We have some information on ABC’s new game show Duel thanks to the amazing people at Bother’s Bar. Specifically Tom H. who posted a preview of the British version. It looks like an extremely fun show, which is more than can be said for 75% of the shows recently. Take a look at Bother’s Bar or below.
More details leaking through on the particularities of the format of ITV1’s Duel (which will air on Saturday nights in the spring): pairs of players will face each other in a gladiatorial arena, separated by a partially-obscuring partition in the centre - each player is given 10 chips. They will then be given Millionaire-style ABCD multiple-choice questions, and must make sure they have their chip on the right answer (so if they don’t know, they have to place a chip on all four options). All chips on wrong answers are lost, so you’re at an obvious disadvantage if you don’t know the answers to questions - and one wrong answer eliminates you from the game. The winner chooses either to stay or to leave for a fee - five consecutive victories wins the jackpot of a base £100,000 but increases with each chip eliminated from the game, and has no ceiling.
What do you all think? Personally, I’m looking forward to the show more than I was before.
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Why do you need ten chips if you can only use them up to cover all answers, which just comes out to doing it three times? Why not just say you can only do it three times? Ow, my brain.
What would make more sense to me is you can use anywhere from one to four chips on answers, so if you place chips on just two answers, you lose one chip, and now you have more flexibility and more strategy from more choices.
I think that IS how it’s going to work actually. But we’ll have to see I guess.
This could be interesting, I hope it works out well. With it going to ABC and ITV I’m not convinced though.
I agree with DH, the point (maybe poorly stated by Alex) is, if you have NO idea on a question, you’ll have to play all 4, and lose 3 chips (if you have 4 chips left to use) to stay in the game.
Hopefully, even if you don’t know an answer for sure, you’ll be able to get it down to 3 or 2 options for sure, and only lose 1-2 chips.
It’s an interesting way to play, since, the game can change on both players not knowing the answer, but, one player knowing more answers that were wrong than his opponent (and therefore losing less chips).
Strategy and knowledge, soemthing rarely seen in a network game show these days. I love it already, but I’m worried that people will comaplin it’s too difficult to understand.
Sounds interesting
I’m banking on 3 years in prime time and sadly a modified crappy syndicated version
I like the strategy behind the show…as long as ABC doesn’t feel the need to dumb down the show. I love a good strategic game show.
LIKE IT…seems like a simplified yet at the same time more strategic version of twenty one which i thought was a great format that well we know bout the 50s version and the povich version had way too much money for too little work. this has the one on one without knowing what your opponent was doing that was the REAL draw of twenty one…i can see some chess here but i agree its too easy to cover all your bets if you dont know the answer…should max out your picks at 3 choices. That would solve the problem no questions asked. Thats the only major flaw…Ive always liked the king of the mountain idea which never was fully used except in 21…jackpot had no system for someone to take the money and run and hollywood showdown you could just reenter the pool and try again. This puts an emphasis on risk vs reward. This can work really well IF produced right…then again after 1 vs 100 i wont bet on ANYTHING lasting thanks to TV folks not knowing a good thing when they see it.
Uh glenn, historically we DO know a good thing when we see it on TV!
Also, 1 vs. 100 is STILL ON, and TAPING NEW EPISODES as we speak! Oy.
Back to Duel though, I like this format a lot, it’s a game that makes you think in more ways than just from a knowledge standpoint.
Somehow, this idea just jives right with me. I could see this working out quite well. Especially if you start to see duels with two players who both know their trivia, and the going gets more tense as the game stretches out longer. If it’s played out correctly, I could see the audience (and myself) on the edge of their/our seats waiting to see who will be first to put down more than one chip, then the beads of sweat on the guy who did, and the smirk on the guy who didn’t. All I ask is that ABC doesn’t blow it. (What? It’s not like we haven’t seen a history of this sort of thing happening.)
Now to stretch the topic a bit beyond its normal bounds, I think the thing that appeals to me the most about this format is that it’s a head-to-head game, but instead of relying on the usual grounds of “first to miss a question” or the chess clock principle (say, “Grand Slam”), the format relies on not how much a player knows, but how little they don’t know. In other words, there’s a bit of wiggle room. Like davec pointed out, even if you don’t know the answer to a question, you can still gain some merit by losing less chips by getting rid of answers you know are bunk. There’s ten inches of wiggle room given to each contestant, and the first to wiggle too far…
I think this sound like an exciting show. I read somewhere that there is going to be a 10 episode run of this show. might i suggest a two week run before settling to once or twice a week. If the right host is selected and the set and the game is done right this could be a hit game for ABC. This show if done right could be something that I am hooked on like i am on Deal or No Deal and 1 vs 100. A trivia game with some strategy. I’m thinking Tom Bergeron for host would be a good host. This may be the first show on ABC that i actually like since According to Jim and the first gameshow since Millionaire. I did enjoy the play at home factor for National Bingo Night but wasn’t a great show. I was disappointed that ABC didn’t pick up PokerFace which i think would have been a great show. I hope this show end up being awesome since i love gameshows but i wasn’t happy with Show Me The Money except the ladies of course and National Bingo Night. I didn’t see Set for Life so I really couldn’t judge that show. Hope Duel is on for two weeks Mon-Fri at 8/7 central. Midseason maybe or even around April to get a show to watch in the summer. I think to prevent burnout too ABC should only run this twice a week if done well after 10 episodes.
Sounds pretty interesting, though I’m still mad at ABC for never giving The Con Test a shot. My only worry it’s on ABC, and quite frankly, who watches ABC for game shows. Because of this, I doubt it will garner any type of audience. But kudos to NBC for not settling with another Deal or No Deal derivative, though again, I do worry that they will try to make it fit their idea of todays gameshow audience(which I doubt they think is very intelegent).
If ABC are smart, they’ll see the failure of Bingo Night (except, I have to report, in gambling-mad Australia, where it debuted last week and only went and won the night) and Show Me the Money (it’s DoND with trivia! How can it fail? Oh.) and the loyal following of 1 vs 100 (one of the more popular primetime games of this wave, in a worse slot than any of the others) and decide that actually, a properly smart game show could well be worth a shot.
PokerFace/ConTest would have been a good call, I’d probably have used it either in a week-long strip like the first UK series or across the last seven weeks of the summer season to drag in eyeballs to plug the fall season at.
Well, like I said before. Maybe ABC saw the err of it’s game show ways last year with SMTM and SFL (I bet you that Jimmy Kimmel will forever deny that show’s existence for the rest of his career, and who can blame him) and is getting back to what brought them to the dance, so to speak. Smart, big money shows that involve strategy and intelligence. Oh, and I would like to point out that the game show viewing audience is intelligent, because we/they know what makes a GOOD show. Heck, we DIDN’T watch SMTM, SFL, or NBN (although, it’s still getting another run because of online hits), what does that tell you? Don’t insult us with shows like that. Thing is, SMTM had potential if it was done better.
But, in any event, the trend is turning towards smarter shows for the most part, and that’s a good thing!
Also, since Pokerface was mentioned I thought you might want to see this news post from GSNN last week……
“From CBS PR Posted 10/17/07
A major television network presents a new game show featuring shrewd competitors who can outsmart their opponents with strategy, intellect, and skill. Are you a trivia buff who can stare down an opponent with the clock ticking? Do you have what it takes to react quickly under pressure? Are you a confident, charismatic game lover who knows how to outsmart your competitor? If so, we want you to be a part of a brand new television event, where you’ll have the chance to win a huge jackpot.”
I wonder, could THIS be Pokerface…….or is it another show that hasn’t been named yet?
Intelligentfan777, if I didn’t know any better, from the decription of “Are you a trivia buff who can stare down an opponent with the clock ticking? Do you have what it takes to react quickly under pressure?”, I’d guess they were taking “Grand Slam” and making it a regular show.
This is for Duel. It may be from CBS press, but it’s for Duel. Or maybe they got it wrong, who knows. But this is for Duel, I can confirm.
This show sounds fun. My daughter was selected to be a contestent.
She’ll be sequestered and under the care of a chaperone the whole time.
No phones or internet. Just her in a hotel room. Her name’s Emily.
Wish her luck!!