Congratulations, NBC. You have officially screwed 1 VS 100, which was at one point a fantastic show. You’ve now made it into Who Wants to be a Millionaire + 100 Other People Who Wants to Answer Questions As Well. A Mob member has informed us of some of the rule changes. Gone is the idea of a bounty for each person you eliminate. In comes, you guessed it, a money tree! You get money for every ten people you eliminate now. Here’s how it looks.
10 Mob Members Eliminated = $1,000
20 Mob Members Eliminated = $5,000
30 Mob Members Eliminated = $10,000
40 Mob Members Eliminated = $25,000
50 Mob Members Eliminated = $50,000
60 Mob Members Eliminated = $75,000
70 Mob Members Eliminated = $100,000
80 Mob Members Eliminated = $250,000
90 Mob Members Eliminated = $500,000
All Mob Members Eliminated = $1,000,000
The old Helps survive. Also, if you use all of your helps you then gain Sneak Peek and can see the question, but not the answers. Strike two there. Also, the One can stop any time he or she wants, but obviously doesn’t want to until more than 10 people are gone. Strike three.
I would really love to hear why there was the need for a change. Were there budget issues? Just knock the dollar values in half like Australia’s version does. Did they want more people to risk money? Yet again, knock the dollar values in half. Was there that big of an ordeal last season? I feel awful for the Mob members. They aren’t going to get anything decent until at least 70 are gone.
Here’s what irritates me about all of this. It’s time for a BuzzerBlog Flashback. Look at this link. They had these exact rules back in July 2006 during trial runs of the game, just going by 5’s except 10’s at the end. They didn’t think it worked then and changed to the format we used to have. You know, the good one. Why did they feel the need to go back to the format that didn’t work?
I hate to throw in an advertisement, but I’d buy the 1 VS 100 electronic games just so you can relive the good edition of the show. I really gave Endemol credit for the show, as it was a challenging, interesting, and relatively different show. The show has now become Millionaire with the main player having 100 people facing him or her. It’s actually rather stunning that they messed it up. I applaud Endemol for doing something few rarely do: they managed to screw up a once popular, critically acclaimed, and all-around good show into this. Will it work in real life? According to our Mob member it did not work nearly as well as the last format did. You’ll have to watch on January 4th to judge for yourself.
46 Responses
The Great Butler
1December 8th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I weep tonight for this show.
Wheelloon
2December 8th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I haven’t felt like this since I heard Greed was cancelled.
1 of only 2 network primetime shows I watch (the other being Po10), and it gets screwed with. They dumbed it down, pure and simple, when they had no reason or incentive to do so. What happens if a person with 48 mob members left knocks out 7 in the next round? They get no reward? They get no more money? They get the same amount they did as if they had stopped the last question?? STUPID!
Great job NBC, you just pissed me off. Not even bringing Gladiators back redeems this one… >:(
Scott Meckley
3December 8th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I liked the way it was too. This change is a bad move and I smell a quick cancellation I hope I’m wrong. If they wanted to make a money tree why not make it every 5 you knock out here is how mine would look
5 eliminated mob members- $500
10 eliminated mob members- $1,000
15 eliminated mob members- $2,500
20 eliminated mob members- $5,000
25 eliminated mob members- $10,000
30 eliminated mob members- $15,000
35 eliminated mob members- $20,000
40 eliminated mob members- $25,000
45 eliminated mob members- $50,000
50 eliminated mob members- $100,000
55 eliminated mob members- $150,000
60 eliminated mob members- $200,000
65 eliminated mob members- $250,000
70 eliminated mob members- $300,000
75 eliminated mob members- $350,000
80 eliminated mob members- $400,000
85 eliminated mob members- $450,000
90 eliminated mob members- $500,000
95 eliminated mob members- $750,000
all 100 eliminated mob members- $1,000,000
again I think they should have left the format alone this time but would you rather have my money bank or the one they have. It might get harder after you knocked out about 60 or more but winning $200,000 after knocking sixty would be tight. If they want to change a format why not have an escape for the $300,000 and on (meaning that if you lock in an answer but then doubt it you can push an escape button but it would cost you $50,000 to escape
Mike B.
4December 9th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Kinda funny how they’re starting to get DoND right (or at least as close to right as possible), and now they’re messing up 1 vs. 100. I honestly think they’re just trying to kill this show. I wouldn’t expect it to survive after this season.
Adam
5December 9th, 2007 at 12:21 am
May I ask NBC why those retards keep on changing the money structure?
Adam
6December 9th, 2007 at 12:44 am
I’m back again, and Buzzerblog, just for you and every other fan of 1 vs. 100, including myself, I have e-mailed NBC, this complaint:
Dear sir or madam,
I love 1 vs. 100 on NBC, but I am a little bit upset by your efforts to get the show off the air. I read somewhere on the Internet that you’re changing the money tree yet again. May I ask why couldn’t you have keep the money tree the way it was?
Last season, You asked three questions at $1,000 a mob member, then two questions, at $2,000 a mob member, then one at $3,000, $4,000, and so on. This season, money is only awarded for every 10 mob members eliminated. What were you thinking when you decided to make this god-awful change? Is there any way to change it back to the way it was?
dropzone5
7December 9th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Why, why, why?????? It’s such a successful show, and they screw it up even more. Dumb, dumb, DUMB!!!
They’ve already made too many changes to the money tree. Why do they need another one?! The Mob is getting the short end of the stick AGAIN, even worse than the standard format! When will they EVER get this right (or will they)?
Whatever happened to the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?
The days of 1 vs. 100 are numbered…
JohnGoodman
8December 9th, 2007 at 1:39 am
I wouldn’t worry about this, folks. They’ll probably change the money tree AGAIN if it gets pickd up for another season.
K.C.
9December 9th, 2007 at 3:04 am
What a shame… reminds me of the Trivia Trap format change. A great and high-rated show, unnecissarily gone to crap.
If they’re gonna go with a format like that, they oughta make it so that the contestant isn’t allowed to stop until they’ve gotten to the next money level. If anything, it’d add some extra drama.
Ben
10December 9th, 2007 at 3:33 am
I don’t like it. That said, I would have liked it when I was in the mob last season. Our “1″ lost with 19 of us left. At the time we each won around $4500. With the new rules, we each would have gotten over $13,000. But at the $250,000 level, the incentive to quit would be more compelling. I agree with everybody else. Why do people have to change a good formula. It reminds me of when NBC brought back 21, and afer about three weeks, slashed the prize money that could be won. It was just so awkward. The next change: The “1″ will have to match each member of the mob with his/her identity. Seriously, I still wish the show success, and maybe they will see the error of their ways.
Jordan Hass
11December 9th, 2007 at 3:55 am
Hey look over there…
Could it be?
It is…
ITS THE SHARK!
—
I liked the
3 questions @ 1K
2 @ 2 K
1 @ 3K
and so on up til $10,000.
But seeing a tree on something like this, makes me feel sick inside, the only 2 shows that pulled off the money tree were Power of 10 and 5th Grader (Millionaire did back when the 2nd Safe Haven was $32,000 to keep with the “Double Up” format)
ENDEMOL SHAME ON YOU!
I feel very sad for the mob, I wish they were a paid mob, like for every question they get $100 or something. It just pains me to see them always get nothing, except for maybe 4-5 of them and the contestant blows it.
—
And as for Ben…
Don’t forget the new helps for the episode.
-Poll The Mob
-Peak at the Mob’s Paper
-Ask The Experts
and
-Switch The Question
—
1 vs 100 just needs to stick with something and fast!
Can’t Wait to see the “FIVE AMERICAN GLADIATORS!”
(100 suitcases is next)
DXSSI
12December 9th, 2007 at 4:24 am
I guess I’m the exception here; I don’t mind the money tree. I think it’s stupid that they keep changing it, but other than that I have no serious issues.
One annoyance is that with money trickling in at a constant rate, it creates an absolute number of possible payouts to The Mob (i.e. The One loses with 44 Mob members remaining, Mob members get $1136.36, which will be the same every time.) I used to have fun calculating how much each remaining Mob member would get if The One were to miss the next question, but that won’t happen anymore. Not that big of a deal.
I strongly suspect this must have been the result of test-marketing which concluded that the old structure was “too difficult” for people to follow along with at home (never mind the fact that it always carefully explained. People are just dumb.) This, love it or hate it, is much simpler.
Personally, I’d have preferred a 101-level money tree that rewards for every Mob member eliminated. It would start at $1 automatically, so that if the contestant loses on the very first question, every Mob member is entitled to at least a penny. Just because it would be fun.
I wonder what happens to The Mob if The One tanks before reaching 10 eliminations. Nothing divided by anything is nothing… what happened with the old tree if The One lost without eliminating any Mob members? It will probably be the same here.
I really don’t think this will hurt ratings at all; if ratings tank I’d be more likely to blame it on the show no longer being new/people forgetting it ever existed, or being put up against something else popular.
JohnGoodman
13December 9th, 2007 at 5:06 am
I’m on the same boat as DXSSI. Sure, I prefer the old “money tree,” but I’d still gladly watch this over DOND, Identity, 5th Grader, Singing Bee, Lyrics, Show Me the Money, National Bingo Night, and probably Moment of Truth and Amnesia.
KBGUY09
14December 9th, 2007 at 8:22 am
I cant believe they did this. RIP 1 vs 100.
Marc Power
15December 9th, 2007 at 10:03 am
IT MAKES NO SENSE! 1 vs. 100 was a show that was one of the top-rated shows on Friday, constantly doing better and better, making NBC a fortune and now it’s like their saying “we don’t wanna be rich anymore” HUH? It reminds of FOX constantly changing Family Guy’s timeslot in it’s first 3 seasons and canceling an incredibly popular show only to bring it back 3 years later by popular demand and now they’ve finally given it a permanent time slot at a decent hour and it’s doing great.
Did NBC order this change or did endemol, If NBC did and the show gets canceled, if I were endemol I’d sue.
speaking of changes, I’d settle for something like 4 questions @ $500, 3 @ $1,000 2 @ $1,500 and 1 @ $2,000 and knock the grand prize down to $500,000.
If it we’re my call: I’d do the above, I’d keep the sneak peek but it costs the player half of their money and they only see half of the question eg. “which of these presidents……” and the question would later complete with eg. “was the oldest elected?”. One little twist I’d at least consider for an occasionally event. is “the bounty” The contestant randomly chooses a number from 1-100 once and if they elimanate that mob member the 1’s winnings in that round double, if the mob member survives and the mob wins then their winnings (just that mob member) are doubled.
D
16December 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I don’t get why production companies continue to mess with something that already works. I’ll never understand it. I thought 1 vs. 100 was just great the way it was!
Neville
17December 9th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Marc Power - Who’s going to give up half of their winnings to see the first half of a potentially misleading question with the traditional 1 v. 100 style answers (eg, with what you wrote, ‘One born in Illinois,’ One born in New York,’ or ‘One born in Ohio.’) To be honest with you, that’s just like the question style on Show Me the Money, an aspect of that show that I enjoyed. But honestly - if you had $100,000, would you give up $50,000 to see the first half of such a question knowing that it would be extremely vague? I sure as heck wouldn’t!
To be honest with you guys, as much as I like 1 v. 100 (which is a good amount,) I think I’d rather see them switch to just doing the ‘Last Man Standing’ format they did for $250,000, except they wouldn’t need to make it worth so much. This way we wouldn’t have to worry about ‘Helps’ or ‘Payouts’ or any of that other nonsense being tweaked. Of, course, maybe that could be its own show by itself! :)
Mike
18December 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I don’t get the doom and gloom attitudes around here. You guys are considering the show dead when all any of us have likely seen is a 30-second commercial.
Everybody is talking about how the bottom end of the ladder is horrible. I agree that it sucks and that mob members are getting the shaft big time on the lower end of the ladder. What I don’t like and hasn’t been mentioned yet is that this money ladder is too top-heavy. We saw one person, maybe two at most, get down to a single number of mob members last season and they had nowhere near $500,000. IIRC, one person’s total was barely half that. Potentially knocking out 9 mob members and not earning money for it doesn’t sit well with me either.
I always liked how the Dutch handled scoring on Een Tegen 100: For each question, the one earns €50,000 x the percent of incorrect mob members, and there is no option to stop. As anybody who saw the Talpa/Tien stream or archived shows can attest, it makes for an edge-of-your-seat show which is also fun. Since the mathematical maximum a person can win under this format is just over €250,000; one way to adjust it for the states is make each question worth $250,000 x % of wrong mob members. The most anybody could win is a hair over $1.3M (and that’s if and only if one member is knocked out per round), plus a one-on-one battle for the final $250,000 and a payout in the $800,000 to $1.2M range would create great natural drama.
If you guys don’t like the new ladder, there are 6 home versions of 1 vs. 100 which can entertain you under the old rules. (Seven, if you count the handheld, but I haven’t seen any listings for it besides here.) Good luck finding the Jakks Plug & Play game; I’ve seen exactly one copy of it (at Target) and I snagged it as fast as I could because it’s that hard to find, plus it was only $10. It’s also the best 1 vs. 100 home version, IMO.
Neville
19December 9th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Mike, I think you’ve just hit the nail on the head. I think stopping letting people walk away would definitely make for a much fairer game for the mob and would heighten tension and suspense the real way (not by going to commercial breaks.) I also thought it was unfair that the one could walk away but the mob couldn’t. I see either let both walk (I don’t know how) neither walk (like this or Last Man Standing) or make the one walk at a severe price (50%? 75%?)
Just a thought - 1% of the mob answering incorrectly adds $2,500 to the pot. Would there be anything wrong with adding $1,000 to the pot for an answer that no one misses at a low level, and more at a higher level? I understand the want to keep the dollar values low, but if it came down to one on one, I think it would be good to see the jackpot go up for each question they both get right.
However, the one thing I don’t like about this format is that it increases the chance of everyone walking away emptyhanded (since the one can’t quit)
M.S.
20December 9th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
These new rules sound very disappointing. I liked the way the show was done last year. I suspect more players might walk away at the later levels if they don’t expect to knock out at least 10 people because otherwise they would lose without gaining any money. Also, consdering that many players knock out half the Mob on the first few questions makes it seem like a lot of the levels will be covered too quickly, whereas on the old show, players could earn money on each question. On Millionaire, players get to see the question, and if they answer it, they’re guaranteed a set amount of money, and still many people walk away. Here, they don’t get a chance to see the question, for which they may or may not add any money — seems like players are more likely to walk away and not go on to the upper levels. Plus, for those who said 1 vs 100 was too much like Millionaire, now there’s no doubt they’re right.
Hopefully my pessimism is unfounded. If that’s not the case, maybe they’ll revert the rules back to the way they were during the last run of episodes.
MrQuiz
21December 9th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I remember when TWENTY ONE was brought back almost eight years ago, and despite the fact that it was always in the Nielsen Top 20, the mucky-mucks (Garth Ancier, in particular)reputedly did all they could to kill this show, and eventually succeeded. He, and Scott Sassa have since left NBC, but it almost makes you wonder if their mentalities have remained with the Peacock Network (in case you ever wondered, a peacock is little more than a chicken with an ego -LOL).
andrew b
22December 9th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
wow, this is great…it loses a bit of originality, but seriously, how many $500,000 winners have we had? ZERO.
why:
ONE: with $267,000 in play and only 9 members left, who’s going to risk the whole thing for an extra $24,000?
TWO: mob members miss ridiculously easy questions, and often there will be a question that takes out 20+ members. before you even get to the $5K level, your biggest prize without winning the 1M has gone down from $990K to $470K.
there are flaws, though, and the biggest is this: when you reach the 500K, no one is going to risk the whole thing when the only way to get more is to plod through 7 questions without missing anything. drop the top end of the tree down a bit, raise the lower end, and add a $25K bounty for the last 10 ONLY.
Adam
23December 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Somebody better create an online petition to brink back the original money tree, before it’s too late.
Nikolai
24December 9th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I couldn’t even bear to watch a full episode even when I was in the hospital for surgery about a year ago. It was okay, but I don’t know about this. I still havn’t watched any of this show since then, and now after this, NBC may as well cancel the show right now.
andrew b
25December 9th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
i think the best idea is to combine them like this:
the base total is determined by the number of mob members are gone. each mob member is worth, first the lowest value, then the middle value, then the last value, depending on the number of questions answered correctly within the same bracket.
this is what i came up with:
first 10 members gone = $1,000 + (50, 100, 200) per member
11 to 20 = $2,500 + (100, 200, 300) per member
21 to 30 = $5,000 + (250, 500, 1K) per member
31 to 40 = $10,000 + (500, 750, 1,250) per member
41 to 50 = $25,000 + (750, 1,250, 1,750) per member
51 to 60 = $50,000 + (1K, 2K, 3K) per member
61 to 70 = $75,000 + (1.5K, 2.5K, 4K) per member
71 to 80 = $100,000 + (2K, 4K, 6K) per member
81 to 90 = $250,000 + (2.5K, 5K, 7.5K) per member
91 to 100 = $500,000 + (5K, 10K, 25K) per member
VICTORY = $1,000,000 + the money earned from each member
notice that the 100th member is worth money in addition to the $1M.
so, if you add it up, the contestant could win up to $1,500,000.
members that spill over into the next bracket are worth the maximum, but are not awarded unless the contestant can reach the succeeding bracket.
Donald Pedersen
26December 9th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
UN-Freakin believable. There has GOT to be somebody at NBC that needs to get fired for this. Remember how they murdered Weakest Link daytime when they changed the rules about the final vote off and stuff? Even the prime time Link died when it would just do themed episodes. Celebrity editions, Pageant Queens, Look alikes, Teen, etc. etc. etc.
1 vs 100 became my favorite show all last year and that brief moment in 2006. I bought the mobile game, I put the other versions on my xmas list. I’m obsessed with the show and I know once I watch it next month, I will hate it. It truly makes no sense to change a format that was a brilliant format and then rape it like that.
If it survives, what will they do for a third season? Add a new help called “Trade the question?” Cause you know you cant say “Switch the Question.” That’s Merediths thing.
Devon
27December 9th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
That’s it. I’m officially going to go sit in a dark corner, turn emo and then cry myself to sleep after reading this.
Mike
28December 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
An online petition? No, no, a thousand times no. Do you really think an online petition will do squat? I’m losing brain cells wondering why anybody would think an online petition is a worthwhile move.
Why are we pointing the finger at NBC? Who said this isn’t an Endemol move? If I was NBC, who should be more than content with the ratings on a Friday night, I wouldn’t want to change a single thing.
Again, let’s wait and see instead of playing the blame game and calling the show all but dead.
Damion
29December 9th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
They just pulled a FremantleMedia here. I don’t think that the show will last under the new format. Hats off to andrew b for a possible new money tree. Although I don’t get it, it sounds interesting. I’ll still watch the show, but I don’t know how long the show will last. It’s like the show is on life support.
Brad D.
30December 9th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
This is an example of the classic “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” rule. Goodness why did they do it? The format was one of the best of recent game shows and one of the few recent game shows to not follow suit of having a money ladder. Oh well… like the article said, I wouldn’t be surprised if this get canned after this season. This change reminds me of the big change they made to “play the percentages”, taking a great format and turning it into crap.
Jordan
31December 9th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I am probably one of the biggest fans of 1 vs. 100; I never got tired of watching the reruns on CNBC and NBC. It strayed from the current trend of game shows because it lacks luck, and relies more on wits. After six episodes, they created a third money ladder, which was great - they had finally found a niche where the money was good (Barry who won $343,000, and people who lose big as well, and moderate wins of around $160,000), just like Deal or No Deal.
Why they decided to change the money ladder again is puzzling, and to a different format makes it less exciting. Let’s do a little compare and contrast, with a sample game:
Round 1: First 3 questions - 23 eliminated x $1,000= $23,000 (old format), $5,000(new format: 23 eliminated)
Round 2: Next 2 questions - 26 eliminated x $2,000 = $52,000 [$75,000 total (old format)], $25,000 (new format: 49 people removed)
Round 3: Next 1 question - 17 eliminated x $3,000 = $51,000 [$126,000 total (old format)], $75,000 (new format: 66 people removed)
Round 4: Next question - 8 eliminated x $4,000 = $32,000 [$158,000 total (old format)], $100,000 (new format: 74 people removed)
Round 5: Next question - 8 eliminated x $5,000 = $40,000 [$198,000 total (old format)], $250,000 (new format: 82 people eliminated)
I see what they’re getting at: the money doesn’t add up quick in the beginning with the new format (and not to mention it’s fixed now, which sucks), but surpasses the old ladder after about 8 questions (remember this was just an example). This will now force the player to most likely risk what they have.
Do we even know if this is a permanent change for this season? I mean it says “a Mob member has informed us of some of the rule changes.” Do we know what show he is on? If it was the first aired one, maybe it changed on a later episode. Anyway, I will still watch this season, and hope that the old money ladder returns.
Antony Blalock
32December 9th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Playmania all over again. :(
KBGUY09
33December 10th, 2007 at 7:22 am
That’s what I was thinking, Antony.
Scott
34December 10th, 2007 at 10:33 am
It makes no sense to have home games that refect the “old” rules then to change the rules on the upcoming season. Frankly, the new online rules ($100, $500, $1000, $2000, $3000, etc.) seem better than the new system. I think they want to focus on money for knocking out more mob members, else why the sneak peek after you have used all your helps? In that sense I see what they are up to. But it seems unfair that you score nothing for knocking out as many as 9 mob members on a question (though conceiveably a big hit could catapult you up the ladder quickly).
Expect the game to move faster and have tougher questions earlier on.
andrew b
35December 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
they’ve tried to make it easier to win it, and it is now much tougher than the old one (not to say the old one was easy!)
Devon
36December 10th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I’ll be honest. I’ll check this new system out but I’m sure the inner voice inside the contestants will be screaming obsenities like “What?! That’s all the f-ing money I get? This game sucks now.” lol
mtc32
37December 10th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
As much as this change bothers you all, it would probably benefit the fact that it would be less likely for a person to bail out early.
On a typical episode a player would have $250,000 and about 15 people left. If the person was at the $7,000 question, they would be risking $250,000 to win about $35,000 more assuming 5 people get it wrong.
My point is that players bail out too soon because they get to a point where the risk is too high versus the reward. Although it has not happened, it is very likely that if a player was down to 5 mob members, it would likely take about 5 questions to eliminate them all and not just 2 or 3. The rewards would be small compared to the amount in the pot in either scenario. I was curious to see how long it took for a real game to finish if a person went all the way. If anyone has seen the dutch version, how accurate am I with the number of questions needed to eliminate the last few people?
As much as I would like to see someone go all the way, I doubt it will happen under any money ladder except if the dollar amounts are very small and the final reward is large.
Scott Meckley
38December 10th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
I haven’t seen the plug in and play version anywhere and i would love to play that version. I also thought of a second money tree and my escape idea still implies after 70 eliminated you can hit an escape button but cost you $50,000 if you think you have the wrong answer after you locked in. here is my second money tree idea ( which i wish NBC would do either of my money tree)
5 eliminated- $500
10 eliminated- $1,000
15 eliminated- $1,500
20 eliminated- $2,000
25 eliminated- $2,500
30 eliminated- $5,000
35 eliminated- $7,500
40 eliminated- $10,000
45 eliminated- $25,000
50 eliminated- $50,000
55 eliminated- $75,000
60 eliminated- $100,000
65 eliminated- $150,000
70 eliminated - $200,000
75 eliminated- $250,000
80 eliminated- $300,000
85 eliminated- $350,000
90 eliminated- $400,000
95 eliminated- $500,000
100 eliminated- $1,000,000
I think in some ways this money tree is somewhat better granted you dont’ win six figures until you knock out 60 but the money is pretty good after 60. I think people will risk more and it will almost be easy to win money after each question if they did it by every five which would keep my interest and probably the interest of others. Granted my 50 is the same as theres but I would like to see people risk more but not the way that either NBC or endemol is suggesting. I am not sure who made the new change whether it be NBC or Endemol but could be a bad move.
l.e.
39December 10th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Just change the money chain to new randomly generated numbers on each episode. :P
Greg
40December 10th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
“Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, and evening TV?”
[BTW, those were actual lyrics to the "Full House" theme song.]
Eric
41December 10th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
To quote comic book guy from the Simpson’s “Worst Decision Ever.” If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Noone was ever going to win the $1,000,000 on this show anyway unless they get really lucky or get a really dumb mob.
Mike
42December 10th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Scott M. gets it. I’m not a fan of the 20-tiered money ladder but Scott makes it look so good. The 10-fold leap from 40 eliminated to 60 eliminated irks me for some reason. Also, the growth is a little too slow for my taste and probably for the home audience as well. Other than that, perfect.
Modifying Scott’s ladder a smidge…
5 eliminated- $500
10 eliminated- $1,000
15 eliminated- $2,000
20 eliminated- $3,000
25 eliminated- $4,000
30 eliminated- $5,000
35 eliminated- $10,000
40 eliminated- $15,000
45 eliminated- $20,000
50 eliminated- $30,000
55 eliminated- $50,000
60 eliminated- $75,000
65 eliminated- $100,000
70 eliminated- $150,000
75 eliminated- $200,000
80 eliminated- $250,000
85 eliminated- $300,000
90 eliminated- $400,000
95 eliminated- $500,000
100 eliminated- $1,000,000
David Howell
43December 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Mike’s got the idea with the Dutch style. I do think an option to quit helps, but I also think the Mob deserve a fairer shake.
Here’s what I’d do - Dutch formula, with the base value at $100,000, value-per-member-eliminated rounded down to the nearest $1. The three ‘escapes/dodges’ are all set to 50% (as per the UK), and that money goes to all Mob members who are correct on the ‘dodged’ question.
Once all three dodges have been used, and ONLY once all three dodges have been used, you can quit at any time. If you lose, the remaining Mob members do of course get your money; if you win, you gain an additional $1m on top of your existing total (thus distinguishing the show from every other million-dollar show).
Let’s do a theoretical game, based on that posted earlier by Jordan but done by each question (I’ve cooked up some numbers to split the 3/2Q rounds).
Question 1: 3 wrong * $1,000 per elimination = $3,000, 1 vs 97 - Q2 worth $1,030/elimination
Question 2: 9 wrong * $1,030 = $9,270, total $12,270, 1 vs 88 - Q3 worth $1,136/elimination
Question 3: 10 wrong * $1,136 = $11,360, total $23,630, 1 vs 78 - Q4 worth $1,282/elimination
Question 4: ESCAPE USED, 19 wrong - no money, total halved to $11,815, 1 vs 59 - Q5 worth $1,694/elimination.
(59 surviving mob members at this point split $11,815 - $200.25 each)
Question 5: 7 wrong * $1,694 = $11,858, total $23,673, 1 vs 52 - Q6 worth $1,923/elimination
Question 6: 17 wrong * $1,923 = $32,691, total $56,364, 1 vs 35 - Q7 worth $2,857/elimination
Question 7: ESCAPE USED, 8 wrong - no money, total halved to $28,182, 1 vs 27 - Q8 worth $3,703/elimination
(27 surviving mob members at this point split $28,182 - $1,043.77 each, total $1,244.02)
Question 8: ESCAPE USED, 8 wrong - no money, total halved to $14,091, 1 vs 19 - Q9 worth $5,263/elimination
(19 surviving mob members at this point split $14,091 - $741.63 each, total $1,985.65)
Player chooses not to walk at $14,091
Question 9: 6 wrong * $5,263 = $31,578, total $45,669, 1 vs 13 - Q10 worth $7,692/elimination
And on it goes. The money is very much concentrated at the end, so the risks and rewards are always growing, as they should; the Mob gets much more money; and the actual amount paid out is always the grand total accumulated during the game sans escapes, which for a game without a $1m payout can never be more than about $500k and in practice will be rather less.
Jane Doe
44December 14th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Give it a chance - watch the first couple of episodes before you make a definitive conclusion. The new format encourages contestants to risk money (if they’ve eliminated 78 mob members, all they have to do is eliminate two more before they reach the next rung in the prize ladder.) It seems so easy to just kick off two small people, so guess what? They risk it. I think the biggest problem in the first season was that the 1 contestants were too conservative. I was a mob member first season and ended up winning just under $4000, so I’m not complaining about the old format. I just know that this new format has tremendous opportunity for some exciting game play. (And I’m just going to leave it at that! ;) )
Haterade
45December 17th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I actually like the new structure. It promises a top-heavy payout. To be quite honest, I was getting sick of people knocking off 30-40 members of the mob and havnig the chance to quit with $100,000+. In order to win the money, you actually have to earn it. I don’t have a problem with the extra helps either, as that will tease the player to keep going and can make the answers even more devious.
The only think I would like to see is a bailout that forces the contestant to give back 50% of their winnings to the mob if they quit. Other than that, I look forawrd to seeing it in January.
G.
Haterade
46December 17th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I actually like the new structure. It promises a top-heavy payout. To be quite honest, I was getting sick of people knocking off 30-40 members of the mob and havnig the chance to quit with $100,000+. In order to win the money, you actually have to earn it. I don’t have a problem with the extra helps either, as that will tease the player to keep going and can make the answers even more devious.
The only think I would like to see is a bailout that forces the contestant to give back 50% of their winnings to the mob if they quit. Other than that, I look forward to seeing it in January.
G.
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