Pricing Game Discussion, fleshing out Money Game

[Nick]

I guess I would have just had the cameras focus on the studio audience before cutting to Bob & the contestant already in place at the Turntable

You don't need to wallpaper it with B-roll.  You just need to shoot it like this:

[StacksOfCash]

I never understood the point of even giving away money at all in this game. Personally I find it weird when seeing the "$", its considered a bad thing. To add to this, a single bell also dings. Kind of similar to how in Lucky 7, the number reveals are always single dings, followed by the trombones if the contestant loses all of the money.

Frankly I think the money consolation prize should just be done away with since the amounts are miniscule and unnecessary. The symbol behind should also change to something more indicative of a bad choice like an "X", along with the single bell converted to a straight buzzer. In the UK version the word "NO" is written vertically with the "O" positioned at the bottom which the host can tease as it could potentially be the wheel of the car symbol. Also the trombones never play out during a loss in this game, and removing the consolation prize would give them a proper reason to.

If the game were digitized, then after tapping or swiping the numbers, you could even re-use the screeching tires sound from Gridlock when revealing a wrong answer, or even the car horn from One Away to reveal a correct answer. A name change would probably be in order, though people have already suggested good ones here.

[Nick]

I never understood the point of even giving away money at all in this game. Personally I find it weird when seeing the "$", its considered a bad thing.

It's a bad thing because the good thing is seeing the front or back of the car (though after what they did with Any Number, are they going to try to play Money Game for cash and winning the car would be a "loss"?).

To add to this, a single bell also dings. Kind of similar to how in Lucky 7, the number reveals are always single dings, followed by the trombones if the contestant loses all of the money.

Yes, and this makes sense because you've won something in Money Game, and in Lucky Seven you're still in the game as long as you haven't gone broke on your guess.  The Davidson version did this weird thing with sounding the buzzer in Lucky Seven when you guessed incorrectly, and it sounds so off because, again, unless you've gone broke, you're still in the game; and you could end up in the weird place with your last guess being off (*buzz*) but you're not broke so you win (*winning bells*).

And while we're at it, what gets me is that they've always done this backwards in Shell Game.  If the host lifts a shell that has no chip beside it, that should be a bell, not a buzzer, because not finding the ball there is a good thing.  Buzz only if it was a marked shell.

Frankly I think the money consolation prize should just be done away with since the amounts are miniscule and unnecessary. The symbol behind should also change to something more indicative of a bad choice like an "X", along with the single bell converted to a straight buzzer.

I don't see where this would be an improvement at all, and as far as from the contestants' perspectives, I'm sure they're happy to walk away with at least some cash instead of nothing at all.

Also the trombones never play out during a loss in this game, and removing the consolation prize would give them a proper reason to.

I don't see where there should be concern whether or not the losing horns ever sound in a game or not because Money Game would certainly not be the only one where they never sound.

[ooboh]

And while we're at it, what gets me is that they've always done this backwards in Shell Game.  If the host lifts a shell that has no chip beside it, that should be a bell, not a buzzer, because not finding the ball there is a good thing.  Buzz only if it was a marked shell.

I can't recall any scenario in which the host would lift a shell the contestant didn't win except if the contestant got 3/4 shells and the host lifted the one losing shell, at which point the appropriate sound effect plays.

[William]

In almost all car games that debuted in the '70s, if you didn't win the car, you were likely if not guaranteed to win something else.

The only exceptions to this were the original Bullseye, Lucky Seven, Card Game, 3 Strikes, Dice Game, and It's Optional. With these it was the car(s) or nothing.

But with everything else, if you played for a car but didn't win it, most likely you were still not walking away empty-handed.

[b_masters8]

But with everything else, if you played for a car but didn't win it, most likely you were still not walking away empty-handed.

Outside of Switcheroo-- if you didn't know smaller-prize prices, then you were very likely to go out on the short end of the stick.

[tpirfansince1972]

Sometimes the quirky imperfections of certain games just adds to the charm.

With Money Game, a "perfect" playing of the game would be getting the front and back of the car in the very first two selections.

And yet by making three mistakes before finding the front and back halves, you wind up winning more.  Granted it would only be, at best, an additional $294 (assuming 97, 98 and 99 are all on the board and all three of them house dollar signs).

One thought about the game is perhaps replacing one of the dollar signs with a wipe-out card and perhaps housing higher money amounts behind six of the other wrong picks and if the wipeout card is selected before both halves of the car are found, the game would be over and any money won would be lost plus any chance at the car would be lost, but then that would turn Money Game almost into Pass the Buck.  But if that were implemented, then I could very well see them playing the buzzer or the losing horn followed by the losing music for Money Game.

What the one poster suggested about having an "X" instead of a dollar sign, well that's just another version of Gridlock it would seem.

[BillyGr]

It's a bad thing because the good thing is seeing the front or back of the car (though after what they did with Any Number, are they going to try to play Money Game for cash and winning the car would be a "loss"?).

No, because in Any Number, you only win ONE prize, be it the car, the other prize or the piggy bank.

With this game, you can win either one prize (the cash) or two prizes (the cash AND the car).

So, even if they opted to offer more money as a bonus along the way, you could still win the car as well as the bonus money, where in Any Number that was NOT an option.