History GameBreaker / GameShow

** [[ShootTheShaggyDog It ultimately backfired terribly for him,]] as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat ObstructiveBureaucrats]] continued to make his life miserable even long after it was proven that he didn't cheat. He died in 1999 at the age of 49 from throat cancer, never truly getting to enjoy his victory.

** [[ShootTheShaggyDog It ultimately backfired terribly for him,]] as [[ObsctructiveBureaucrat ObstructiveBureaucrats]] continued to make his life miserable even long after it was proven that he didn't cheat. He died in 1999 at the age of 49 from throat cancer, never truly getting to enjoy his victory.

** It ultimately backfired terribly for him, as ObstructiveBureaucrats continued to make his life miserable even long after the episode. He died in 1999 at the age of 49 from throat cancer.

** The Prize Puzzle is often this, as merely solving the puzzle awards a trip of some sort that's usually in the $6,000 range. And on many occasions, the winner of the game has a score that, if one takes away said trip's value, drops down to second or third place; fans tend to criticize this because, as you can probably guess, such winners only did so through a guaranteed prize rather than their own skill — and also because quite a few of these players also stink up the Bonus Round.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JphpCpCRTBM In a 2015 Youtube video,]] former host David Ruprecht of the game show SupermarketSweep revealed a strategy that few people used, and those that did used it won the sweep. After grabbing 5 Hams and 5 Turkeys, a contestant would have to go and pickup 5 hair coloring products, and 5 health and beauty products. This combination of expensive items in areas where they would be found in a typical supermarket would ensure a guaranteed win.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JphpCpCRTBM In a 2015 Youtube video,]] former host David Ruprecht of the game show SupermarketSweep revealed a strategy that few people used, and those that did used it won the sweep. After grabbing 5 Hams and 5 Turkeys, a contestant would have to go and pickup 5 hair coloring products, and 5 health and beauty products. This combination would ensure a guaranteed win.

* ''Series/TicTacDough'' had several "red box" categories which allowed a contestant to gain an overwhelming upper hand almost immediately, if played correctly. The most notable of these were:
** "Bonus Category", which immediately allowed the contestant another turn if s/he answered a three-part question correctly. The thing was the category board shuffled, and invariably the "Bonus Category" would appear in an adjacent box or in a space [[GoldenSnitch that allowed the contestant to set up and/or complete a tic-tac-toe]]. There were several instances where, when this category appeared, the opponent never got to play the game (although they were always invited back to play the next game). Eventually, in the interest of fair play, the category was retired.
** "Double-or-Nothing", an ExtraTurn category that added an element of risk — take the box or select another box and lose them both on an incorrect answer. The category board didn't shuffle with this category, allowing the opposing player a chance to play.

* ''Series/{{Concentration}}'': Rarely did it happen, but when a contestant was able to solve the puzzle immediately upon making the first match of the game on the game's first turn, never allowing the opponent a chance to play. ''Classic'' averted this after it instituted a best-of-three (and later, two-losses-and-done) format, while the 1973-78 syndicated version had both players play two matches...but on the original NBC series (and early in the ''Classic'' run), it was *tsk tsk* too bad for the unfortunately blitzed contestant.
* ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'' had a form of this with the Money Cards on the Fame Game board. Choosing the $25 card late in the game often put the game away for the leading contestant, even with the introduction of the 60-second SpeedRound.

* Until 2003, ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' champions could win up to five games before being retired, although five-time champs also got a car. Starting in the 2003-04 season, the producers instituted a "sky's the limit" rule where champions could go on and on winning until being defeated. Towards the season's end, Ken Jennings came along and went on a 74-game winning streak [[GoneHorriblyRight that lasted into the next season]].

* For the Head-To-Head Match portion of ''Series/MatchGame'', contestants chose one panelist to work with. Richard Dawson was so good at matching that nearly everyone picked him, so the fed-up producers added a rule in 1975 that barred champs from picking any celeb for consecutive Head-To-Head Matches. This was discarded later that year, with the Star Wheel added in June 1978.
* Any Flemish (and perhaps every single one, since the Flemish ones were organized by Endemol) phone-in game show ever that relied on counting. Due to the fact that the answers rely all on the exact same calculation pattern (which always involved an addition) that could always be identified with a counting key. With only the calculation process units being different each time (with obscure Chinese units for instance being a real thing there) one only has to see a certain number of answers (which were always given at the end of the show) in order to have access to a code that shows you how to solve a calculation question that is asked to you in a phone-in game show. With only one out of six answers being wrong due to calculation errors by the very company that makes those shows one only has to know what the counting key looks like in order to win literally five out of six Flemish phone-in game shows involving counting until the company catches up on the facts and makes a new one. Due to how long it takes for those companies to realize that one only needs to participate in every single phone-in game show ever solving every single puzzle with the counting key in your hand and finish when the counting key changes with 1 million euro's in your pocket. Flemish investigative journalism series ''Basta'' noted that when they aired the episode ''De mol in het belspel'' and [[http://www.een.be/files/extra/programmas/basta/basta_110117_telsleutel.pdf published the counting key that was used in Flanders from 2009 until the death of the phone-in game show in Flanders]], but be warned since you need to understand Dutch in order to read it. They ended up with proving that the theory that was true by participating in a counting game show and winning the big prize after 2 guesses, which contributed to the spreading of the above counting key.

*** The Free Play itself has become a major game-breaker. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBAX_M6t-6o One guy landed on the space five times in a row]] [[LoopholeAbuse and used it to call all five vowels]], and even besides that, when a player lands on it, [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome they will always immediately jump on the vowels]] without any regard for the possibility of an extra $500 for a consonant or a free attempt at solving the puzzle...probably because "use Free Play for vowels" is hammered into them by the show's contestant coordinators.

** '''That's Too Much!''': The correct answer is neither the first- nor 10th-given price. [[note]](For a short time during the 2008-09 season, the right answer was almost always the second or ninth price, which skewed a Roger Dobkowitz-era rule that the correct answer almost always fell between slots 3 and 8; the production staff let up when fans complained.)[[/note]]

** The Final Spin of the Speed-Up round can zig-zag this. Originally, its value was just whatever dollar amount the host landed on, thus leading to many cases where a contestant had enough of a lead that his opponents had no chance of victory. (Can't build much traction at, say, $300 per letter.) This was counterbalanced somewhat by adding $1,000 to the value of the Final Spin, but even before ''that'' rule change, the Final Spin could become a game breaker if he hits $5,000 (or $2,000 on daytime). Over the years, many a contestant has managed to pull a come-from-behind victory on a $5,000- or $6,000-per-letter Speed-Up, including many who have actually gone from ''no money whatsoever'' to victory thanks entirely to said round.
** In a non puzzle-related example, there used to be a Free Spin wedge on the Wheel. Countless contestants ended up banking large numbers of Free Spins due to hitting the wedge repeatedly, thus ensuring greater chances of keeping the Wheel out of their opponents' hands. A Summer 1986 daytime episode had the yellow contestant rack up ''five'' Free Spins and use them in Round 2, resulting in Round 3 beginning as a Speed-Up for $2,000/consonant — and the '''blue''' player won thanks to a $2,000-per-letter Speed-Up. This was finally circumvented by reducing Free Spin to a single disc placed over a dollar amount. It was later retired for Free ''Play'', a wedge which allows the contestant to make any move without penalty, or the chance at one free vowel.
*** The Free Play itself has become a major game-breaker. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBAX_M6t-6o One guy landed on the space 5 times in a row]] [[LoopholeAbuse and used it to steal all 5 vowels]], and even besides that, when a player lands on it, [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome they will always immediately jump on the vowels]] without any regard for the possibility of an extra $500 for a consonant...probably because "use Free Play for vowels" is hammered into them by the show's contestant coordinators.

* For the Head-To-Head Match portion of ''Series/MatchGame'', contestants chose one panelist to work with. Richard Dawson was so good at matching that nearly everyone picked him, so the fed-up producers added the Star Wheel in June 1978.