BuzzerUK: Has The Cube Become Harder to Win?

The BAFTA award winning The Cube has reached the half way stage of their fourth series come tomorrow evening. Many viewers and fans have noticed throughout the current series that not many people are winning the higher amounts of money. With nearly every contestest losing a few lives early on in their quest to win £250,000. So we’re asking. Has The Cube become harder to win?

Looking throughout the first three series we see there is a pattern. The majority of games used for the first level (£1,000) were designed to ease the player into the game with nearly every single contestant beating the first game without losing any lives or losing a couple. Some of these games include. Time Freeze (counting to 10 seconds in your head), Calcuate (counting a total of flashing squares) and Reflex (hitting one of two pressure pads, within 0.5 seconds when one changes colour). These games were rarely used in the higher stages of the game with some exceptions. Direction (used for the £250,000 game as one contestant lost many lives the first time around) and Time Freeze (counting to 30 in your head) were classic examples.

It seems in the latest series the producers have used higher leveled games for the £1,000 level and added some new but tougher games for the same amount of money. Since we’ve had six contestants so far. Here are the £1,000 games they played, the number of lives lost and out thoughts on the game the producers selected for the first level.

Capture (Catch a flying ball, released by a machine into a container which is held by the contestant). Contestant lost five lives and had to use Simplify. This has been played before at the £1,000 and £20,000 levels. Since the ball is shot out from a machine. The speed of the ball travelling across the cube could vary.

Quantity (Whilst standing in the middle of The Cube, count the number of squares within a set time limit). Contestant lost three lives. This game has been played at the £20,000 level where you had 10 seconds to count the squares. The £1,000 level extended the time limit to 12 seconds but the total of squares the contestant had to count and guess correctly were 37 squares. Quanity can be used as an entry level game but it would suit if the number of squares were lower. Preferably around the 20-30 figure. We felt 37 squares were a high amount to count just to win £1,000.

Stop Zone (A blue wave will fill The Cube’s floor. Hit the button to stop the wave between two markers. The wave will disappear half way along). Contestant lost two lives. Stop Zone has been played at the same level and nothing has dramatically changed.

Response (A red square will move across the floor of The Cube. Once the square turns from red to blue, you must press the button and react within 0.35 seconds). Contestant lost three lives. Given this is a new game. We felt reacting within 0.35 seems a stretch to win £1,000. Since Reflex is done slightly similar (pressing a pressure pad with your foot) but you had to react within 0.5 seconds.

Eliminate (Contestant has ten seconds to hit 45 lights within ten seconds on a smaller cube inside The Cube). Contestant lost no live. Another new game. The contestant completed the game with two seconds to spare.

Trail (Four sections of The Cube’s floor are flashing red and blue in a constant rhythm. This is done one by one. Contestant must press the button when the section is turned blue. If done so the next section will be at a faster pace). Contestant lost four lives and had to use Simplify. The key to the game is to keep a rhythm but the contestant were doing that. Cameras showed her hands were shaking when attempting to press the button for the fourth time). Although it can be done. The speed of the final flashing section seemed very fast it was more of second guessing when to hit the button. We assume the sections doubled the speed each time the previous one was pressed in time. This would make the fourth section flashing at sixteen times faster then the first one.

Since some of these earlier games have had contestants losing a number of lives. This produced a chain reaction with the contestants being cautious with the higher amounts and risks on the money ladder.  This has resulted with only person from the first six contestants winning £50,000 (the guy who played Eliminate  and two people being defeated by The Cube and leaving with nothing.

We have also looked into the series averages by contestant winnings. The current contestant average for this series so far is £16,667. Compared to the first three series with £24,769, £26,000 and £24,667 respectfully. As you can see, this is over £8,000 lower compared to the first three series. We also observed that since the £100,000 was won by a member of the public in 2010. There have been thirty contestants who have yet to win six figures. Although Tom Fletcher won £100,000 on a celebrity special earlier this year. Nobody has won £100,000 since the second series in 2010. Given nobody has yet to attempt to beat The Cube by risking £100,000 and the games have become harder at the £1,000 level. It does ask the question why the show has become harder to win. Here are our theories to why this is the case.

The Cube’s longevity

Previous history shows where game shows has a top prize which isn’t easy to win. The ratings start to fall once the top prize has been won for the first time. This applied in 2000 when Judith Keppel win £1 Million on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and in 2007 where Laura Pearce won £250,000 on Deal or No Deal.  By having viewers watching each week, the core viewers won’t turn off until the quarter million has been won. The reverse effect can happen where viewers could switch off as some can become bored if it will never have a top prize winner.

More episodes per year

2011 is the first year ITV aired and comissioned two series of The Cube on the commerical network. The first series aired in Autumn 2009 with the second series airing around the same time. This year we’ve seen the third series airing in the spring with the fourth airing now. Since the network works on a budget. The Cube’s budget could be used two series rather than one.

The Red or Black effect.

On the subject of budgets. Simon Cowell’s Red or Black was annouced in April with the show’s budget ranging from £7 million to £15 million. Since the bulk of ITV’s light entertainment budget was used on the over hyped £1 million game show. This could result in The Cube’s budget being lowered for the latest series.

Someone has beaten The Cube

Like most game shows. The recording order is not the same order that has been shown on television. There is a possibility a contestant on the latest series became the first person to beat The Cube, but it’s yet to be shown. If this is the case, this could lead to the producers deciding to have harder games for lower amounts of money. This method has been used on Who Wants to be A Millionaire? where Ingram Wilcox became the fifth £1 million winner. Once ITV/Celador paid out £1 million, the difficulty of questions was raised for lower amounts of money. The promos on ITV have been asking the viewer “Is this the week someone beat The Cube?” could indicate a big winner is coming. However, Phillip Schofield on twitter has been pretty quiet on the latest series compared to previous series. The third series lead him to tweet to say it was the best series yet but it seems has hasn’t mentioned much on the latest series. Could this mean he is keeping a massive secret or nobody is getting far on the show?

Whether the show has become harder or not. We shall see in the next five shows.