There were a lot of tough layouts in season 3, actually, like the Marble Armrest of Xerxes where the team had to go all the way around the horn to get to the Chamber of the Sacred Markers. Ridiculous. I guess not giving away prizes is one way to cut costs.
I think they wanted to stay true to the 25% win ratio, so they had to make some layouts easier than normal or harder than normal to compensate (Ivory Hunting Horn and Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza, vs. Discarded Seal and Dried Apple Half). One of the reasons these layouts appeared supremely difficult is because the rooms took so much more time to complete in Season 3 when compared to the previous seasons. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Headless Kings.) That's one of the major reasons why I couldn't choose the tomb as my favorite.
We seem to be drifting a bit off topic, though. I'd appreciate it if we could get back on track.
