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| - Criteria: Game itself: 40% Host activeness: 10% Contestant play: 15% Audience participation: 10% Props: 10% Behaviour of contestants: 15% = 100% Each game started with a letter chosen at random. When a contestant gave a correct answer, the hexagon lit up in their team's color and that team chose the next hexagon. If a contestant answered incorrectly, their opponent was given an option to respond (if the solo contestant missed, only one member of the family pair could attempt to answer the question). Questions were asked using the same letter until the hexagon was claimed. Due to the interlocking patterns of the hexagons, it was impossible for a game to end in a tie. Originally winning the first round earned the team no money but allowed the winning team to play the bonus round for $2,500. A second win allowed a return trip to the bonus round for an additional $5,000. Later, each round earned the winning team $500, and teams advanced to the bonus round only after winning two rounds. If the family pair advanced to the bonus round, the team captain determined which one of the two family members played the bonus round. 9- LET'S MAKE A DEAL: Each episode of Let's Make a Deal consists of several "deals" between the host and a member or members of the audience as traders. Audience members are picked at the host's whim as the show moves along, and couples are often selected to play together as traders. The deals are mini-games within the show that take several formats. In the simplest format, a trader is given a prize of medium value (such as a television set), and the host offers them the opportunity to trade for another prize. However, the offered prize is unknown. It might be concealed on the stage behind one of three curtains, or behind "boxes" onstage (large panels painted to look like boxes), within smaller boxes brought out to the audience, or occasionally in other formats. The initial prize given to the trader may also be concealed, such as in a box, wallet or purse, or the trader might be initially given a box or curtain. The format varies widely. Technically, traders are supposed to bring something to trade in, but this rule has seldom been enforced. On several occasions, a trader is actually asked to trade in an item such as their shoes or purse, only to receive the item back at the end of the deal as a "prize". On at least one occasion, the purse was taken backstage and a high-valued prize was placed inside of it. Prizes generally were either a legitimate prize, cash, or a "Zonk". Legitimate prizes run the gamut of what is typically given away on game shows including trips, electronics, furniture, appliances, and cars. Zonks are unwanted booby prizes, which could be anything, including live animals, large amounts of food, fake money, fake trips or something outlandish like a giant article of clothing, a room full of junked furniture, or a junked car. Sometimes Zonks are legitimate prizes but of a low value (e.g., Matchbox cars, wheelbarrows, T-shirts, small food or non-food grocery prizes, etc.) On rare occasions, a trader appears to get Zonked, but the Zonk is a cover-up for a legitimate prize. Though usually considered joke prizes, traders legally win the Zonks. However, after the taping of the show, any trader who had been Zonked is offered a consolation prize instead of having to take home the actual Zonk. This is partly because some of the Zonks are intrinsically impossible to receive or deliver to the traders (such as live animals). A disclaimer at the end of the credits of later 1970s episodes read "Some traders accept reasonable duplicates of Zonk prizes." On the CBS version, those who get zonked receive $100. 8-WEAKEST LINK: For the entire American run, the game was conducted the same as the British version, with a team of players trying to reach and bank a set target within a time limit by compiling a chain of correct answers that would be broken with an incorrect answer or if a player decided to bank the money that was already in the chain. On NBC, the team was composed of eight people looking to win up to $1,000,000. In the syndicated series, the team size was reduced to six players and the potential top prize to $75,000 in the first season and $100,000 in the second. One player would be eliminated after each round until two were remaining. On the syndicated version, each round thereafter was reduced by 15 seconds (with the first round lasting for 1:45); on the NBC version, the clock was reduced by 10 seconds (with the first round lasting for 2:30). As on the British version, contestants who are eliminated in the rounds leading up to the final round are told by the host: "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!," although Gray's snarling taunts clearly were intended for a "smart aleck" gimmick. For the NBC series and the first season of the syndicated series, the final vote occurred prior to the penultimate round, with the two players competing in one more round together for double stakes (with the round lasting for 1:30 on the NBC series and 0:45 in the first syndicated season). The double-stakes round was eliminated from the syndicated series at the start of its second season, with the final elimination occurring prior to the final round. Unlike most versions where the game started with the player whose name is first alphabetically, a random draw backstage, similar to most multiple-player game shows, was held among players to determine order, and the player who drew the first position starts the first round. Each round thereafter begins with the strongest link from the preceding round (or if that player had been voted off, the second strongest). For the head to head round, he or she also had the option of going first or passing play to the other finalist.
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