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| Welcome | Welcome Page | Update History | Site Help | |
| Press Your Luck | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | ||
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Press Your Luck Article: | ||
| The History of "Pick A Corner" | |||
| View the Article Index | |||
Presented here is the history of Pick A Corner, from its debut in March 1984, all the way to its removal during the last episodes of the show. By examining the different choices contestants had to make, one can get a sense of the general history of the board. Each board has a general listing of what outcomes were possible between squares that gave cash only (C), squares that gave cash and a spin (S), prizes (P), and Whammies (W). There are 27 possible Pick A Corner outcomes, and are indicated like this:
Choices: CSP (9), CPP (9), CCP (9)
Totals: Broken (9), Good (18)
In the example above, "CSP (9)" means that there are 9 outcomes that result in having to choose between cash, cash and a spin, and a prize. "CPP (9)": 9 outcomes for cash and two prizes; "CCP (9)": 9 outcomes for cash, cash, and a prize. Note that the last one is italicized -- it indicates that this outcome is "broken"; that the three choices are not equally beneficial, or to put it another way, that one or more of the choices is obviously superior to another.
Here's a brief look at how cash, spins and prizes work together: Cash squares can be paired with spins or prizes. Spin squares are almost always less than the normal cash squares that they are paired with, so the choice is whether to take more cash, or less cash with the possibility of getting much more with the extra spin: e.g., $1750 vs. $1000+S. With prizes, the choice is whether to take the cash with the known value, or the prize with the unknown value in the hope that it will be more valuable: e.g., $1750 vs. Trip to Mazatlan.
But when two cash squares are paired, there is a cash conflict: one of the values is obviously inferior to the other and should be ignored: e.g., $1750 vs. $2250 -- $1750 should not even be a consideration!
For the same reasons, a spin conflict occurs when two spin squares are paired together: e.g., $500+S vs. $1000+S -- once again the player should ignore $500+S. There is also a minor conflict, a cash-spin conflict where the amount offered with a spin is equal to or larger than the amount offered without a spin: e.g., $750 vs. $1000+S. Under most circumstances $1000+S would be the obvious choice. However, if one is comfortably in the lead and wishes to use up their spins (as opposed to continuing on and possibly hitting a Whammy, or passing their spins and the opponent possibly taking the lead), then the lower amount without the extra spin may be more desirable.
Because the value of prizes is generally unknown, there is no prize conflict. However, there is a Whammy in the corner on some of these boards, which creates a Whammy conflict: e.g., Whammy vs. Trip to Mazatlan -- trips are good, Whammies bad... you know what to do. This is considered to be another minor conflict, because in some very rare circumstances it actually may be better to take the Whammy. There is more information about this strategy below.
| This is how the corners appear just before Pick A Corner is introduced. [1] and [10] haven't changed from the beginning of the run, while [15] (which was identical to [10]) has doubled, with new colors. [6] swapped its original $1500 for this pale blue $600. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pick A Corner debuts with yellow lettering and a lime green background. Choices: CCS (8), CSP (4), WCS (4), CCP (4), CPP (2), WCP (2), WSP (2), WPP (1) Totals: Broken (12), Whammy (9), Good (6 or 15, depending on whether you think Whammies break the space or are fine.) It was decided that Pick-A-Corner needed more attractive choices than what the corners offered previously. $1750 and $2250 were moved up from [18] to [1] while $2000 and $2500 have moved down from [8] to [10]. [15] is unchanged. We have avoided having to choose between two spin values, but now may have to choose between two cash values [1, 10]. Also notice how the cash values mesh, in intervals of $250: $1750 in [1], $2000 in [10], $2250 in [1], $2500 in [10]. Perhaps the original idea of the space was not to give the spinner three "good" choices, but closer to the idea of Big Bucks -- give the spinner the best of what is on the board, within a narrower range. Everyone seems to notice the Whammy in [1]. And it happened on a semi-regular basis, that the Whammy was one of the three options that the spinner could choose. In practice though, it meant that only two options rather than three were offered by their spin (some argue that, in rare circumstances, it is a better strategy to take the Whammy to clear one's passed spins -- one would have to have a very small total to forfeit, no more than one Whammy already hit, and a substantial number of passed spins). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (8), CPP (4), WSP (4), CCS (4), WCS (2), WPP (2), CCP (2), WCP (1) Totals: Broken (6), Whammy (9), Good (12 or 21) The "brokenness" of the above configuration was fixed partly by replacing $2500 with a prize in [10]. This created a unique situation where, for the only time during PYL, exactly two prizes appeared on the same square on an "official" board (which excludes the Demo Board). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pick A Corner gets a darker green background with white lettering, which it keeps until the end. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (12), CPP (6), WSP (6), WPP (3) Totals: Broken (0), Whammy (9), Good (18 or 27) The cash conflict has been solved, as a third prize replaces the $2000 in [10]. Aside from the remaining Whammy in [1], Pick A Corner is for the first (and only) time completely "fixed". | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| [1] gets this new Reaching Up Whammy as new Whammy poses debut on the board. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (9), CPP (9), CCP (9) Totals: Broken (9), Good (18) A few things have happened here. First, the $1400 in [18] switches with the Whammy in [1], making [1] an all-cash square. Meanwhile, the $2000 or Lose-1-Whammy in [16] switches with the $1500+S in [15], in order to make $2000/W more accessible. But the cash conflict returns, between [1] and $2000/W in [15]. The fact that one could choose to lose a Whammy instead makes this a little more forgivable (remember the $2000 in [10] that didn't offer to lose a Whammy), and this configuration, like the one above, lives a long and healthy life. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (9), CPP (6), CCP (6), SPP (3), SSP (3) Totals: Broken (9), Good (18) Here are the new corners for the "Neon Color Board". For some reason, [1] was nearly overhauled: the quirky $1400 was kept while $1750 and $2250 were replaced with $500+S (?!) and $750. Not only is less money offered, but a new conflict shows up between $500+S and $1000+S. There is also the rare cash-spin conflict between $750 and $1000+S in [1, 15]. The cash conflict remains, although there's less of it. For many, this is the beginning of the end. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (12), CPP (6), SSP (6), SPP (3) Totals: Broken (6), Good (21) It's difficult to tell -- did things get better or worse? $2000/W goes on hiatus during the Home Player Sweepstakes, and so $500+S takes its place (quite a reduction from $2000). This creates another spin conflict, and a weird one at that: $500+S vs. $500+S [1, 15]. However, there is no cash conflict anymore -- according to the numbers, this is a better configuration than the previous one! Sidebar: $2000/W was most likely removed to prevent a player from choosing to lose a Whammy during the Home Player Spin. According to the rules, the lucky home player got whatever the spinner landed on (or $500 if the spinner hit a Whammy). However, one player hit $2000/W on the Home Player Spin, and was urged to take the money. What could they do if a player decided to lose a Whammy instead? Apparently the solution was to remove the slide altogether, although (in my opinion) giving the home player $2000 for a lost Whammy seems like a better alternative. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CSP (9), CPP (6), CCP (6), SPP (3), SSP (3) Totals: Broken (9), Good (18) The Home Player Sweepstakes ends, and $2000/W returns to its former place, although a bit darker than before. However, it replaces $1000+S rather than $500+S, keeping the $500+S vs. $500+S conflict and and cash conflicts, but removing the cash-spin conflict. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CCS (6), CCP (6), CSP (5), CCC (4), CPP (2), CSS (2), SPP (1), SSP (1) Totals: Broken (19), Good (8) A quick look at the numbers above show that this might not have been a smart move. For the first time, we have a triple cash conflict between all three corners, as well as the possibility of having to choose between $1400 in [1] and $1400 in [10]. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CCP (9), CCC (6), CCS (6), CSP (3), CPP (3) Totals: Broken (21), Good (6) Ugh, it's gotten worse. $500+S has become $700, making [1] all cash again. In [10], $1400 has been replaced with $1000 (possibly to remove the $1400 vs. $1400 conflict), and $1500 has replaced $2000/W in [15], without the possibility to lose a Whammy (that slide has moved up to [16]). More triple cash conflicts are possible. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Choices: CCS (12), CSP (6), CCP (6), CPP (3) Totals: Broken (18), Good (9) This isn't quite as bad. [1, 10] both gain some cash while [15] gets a spin (basically reverting to its original contents from the beginning of the show's run). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| And here is the sad ending of the story. For whatever reason, the corner squares cannot return to the values that worked the best, and so Pick A Corner leaves the board, replaced with $1000+S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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