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.

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.

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.

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

[BTW, those were actual lyrics to the "Full House" theme song.]

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.

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.

Expect the game to move faster and have tougher questions earlier on.