been awarded, but for a savvy contestant with, say, $2 remaining after paying $1 for the prize, they would walk away with the prize + $20,000.  This gives the game a potential total prize payout in line with a typical automobile playing -- and for a very 'lucky' contestant who can correctly give all four numbers, they would walk away with as much as $60,000 + the prize (albeit extremely unlikely to happen).

I refer back to my original post in that this has more to do with gameplay mechanics than it does "cheapening the game." Someone today is going to think that boat was expensive. $7000 is a lot to most people. They're not looking at inflation and thinking "well shoot that boat would have been work $1800 in 1973 when L7 debuted." If you're playing the game for a nice 4 digit prize in a slot that would be occupied by a nice 4 digit prize, there's absolutely no need for a bonus of any variety. Let's face it: L7 was designed for a 4 digit prize from the outset and it makes the game dramatically more winnable. The first digit free was a band-aid fix when five digit cars became the norm. But as I said in my first post, that second digit today can be so hard to pin down that it makes digits 3, 4, and 5 that much harder to get. Whereas with a nice 4 digit prize, you can pretty well nail the first digit to a 7-9, then sort of hone in on digit 2 based on the prize, then that makes digits 3 and 4 the real crapshoots. I dread seeing L7 because I just assume its going to be lost played for a car these days. This change, no matter how impermanent or irregular, adds a lot of the spunk back into it I've been seeing on the Barker Pluto episodes. There's a reason a game like Three Strikes became a luxury-cars-only situation.

I hope I made sense there. Anyhow, I think this is a marked evolution for L7 and a good one at that.

[Mr. Weatherman]

I totally get what you and some of the others are saying, but the notion of being easier seems fairly subjective, especially with a sample size of only one — that being yesterday’s playing. And even she nearly lost despite having an extremely generous setup where ‘all 5s’ would have won with $3 remaining (minus $1 to buy the prize).

The game play is no different, whether it’s perceived as ‘easier’ or not. Therefore, I think the minimum prize payout should be no different than a normal playing — which with this season’s automobile offerings, would be at least $17,500 or thereabouts.  It fits perfectly in line with the few examples we’ve had in the past of NCFCs (Plinko being a prime example) and the rare car games for no cars where a comparably valued prize like a boat or RV/camper is offered instead.  I can’t recall an instance outside of this one where a high dollar game (assuming ~$17,500 as the base for a vehicle) was played for something of substantially lesser value.  The opposite has happened plenty times, so maybe this was due.  But I would be OK not seeing it happen again unless some sort of change is made to allow for a comparable top prize to normal.  I’m all for improving games and do agree a four-digit L7 is refreshing to see, but cheapening a game like this doesn’t sit well with me outside of a one-off instance such as what happened here.  Maybe I’ve just seen too many clips of non-U.S. versions of the show playing our car games for non-cars, and it’s left a very strange and not-something-I-wish-to-see-here impression on me.

[GameShowKid]

I am watching this episode right now. It was very cool to see 4-digit Lucky $even again after all of these years. Why not play it for a 4-digit priced motorcycle sometime? "The ice has been broken".

I refer back to my original post in that this has more to do with gameplay mechanics than it does "cheapening the game." Someone today is going to think that boat was expensive. $7000 is a lot to most people. They're not looking at inflation and thinking "well shoot that boat would have been work $1800 in 1973 when L7 debuted." If you're playing the game for a nice 4 digit prize in a slot that would be occupied by a nice 4 digit prize, there's absolutely no need for a bonus of any variety. Let's face it: L7 was designed for a 4 digit prize from the outset and it makes the game dramatically more winnable. The first digit free was a band-aid fix when five digit cars became the norm. But as I said in my first post, that second digit today can be so hard to pin down that it makes digits 3, 4, and 5 that much harder to get. Whereas with a nice 4 digit prize, you can pretty well nail the first digit to a 7-9, then sort of hone in on digit 2 based on the prize, then that makes digits 3 and 4 the real crapshoots. I dread seeing L7 because I just assume its going to be lost played for a car these days. This change, no matter how impermanent or irregular, adds a lot of the spunk back into it I've been seeing on the Barker Pluto episodes. There's a reason a game like Three Strikes became a luxury-cars-only situation.

I hope I made sense there. Anyhow, I think this is a marked evolution for L7 and a good one at that.

I have said in the past that perhaps the middle digit in a 5-digit priced auto should be given today. That would help compensate for inflation, and we would still have the drama of the game's outcome possibly resting on the last digit.

[C8]

I have said in the past that perhaps the middle digit in a 5-digit priced auto should be given today. That would help compensate for inflation, and we would still have the drama of the game's outcome possibly resting on the last digit.

Oh that is a GREAT idea

[JayC]

Good episode overall, the pirate theme was fun and they didn't go super overboard (no pun intended). I think the one thing is I wish they didn't have George do the parrot voice through the entire show, though it is pretty impressive he kept it going the entire time.

Playing Lucky $even for the 4 digit boat was certainly interesting. They could've played Push Over for the boat and Lucky $even for the car instead, but it did make sense to have the tugboat pull out the boat on stage in the same way the car is pushed out for L7.

[bonkers77]

Funny Show! Every member of the cast was perfect in their role.

Lucky 7 surprised me!