How To Cheat at Millionaire

(Note: I looked through the old threads to see if this has been discussed before. I found this, but it’s four years old, so I figured it’s cool to bring it up again.)

I love watching WWTBAM. Even though I’m not as good at it as I am at Jeopardy, it’s fun to watch people squirm under the pressure of potential-gain-vs-loss scenarios, and to laugh at the guy who can’t answer the $100 question because it’s some colloquialism he’s never heard of.

But over the past couple years of watching, I have noted a peculiar trend that forces me to ask one question: why, oh why, oh why, when selecting who to use for “phone a friend”, do people not just call a computer geek friend who’s sitting at home staring at a pre-loaded Google? I’ve seen one person do this (at least, one person who I was certain was doing it; others may have done it but disguised it well), but more often than not, the friend either misses the question or expresses unsurety. There is absolutely no reason for this.

Long ago, I suspected that this was the case, but I figured that since nobody was doing it, there must be a good reason why not. Maybe it wouldn’t work after all. But after watching show after show where the phoned-in question was basically tailor-made for Googling, I had to find out for myself. So, over the past month or so, when Millionaire has been on, I’ve listened to it while sitting at my cable-internet-equipped computer. As Regis reads each question to the contestant, I hit ‘start’ on my faithful stopwatch, whip up a quick Google query, and hit ‘stop’ when I’ve determined the answer to my satisfaction (obviously, I pretend I don’t already know the answer if I do). If the result is under 30 seconds, I consider myself successful. To date, having done this with at least a dozen shows, I have failed on exactly three questions. All three were references to extremely nonspecific actions performed by one of four individuals, which don’t translate well to a Google search. Normally, I can even get an answer to those types of questions by searching for the four answers’ names, one at a time, in addition to the key terms of the action, but in those three cases, I failed. Still, (approximately) 95% overall accuracy ain’t bad.

Sure, maybe three years ago when the vast majority of people were on dialup and “Google” wasn’t a verb yet, the option was slightly less viable, or people just didn’t know about it. But even now, on Super Millionaire, I watch the guy in the hot seat cringe in despair as his Trivia Master buddy completely flubs a simple question about an Academy Award. So, I ask you, the folks of the SDMB, the brightest collection of people around: WHY???

Well, it’s not cheating.

I don’t think.

IIRC it is ok to have your phone a friend hooked up. You had better have a fast connection but other than that it should be fine.

Which is why I would have DuckDuckGoose as my phone a friend.

Is she still around?

1: “I’d like to use my phone-a-friend.”
2: “And who will you call?”
1: “I will call Roger.”
2: “And who is Roger?”
1: “He’s a guy that I know through the internet ready to google this $16,000 question, Regis.”

BTW, it’s not cheating to have your phone-a-friend look the answer up online. I’ve seen at least two shows where it was obvious that the PAF was doing exactly that (you could hear the keyboard clacking away) and Regis said specifically that it sounded like the person was working on getting the answer and that was perfectly OK.

Yeah, I know it’s not actually “cheating” – I was facetiously suggesting that people must think it is, since nobody seems to do it. As I said, I’ve seen at least one instance where it was obviously being done, and nobody seemed to care much. I just wonder why everybody doesn’t do it. Even if I had a friend who I was almost positive would know the answer, I’d trust Google over human recollection in a space of 30 seconds (unless it was one of the aforementioned “which of these people did this ambiguous action” questions).

I’ve also seen Millionaire shows where it seems perfectly obvious that the “phone-a-friend” in a room with a number of people, thus increasing the chances of someone knowing the answer (in this age, who do you trust, a room full of people or Google?). Also perfectly legitimate. It seems as if the phone-a-friend can use any means necessery, so long as it fits into 30 seconds.

Can other people be in the room? I’m not sure how much notice the frined is given that they might get a call, but if it is sufficient, get to gther all your smart friends™ and one of them might know the answer (I’d have some referennce books available too, along with at least two computer searvheres)

Brian

Roland,

Try this. Have a friend of yours write down some question from the show. Just before he begins to read you the question, start your timer.

Methinks that 30 seconds is not usually going to be enough time after you deduct the time it takes to read the question, plus process it. If you read the question yourself, you have a grasp of the questions almost immediately.

E3

Last week, they had one that was blatant. The guy began his conversation with “Rodney, search on 17th century English kings…”, or the equivalent. I don’t remember the exact question. But he got his answer in about five seconds, told Regis it was his final, and got it right. No one batted an eye. My guess is that they know it would be an unenforceable rule.

I think I’d have a room full of the most internet savvy people I know at a computer lab on my college campus, and call the speakerphone there. Let them have their favorite search engine pre-loaded, and go to it. With enough variations in search terms, you’re bound to come across the right answer.

Yeah, but there are plenty of delay tactics at your disposal. “Um, buddy, could you repeat that again” (Buddy repeats slowly). “Um, let me make sure I got this straight” (proceeds to repeat question back while searching). And then normal hemming & hawing.

No reason on earth someone familar with Google couldn’t pull this off easily.

Umm, folks, you are aware that WWTBAM is taped don’t you? I.e., your lifeline is not sitting at home watching you play.

See this page for a contestant’s eye view of things. Note 1/3 of the way down where they discuss the taping of the show, making sure the lifelines are available etc.

So a lifeline only has time to answer the question from when the contestant tells them over the phone.

So the OP’s timing from when Regis starts reading the questions is completely useless.

Like most game shows, they “batch up” several shows in a day. It can be a week before a show actually airs in this case. Up to a month for other game shows.

It sounds like you’re not familiar with the show; all that hemming & hawing will eat into your 30 seconds, and they hang up the connection 30 seconds after the contestant begins speaking to the friend, whether there’s an answer or not.

I don’t watch the TV when I’m doing this; I just listen to it. My TV screen is not visible from my computer. The only possible difference would have to be between hearing Regis read the question and hearing my friend read it, and I doubt if that’s significant.

I generally have the question processed and the query typed by the time Regis gets to the first answer (I’m a former Policy debater; if you know what that is, you know why I’ve learned to process spoken information really really quickly). When he starts reading off the answers, I look at the Results page and see if any of the answers show up in the two Preview lines under each result. Nineteen times out of twenty, I don’t even need to click on any of the links to know what the answer is. Granted, not everyone is as proficient with Google queries as I am, but it’s not like I’m some Mystic Lord of Googliness. All you’d need is a geeky friend who spends too much time on the internet. If he knows how the show’s questions are set up, and he knows Google, you’re golden.

How is this at all relevant? I give myself 30 seconds, starting the moment Regis begins reading the question. This is equivalent to the 30 seconds given from the moment the contestant begins reading the question to his/her friend. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not looking at the TV, so Regis might as well be on the phone with me. Whether or not the show is taped has nothing to with the process I’ve described here.

It seems to me the easiest way to pull this off is to break the question down into the search you want Googled. For example…

Question: “What was the name of the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII?”

You have all the time in the world to come up with the key terms you want your buddy to type in. When you make the call, all you have to say is something along the lines of “Term 1: Henry VIII. That’s h-e-n-r-y space v-i-i-i. Term 2: Sixth wife.”

Many searches will bring back things unrelated to what you’re actually looking for, but your friend can just start spouting out results which you can compare to your options. In this case, you’d luck out – the first result to a search of +“henry VIII” +“sixth wife” is the correct answer, Katherine Parr. Also, after the search has been run, you can quickly spout out your choices and he can compare them to his results. Works either way.
As an aside, I have a cable connection and mad searching skills, so if anyone makes it on to Super Millionaire, I’d be happy to be your phone-a-friend for a small cut of the action. :smiley:

There can be as many as you like, but only one person is the “designated friend” and spokesman for the group. The list of 5 phone-a-friends get warming calls during the taping by an associate producer as soon as their contestant gets into the hot seat, and stand-down calls after the lifeline is used or he flames out.

They’d like to keep the appearance a little purer than that. But yeah, the idea is that if a rule can’t be enforced, they won’t try.

Here’s a strategy I’ve never seen anyone try.

Say the question is “Who wrote Great Expectations?” For possibilities, you’ve got (a) Charles Dickens, (b) William Shakespeare, © Thomas Hardy, or (d) Emily Dickinson.

Now, I know for sure it’s not Shakespeare, but I’m not sure about the other three. What if I told the audience, “Okay everyone, I know it’s not Shakespeare, but could everyone who doesn’t know just pretend that it’s Shakespeare and choose (b)? That way I’ll know that the second-highest choice is the correct one.”

Would this be allowed? If everyone plays along, it should work.

I’ve thought about that one before, but unfortunately, some people enjoy being asses, and some people are just plain dumb. You’d wind up with as many Dickinson votes as you would Dickens.

You see these people anytime someone used the Poll The Audience lifeline early on.

“Who was the first President of the United States? A: George Washington B: Thomas Jefferson C: Abe Lincoln D: Krusty The Clown”

“Huh huh huh…dude…check it out…I picked ‘D’…huh huh…”

:rolleyes:

Sure, you can tell the audience that, and it would be allowed. But you can’t account for every joker in the audience. A few people are bound to think you’re wrong and that it IS Shakespeare, and a few more will vote for Shakespeare just to be wise guys.