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Beyond Tiki, Bilge, and Test / Beyond Tiki

Fav-O-Rite Zonk?

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I suppose by what we have in common, we all like the "Let's make a Deal" Zonks better than the "New Ammana Radar Range!" or what-ever Monte was giving away.

But what was your favorite Zonk?

I remember a Donkey with cart and a hat that I really thought was a great prize...Birds of a feather I guess...

What about you?

Zonks a Lot: So you’ve traded away your washer/dryer for 25 pounds of cottage cheese. What do you do? Mercifully, you don’t have to buy a much larger refrigerator. Let’s Make a Deal gave away an estimated 10,000 zonks during its first run, but per network rules, those prizes had to be honored. Most contestants signed a certificate of forfeiture and received another prize in place of the giant lollipop Jay Stewart was sucking on. Depending on the value of the zonk, contestants could even receive a stereo or a television. (And who knows, maybe some of the contestants were happy to take home a Holstein cow.)

It's also a famous probability problem in math. Called "The Monty Hall Problem," it states that you have a choice of 3 doors, one has a "New Car!" behind it and the other two have goats. You choose Door #1. Monty opens door number 3, shows you that there's a goat eating hay behind it & asks if you want to change your mind.

The probability problem has 3 questions:

  1. Does it matter if you change your mind?
  2. What is the probabilty of winning if your remain with door number one?
  3. What is the probability of winning if your change your mind to door number two?

The answers are:

  1. Yes.
  2. One in three (obvious, since you pick one door out of three).
  3. Here's the tricky part, the answer to question three is two out of three because the probabilities must total one! If you switch your choice to door number 2 you have better odds of getting the car than if you stick with door number one.

Get out your graphing calculators & look here for all the clues. There will be a test later.

My favorite Zonks were when the contestant would win something goofy like a goat in a trailer, then Jay would announce "...and to help you get your goat home, you can hitch him up to... Your new GMC Suburban!" Or the door opens & the models are lounging around a kiddie pool and Jay would announce "...while you're enjoying your new pool, you may want to sit on... your new patio set!" and they would wheel out an oversized glass picnic table with six chairs, 2 loungers, a side table, a bar with 4 stools, a grill and a mini fridge.

D

Favorite Zonk? Zonker Harris.

Pages: 1 3 replies