fox: my left eye.  "ceci n'est pas une fox." (Default)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2010-11-08 10:52 pm

this is what's wrong with this game!

It seems something remarkable happened on Wheel of Fortune not long ago. A twenty-six-year-old kid looked at this:

_ ' _ _   _ _ _   _

_ _ _ _   _ _ _ L _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _


and solved the damn thing. With $900 in the bank - but it was a Prize Puzzle, which I guess means who cares how much cash you've got, because the puzzle carries a special prize with it? - but look, what I've been saying for years is, the puzzle should have a value when it starts, and every time you add a letter to it, you should get the cash for that letter but the puzzle should lose some amount of its value, so the strategy would involve maximizing cash in your bank vs. value of the puzzle if you solve it Right Now, which, by the time you get to where all the letters are filled in, would be nil.

Does that make sense? I mean. There should be some reward on such a game for being clever, instead of only for being greedy.

(The puzzle above is I'VE GOT A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS. The girl said she, you know, did.)
starfish: Teal'c in foodservice hat - caption "Would you like fries with that?" (Fries)

[personal profile] starfish 2010-11-09 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
I guess the risk is that you've got two other people looking at the same puzzle, and one of them gets it on the last letter you uncovered ... and there goes your money. And you can't say "Oh, wait, I knew it! I was just waiting ..." because shyeah, sure you were.

I prefer Jeopardy.