Feud Mechanical Panel Observation | Game Show Presentation Software

Todd Robinson
Administrator

Posts: 709

Feud Mechanical Panel Observation Jul 10, 2004 11:41:15 GMT -5

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Post by Todd Robinson on Jul 10, 2004 11:41:15 GMT -5

A while back, someone asked about the mechanics of the panels on the Family Feud game board from 1976-1994. I don't really have any revelation to uncover but I did notice something the other day while working on a redraw of the FF Challenge game board.

I took a screenshot off of the TV of the Comb's Feud last week before the round started. Five answers were on the board. Looking closely, I noticed that the five panels with the numbers sat higher than the blanked out panels did. I took another screenshot of the action after the contestant got an answer correct. When the panel flipped and stopped, it sat higher than it did before it flipped.

What I think is going on is the bottom of the panels, when flipped over, has a metal lip that stops it from flipping any more after it hits the bottom of the grid it sits on. That would answer the question of how they stop.

The other things that work mechanically are not known to me. But I thought you guys would at least find this little discovery interesting at least.

stamfam
Junior Member

Posts: 52

Feud Mechanical Panel Observation Jul 27, 2004 23:34:58 GMT -5

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Post by stamfam on Jul 27, 2004 23:34:58 GMT -5

Hey Todd, did the panels flip faster at the end of the Combs run than they did at the beginning? The reason I ask is that the panels in the FFC software flip very quickly with no panel noise other than the "ding", but on the 1989 episodes currently airing on GSN, the panels flip very slowly (even slower than the Dawson panels) and have quite a bit of bounce.

Todd Robinson
Administrator

Posts: 709

Feud Mechanical Panel Observation Jul 28, 2004 7:34:57 GMT -5

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Post by Todd Robinson on Jul 28, 2004 7:34:57 GMT -5

Stamfan, a gracious person donated a tape of a couple of episodes of Family Feud Challenge. In the tape, in both episodes of Feud Challenge, all of the panels were somehow changed to make them flip much faster than in previous shows. And from what I can tell from the tape's audio, something else was changed to lower the loud metal-on-metal sound we've grown so used to hearing. Now the tape is a bit shaky so I can't verify the latter statement but it is certainly much quiter.

I had a metal "clank" sound incorporated into FFC 1.0 but it didn't sound good. It was left out by 1.0a. I thought about bringing it back if I could sample a better sound. Go back to the FF Challenge forum. I'm posting about this issue there.