Slowly feeling the game show vibes again...Barry/Enright
Nov 18, 2020 19:15:24 GMT -5
tmann3x likes this
Post by billmcdee on Nov 18, 2020 19:15:24 GMT -5
Hi folks,
Due to a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, both at home and my current job, I've had little to no time or energy to devote to my passion of game shows.
Fortunately today, some of that spark returned. I hope the momentum will continue. I try to consider the fierce battle Alex Trebek fought that kept his passion for Jeopardy! going right up until less than 2 weeks before he died, with his last episode to air Christmas night. That will indeed make this Christmas for me even more bittersweet than it was going to be already.
So today, I watched the full "Double Cross" pilot episode, courtesy of Wink Martindale's youtube channel. Double Cross was a precursor to the game that eventually would become Bullseye.
Someone in the comment section lamented how all B&E end games pretty much had the same formula, get to "X" before you hit the bad guy, and Double Cross' end game was no exception.
I wanted to touch upon 5 B&E end games and rank them, and see what your rankings are for each, on a scale from 0 (being just awful) to 10 (being marvelous).
First, the Face the Devil end game used during the last season on CBS and throughout syndication. Players won either by accumulating $1,000 or more before the Devil appeared on the wheels, or if they spun a natural triple. There was some suspense with this end game, but it was a real buzzkill when the Devil would appear after just one or two spins. Overall, I'd give it 6 out of 10.
Next, Tic Tac Dough's Beat The Dragon end game. This one I liked somewhat better because the player had some control, versus just random wheels spinning on a slot machine. That a player could win either by scoring $1,000 or more OR by finding Tic and Tac before uncovering the Dragon made an excellent and tidy end game. The electronics, the visuals and the sound effects were all terrific. Still, as this was more or less a luck of the draw kind of game, I'd give it 7 out of 10.
Bullseye's Bonus Island was unique in many ways, including the fact that a player got an instant win and $5,000 after having 10 (later 7) successful spins without hitting lightning. Of course 3 Bullseyes was an instant win for the player. It was also unique in that there was no target number (e.g. $1,000). There was always some suspense, even if just one window remained active or unfrozen. Still, this was so/so to me, and I gave this a 5 out of 10. Awesome visuals, but the Joker's Wild end game was cooler to me with the slot machine motif.
Hot Potato's end game was the only one that I'll be talking about that didn't have a resident "bad guy". It involved knowledge, teamwork and some risk. Many of the subjects were quite interesting, and I rank it a solid 8 out of 10.
Lastly, Play the Percentages. They had a few end games, but I was partial to the first one where the couple selected a target number ahead of time, and if they hit it, they won a giant $25,000 jackpot which grew by $1,000 each time. Sadly the mechanical floor ended up busting very early on and they scrapped it. Still the other end games for PTP were pretty cool to me, always having to avoid the one answer that nobody in the survey gave. $10 per point awarded, but if a player scored 100 points or more, they won $1,000 and the bonus....early on the end game was for $2,500 in cash if memory serves. A solid 9 out of 10 for this one.
I'd like to get your take on these end games.
Due to a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, both at home and my current job, I've had little to no time or energy to devote to my passion of game shows.
Fortunately today, some of that spark returned. I hope the momentum will continue. I try to consider the fierce battle Alex Trebek fought that kept his passion for Jeopardy! going right up until less than 2 weeks before he died, with his last episode to air Christmas night. That will indeed make this Christmas for me even more bittersweet than it was going to be already.
So today, I watched the full "Double Cross" pilot episode, courtesy of Wink Martindale's youtube channel. Double Cross was a precursor to the game that eventually would become Bullseye.
Someone in the comment section lamented how all B&E end games pretty much had the same formula, get to "X" before you hit the bad guy, and Double Cross' end game was no exception.
I wanted to touch upon 5 B&E end games and rank them, and see what your rankings are for each, on a scale from 0 (being just awful) to 10 (being marvelous).
First, the Face the Devil end game used during the last season on CBS and throughout syndication. Players won either by accumulating $1,000 or more before the Devil appeared on the wheels, or if they spun a natural triple. There was some suspense with this end game, but it was a real buzzkill when the Devil would appear after just one or two spins. Overall, I'd give it 6 out of 10.
Next, Tic Tac Dough's Beat The Dragon end game. This one I liked somewhat better because the player had some control, versus just random wheels spinning on a slot machine. That a player could win either by scoring $1,000 or more OR by finding Tic and Tac before uncovering the Dragon made an excellent and tidy end game. The electronics, the visuals and the sound effects were all terrific. Still, as this was more or less a luck of the draw kind of game, I'd give it 7 out of 10.
Bullseye's Bonus Island was unique in many ways, including the fact that a player got an instant win and $5,000 after having 10 (later 7) successful spins without hitting lightning. Of course 3 Bullseyes was an instant win for the player. It was also unique in that there was no target number (e.g. $1,000). There was always some suspense, even if just one window remained active or unfrozen. Still, this was so/so to me, and I gave this a 5 out of 10. Awesome visuals, but the Joker's Wild end game was cooler to me with the slot machine motif.
Hot Potato's end game was the only one that I'll be talking about that didn't have a resident "bad guy". It involved knowledge, teamwork and some risk. Many of the subjects were quite interesting, and I rank it a solid 8 out of 10.
Lastly, Play the Percentages. They had a few end games, but I was partial to the first one where the couple selected a target number ahead of time, and if they hit it, they won a giant $25,000 jackpot which grew by $1,000 each time. Sadly the mechanical floor ended up busting very early on and they scrapped it. Still the other end games for PTP were pretty cool to me, always having to avoid the one answer that nobody in the survey gave. $10 per point awarded, but if a player scored 100 points or more, they won $1,000 and the bonus....early on the end game was for $2,500 in cash if memory serves. A solid 9 out of 10 for this one.
I'd like to get your take on these end games.
