Post by MarioGS on Nov 28, 2022 13:35:24 GMT -5
Discovered this while doing a random search of all Same Letter puzzles in Season 39 using the Discord bot: the category is now used exclusively in R1 since that season.
I noticed even before this that the category's round placement has varied less and less over the years. So for those curious...
Last appearance in R2: June 11, 2021 (#S-7425, S38 finale)
Last appearance in R3/PP: December 19, 2018 (#S-6898)
Last appearance in R4+: April 29, 2013 (#S-5816) (only 14 appearances)
Last appearance in any Toss-Up round: March 28, 2011 (#S-5406) (only 4 appearances)
The reason for the category not being used in R2 anymore is likely to avoid the $1,000 Same Letter bonus overlapping with the Mystery Wedge, which has led to a couple of known problems:
On February 26, 2015 (#S-6164), according to an eyewitness, R2 had to be thrown out because a contestant called a multiple on a Mystery Wedge, flipped the $10K, and was given the $1,000 bonus even though she did not call the Same Letter, and was able to buy vowels with it when she should have had no spendable cash.
On March 28, 2019 (#S-6969), an SL was properly called on Mystery for the first time, and Pat seemed to be a bit confused when explaining the current scoring situation, but even with the $10K flipped, the contestant had $1,000 added to her score even before she flipped the wedge (not related to the $1,000 per letter from the wedge). This situation happened again on September 16, 2020 (#S-7233), with the contestant solving immediately after for a total of $11,000.
On March 29, 2021 (#S-7371), Mystery was hit on the first turn of a SL puzzle, and the SL was called, but Pat did not mention it was the SL and the $1,000 bonus was never brought up. She flipped the $10K and asked to buy a vowel (though this was edited out), but was denied and forced to spin again, where she lost her turn from a wrong consonant; she may have chosen a different consonant on her next spin if she had the $1,000 to buy vowels in between. This episode aired three days after Season 38 finished taping. It is possible that this error was discovered after the episode aired and it was decided to never have SL and Mystery in the same round again, to prevent any confusion about applying the bonus on Mystery gambles, even though it was handled correctly and without confusion on 7233.
Same Letter has also never been used on Celebrity Wheel.
I noticed even before this that the category's round placement has varied less and less over the years. So for those curious...
Last appearance in R2: June 11, 2021 (#S-7425, S38 finale)
Last appearance in R3/PP: December 19, 2018 (#S-6898)
Last appearance in R4+: April 29, 2013 (#S-5816) (only 14 appearances)
Last appearance in any Toss-Up round: March 28, 2011 (#S-5406) (only 4 appearances)
The reason for the category not being used in R2 anymore is likely to avoid the $1,000 Same Letter bonus overlapping with the Mystery Wedge, which has led to a couple of known problems:
On February 26, 2015 (#S-6164), according to an eyewitness, R2 had to be thrown out because a contestant called a multiple on a Mystery Wedge, flipped the $10K, and was given the $1,000 bonus even though she did not call the Same Letter, and was able to buy vowels with it when she should have had no spendable cash.
On March 28, 2019 (#S-6969), an SL was properly called on Mystery for the first time, and Pat seemed to be a bit confused when explaining the current scoring situation, but even with the $10K flipped, the contestant had $1,000 added to her score even before she flipped the wedge (not related to the $1,000 per letter from the wedge). This situation happened again on September 16, 2020 (#S-7233), with the contestant solving immediately after for a total of $11,000.
On March 29, 2021 (#S-7371), Mystery was hit on the first turn of a SL puzzle, and the SL was called, but Pat did not mention it was the SL and the $1,000 bonus was never brought up. She flipped the $10K and asked to buy a vowel (though this was edited out), but was denied and forced to spin again, where she lost her turn from a wrong consonant; she may have chosen a different consonant on her next spin if she had the $1,000 to buy vowels in between. This episode aired three days after Season 38 finished taping. It is possible that this error was discovered after the episode aired and it was decided to never have SL and Mystery in the same round again, to prevent any confusion about applying the bonus on Mystery gambles, even though it was handled correctly and without confusion on 7233.
Same Letter has also never been used on Celebrity Wheel.
