Prize Letdown: Difference between revisions
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** 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]].
{{quote|'''Les Dawson:''' This is the only quiz show I know that gets fire-salvaged prizes.}}
* On an early-1970s episode of ''[[Concentration]]'', during a period when home viewers would win prizes based on the first letter of their surname, a viewer in Oklahoma won a motorboat. Bob Clayton was less than impressed.<ref>
* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' producers were rather fond of a large, wheeled, popcorn cart during Bob Barker's tenure as host. Contestants were usually less-than-convincingly enthused when it showed up.
** ''Price'' used to be loaded with these, with antique gas pumps and carousel horses also favorite "prizes". The frequency of these has gone down significantly in the Drew Carey era, however, since replaced by outlandish and bizarre prizes (seriously, ''365 pairs of shoes''?!)
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* The 1969 show [[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In|Letters To Laugh-In]] gave trips to Burbank to the viewer whose joke read on the show was the week's lowest scored joke.
* In the dreadful children's game show ''Thousand-Dollar Bee'', the prize for the ''entire season'' was a $1000 savings bond for college; in this decade, probably enough for a handful of credit hours or a quarter of your required textbooks. No wonder so many of the kids weren't even trying.
* ''[[The Bozo Show]]''. Not really a game show, although the "Grand Prize Game" (a skill-based throwing game, the objective being to throw a pingpong ball into six buckets, placed progressively further from the line) had an element fitting this trope ... a dinky consolation prize worth about $2 for anyone who failed to
** This would more likely fall under the [[Zonk]] category.
* The kids' game show ''[[Treasure Mall]]'' offered a '''sewing machine'''. A ''kids' show!!!'' Granted, the grand prize haul, if won, more than made up for it...
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* ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'': An early episode from 1988, named "The Binky Show," sees Garfield go on a game show to win a gift for Jon. Unfortunately for the cat, the game show is a ridiculous quizzer named "Name That Fish," the host is the obnoxious Binky the Clown, and the prizes range from ostrich scrubbers to tomato squeezers and other junk. (Obviously, the cartoon short is a satire poking fun at the unusual and bizarre gifts sometimes offered on game shows.)
* Pretty much par-for-the-course with the prizes on the ''May I Have a Word?'' [[Show Within a Show]] interstitials on ''[[Word Girl]]''.
* One episode of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' had Mr. Krabs set Squidward and SpongeBob on a little contest to see who can offer the best customer
* There was an episode of ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' that played with this. Rocko's kitchen gets destroyed (don't ask) and he goes on a game show to win a new one. He wins, but it turns out he only won a single spoon, and has to keep winning every day for the rest of the summer to get the whole kitchen.
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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 [[
* 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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