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Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

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Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#61

Post by stordoff »

jacquesm wrote: post #51
colmvp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given your comment, I wonder if there's an interesting list of people who have been on the Price is Right. For example, one person I can think of is Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad) who said: "It looks like I'm on some serious crack. I downed about six cans of red bull because I knew they wanted people with energy. It worked, but I could not sit still. It was not healthy."

That much caffeine is a serious health risk.

Six cans of Red Bull is about 480mg caffeine (assuming six 250ml cans at 32mg/100ml caffeine). Not exactly recommended (and may be unpleasant), but it shouldn't be a serious risk to the average person either (it's about the same as three strong cups of coffee).

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#62

Post by wpietri »

birken wrote: post #39
jedberg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it was like you say. My cousin was on Price is Right. He came with a group of 20, and they were guaranteed that at least one of their group would be in contestants row.

I once went with a group of 20 that was registered in advance and nobody from our group was called (but I think we were guaranteed seats and didn't have to wait in line). I think the 20+ group thing is an urban legend, the producers can really choose whoever they want. However the way the show is done, if a person has a big cheering section that is good for the show, so I imagine if you come in a group your chance of…

Yes. I was there with a group of 30. They dismissed most of us in seconds, but took longer to talk with a few of our liveliest members. The one they talked the longest with got called as a contestant.

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#63

Post by freeflight »

chris_wot wrote: post #58
emodendroket wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like an excessive level of condescension for a lack of familiarity with the Price is Right expanded universe.

Never thought I’d read the words “Price is Right” and “expanded universe” in the one sentence on HN...

Let me add to the amazement by pointing out that there even seems to be "Price is Right fanfiction" out there [0]. Tho it's hosted on angelfire and the texts are saved as word documents, which is either really odd or really smart, depending on the intentions of the creator.

[0] http://www.angelfire.com/funky/plinkoman/fan_fiction.html

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#64

Post by kevmo314 »

guywithaphone wrote: post #47

My show that I've "solved" is cutthroat kitchen. In this show, you don't need to be the best cook until the final round. Before that the object is to "not lose". The solution - buy the sabotages. Give the sabotages to the cook with the most money. Taking everything personal and retaliating hurts your chances of winning because it increases your chance of losing the round -- and if your retaliee loses, the remaining c…

> Caring about how much money is in your hand also hurts your chances of winning because you become less likely to buy the sabotage.

I haven't seen the show, but if you buy all the way to zero, what's the point of playing then? Is there a prize besides the amount of money you keep? Because if I won and only walked home with $100, it would seem like a waste of time.

It does seem like a good strategy on that game would be to intentionally not win though, as you don't want to come across as a strong cook until the very last round.

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#65

Post by CurtMonash »

busterarm wrote: post #38
macintux wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded of the first season of Survivor. I didn't watch, but followed along on (IIRC) a Diplomacy discussion forum of all places; it seemed clear that Richard was playing an extremely strategic game, even deliberately sandbagging an endurance contest when it was down to 3 players, knowing that the woman who won it would have to eliminate the other, much more popular male contestant to have a chance to win the vo…

I believe it. Playing Diplomacy, especially for years on Dipbounced, taught me more about strategy and game theory than any other resource. The community of players are all deep thinkers and incredibly ruthless. We used to have 2-3 day Diplomacy sessions back in college where we'd just do game after game and I miss it sorely. If you were to ask me to pick the most pure strategy games, Diplomacy would be #1 and maybe…

Martin Shubik once claimed to me that he more or less invented Diplomacy.

I forget whether this was based on his involvement in So Long Sucker, or whether he claimed a more direct connection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_Sucker

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#66

Post by seattle_spring »

freeflight wrote: post #63
chris_wot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never thought I’d read the words “Price is Right” and “expanded universe” in the one sentence on HN...

Let me add to the amazement by pointing out that there even seems to be "Price is Right fanfiction" out there [0]. Tho it's hosted on angelfire and the texts are saved as word documents, which is either really odd or really smart, depending on the intentions of the creator. [0] http://www.angelfire.com/funky/plinkoman/fan_fiction.html

TIL Angelfire is still around.

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#67

Post by paulpauper »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #53
scrubby wrote: post #4

It might be different now, but I'm pretty sure back in the Bob Barker era contestant selection wasn't random. The entire audience had to introduce themselves to the producer one by one and answer his questions about where they were from, what they did, and if they were there with anyone. The people selected were fairly attractive and charismatic. The selection also leaned toward people who came with larger groups. I…

Agreed! My step-uncle, an actor and extremely outgoing guy, managed to impress the producer enough to get into the small selection pool of contestants and get on the snow. He won a bunch of stuff, but had to turn it down because he had no space for a bunch of random merch and didn't want to pay taxes on it. It can actually be a big burden on these shows that don't do cash prizes.

cash would mean smaller profit margins and less of a spectacle

A 60 inch TV sounds more impressive than $200

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#68

Post by emodendroket »

freeflight wrote: post #63
chris_wot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never thought I’d read the words “Price is Right” and “expanded universe” in the one sentence on HN...

Let me add to the amazement by pointing out that there even seems to be "Price is Right fanfiction" out there [0]. Tho it's hosted on angelfire and the texts are saved as word documents, which is either really odd or really smart, depending on the intentions of the creator. [0] http://www.angelfire.com/funky/plinkoman/fan_fiction.html

And here I thought I was being facetious.

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#69

Post by emodendroket »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #3

Short version: TPIR used to recycle prices/products, so with studying it is easy to guess prices of products on the show. Many contestants and avid fans know this, and one of them got extra lucky in the showcase showdown by guessing the exact price, at about 1/1000 odds (after accounting for common sense and attentiveness) , which is likely to happen eventually for a daily show like TPIR. (Or possibly he was cheating…

> Now they randomly vary the products/prices slightly, as they should have done all along.

That's less than clear to me. It may be judged that the risk of this was low enough (it went on for decades without this happening!) that it was worth the risk to make the show more appealing to viewers (it seems to me like a shift, as they say, to products likely unfamiliar to the show's core audience might make the show less appealing).

Re: Victory on “The Price Is Right” Made Them Change Their System

#70

Post by raldi »

sdrothrock wrote: post #52
busterarm wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it. Playing Diplomacy, especially for years on Dipbounced, taught me more about strategy and game theory than any other resource. The community of players are all deep thinkers and incredibly ruthless. We used to have 2-3 day Diplomacy sessions back in college where we'd just do game after game and I miss it sorely. If you were to ask me to pick the most pure strategy games, Diplomacy would be #1 and maybe…

I've always wished there were a big online community that could consistently keep Diplomacy games going smoothly...

There is. Send me an email.
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