A
Combination Guaranteed to Make You Say…
© 1979 The Bud Austin
Company.
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Last edited: Friday, May 25, 2001
Of course, this is all hypothetical,
since “Whew!” hasn’t aired since 1980; in other words:
 |
“If
you’d like
to be a contestant on
Whew!, forget it!” |
“Whew!” is as much about
strategy as it is about knowledge. Any discussion of strategy begins with a
familiarity with the game board:
Um…let’s take a clearer look:
- Use your time off-stage to figure
out not only which blooper you’ll call first, but how you’ll handle each
contingency immediately following.
- Difficulty increases horizontally, not vertically. A $10 blooper is a $10 blooper is a
$10 blooper.
- Part of the Charging strategy
involves how much you know about a given category.
The more you know, the higher you go, so try starting at $40.
- If you don’t know much about
the category, try a $20 blooper.
- When the blooper is revealed, let
your eye go right to the offending (incorrect) portion, then look at the rest of
the clue. You should listen to the MC read the clue while doing this.
- Always wait until the
MC finishes reading the clue before answering — of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t be
waiting to spit it out.
- If you’re doing OK with the
cheaper real estate, go up one $10 increment on the next level. Besides (*snicker*), it puts the Blocker off-balance!
- If you’ve solved a Level 5
blooper and you have at least :20 left on the clock (granted, this is highly unlikely), go
for the most expensive Level 5 blooper available — remember, once you’ve solved a blooper on a level,
you’re free to charge wherever you want to. It’s potential extra money.
- One more thing about money: the more
you accumulate in the main game, the more seconds you have to run the Gauntlet of
Villains, the better the chance of winning $25,000.
- “I’ve fallen
and I can’t get up!” The
odds are about 1:4.6 that you’ll hit a block on your first pick, and the odds really
don’t get any better. There are two things you can do to make constructive use
of those five-seconds of down time:
- Look at the clock;
- Figure out your next move.
- Speaking of looking at the clock,
right before you call your bloopers on each level starting with Level 4, look at the
clock.
- LONGSHOT! (screeeetch!)
There is no shame in calling for the Longshot when time has run down. But
remember, the odds on Level 6 can can go from 2:1 in your favor to 2:1 against you, and by
calling for it too soon, you miss the opportunity to earn extra money and those
all-important bonus seconds.
- Blocking, when used effectively,
does more than simply impede the Charger’s
progress —
each consecutive block messes with the charger’s psyche. The charger gets
unnerved, starts stumbling, next thing you know, you’re walking up-stage to the
Gauntlet with the MC.
- Don’t bother blocking Level 1;
better to let the Charger get up a head of steam before they get clobbered by inertia.
Besides, best not to force the charger into a Longshot situation too soon — you want to them to hit
as many of your blocks as possible.
- Cluster the blocks horizontally and vertically.
- Always save that sixth block for
Level 6 —
in case of a Longshot, the odds will tilt in your favor.
- An optimal blocking pattern might
look like this:
 |
(The $350 block is the Longshot! block) |
- It’s just you and the clock, so
the amount of time left on the clock is totally irrelevant.
- While the MC reads the question,
find your point of focus and keep your eyes there. If you miss a blooper, don’t
look at the Telly Belly — it’s not only irrelevant, it’s a distraction.
- If you win the $25,000, don’t
strangle the MC!
Any questions?
ed
