History ObviousRulePatch / GameShows

* One of the more famous examples of this trope came in June 1984, when CBS' ''Series/PressYourLuck'' invited [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson Michael Larson]] as a contestant. Unbeknownst to the producers, Larson had spent several months in advance viewing tape recordings of ''Press Your Luck'' and recognized looping patterns on the "random" lighting indicator for the game's Big Board, realizing that he could maximize his winnings by [[LoopholeAbuse memorizing the patterns]], and predict when the light landed on the space with the largest jackpot as well as a free spin, effectively allowing him to extend his playing time for as long as he wished. During his appearance -- to the amazement of the host, the studio audience, and especially the people in the control room -- Larson used his technique to burn through ''two episodes' worth'' of gameplay and earn over $110,000 in prize money. CBS initially withheld the winnings, but relented when the producers realized that he technically played the game as established. The production subsequently put the Big Board through several alternating patterns. When the show was revived as ''Series/{{Whammy}}'' on Creator/{{GSN}}, the new computer controlled board for the show was advertised as being "Larson-proof." It didn't stop them from having an episode where Larson's brother played along with Larson's opponents, however.

** During the 2013 Teen Tournament, a semifinal match ended in a triple-zero finish after all three contestants wagered their entire earnings and failed to respond correctly to the Final Jeopardy! clue. The finals had to be composed of the two semifinal winners and the highest scoring non-winner of those two games per the rules at the time. As it happened, the "wild card" finalist, Leonard Cooper, went on to win the tournament. The producers then changed this immediately afterward; in the event of a semifinal tie for the lead regardless of the amount, a tiebreaker clue would decide who advances to the finals.

** "Clap as many times as you can", which required contestants to "Put on a pair of food handling gloves, eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible." Katherin Ryan protested this, pointing out it was unfairly biased against women because she had never had to wear a tie before. At the suggestion of Richard Osman, Creator/{{Greg|Davies}} moved a comma to change two rules: now you had to "eat the banana correctly" and simply "put on a tie", allowing all contestants to wear the tie in whatever manner they wished and removing the unfair advantage for the male contestants.

** "Clap as many times as you can", which required contestants to "Put on a pair of food handling gloves, eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible." Katherin Ryan protested this, pointing out it was unfairly biased against women because she had never had to wear a tie before. At the suggestion of Richard Osman, Creator/{{Greg|Davies}} moved a comma to change two rules: now you had to "eat the banana properly" and simply "put on a tie", allowing all contestants to wear the tie in whatever manner they wished and removing the unfair advantage for the male contestants.

** Under Art Fleming's tenure, all contestants win or lose received their winnings. However, some contestants who felt they had won enough money or had no chance to win [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome simply stopped playing.]] To encourage more competitive play when the show was brought back with Creator/AlexTrebek in 1984, only the winner receives his or her full winnings while the two departing contestants receive {{Consolation Prize}}s (or since May 16, 2002, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third).

** In relation to the above, a cash prize of $25,000 was introduced in the bonus round in 1987. When nearly every contestant chose it over the cars, precious gems, annuities, or sometimes {{Undesirable Prize}}s such as a "shipboard party" or a do-it-yourself log cabin kit, the prizes were changed to a random draw from five envelopes at the onset of the seventh season. This, in turn, was changed to a 24-envelope wheel in 2001 with a prize pool reduced to cars and varying cash amounts (initially from $25,000 to $100,000, now the season number multiplied by $1,000 [i.e., $39,000 is the minimum for Season 39] to a [[DoubleUnlock possible $1,000,000]]).

* ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'' had the task "Clap as many times as you can", which required contestants to "Put on a pair of food handling gloves, eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible." Katherin Ryan protested this, pointing out it was unfairly biased against women because she had never had to wear a tie before. At the suggestion of Richard Osman, Creator/{{Greg|Davies}} moved a comma to change two rules: now you had to "eat the banana properly" and simply "put on a tie", allowing all contestants to wear the tie in whatever manner they wished and removing the unfair advantage for the male contestants.

** During the 2013 Teen Tournament, a semifinal match ended in a triple-zero finish after all three contestants wagered their entire earnings and failed to respond correctly to the Final Jeopardy! clue. The finals had to be composed of the two semifinal winners and the highest scoring non-winner of those two games per the rules at the time. As it happened, the "wild card" finalist, Leonard Cooper, went onto win the tournament. The producers then changed this immediately afterward; in the event of a semifinal tie for the lead regardless of the amount, a tiebreaker clue would decide who advances to the finals.

** The removal of Phone-a-Friend in the US version. By the time the clock format started, it had become obvious that these friends were using search engines to try to find the answer in the 30 seconds allowed. They often didn't even try to hide it. Neither did the show when they invoked said ObviousRulePatch and replaced it with giving the ''Ask the Expert'' lifeline throughout the game. The UK version at least fixed this problem by changing ''how'' this lifeline worked. Instead of the contestant having all three people on the telephone line, the contestant chose helpers ahead of time, who were brought backstage and isolated in Soundproof Booths until they were called. Since the audience can see them when this lifeline is used, it pretty much eliminated any chance to Google the answer. The U.S. version followed suit, except under the name "Plus One".

** Free Spin was originally a wedge that automatically awarded a [[ExtraTurn Free Spin]] token upon hitting it, which a contestant could turn in after any lost turn to keep control of the Wheel. After several instances where contestants managed to hit Free Spin repeatedly and bank up several Free Spin tokens--which would then, invariably, lead to the contestant hogging the Wheel by turning in Free Spins the second they lost their turn--they changed it to just a single token placed over a random dollar amount. Free Spin was ultimately {{Retired|GameShowElement}} in 2009 in favor of "Free Play" once too many contestants began using their token immediately upon a wrong guess or hitting a penalty space. The new space serves to award contestants $500 per consonant, a free vowel, or a (rarely taken) chance to solve a puzzle without fear of losing control of the wheel.

** In relation to the above, a cash prize of $25,000 was introduced in the bonus round in 1987. When nearly every contestant chose it over the cars, precious gems, annuities, or sometimes {{Undesirable Prize}}s such as a "shipboard party" or a do-it-yourself log cabin kit, the prizes were changed to a random draw from five envelopes at the onset of the seventh season. This, in turn, was changed to a 24-envelope wheel in 2001 with a prize pool reduced to cars and varying cash amounts (initially from $25,000 to $100,000, now the season number multiplied by $1,000 [i.e., $36,000 is the minimum for Season 36] to a [[DoubleUnlock possible $1,000,000]]).

** During the 2013 Teen Tournament, a semifinal match ended in a triple-zero finish after all three contestants wagered their entire earnings and failed to respond correctly to the Final Jeopardy! clue. This meant that the finals had to be composed of the two semifinal winners and the highest scoring non-winner of those two games. As it happened, the "wild card" finalist, Leonard Cooper, went onto win the tournament. The producers then changed this rule immediately afterward; in the event of a semifinal tie for the lead at $0, a tiebreaker clue would decide who advances to the finals.

* For the "test" hour-long shows of September 8-12, 1975 and the first few weeks of November, ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' had no rule about how far the Big Wheel (which determines who proceeds to the Showcases) had to be spun. The current rule (at least one complete revolution so that the pointer clears at least twenty pegs, thus explaining why bonus spins start at the green .05 wedge) was instituted by the end of November 1975, added when one contestant just tapped the wheel and made it spin three spaces.

** The category "Same Name"[[note]]two phrases, names, etc. that end in the same word, such as "Christmas and Family Tree"[[/note]] always had the word "AND" spelled out. After 99% of contestants called N-D-A first, they patched this by making the category use an ampersand in its place. This has inconsistently reverted since the TurnOfTheMillennium.

** Card Game has had a lot of sudden rule changes throughout its long tenure, all thanks to inflation. At first, it had no starting range. Then during 1983, it had a $2,000 starting bid. Ten years later, the bid increased to $8,000 and never offered a four-digit car. In 2001, the starting bid increased to $10,000, to quell the game being lost at a sudden rate. Four more years later, the starting bid was $12,000. Then some time after Drew Carey started hosting the show, it got its current starting bid at $15,000.

** In the original Art Fleming-hosted incarnations (1964-74, 1978-79), all contestants win or lose received their winnings. However, some contestants who felt they had won enough money or had no chance to win [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome simply stopped playing.]] To encourage more competitive play when the show was brought back with Creator/AlexTrebek in 1984, only the winner receives his or her full winnings while the two departing contestants receive {{Consolation Prize}}s (or since May 16, 2002, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third).

** According to one recollection, there was initially no rule saying that the puzzle had to be solved exactly as it appeared on the board; this was supposedly added the day after a contestant was ruled correct despite transposing the names in the answer "Tweedledum and Tweedledee".

** The category "Same Name"[[note]]two phrases, names, etc. that end in the same word, such as "Christmas and Family Tree"[[/note]] always had the word "And" spelled out. After 99% of contestants called N-D-A first, they patched this by making the category use an ampersand in its place. This has inconsistently reverted since the TurnOfTheMillennium.
** Similarly, the original BonusRound rules called for picking five consonants and a vowel to see how many would be revealed in a blank puzzle, then alloting 15 seconds to attempt solving it. After about eight years in which nearly every contestant picked R, S, T, L, N, and E (usually in that order), they finally began providing those letters at the outset and asking the contestant for three more consonants and a vowel, but also making the puzzles more difficult[[note]]When C-D-M-A became a de facto selection for three-consonants-and-a-vowel, the writers countered by devising puzzles to avoid them. A complacent contestant who goes the traditional [=RSTLNE=]-[=CDMA=] route will most likely find themselves with a mostly-empty puzzle[[/note]] and shortening the time to 10 seconds.
** In relation to the above, a cash prize of $25,000 was introduced in the bonus round in 1987. When nearly every contestant chose it over the cars, precious gems, annuities, or sometimes {{Undesirable Prize}}s such as a "shipboard party" or a do-it-yourself log cabin kit, the prizes were changed to a random draw from five envelopes at the onset of the seventh season. This, in turn, was changed to a 24-envelope wheel in 2001 with a prize pool reduced to cars and varying cash amounts (initially from $25,000 to $100,000; now the season number multiplied by $1,000 [i.e., $36,000 is the minimum for Season 36] to a [[DoubleUnlock possible $1,000,000]]).
* On the original run of ''Series/CardSharks'', the [[BonusRound "Money Cards"]] required betting on whether the next card in a line of playing cards would be higher or lower, and progressing until all the cards were cleared or the contestant ran out of money, whichever came first. After several contestants got screwed over by the next card being of the same value (most notoriously with one contestant who found all four treys in a row), the latter part of that run and the 1986-89 revival changed this so that uncovering a card of the same value resulted in neither a gain nor loss of money (referred to in-show as a "push").
** For some odd reason, the 2019 ABC revival didn't adopt the "push" rule for its Money Cards on its first season. It has, however began using it for the second season onward.

** In the original Art Fleming-hosted incarnations (1964-74, 1978-79), all contestants win or lose received their winnings; however, some contestants who felt they had won enough money or had no chance to win [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome simply stopped playing]]. To encourage more competitive play when the show was brought back with Creator/AlexTrebek in 1984, only the winner receives his or her full winnings while the two departing contestants receive {{Consolation Prize}}s (or since May 16, 2002, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third).
** For almost all of the show's history, non-zero ties for first place outside tournaments meant that the tied contestants were declared co-champions, and both returned the next day (unless one of the contestants had met the five-day champion limit, which was abolished in Season 20). After a spate of ties in the start of season 31--most likely due to superchampion Arthur Chu offering so many ties during his run--the rules were changed so that ties for first are broken by a tiebreaker clue (which is also how ties are broken in tournaments). However, while newcomers to the show may see this as an exciting new gameplay element, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks long-time fans see this rule change as both unnecessary and unwelcome]].
** After an early contestant lost by failing to phrase Final Jeopardy! in the form of a question, the rules were changed so that the contestant writes down the "Who" or "What" part of the response, along with their wager, during the commercial break before Final Jeopardy!
* In the 70s version of ''Series/MatchGame'', the part of the show with the highest cash winnings was the head-to-head match, where the contestant chose a celebrity panelist to match a single clue. But for years, contestants were almost always picking Richard Dawson, as he did have a good track record. So by ''Match Game '78'', a "Star Wheel" was added, in which the celebrity was determined by the spin of a wheel (it also gave the contestant a chance to double their winnings). Ironically, the first time the Star Wheel was used, it landed on Dawson, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere causing a mock-walkoff from the panel]].
* In the 2014 season of ''Intervilles International'' (a.k.a. ''The Biggest Game Show in the World''), the Russian team was abusing the format so much that the rules had to be changed mid-season. Normally, in each episode teams compete in 5 games to score points, then they must climb the Wall of Champions from a starting position determined by their score (more points means better starting position). The winner of the episode is the team who can climb the Wall fastest. The Russians specifically trained athletes to climb as fast as possible, so they could win even from a bad starting position. The other teams were so upset that they convinced the producers to demote the Wall into a bonus round such that two winners were announced at the end, one who won the other games and one who won the Wall. But the participating countries could choose to broadcast the season according to the new or the old rules, so in the Russian and French broadcast the Russian team won, while in the Hungarian and Egyptian broadcast the Hungarians won.

** The 70s versions became stricter for clues in the Winner's Circle until they were set in stone around 1978. Hand gestures became illegal shortly after ''The $10,000 Pyramid'' premiered when they discovered many clue givers were doing these. As the show continued its run, the rules also changed to disallow direct synonyms and to curb overly descriptive clues such as prepositional phrases[[note]]for "things made of bamboo", giving the clue "a hut in Vietnam" by itself is illegal; giving the same clue only after saying "a Vietnamese hut", however, was permitted[[/note]]. "Red China" was allowed as a clue for "Communist Countries" on an early episode and Tony Randall got away with the verbose "Stuffing in the little bottles of pills" as a clue once. On a later episode, he could have said "Pill bottle stuffing" with no penalty.
** When the "Mystery 7" bonus card was first used in the 80s versions, the category was in plain sight. After a year and a half of [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome teams almost always choosing it first]], the rules changed for it to be hidden behind one of the six categories.
** The "7-11" card also in the 80s versions offered the contestant the option to play for $50 per word instead of going for the full $1,100. Almost nobody ever took the former, so after roughly a year and a half it defaulted to the $1,100.

* On the Chuck Woolery-hosted version of ''Series/{{Lingo}}'', the BonusRound had teams guessing five-letter words, with each correct guess earning one draw from a hopper full of numbers, in hopes of completing a 5-in-a-row "Lingo" anywhere on a Bingo board which already had some numbers marked off. The original board layout required only two balls to win, and getting 5-in-a-row at any point won a prize package. However, one team managed to get only one word right (which was drawn anyway for the $100 per ball consolation), and another got ''no'' words right (meaning that the Bonus Lingo board didn't even appear, and the team won the same ConsolationPrize as their opponents), so some changes were made in Season 2 onward. First off, the pre-marked board was rearranged so that a "Lingo" could be made in only one draw; doing it on the first draw won a larger prize package (or in later seasons, a ProgressiveJackpot), while doing it on the second or later draw won set $5,000. In addition, teams were awarded a "bonus letter" (i.e., the right to call for another letter in the word at their discretion) for each "Lingo" made in the main game, thus giving them a little more leeway if they got stuck on a word.
* Originally on ''Series/TheJokersWild'', a contestant who spun three Jokers [[InstantWinCondition won automatically]]. On one occasion, a champion managed to do this on the first spin of the game, thus meaning that their opponent never even got a chance to play. This was patched on the next episode by requiring any contestant who spun three Jokers to answer a trivia question to win the game (and was further patched in 1974 by giving the challenger the first spin of the game).

* ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney''[='=]s Best of Ten Test of Knowledge, in which a contestant and host-turned-player Ben Stein took turns answering the same ten questions for a potential $5,000 payday, saw a rule patch come during the show's first season. Originally, the contestant would win the full $5,000 prize if he/she and Ben finished with a tie score. In this scenario, if the contestant chose to go first and answered all ten questions correctly, it would make Ben's turn meaningless since he wouldn't have anything to defend. Only one contestant won the full $5,000 this way[[note]]though among the first episodes taped, this specific occurrence aired in the middle of the show's first season[[/note]], but after realizing ties could become common, the producers promptly amended the rules so that the contestant received a smaller $1,000 bonus instead (which was added to what the contestant had already won); Ben got to keep any money that the contestant hadn't already taken.

** The removal of Phone-a-Friend in the US version. By the time the clock format started, it had become obvious that these friends were using search engines to try to find the answer in the 30 seconds allowed. They often didn't even try to hide it. Neither did the show when they invoked said ObviousRulePatch and replaced it with giving the ''Ask the Expert'' lifeline throughout the game. The UK version at least fixed this problem by changing ''how'' this lifeline worked. Instead of the contestant having all three people on the telephone line, the contestant chose helpers ahead of time, who were brought backstage and isolated in Sound Proof Booths until they were called. Since the audience can see them when this lifeline is used, it pretty much eliminated any chance to Google the answer. The U.S. version followed suit, except under the name "Plus One".

*** For the first three years of the show's initial run, the two Sprint contestants were each played with different sets of words during the same round. The challenger picked from an envelope (blue or pink) from which to play, giving the champion the one not chosen.
*** Midway through, the show began having the challenger and the champion play to determine who could solve the same four words faster. Initially, both players' turns were taken within the a two-minute time frame. The champion headed offstage into a Sound Proof Booth before the challenger played, which set the time to beat. The champion would be brought in immediately afterward to try to finish faster.
*** The "same four words" format saw later refinement to fit Scrabble' eventual, permanent self-containted format: An episode's first game's winner establishes a time before two new contestants begin playing the second game. The second game's winner plays to beat the first Sprint player's time.