History YMMV / MinuteToWinIt

** By its return in the summer, the show began to do more celebrity specials, a few more Last Man Standing episodes, and episodes with teams (usually couples) playing together (either taking turns having a go, or playing a cooperative game), and toying around with a Million-Dollar Mission to force people into playing their {{Unwinnable}} trap of a FinalBoss. Ratings also improved greatly upon its move to a weekday timeslot in NBC's Summer lineup as a lead-in to the popular ''Series/AmericasGotTalent'', from its original Sunday-night slot. Fans will tell you that the end of Season 1 was the best — the contestants were relatively normal, the atmosphere was lighthearted, and the show was extremely fast-paced. The beginning of season 2 was also pretty good, introducing blueprint bonuses to make the games easier and get contestants to the harder levels. As well as introducing Families of 5 or even 6 as teams (despite it's unfairness). Season 2 also introduced best of 7 head-to-head episodes, which were really just that as whoever won had to compete from level 6 onward and the winning team often just lost their lives real quick. Contestants also performed better here overall.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Pong to the Fifth Power(Pong 5). The goal is to bounce five ping pong balls in a row into a glass within twenty tries. The game is admittedly hard, but it was basically beaten and dominated every time it was played. Most got 5 balls in the first or second glass despite it being level 6.

** "Uphill Battle" is an insidious game-ender, involving keeping three marbles rolling on an inclined surface using nothing more than a big spoon. The margin for error in this game is practically nonexistent: hitting a marble at the wrong time, making two marbles hit each other or with too much/not enough force even once will inevitably cause a ripple effect that renders the game failed and {{Unwinnable}}, making it true test of skill(and some luck). However, a certain episode this game was beaten proving it was beatable.

** "CD Dominoes" The game is one of the(if not) toughest level 7 game(s), if as everything at level 7 wasn't hard already. The game sees the player trying to set up twenty plastic cases that must be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVjpt7JUPg set up]] to knock them all down(tip or blow, it was never said which one the contestant had to follow) to land the last case in a bucket. The difficulty comes from that the dominoes must be set up in a curve around a shot glass or red sticker. Contestants struggled tremendously with the game, losing their cool and having to reset dominoes. However, as long as the contestant knocks the first case down within the time expiring, the last case can land in the bucket after.

** "Ker-Plink or Plunk!" Although it's deceptively simple at first, it proved to be harder than usual. The goal of the game is to sink a container floating in a punch bowl with marbles. The problem is the number required to sink it was usually more than twelve making it extremely difficult, even as a level 6 game.

** Unfortunately, other than the new host, top dollar amount, location (in New York now), and theme song, GSN's revival is [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks literally the same show]], right down to the obnoxious padding. Also, the contestants in this version are much worse at the games, not getting higher than level 6 or 7 during the first half run of the show and losing lives on earlier levels. During the second half of the run, the contestants got somewhat better, but this version(both runs) tried to have new contestants at the start of each show, meaning it was quite predictable when the contestants would lose just by looking at the time left in an episode and the TrailersAlwaysSpoil.

** By its return in the summer, the show began to do more celebrity specials, a few more Last Man Standing episodes, and episodes with teams (usually couples) playing together (either taking turns having a go, or playing a cooperative game), and toying around with a Million-Dollar Mission to force people into playing their {{Unwinnable}} trap of a FinalBoss. Ratings also improved greatly upon its move to a weekday timeslot in NBC's Summer lineup as a lead-in to the popular ''Series/AmericasGotTalent'', from its original Sunday-night slot. Fans will tell you that the end of Season 1 was the best — the contestants were relatively normal, the atmosphere was lighthearted, and the show was extremely fast-paced. The beginning of season 2 was also pretty good, introducing blueprint bonuses to make the games easier and get contestants to the harder levels(). As well as introducing Families of 5 or even 6 as teams(despite it's unfairness). Season 2 also introduced best of 7 head-to-head episodes, which were really just that as whoever won had to compete from level 6 onward and the winning team often just lost their lives real quick. Contestants also performed better here overall.

** The music played during Supercoin (which is by no means [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJiPVba9jKo exclusive to]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2fWH91PXc this show]]). The game will own your ass up one side and down the other, but at least you get to listen to some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12hqO_xllgI killer music]] while it does.
** Based on its increased usage outside of Supercoin of late (it's practically become the show's second theme song), it seems even the producers are aware of this.
** However a certain episode also revealed that they have more than one soundtrack for said game available. All are equally epic, thankfully.

** "Uphill Battle" is another insidious game-ender, involving keeping three marbles rolling on an inclined surface using nothing more than a spoon. The margin for error in this game is practically nonexistent: hitting a marble at the wrong time, making two marbles hit each other or with too much/not enough force even once will inevitably cause a ripple effect that renders the game failed and {{Unwinnable}}. However, a certain episode this game was beaten proving it was beatable.

** By its return in the summer, the show began to do more celebrity specials, a few more Last Man Standing episodes, and episodes with teams (usually couples) playing together (either taking turns having a go, or playing a cooperative game), and toying around with a Million-Dollar Mission to force people into playing their {{Unwinnable}} trap of a FinalBoss. Ratings also improved greatly upon its move to a weekday timeslot in NBC's Summer lineup as a lead-in to the popular ''Series/AmericasGotTalent'', from its original Sunday-night slot. Fans will tell you that the end of Season 1 was the best — the contestants were relatively normal, the atmosphere was lighthearted, and the show was extremely fast-paced.
** However, as quickly as it did that, it also developed SeasonalRot just as quickly: by Season 2, ''MTWI'' began to show signs of ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'' syndrome - it became flooded with library pop music, increasingly obnoxious contestants, sob stories for just about everyone ("You haven't seen your dad for 10 years, now turn around!" *cue lots of crying, hugging, and [[{{Padding}} not playing]]*), generous amounts of {{Filler}}, the manifestation of ViewersAreGoldfish, and liberal use of {{Commercial Break Cliffhanger}}s at the drop of a hat. The foreign versions, unsurprisingly, managed to avert this and are still much like the American version was in its prime.

* ThatOneLevel: '''SUPERCOIN''' is the only known Level 10 game. Out of anyone who have played it (with it either forced upon them as a bonus level for winning a group competition, being a lucky audience member, or being the few to make it this far in an actual game), it has ''never been won''. There are some other other games that have haunted players for a year or two.

* ThatOneLevel: [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/137539/minute-to-win-it-super-coin Supercoin]] is the only known Level 10 game. Out of anyone who have played it (with it either forced upon them as a bonus level for winning a group competition, being a lucky audience member, or being the few to make it this far in an actual game), it has never been won. There are some other other games that have haunted players for a year or two.

** "Uphill Battle" is another insidious game-ender, involving keeping three marbles rolling on an inclined surface using nothing more than a spoon. The margin for error in this game is practically nonexistent: hitting a marble at the wrong time, making two marbles hit each other or with too much/not enough force even once will inevitably cause a ripple effect that renders the game failed and {{Unwinnable}} unless it's in the final seconds.
** "Don't Blow The Joker", usually played at level 9, is painful. There's three decks of cards, each stacked on a bottle. The goal is to blow on the cards from the side, leaving only the bottom (joker) card. It seems simple at first...but it's actually quite easy to accidentally "blow the joker", especially when there's only a few cards. The only mercy this game shows you is that you only have to pull it off once.

** "Ker-Plink or Plunk!" Although it is deceptively simple at first, it proved to be harder than usual. The goal of the game is to sink a container floating in a punch bowl with marbles. The problem is the number required to sink it was usually more than twelve making it extremely difficult, even as a level 6 game.

** Unfortunately, other than the new host, top dollar amount, location (in New York now), and theme song, GSN's revival is [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks literally the same show]], right down to the obnoxious padding. Also, the contestants in this version are much worse at the games, not getting higher than level 6 or 7 during the first half run of the show and losing lives on earlier levels. During the second half of the run, the contestants got somewhat better, but this version(both runs) tried to have new contestants at the start of each show, meaning it was quite predictable when the contestants just by looking at the time left in an episode and the TrailersAlwaysSpoil.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Pong to the Fifth Power(Pong 5). The goal is to bounce five ping pong balls in a row into a glass within twenty tries. The game is admittedly hard, but it was basically beaten and dominated every time it was played. Most got it on their first try despite it being level 6.

** "Uphill Battle" is another insidious game-ender, involving keeping 3 marbles rolling on an inclined surface using nothing more than a spoon. The margin for error in this game is practically nonexistent: hitting a marble at the wrong time, making two marbles hit each other or with too much/not enough force even once will inevitably cause a ripple effect that renders the game {{Unwinnable}} unless it's in the final seconds.
** "Don't Blow The Joker", usually played at level 9, is painful. There's 3 decks of cards, each stacked on a bottle. The goal is to blow on the cards from the side, leaving only the bottom (joker) card. It seems simple at first...but it's actually quite easy to accidentally "blow the joker", especially when there's only a few cards. The only mercy this game shows you is that you only have to pull it off once.
** "CD Dominoes" The game is one of the(if not) toughest level 7 game(s), if as everything at level 7 wasn't hard already. The game sees the player trying to set up 20 plastic cases that must be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVjpt7JUPg set up]] to knock them all down(tip or blow, it was never said which one the contestant had to follow) to land the last case in a bucket. The difficulty comes from that the dominoes must be set up in a curve around a shot glass or red sticker. Contestants struggled tremendously with the game, losing their cool and having to reset dominoes. However, as long as the contestant knocks the first case down within the time expiring, the last case can land in the bucket after.
** "Oh Nuts!" is a level 8 game that was only beaten on the GSN revival once and never beaten on the NBC version. The point is to basically stack 8 nut and bolts pairings on a steel ruler. The difficulty came from the fact that the pairings were just as shaky as the nuts on "The Nutstacker". Also, removing the ruler became insanely difficult without moving some part of the tower as the further the pairings leaned back, the further you had to remove the ruler. Like other games, knocking the tower over resulted in losing a life automatically.

** "Ker-Plink or Plunk!" Although it is deceptively simple at first, it proved to be harder than usual. The goal of the game is to sink a container floating in a punch bowl with marbles. The problem is the number required to sink it was usually more than 12 making it extremely difficult, even as a level 6 game.

** "Ker-Plink or Plunk!" Although it is deceptively simple at first, it proved to be harder than usual. The goal of the game is to sink a container floating in a punch bowl with marbles. The problem is the number required to sink it was usually more than 12. It proved to be extremely difficult, however. It was a level 6 game.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Pong to the Fifth Power(Pong 5). The goal is to bounce 5 ping pong balls in a row into a glass within 20 tries. The game is admittedly hard, but it was basically beaten and dominated every time it was played. Most got it on their first try despite it being level 6.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Pong to the Fifth Power(Pong 5). The goal is to bounce 5 ping pong balls in a row into a glass within 20 tries. The game is admittedly hard, but it was basically beaten and dominated every time it was played. Most got it on their first try.

* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: Early in development, the show was going to be a ripoff of ''Series/TheCube'' — a more elaborately produced British stunt game that had been shopped around to CBS and FOX around the same time ''MTWI''[='s=] pilots were taped. It ended up being changed significantly later in development and even post-production, with the final product more influenced by ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' and ''Series/BeatTheClock''. Despite this, the show gained many detractors among some fans of ''The Cube'' for this reason, especially on GameShow website [[http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/ BuzzerBlog]].

* ThatOneLevel: [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/137539/minute-to-win-it-super-coin Supercoin]] is the only known Level 10 game. Out of anyone who have played it (with it either forced upon them as a bonus level for winning a group competition, being a lucky audience member, or being the few to make it this far in an actual game), it has never been won.

** Unfortunately, other than the new host, top dollar amount, location (in New York now), and theme song, GSN's revival is [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks literally the same show]], right down to the obnoxious padding. Also, the contestants in this version are much worse at the games, not getting higher than level 6 or 7 during the first half run of the show and losing lives on earlier levels. During the second half of the run, the contestants got somewhat better, but this version(both runs) tried to have new contestants at the start of each show, meaning it was quite predictable when the contestants just by looking at the time left in an episode and the Trailers AlwaysSpoil.

** Unfortunately, other than the new host, top dollar amount, location (in New York now), and theme song, GSN's revival is [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks literally the same show]], right down to the obnoxious padding.

** "Uphill Battle" is another insidious game-ender, involving keeping several marbles rolling on an inclined surface using nothing more than a spoon. The margin for error in this game is practically nonexistent: hitting a marble at the wrong time or with too much/not enough force even once will inevitably cause a ripple effect that renders the game {{Unwinnable}} unless it's in the final seconds.

* ReplacementScrappy: If the victory song is anything ''but'' "Get Up", it's bound to fall into this Trope.
** Apolo Anton Ohno somehow manages to be an even worse host than Guy Fieri. At least Guy had a little personality and provided the show's name; Apolo's just bland and uninteresting and provided the quickly annoying "Every second counts!" catchphrase.
*** [[InvertedTrope On the other hand]], Apolo DOES have his fans who believe that his relatively more laid back hosting style is a welcome change from Guy's overcaffeinated personality which got irritating for some people.
** Some people actually liked the original funk-inspired theme music better.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Summer episodes added a "Million-Dollar Mission" at the end of each show, where a selected audience member got a free shot at Supercoin. People complained that it smacked too much of ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'', and the contestants chosen from the audience to play it typically were of the kind you'd see on ''Deal''...well, if the show was still on.[[labelnote:However...]]Though ''Minute''[='s=] Million-Dollar Mission was ''far'' superior to ''Deal''[='s=] in that you still had to '''earn''' that cash (and with Supercoin, earn it you '''shall'''), whereas ''Deal'' was all but giving the money away.[[/labelnote]]
** [[InvertedTrope On the other hand]], some thought the competitive "Last Man Standing" episodes (10 contestants, eliminate the worst performing player after each game, winner gets $100,000 and a chance to also play ''that'' game for $1,000,000) were a good idea.

* EarWorm: "Get Up", the TitleThemeTune introduced part-way into Season 1.

* MostAnnoyingSound: In GSN's revival, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "Every! Second! Counts!"]] being chanted before ''every! Single! Game!''