New Pricing Game Review: SPLIT DECISION

[Alfonzo]

New Pricing Game Review: SPLIT DECISION

I'm just going to say at the start that I will delete any statement that says that this game had constant prop malfunctions. IT DIDN'T!

Now on to the review. I really liked this game. It was a nice alternative to Any Number. It wasn't really that hard in is original rules. It certinly wasn't "a disaster" and didn't deserve some of the negative comments about it. The first three or four times it was played the game was won, and I thought it was too easy! I didn't care for the game as much after the rule change.

The set was a little to busy with all of those arrows on the bottom, but otherwise OK. I also liked the "tick-tock" think music.

Sigh. Another game with a good concept ruined by bad contestants.

Rating 8 out of 10

For rules and history of this game: http://www.gscentral.net/split.htm

[Frank15]

How did all the rumors of constantly malfunctioning get started, anyway?  Though I suppose, considering the force contestants would often use to pull down the numbers, I guess it could've gotten excessive wear over the years.  If it had lasted for years, anyway.

The set was decent.  I didn't exactly love it, though the numbers with the chase lights around them were cool.  Also great was the sound effect that would play when a contestant hit the button to stop the clock.  Awesome sound effect.  And probably never to be heard again.  Boo!

As for the rule change... meh.  I much, much preferred the game with 20 seconds and infinite chances, instead of 3 chances and infinite time.  Infinite time just took away the fun panic factor, and a lot of the strategy in making guesses quickly.  Plus, no more of the cool sound effect.  Then again, the rule change seemed only temporary, as by the end of the 24th season, they were back to using the 20 second rule again.

Still, the game kinda' sorta' lives on in Bonkers.  Just too bad we couldn't have both around.

And finally... "and."  I may not have noticed everything about the show when I was 15, but I very quickly noticed the use of conjunction.  Fun little way to know ahead of time whether the game would be Any Number or Split Decision, just by whether "and" or "or" was used when introing the car!

7 out of 10 on the old scale.

[goldroadfanatic]

This game had good intentions and was an alternate to Any Number.  You just had to pull down the numbers in the price of the three-digit prize.  You have 20 seconds to get both prices right.

It was funny to see the blooper where numbers fell off because the contestant pulled down too hard.

The set was decent with the arrows and the numbers.

It was bad to change the rules to allow 3 chances instead of 20 seconds to make all the changes you want.

Overall a good game, too bad it was retired.  I give it a 7 out of 10.

[Plinkoman]

Split Decision was a great game that never should have been retired. The rules were simple. Similar to Any Number, but, of course, the contestant could win both the car and the 3-digit prize. The best playing- when the game messed up. That was funny! Why they retired this game- I don't know. Great game. I loved the set. The think music was neat.

For me, 7.5 out of 10. My first .5! Split Decision still is one of the best retired games ever.

[tpiradam]

The only time I saw Split Descicion was from tpir.tv

It looked fun and kind of easy. I guess it is almost like 10 chances with a time limit. However, some contestants made it look hard and made it look like a disaster.

Total score: 8/10

[JayC]

I didn't really see the game that much but I did like it.  The set was a little weird but it was also unique and creative and so was the premise of the game.  I don't think it was all that hard, and it definitely is better with a time limit.  It was fun to see the contestants constantly running and pulling down numbers.

My score- 7 out of 10

[LiteBulb88]

One of my favorite games back when I got to watch the show regularly.  The think music is great and the "hit the button" sound effect is just cool.  Plus, I love how you could use strategy and be smart with your guesses, like Bonkers.  This game lost much appeal to me when they changed the rule.  

Ratings:

9/10 for the 20 second clock version
5/10 for the 3 chances version

[pathfinder2119]

Split Decision was a good game that shouldn't have been retired. I liked it better with the 20 second time limit than with the three chances. It was fun to watch, and I also liked the think music. The set was also pretty good.

It gets an 8/10.

[Nick]

I haven't seen any playings of this game in quite a while, and I think the last one I saw of it was the coined disastrous" playing.  Still, from the little I have seen of this game, it was a game with a good concept that could utilize Any Number's prize combination.  While I haven't seen it played in the timeless format, the timed format sounds like it played a lot better than the timeless format.

I'm in agreement with the majority of the crowd here that this game was killed off for all the wrong reasons.  It was not that confusing.  Pay attention to the explanation of the rules, and you'd have no problem understanding how it worked.

Rating:  7 out of 10

[Jordan7]

I liked this game too. It was easy enough. It was similar to Any Number in the sense that no digits repeated. Kinda neat.

The set was meh. I didn't really like the colors that went with it. I liked the sound effects though.

I was unimpressed with the rule change. The 20 seconds was far  much better than just 3 chances. Heck, with all of the obvious combinations possible, I would have given at the least 5 chances.

Overall, a fair game with good intentions, that might still have worked today. Removed for the wrong reasons.

7 out of 10.

[kingpin623]

This was easily my favorite pricing game of all when it was in the rotation, because it made you think AND move.  It was heads better than Any Number.

I too picked up on the use of the conjunction "and" (vs "or" for Any Number) in the prize intro.  The first time I saw the game, I thought they had made a mistake, and said "Shouldn't that be 'OR a new car'?"  But they were right -- it was, in fact, a new game that they were playing, and not Any Number.

This game was really just Squeeze Play with a few extra digits, though the game board actually looked more like Make Your Move.  In theory, there were 56 possible combos for the two prices, but the first 2 or 3 digits of the sequence were almost always in the price of the car, so most of the time the contestants only had 5 or 6 digits to deal with.

Split Decision was won most of the times that I saw it played.  Even the slower contestants, one of whom took 10 whole seconds for her 2nd guess, managed to win this one more often than not.

Though I was taping and watching TPIR religiously at this time, I somehow managed to miss [entirely] the rule change where contestants had 3 guesses with unlimited time.  Guess I didn't miss much by not seeing these episodes!

If Split Decision were still around (along with Time is Money), they could do a TPIR MDS "Salute to the Olympics" and play Clock Game, Race Game, Split Decision, Time is Money, Switcheroo, and Bonkers -- all games that are races against time.  They'd even meet their unofficial quota for 2 car games, 1 grocery game, and 1 small prize game in a single show!

And I have to contest that last post that stated that "like Any Number, no digits were repeated...". The first time I saw this game played, the first 3 digits in the sequence were 1-0-0-...; these were all obviously in the price of the car.

Definitely one of my, if not THE most, favorite retired games, and one I frequently play on BigJon's TPIR (though his is HARDER!)  A score of 10/10 in my book!

JBK

[gottabemark9]

I like this game alot. It was a better version of Any Number and a better set. Ilike how it is a race against the clock which is cool. The three chances make it great for the car and other prizes.

My rating: 9/10

[fireman]

I liked Split Decision, it's a shame they had to retire it.  The lights around the number tiles were really nice!  The game rules itself were okay until they started changing them all of the time.  This was a fun and challenging game!  Too bad it only lasted approx. 2 years.

Score: 7 out of 10

[tpir]

i agree with fireman

[Adam Lonier]

Frank15: "Still, the game kinda' sorta' lives on in Bonkers. Just too bad we couldn't have both around."

Intresting thought, but wouldn't that make it a lot easier for people to win than make them think about the prizes. Still the bloopers were hillarious.

7.2/10 on a high-average game.