World o' Game
Cresus (France, TF1, 2006)

Here he is, the man himself... Cresus!

Cresus was a very famous, very rich king of Lydia (now part of Turkey) who has decided to come back from the dead and give some of his fortune away to lucky and skillful contestants.

Meanwhile, here's some of the theme.

Whilst Cresus introduces our host, here's a crane shot of the very nice studio. As you can see, there's a very large screen underfoot for graphics. At least, we think it's a screen. If it's added in post, then it's very nicely done.

Here's our rather jolly host Vincent Lagaf, whom French people will remember was the host of Le Bigdil, France's answer to Let's Make a Deal.

Lagaf introduces yesterday's returning champion.

And here's Cresus himself!

He will spend the rest of the game on the large screen, bantering with contestants and host.

The person "playing" Cresus is Gilles Vautier.

Five contestants in the circle, and each of them are spotted with 50,000 Euros.

The aim is to hold on to as much as possible, because whatever they have going into the semi-final round is the amount of money they will play for.

Straight into round one, "Le Reponse Masquee" (forgive the lack of accents) - The Hidden Answer.

Before each person gets their first question, Lagaf will do contestant chat.

In series one, this round was known as One Or The Other.

And here is that first question. Which singer married Sean Penn in 1985?

As you can see, they've been given the answer Madonna. The contestant must decide whether to accept the answer they've been given, or take the hidden answer.

Cresus predates Take It Or Leave It.

She sticks with Madonna. Good call, it isn't Nana Mouskouri.

Questions are asked round the circle in sequence.

As is de riguer for TF1 gameshows seemingly, the rounds are punctuated by random bits of music for people to react to.

This contestant has got a question wrong. As you can see, the floor in front of him has turned yellow - this means that his card is marked.

If he gets a second question wrong then he will be forced to duel someone and face possible elimination.

This contestant has transgressed twice. The studio turns red, it's time for a duel!

We're just showing off some of the graphics here. This comes up whilst the contestant chooses who they want to duel.

And she's selected this person here.

He has control over his own destiny, he must pick one of three questions. One is easy, one is medium, one is difficult.

And he's accidentally picked the tough one. This means in theory that Jenny has the best chance of staying alive.

And he gets it wrong!

Thunder and lightning!

As the loser of the duel, he relinquishes his prize stake to the winner.

And with nothing to play for, he's eliminated from the game. Cresus waves him off.

After each round, a score update.

Round two, "Le Cadeau Empoisonne", The Poisoned Gift.

This round was originally entitled Hot Potato

Each person begins the round with their two lives replenished.

As you can see, Lagaf has given the player three answers but with a hidden question. They can choose to take the question themselves, or they can defer to a player of their choosing.

If they take the question themselves and get it right, they don't lose a life. If they get it wrong then they lose a life.

If they give it someone else, and that other contestant gets it wrong then the other contestant loses a life. But if they get it right, the challenger loses.

When someone has lost two lives, again there is a duel and once again there is a loser. Of course, at this point one player will have more money than the others. Duelling them is a risk, but one which might pay off.

Three people left, and it's time for "La Mort Subtite" - Sudden Death.

This round was originally titled Electric Shock.

In this round there is a question with ten possible answers. Nine of them are correct, one is wrong. Each player will take it in turn to pick an answer ("which of these cheeses is made from cows milk?" is the question here).

Whoever picks the one wrong answer must immediately initiate a duel.

If all correct answers are found, furhter questions are asked until a player misses.

And now we're down to the semi-final. As you can see, Francois has amassed 100,000 Euros, whilst Elisabeth has amassed 150,000 Euros. Whoever wins this round will play for their prize in the final.

And the semi-final is a bit like Grand Slam. Both players begin the game with 70 seconds on their clock. Francois, because he has the fewer Euros in his bank, will get the first question.

When Lagaf starts reading the question out, Francois' clock starts ticking down. If he gets it wrong, he gets another question. If he gets it right, his clock stops and Elisabeth's begins. It's a chess clock principle.

Interestingly, the opponent's clock doesn't start immediately, there's a brief pause for Lagaf to catch his breath, the clock doesn't start until announces the name of the contestant. There is no such pause when someone is forced to play on, however.

Because of the multiple choice nature of the quiz, players must wait for the question to finish before answering.

When a player is down to ten seconds, each second is accompanied by a short beep.

When a player is down to four seconds, their clock turns red. This indicates that there wouldn't be enough time for another question, so if they get it wrong at that point then they're stuffed.

Francois now gets to play for 100,000 Euro in the final.

Nice shot of the set.

Francois has joined Lagaf in the middle in a sort of Millionaire set-up.

Here is The Column which everyone gets very excited about.

The object is to get five questions correct and therefore to turn the column green. If he does this, he will win the 100,000 Euro.

Now, we're a bit unsure as to what happens if he doesn't. We think we've read that four answers wins 2,000 Euros and the right to come back the next day, anything else is thankyou but goodbye.

The winning contestant is pitched five multiple choice questions, each one having five possible answers.

The first three questions he gets two attepmts at. If his first answer is correct, it turns green and he moves on.

If his first answer is wrong, he must select a second. Whether he's right or not won't be revealed until the end.

As you can see, not going great at the moment - three questions asked, only one answer definite correct.

The final two questions he must get right straight off the bat - no second chances. He won't find out if they're right until the end, when they go through the missed questions.

Basically, he fails miserably. He gets three.

It's goodbye from them.

And it's goodbye from him.