Tonight's NYSI episode (#186) was the first episode of the new format.

The changes are: The elimination round was dropped, and two new players competed in the qualifying round, which was played the same way as the first version. At this point, five points were needed to win the Qualifying Round. The Championship Round was also played the same way except point values were doubled when somebody reached 50 points (Example: a word on line 4 and in position 5 multiplied by 2 was worth 18 points), and the first player to reach 100 points played the solo round. Under this "straddling" format, a game could stop at the end of one episode and resume at the beginning of the next. Also, if a champion was defeated in the Championship Round, but the other player won the jackpot in the Solo Round, that champion came back to play again in the following Championship Round. I would like to know what was the reason for the changes and did it help or hurt the show?

I saw it. Overall, not bad. I'm glad they scrapped the two-player teams. I've watched more than a few good players look pissed after realizing they got partnered with a complete idiot. I just wish they would have made the bonus game a little easier. Seems like they could have given the contestants one free pass if they got stuck on an answer.

I remember that the very first episode of NYSI I ever saw was under this format, and how I so failed to enjoy it that I wondered why so many people were fans.

I'm glad I was proven wrong on THAT one.

This is all speculation, but I think one of the reasons why they changed the format, was the fact that the show had up to this point been going through some lengthy droughts without a jackpot win that it could have been hurting the ratings if people were just getting frustrated wanting to finally see a win, and this way, the faster pace would mean the bonus round wouldn't be in the last two minutes of the show and you might even have two bonus rounds in a show.

That much is true.

I'll speculate, too.

The new format gives you MORE playing time in each of the rounds, which means it's easier to follow the contestants, particularly the champion. As much as I like the "tournament" format, you barely get started with a round before it's over--particularly the Letters round. The race-to-100 points round seems more exciting than a timed game; nobody loses just because time runs out.

It seems likelier that ratings were not high and the changes were an effort to build some excitement about the game. Unfortunately, NYSI is not a game you can play along with while you're doing other things--trust me, I've tried while doing chores around the house--so it was never going to find the same audience "Match Game" or "Gambit" (or even "Price") did.

As has been noted elsewhere, it wasn't even a timed game. They played twelve words in the elimination round, and that was it. (Once, not too long ago, I counted 13 when there was a tie after twelve.) In the finals, it was a set number that depended on how long the semifinals took. Either way, you didn't lose because time ran out, but you did sometimes have a couple questions played out when the game was mathematically over.

Point taken, but to the casual viewer, it seemed timed.