Agreed. They all go for the sob story and why they deserve it. A game where the poorer contestant wins sucks.
I saw unanimous and it had too many whistles and bells for it to come down to real gamemanship.
I would like a game with a sum of money distributed among n smaller quantities (just like the DonD board). Each contestant is in a closed booth with a row of as many buttons for each amount. They light up to indicate someone else wants that amount. Within a time limit, if there are no conflicts, the sum is distributed as they chose. If there are conflicts, then nobody gets squat. Simple.
I have a truly dumb TV show premise for you: “rockle’s so-called life.” Because, let’s face it, my life is boooooooooooring and stupid and involves watching about 300 hours of reality TV a week, plus the random occasional update to MySpace and the Dope. Only maybe Draelin and jayjay would be potentially interested in watching a reality show about someone watching reality shows while snarking and blogging. My own family wouldn’t want to watch that mess.
You’re falling victim to a form of the gambler’s fallacy. If the cases are randomly distributed (and I see no reason not to think they are), then the case next to a high value case is neither more or less likely to be another high value case than any other random case.
I have seen a game show that incorporated (approximately) Prisoner’s Dilemma. I think it was called Friend or Foe. Before the show, six contestants are randomly paired off into three teams of two each, and the teams play a relatively straightforward trivia-for-dollars game. But then, at the end, the winning team plays another game to determine what happens with the prize money. Both players choose whether to be “Friend” or “Foe” to the other player (this is done with a lever in a concealed box, so you can’t see what the other person does). If both players pick “Friend”, the money is split 50-50. If one chooses “Friend” and the other chooses “Foe”, the Foe gets all of the money, and the Friend gets nothing. And if both choose “Foe”, then neither gets anything.
The interesting thing about it is, the players treat the endgame completely illogically. Everyone always tries to convince the other player “I’m going to choose Friend, so you should too”. But if you know the other player is going to choose Friend, then you have every reason to pick Foe, yourself. If the game were played by truly rational people (which fall into about the same category as massless strings and frictionless pulleys), the proper strategy would be something like “I’m going to pick Foe, no matter what you say. But you should pick Friend, because I’ll pay you $100 if you do so”. Of course, if the other player were also rational, he would make a counter-offer to that, culminating in the two players agreeing to a 50-50 split whichever way the levers went.
Does the math ever really say they should go on? I only watched one episode, but the ‘bankers’ offer always seemed to be just slightly better than the average of the unopened boxes. Does anybody know for sure the method determining the bankers offer? From what I’ve seen, the mathmatically, the best deal is always taking the offer.
Not that I watch the show with a calculator in hand (I should) but in my experience the offers are usually around 20% lower than the amount I come up with. I have noticed that if the million is still in play, offers are closer to “my” amount.
The game will be called Win or Lose. Basically the contestant chooses between two things. It can be cards or light up squares on a board, whatever. One says win and the other says lose. If they pick WIN then they choose from…say 5 other cards that tell what their prize is. There ya go! Of course to take up time, we’ll have dramatic music, lots of talking with the host and so forth.
Does nobody remember, during “Millionaire” hysteria, some show where the contestant was strapped into a chair that would inflict various tortures? I remember the chair rotating in three dimensions to turn the person upside down and all other directions; the contestent being sprayed with jets of water; and (I think) mild electric shocks.
Anyway, my answer to the OP: On stage, thirty models in bikinis. One has been pregnant for one day, another has been pregnant for two days, etc. up to thirty days. Guess the one that’s on day thirty, win a million bucks. Sure it’s derivitive, but at least it has an actual reason for the eye candy.
It occurs to me that many game shows are based on kids’ games. Wheel of Fortune is just hangman, Hollywood Squares is Tic Tac Toe, etc. We’ll call this show Origami Fortune! because it’s based on these damn things.
Cute Prepubescent Girl Host (CPGH): "Welcome to Origami Fortune! I’m your host, Biffy Sanderson. TeeHee! Today one of our guests is going to play for 1 million dollars! Are you ready?!!
Contestant: Uh, sure
CPGH: O.K. Let’s play Origami Fortune! Pick a color, Mr. Contestant man! TeeHee!
Contestant: Um, Green
Giant fiberglass and neon origami fortune teller folds and unfolds as God-like voice booms “G…R…E…E…N” out to the audience
**CPGH: **Now pick a number!
Contestant: Four
God like voice counts to four as giant neon contraption folds back and forth in an array of spotlights.
**CPGH: **Now lets see if you’ve won Mr. Contestant Man! Let’s open it up… [dramatic pause]… Oh, I’m sorry. It says you’re a dorkhead. TeeHee!
“Well, it turns out, Mr. Contestant, that you have won a shack, the hand of Mitzi Gaynor, a promise from Ms. Gaynor to have 5 children, a neon lime Yugo, and a job as New York City sanitation engineer!”
5 terminally ill patients, 5 who are going to be ok. The patients don’t know which they are and are waiting for the diagnosis. They have to determine whether the person giving them their diagnosis is a trained medical doctor or a contestant. If they guess right, they win free medical care, if they guess wrong, the contenstant gets a trip to the bahamas.
Geriatric Cage Match
Every week, 5 geriatrics are put into a cage. The last one that leaves gets full social security and medical care. The other 4? Well, they won’t need to worry about that any more.
Well, there’s always the game show proposed by the Firesign Theater: Beat The Reaper!
Premise: you are injected with an unknown pathogen. Within a certain time limit, you have to guess what disease you have from the symptoms you show. If you’re correct, you get the cure.
Basically, its Deal or No Deal, but you get to pick one box from 1 to 25. And then you get to participate in skits and sketches that would make The Price is Right AND Let’s Make a Deal both commit suicide.
Also, what about a game where you roll dice, and play a modified version of shut the box? Oh wait…
But Seriously, Friend or Foe had its moments that made it shine. There was actually something “there” after all was said and done. I mean, its not like the idea was COMPLETELY made up.
I know, what about a game show based on a Pinball Table…
Nope, that’s been done.
I know, a gameshow where you Win a Dollar a Second…
Nope.
Uhm.
What is “All the crazy ideas have been taken” ?