Golden-Road.net
Studio 33 - Price is Right Discussion => The TALK Is Right => Topic started by: ooboh on April 25, 2018, 10:54:11 PM
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Apart from the obvious ones (Stack the Deck and That’s Too Much, which coincidentally happen to be my favorites), which games do you think are universally disliked by fans?
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Pay the Rent is definitely loathed by just about everyone on this site.
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Oh, for sure Pay the Rent. The acrimony towards the game has been around for nearly its whole run.
Lucky $even tends to get a fair bit of dislike as well, particularly in recent years, since it's got a reputation for using some really tough setups (like the $19,987 one just this week).
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I feel like Double Prices gets a lot of hate due to it's boring and straight-forward nature.
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Oh, for sure Pay the Rent. The acrimony towards the game has been around for nearly its whole run.
Lucky $even tends to get a fair bit of dislike as well, particularly in recent years, since it's got a reputation for using some really tough setups (like the $19,987 one just this week).
But then again, the contestant actually won with that setup, so it can bring a sense of accomplishment when you "slay the dragon", and actually it seems like this game is actually being won a bit more often compared to a few years ago. I'd just wish there would be more cars in the $25,000-$35,000 range being offered, since the challenge would be a bit tougher yet with a higher reward, and this includes the popular small crossover SUV segment as well. I've always seen the game as a bit tricky, but winnable if you know how to play.
Pay The Rent unfortunately is something I wouldn't mind, since there are WAY too many bailouts and the purpose of most games is to either go big or go home with nothing. People just don't understand the strategy in terms of ordering the first three levels of items. Temptation is also getting bailout overkill as well.
Among the quickies, I'd say Magic #. The range in price of being winnable has gotten wider, yet it doesn't seem like that many more people win, and are afraid to go higher than $1999.
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I'm not a fan of Pay the Rent, either. If I were a contestant, however, I'd dance if I got to play it - for one simple reason.
It's nearly a guaranteed $10,000.
You can place the grocery items wrong a dozen different ways and still make it to the $10k level.
I'm cool with that as a player.
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I still, to this day, do not understand the hatred for Pay The Rent.
A good majority of people on this board celebrate LFATs and having adept pricing knowledge, and that's exactly what that game rewards, probably more so than any other pricing game that currently exists--you can't just place the grocery items all willy nilly and expect to win (unless the powers-that-be explicitly set the game up for a win). Yet you all still dunk on it. I'd wager the problem isn't necessarily with the game, but the contestants they get on stage to play it.
Not to mention it's the easiest $10,000 any contestant could win.
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I think the most hated game IMO is Bullseye (1972). It is the only pricing game to my knowledge without a win 0-5. But everyone has their opinion. I respect everyone else's opinion.
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I'd wager the problem isn't necessarily with the game, but the contestants they get on stage to play it.
And of course, you wager wrongly. Your description of Pay the Rent is accurate in theory, but in practice, it's designed to be misunderstood by the contestants and to usually still be very difficult for anyone it doesn't confuse.
Find me a contestant who can reliably win Pay the Rent, and I'll find you Ted.
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...very difficult for anyone it doesn't confuse.
The game would be won more, and be less frustrating, if contestants were allowed to play it backwards (Safe to Mail box). But then, of course, the top prize would never be $100,000. It's a fine game, just counter-intuitive to most, if not all, of the other games on the show.
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It's a fine game, just counter-intuitive to most, if not all, of the other games on the show.
Which was probably the entire point.
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Dice Game gets a bit of hate because of some unfair moments, like people going lower on 5 only for it to be a 6.
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And of course, you wager wrongly. Your description of Pay the Rent is accurate in theory, but in practice, it's designed to be misunderstood by the contestants and to usually still be very difficult for anyone it doesn't confuse.
Again, that's the point. It's meant to be a difficult game. That's exactly why the payout on it is so big.
And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. Not every game on the show has to be a dumbed-down, mindless herp-derp. The fact that someone can win big if they pay attention and know their stuff is a plus in my book.
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For me, it'd have to be Stack The Deck. I honestly cannot remember the last time that game was won.
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And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. Not every game on the show has to be a dumbed-down, mindless herp-derp. The fact that someone can win big if they pay attention and know their stuff is a plus in my book.
So according to you, intentionally designing a game so that contestants will misunderstand it is a good thing? :confused:
(And honestly, I don't believe your description of the other 109 games as being "dumbed down" is accurate, either...but hey, if we're gonna argue about this, we're darn well gonna use your words to do it.)
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Among active pricing games, (Not so) Lucky $even. It's certainly not as extreme as Bullseye '72, though I've become less enthusiastic about guessing random digits without any hints. Yes, the $1,000's digits can be obvious, but the other three digits are just...
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I was going to rant on Switcheroo, but then I read the question again. (Cliffnote version: 80% of the contestants ignore 4/5 of the game to do POE to get to the car, and this game ticks me off the most out of all other games that have similar POE elements.)
Rent, Stack, TTM! (I like it too, just don't play it for an Aston Martin with $3k increments), L7 nowadays, and, honestly, Pick-A-Number. 10/10 way to celebrate a 4,000th episode by introducing a quickie that has in the past been literally "guess the last number". Now, it's more tame with the thousands digit, but still.
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I know it's not universally disliked, but besides Stacky, the other game I can't stand too much is Plinko. I know it's probably one of the most popular games in the lineup right now from a contestant's perspective, but it is so badly played and all too often wins them next to nothing. I still consider the special "All Plinko" episode one of the worst ever, 6 playings of the game and none with even one middle slot hit.
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I know it's not universally disliked, but besides Stacky, the other game I can't stand too much is Plinko. I know it's probably one of the most popular games in the lineup right now from a contestant's perspective, but it is so badly played and all too often wins them next to nothing. I still consider the special "All Plinko" episode one of the worst ever, 6 playings of the game and none with even one middle slot hit.
Same. Plinko is the last game I would ever want to play if I get on stage.
In terms of universally disliked, hasn't the audience groaned before when the Clock Game comes around on the turntable? It's a personal favorite of mine, but I seem to remember that mentioned somewhere on here.
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There's a strategy to winning Pay the Rent, but that's another story.
Nonetheless, I can say that I am not fond of That's Too Much!; I hardly ever see anybody win that game nowadays...
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It's in the Bag. The most infuriating thing was painful bailouts (stopped at $8k) and should they went on, they would've gotten the full win, but it hasn't been since 2015.
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I know it's not universally disliked, but besides Stacky, the other game I can't stand too much is Plinko. I know it's probably one of the most popular games in the lineup right now from a contestant's perspective, but it is so badly played and all too often wins them next to nothing. I still consider the special "All Plinko" episode one of the worst ever, 6 playings of the game and none with even one middle slot hit.
I'm with you. The other problem is that game is so luck based that it can punish a smart player and reward a dumb player. A person can earn all 5 chips and get nothing while a dumb play can botch the first half and get 10k. And Plinko has the longest losing record on the show. (At least Bullseye I was sent to the Pricing Game Old Folks Home early on.)
I actually find Pay The Rent to be a great game. I wish they would set it so the products allow no more than 3 winnable combinations, as it should be a challenge to win the top prize. But any real fan of the show will typically have a better shot, as they know what NOT to do when playing it.
Stack the Deck: Is decent in my book.
Lucky $even: While interesting sufferers a lot of ugly manipulation.
That's Too Much: While exciting at first it's lost its luster through the years. Despite frequent play it's not often won and its set is ugly to boot.
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10 Chances, if you forget the zero rule. The ideal playing would require no more than two chances to get the first prize, and no more than six chances to get the second. But then, you'd only have four chances left for the car, and that can be downright frustrating if it ever had to come to that. I'd prefer that a player get at least five or six chances for the car.
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10 Chances, if you forget the zero rule. The ideal playing would require no more than two chances to get the first prize, and no more than six chances to get the second. But then, you'd only have four two chances left for the car, and that can be downright frustrating if it ever had to come to that. I'd prefer that a player get at least five or six chances for the car.
Make that two chances for the car, since 6+2=8. But it still gets frustrating.
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But any real fan of the show will typically have a better shot, as they know what NOT to do when playing it.
I consider myself a real fan of the show... and if I someday have the good fortune to play Pay the Rent, I know what I'm doing. Line 'em up highest to lowest and collect the easiest $10,000 the show offers.
Sure, I may have a better idea of the prices than your average Joe, but you're saying I have to give up a free $10,000, just for a tiiiiiny chance at playing for $100,000, knowing I'll hardly have any room for error?
That choice is easy like Sunday Morning.
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Stack the Deck: Is decent in my book.
Yes... unlike Pay the Rent, the poor record of Stack the Deck is the fault of the contestants. This game is not complicated. If you sweep the small prizes and select the appropriate freebies (the last three digits), you basically have a 1-in-3 chance of winning. Not fantastic odds, but pretty reasonable for a car game.
Any contestant who asks to be given the first number in the price, ought to be taken to the Farmer's Market and publicly flogged.
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I'd say the game I most personally dislike is Secret "X". A contestant can play the game perfectly and still not win the main prize offered. Also, before the Bonus Game board was digitized and its classic turntable reveal eliminated, I used to dislike seeing it even more because that meant Bonus would not be played that day (both are small prize games). Bonus was one of my favorites until those changes were made.
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for me its pay the rent. Stack the Deck was won pretty often during its first season in the rotation back in season 35
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That's Too Much!
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That's Too Much!, Stack The Deck (even though I love that there's two elements of pricing to the game, just too difficult to win as it is currently), Coming or Going...
Most disliked retired game: On The Spot