Well it is fair to say this has been rather heavily reformatted:
- Kay hosts, big screen at the middle back of the stage, contestant podium on the stage left, big fishbowl in the centre, stage right is a desk where all the money balls (on rasing and lowering platforms) and danger balls pop out.
- Alright. A situation is set-up somewhere – who will sit between two scary looking men? Who will pick a bit of litter off the floor? That sort of thing. When someone apparently at random performs the action, Vernon Kay pops up on a nearby advertising screen to talk to them. They are made an offer: take £100 now (someone apparently is shown doing this) or come to the studio later to play for a possible £100,000. If they come to the studio they’re allowed to pick a partner to come with them. I don’t know how set-up the pilot was, but one couple wouldn’t have fallen inside the key demo.
- To begin, Kay puts a money ball worth £100 into the big fishbowl in the middle – the comparison with Goldenballs is unescapable, although these balls unscrew rather than snap open. However Kay also adds a Kill… I mean red Danger Ball into the fishbowl as well. Balls will be added to this bowl throughout the course of the game.
- In each round the contestants get a choice of two categories. The questions are mainly celebrity and pop culture with some general knowledge thrown in.
- In round one there is one question and one money ball at stake. This is always a picture quiz where they must pick one correct answer from three given options, such as guessing which of the three actors shown is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son or knowing what colour eyes the Queen has.
- A correct answer adds a money ball to the fishbowl (which we’ll just call the pot from hereonin). There are 13 other money balls (from memory £200, £300, £400, £500, £1k, £1.5k, £2k, £3k, £5k, £10k, £15k, £20k, and £50k) on numbered stands, they pick a ball, Vernon reveals what it is and it’s plonked in the pot.
- A wrong answer adds a Danger Ball to the pot. These roll out of the centre of the desk. You obviously want to avoid these.
- Round two is three questions for three balls, and works on the Play Your Cards Right higher or lower than the previous thing principle. Tonight this included the value of the world’s richest men, the cost of various projects, and the lenghts of celebrity marriages. The balls are all picked at the end of the round.
- Round three is the final round and it’s worth five balls for five questions. Straight fifty-fifty choices (which of these animals is native to Africa, out of each pair of celebs which is older, that sort of thing). Add the balls.
- And now it’s time for the final. There will be 11 balls in the pot both bad and good – the two that seeded it and nine more earned through the quiz. They’re given a mix, and then players start drawing them out. They are allowed to draw up to five money balls, and they can walk away at any time. However, if they pick a Danger Ball, they have to answer a (fairly tough actually) four-way multiple choice question. If they get it correct then they can opt to play on or leave, if they get it wrong they leave with nothing. Picking Danger Balls does not count toward the five money balls the contestants are allowed to pick.
- The problem is I think they’ve not got the maths quite right, or at least not to make an interesting endgame which currently does rather play itself. Contestants are pretty much going to continue going for the big ball everytime because nine times out of ten it’s in their best interests to do so – it’s such a top heavy distribution, and the low balls are really low. People will gamble £3-4 grand for a shot at £50k without too much thought, especially without the time investment Deal or No Deal (say) requires. (Although see David Howell’s take on the maths below)
- Vernon was actually on good form this evening, working well with contestants who could throw stuff back. He suggested he quite liked the fact that these were people chosen basically at random and hadn’t had to fill in loads of forms to apply, they felt more normal.
- It sounds like a half an hour show with two couples although they filmed a third couple to cut together a better show with. I didn’t really feel any need to watch a third game play out (although as it turned out the contestants were a lot of fun).