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Prize Letdown: Difference between revisions
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** Sometimes in the 1990s, the Prize wedges and [[Bonus Round]] offered some very weird things. How does an engraving of Florence Nightingale, with an authentic signature of hers, grab you? What about a historic document signed by Abraham Lincoln? A build-your-own log cabin kit?
* An unintentional one came up in one episode where a contestant won ''the'' dream prize, an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. No points for guessing where the guy lives. (In fairness, though, he had a sense of humor and was a good sport about it.)
* Over the years, ''[[Bullseye (UK game show)|Bullseye]]'' has offered such wonderful prizes as a standard touch-tone telephone, a [[wikipedia:Teasmade|teasmade]], a Betamax video player, "his and hers" matching shell suits, and even a remote-control toy cat! Not to mention the "star prizes", which often included items that were unlikely to be used by the contestants (usually a speedboat won by a couple living in landlocked Wolverhampton) or difficult to share among friends, such as a fitted kitchen or a car.
** Parodied in ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', where a contestant wins "Tonight's star prize — the entire Norwich City Council!". She complains that she's already got one.
** And due to the BBC not being allowed to waste licence-payer money on ''good'' prizes unless its on ''[[Going for Gold]]'' (they've relaxed the rules a bit nowadays), ''[[Blankety Blank]]'' (the British version of ''[[Match Game]]'') was also known for having loads of questionable items as bonus round prizes. It quickly became a [[Running Gag]] for host Les Dawson to [[Lampshade]] this with [[Self-Deprecation]].
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* One Canadian radio station offered an entire ''house'' to the lucky winner, but the prize was actually [[Zonk|a run-down, badly-in-need of-repair house in the Saskatchewan prairie]]. The new owners felt decidedly cheated.
* This kind of thing has resulted in [http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/hummer.asp more than one lawsuit] — radio stations offering "a hundred grand" (the candy bar named "100 Grand"), "a new toy [[Star Wars|Yoda]]" (virtually indistinguishable from "Toyota" when spoken aloud), and "a new Hummer" (a tiny, remote-controlled version) have faced legal challenges to their dickishness.
* One Manitoba radio station offered a contest wherein the prize was '''"a lovely winter getaway to MIAMI!"''' Not Miami, Florida, but [["London, England" Syndrome|a small rural town in southeastern Manitoba]].
* Fresh 102.7, a New York-area radio station, plays good music but is often mocked for offering scratch-off lottery tickets as prizes on their morning show.
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* Since the point is to have fun playing the games, the "prizes" in arcades usually stink, especially those low valued "use your last few tickets prizes," like pencils and Chinese finger traps. Even the expensive prizes aren't better, when you realize that you've sank $30 in tickets for a $5 teddy bear.
* Many video games let you trade casino winnings for items. Sometimes, however, these items are usually rare. Sometimes, however, items you can get for cheaper in a store than you can buying coins to use on them. ''[[Pokémon]]'' lets you trade coins for an Abra; if you like Abra, fine, but you can catch one pretty easily too.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception]]'' include koffins with koins. Sometimes more koins, sometimes a different kolor. (They're not interchangeable.) Sometimes you get fewer koins of the same kolor. You get [[zonk]]ed by picking the same koffin twice; you get nothing.
* Toad's house in [[Super Mario Bros 3]] offered the choice of three power-ups; mixed in with the cool stuff like a super leaf, hammer suit, or tanooki suit was often something relatively useless and common like a regular mushroom.
** The inclusion of a Frog Suit in the boxes after the water levels, where it would have been useful, may also qualify.
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