WooWho
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Post by WooWho on Oct 25, 2016 20:13:27 GMT -5
In this installment of the Evaluation Series...we examine something that has been a part of the show since Day One, and always will be. The part of the game that gave us a frequently-used phrase, which gives this site its name...  Not this specifically!
Image courtesy MarioGS . - A player who wishes to buy a vowel may do so before spinning the wheel, as long as he has at least $250 in his bank at time of purchase.
- The $250 is a flat rate--if the vowel appears multiple times in the same puzzle, the player is only charged one instance of $250.
- If a player buys a vowel that does not appear, it still costs the $250.
WHAT WE KNOW:- Initially, there was a Buy a Vowel space on the wheel (pictured). A player who landed on this space was forced to buy a vowel. The finer mechanics of this space are still unknown, as it was quickly retired soon after the show's premiere.
- For a time, vowels on the daytime show were only $200 instead of the requisite $250. The nighttime show has retained the $250 price tag.
- According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, $250 in 1975 is worth $1,119.21 in 2016 (as of the time of writing). $250 in 1983, when the nighttime show premiered, is now worth $604.55 today.
- Comparison of Round 1 top/bottom dollar values in various years of the show, compared with a $250 vowel:
- 1975: $50/$500
- 1983 (nighttime): $100/$750
- 1992: $150/$1,000
- 1997: $250/$1,000
- 2010: $300/$2,500
- Present day: $500/$2,500
- Ruleta de la Suerte (Spain), Present Day: 25 EUR/200 EUR (Vowels 50 EUR)
WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW:- The vowel has gone from a real calculated investment to an insignificant deduction. It's clear the vowel price needs to go up, but to how much?
- Or does it need to go up at all? (Note that Free Play is now a thing, as is a $500 Wheel minimum.)
- Do vowels still need to be "bought" if they're going to be so cheap these days anyway?
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Post by tlc38tlc38 on Oct 25, 2016 20:36:37 GMT -5
You'd think that if they really wanted to save money, raising the price of vowels would do the trick.
It's great to respect the past and keep the price at $250...BUT what else HASN'T changed?!
I think they need to bump up the cost to $500 seeing as that's the minimum on the wheel now.
On a side note...with the low price of $250, it encourages the contestants to BUY, BUY, BUY (we all know how they drill that into your head) so they can zip through the puzzles very quickly to make more time for commercials.
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Post by finalspin on Oct 25, 2016 21:17:35 GMT -5
Or more time for Round 5 and beyond!
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WarioSajak
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Post by WarioSajak on Oct 26, 2016 17:23:06 GMT -5
The finer mechanics of [the Buy a Vowel] space are still unknown, as it was quickly retired soon after the show's premiere. It doesn't help that not many 1975 episodes seem to exist. It really doesn't help that recollections are contradictory on pretty much every facet of this thing. Comparison of Round 1 top/bottom dollar values in various years of the show, compared with a $250 vowel:1975: $50/$500 Originally $25/$500, later upped to $100/$500. The 1973 pilot had $0/$500, while the '74 pilots had $50/$350. For a time, vowels on the daytime show were only $200 instead of the requisite $250. I should note that this only happened after the switch for play-for-cash in mid-1989 and the Wheel was cheapened (the top/bottom values in Round 1 being $50/$500 early on and $100/$500 for the rest of the run). It was dropped again to $100 in 1990, creating the same situation as today where pretty much any correct consonant lets you buy a vowel.
The vowel has gone from a real calculated investment to an insignificant deduction. It's clear the vowel price needs to go up, but to how much? I'd say $1,000, maybe $1,250 to keep the original "one-fourth the highest overall Wheel value" element. Do vowels still need to be "bought" if they're going to be so cheap these days anyway? Honestly, at this point buying vowels feels like an afterthought. Either increase the cost and take the heat from social media (but save money in the process), or just let vowels be picked like consonants (but lose an integral part of your format in the process). |
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Post by Bryce L. on Oct 26, 2016 18:40:20 GMT -5
Actually, there was a $25 space in Round 1 on the Byrnes pilots as well.
As for vowel prices, should be $1,000 (or $1,250), for the same reasons as noted above.
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StrangerCoug
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Post by StrangerCoug on Oct 28, 2016 13:15:22 GMT -5
I REALLY don't support a five-fold increase in the price of a vowel when only top dollar is above that—I'd rather see it reintroduce four-digit values other than that to the wheel first. The "we need to find money to save" solution to the vowel price I see them making is making it $500 (which it is in my off-site games). It admittedly doesn't fix the situation of being able to buy a vowel after one correct consonant call, but it's a happy medium that I can see them making.
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WooWho
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Post by WooWho on Oct 29, 2016 18:10:10 GMT -5
There seems to be this resounding sentiment that raising the price of vowels will save the show money in the long run.
While that may be true, consider how much you're actually saving per vowel--which, by the way, there's no guarantee that players will buy them, if you want to get technical--and consider what introducing $1000+ regular cash spaces on the wheel--where it's reasonably plausible that a player will land on them--will actually do.
Then consider all the other gameplay elements we love to hate on--and consider where money is going to support those.
I seriously doubt raising the cost of a vowel is going to have a significant effect when 1) that money is just going to be poured elsewhere and 2) I seriously doubt there's going to be a significant amount saved per show anyway.
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Post by tlc38tlc38 on Oct 29, 2016 18:17:18 GMT -5
On average (just going on a rough guesstimation), at least 3 vowels are bought in each rounds 1-3 so an estimated $1,125 would be saved per show if the price was raised to $500.
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WooWho
Made It and Played It Producer
Panel Quizmaster
"They better NOT be booing me!"
Posts: 2,537
Airdate: 04/28/2014
Winnings: $41,400
SPIN ID: JW1336114
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Post by WooWho on Oct 29, 2016 18:19:32 GMT -5
...which goes right back into increasing the bonus round minimum each season. Negligible savings if any at all.
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Post by tlc38tlc38 on Oct 29, 2016 18:24:02 GMT -5
^'m almost willing to bet that the minimum will stop going up each season after it hits $35,000 in season 35.
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Post by finalspin on Oct 29, 2016 19:54:27 GMT -5
But they SAID it would go to $100,000 at some point!
I would also bet on that, considering the $35,000 was probably removed.
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presidentbacon
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Post by presidentbacon on Oct 30, 2016 7:50:54 GMT -5
I as well say the vowel price should be raised to $500. Been thinking that for a few years actually. Right now, you can buy 2 vowels for every consonant called and for me THAT'S TOO MUCH (wait, wrong game show). If you bring it up to $500, it'll at least be a 1:1 ratio.
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germanname1990
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Post by germanname1990 on Oct 30, 2016 13:20:43 GMT -5
When it comes to whether or not they need to be bought, they still need to be. Just about every word out there has a vowel. Because of that, vowels provide a lot of help and thus must have some sort of fee, even if it's a small one. We already have the advantage of having Y being treated as a consonant whereas some international versions have treated Y as a vowel.
Even so, for a while, I've felt that the price of vowels should've gone up to $500 (or perhaps $1000) considering that contestants back then had Wheel values equal to or less than $250. Today, with just one spin, you could buy two vowels at the very least.
I remember this one contestant from a few years ago who won the game partially because she was taking advantage of the low price of vowels and was buying vowels like crazy. This was something that Vanna made note of at the end of the show.
High or low, vowels are worth the cost. They help contestants get a better idea of what each word will be.
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Post by Flerbert419 on Oct 30, 2016 13:51:13 GMT -5
I've never quite understood the obsession with raising the vowel prices. Sure inflation has made the current valuation laughable, but from a contestant winnings standpoint wouldn't you want the price to remain as low as possible? Solving puzzles quicker allows more time for gameplay and reduces the editing of nulls because everybody is stumped. On average (just going on a rough guesstimation), at least 3 vowels are bought in each rounds 1-3... Thanks to WayoshiM we can do better than a guesstimation. Over the last 1000 shows, an average of 2.91 vowels are called in each round. |
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Post by tlc38tlc38 on Oct 30, 2016 13:57:26 GMT -5
^Wow---I was darn close.
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WarioSajak
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Post by WarioSajak on Oct 30, 2016 17:20:17 GMT -5
I've never quite understood the obsession with raising the vowel prices. Sure inflation has made the current valuation laughable, but from a contestant winnings standpoint wouldn't you want the price to remain as low as possible? I'm all for players robbing Harry's wallet, but I've noticed that keeping vowels at $250 when the minimum is twice that kinda breaks the gameplay. Solving puzzles quicker allows more time for gameplay and reduces the editing of nulls because everybody is stumped. Except that "more time for gameplay" really only applies to anything past the third Toss-Up. Even if Round 2 lasts one turn, for instance, it's still gonna be its own segment rather than simply adding Round 3 in there as well. |
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lousan92
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Post by lousan92 on Nov 1, 2016 11:15:34 GMT -5
The vowel has gone from a real calculated investment to an insignificant deduction. It's clear the vowel price needs to go up, but to how much?
Or does it need to go up at all? (Note that Free Play is now a thing, as is a $500 Wheel minimum.)
At least, they should raise the price to $500. In fact, they should have done it when tokens started to award $500 per consonant: almost every spin started to guarantee be able to buy at least one vowel. In La Ruleta the price is not too high, but there is a €0 space and special wedges award nothing: it's not so uncommon during the first rounds to see that players are not able to buy vowels maybe until the fourth spin.
Maybe the most correct amount would be $750 having into account how the Wheel is configured, but the speed of the game could get very affected. However, I like the idea of being able to call free vowels in Free Play.
Do vowels still need to be "bought" if they're going to be so cheap these days anyway?
Yes. I conceive vowels as very important letters, which can be many times in the puzzle and give valuable information. We know that nowadays $250 is a too low price, but it still gives a little difficulty to the game itself.
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vowela
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Post by vowela on Feb 23, 2017 16:06:23 GMT -5
$1000 is too much. While the lowest dollar values on the wheel have gone up over the years, the highest dollar values have remained stagnant. Considering that, $500 seems like a decent comprimise. $1000 might be OK if they put more 4-digit values on the wheel, but let's be realistic XD
Also, there's going to be a price point where expensive vowels cost the show money. Like it's totally unrealistic, but if vowels cost $10,000, no one would ever buy them, even if they could afford one, forcing contestants to spin more, which would lead to bigger payouts on average. $1000 may be more reasonable, but I suspect that would have a similar effect.
Not as sure about $500 saving or costing the show money, but for gameplay purposes, that would probably be best.
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Post by gameshowfandanny on Mar 8, 2020 11:21:56 GMT -5
"The vowel has gone from a real calculated investment to an insignificant deduction. It's clear the vowel price needs to go up, but to how much?"
I think $500 because it's the minimum value on the Wheel. If it was more, then it would be back to, "You don't have enough to buy a vowel, so a spin would be in order."
"Or does it need to go up at all? (Note that Free Play is now a thing, as is a $500 Wheel minimum.)"
Yes. It's always been $250 in the nighttime show, but in the Goen era of the daytime show, it was dropped to $200 and then $100.
"Do vowels still need to be "bought" if they're going to be so cheap these days anyway?"
Yes. Vowels are important.
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Post by pannoni1 on May 11, 2021 13:37:01 GMT -5
I feel that the price of vowels should have been raised when the house minimums were in 1996 and 2005. $500 and $1000 respectively would have been my increases, and the $1000 would be right in line with the value of consonants for the Express wedge. Speaking of early Wheel history, its unknown if a $100 house minimum existed at the very beginning of the show's run, but to have vowel prices above the house minimum surely shows how much the price has deflated in real terms. With such cheap vowel prizes, I'd really go against designing puzzles with A, E, I, and O found in every puzzle (especially the Prize Puzzle) so that the deceptively cheap values lead most to believe that this so-called "safe haven" will lead to more lost turns.
There's a separate thread for it, but at least the "vowels worth nothing" for the Speed-Up will remain inflation-proof regarding the strategy of wanting a better shot at solving the puzzle over finding consonants to potentially win the game.
But overall, if you're sure that particular vowel will appear in the puzzle (e.g. -_ N G for "I" or T H _ for "E"), definitely buy them since in real terms, $1250 is still less than the value of three consonants on the minimum (besides the MDW). It allows a better chance to know the solution to the puzzle before determining to "gamble" based on any multiples missing if you don't have much cash/prizes, especially if you're opponents have little or no money to "bankrupt" them by solving. Its quite a change from shopping era episodes where it wasn't uncommon for entire puzzles to be revealed with just the vowels missing. Sometime around the time the new puzzle board debuted, it seemed that more often than not, puzzles with just the consonants missing would be revealed instead of those with just the vowels absent.
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