Here’s something quite interesting and fun, 5Hole productions (basically the guys beind Buzzerblog) are branching out from their podcast gameshows into internet flash gaming. Their first game is called The Money Vault. I remember when the format idea was pitched to a discussion group a while ago, and I wondered if there was anything in it, and lo and behold, a fun internet game (which crucially up until the resetting of the scores a little while ago I WAS WORLD CHAMPION AT with a score of $580k-odd).
The game is quite simple, and actually the ordering of random things is not a new idea – pick cards off of a board, each one with a value of between $1k and $100k. As you discover the value of each one, stick it on a board. Once moved it can’t be unmoved. If you can order ten cards from highest to lowest, you win, if not you lose. If you get into trouble you can get help twice – either by passing or by swapping the new card with an old one, which leads to some interesting strategies. Ten of the cards are bail-outs, the more you’ve found, the greater the percentage of the bank you can walk away with – but it is a decision that must be taken there and then.
Would it actually work as a TV show? The counting up in the beginning feels interminable, but when you’ve forced a gap I was getting surprisingly excited when the money clock reached safe amounts and at the end I was mentally willing it to stop which surprised even me – sort of the opposite of The Colour of Money really. As such, it’s an exciting second half in need of a more interesting first half. As an internet game, it’s more than worthy of an advert and five minutes of your time.
You can play it here, if the site is coping with the pressure.
