The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Kevin Prather on December 22, 2003, 09:48:27 PM
-
So far on Syndie Millionaire, we have had a few special edition weeks, including Radio Week and Pop Culture Week*. I had one idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. I thought I'd ask you, the experts...
...what about a Kids Week?
Kids age 13-16 getting a shot at $1,000,000? Would it work?
One flaw I could imagine is if they lose a lot of money, they might start crying or something, but other than that, it seems like an okay idea to me. What do you think?
Discuss and cuss.
-
[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 07:48 PM\'] Kids age 13-16 getting a shot at $1,000,000? Would it work?
[/quote]
I think that is an incredible amount of pressure to put on someone that young.
-
IIRC, wasn't that done somewhere in Europe? Maybe it was Poland? I'm not sure, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the kid gambled on question 15 and took the very very long drop back down to the second safety net.
Cheers,
Ryan :)
-
That could work, and I could always use a nice million!
-
[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 10:09 PM\'] IIRC, wasn't that done somewhere in Europe? Maybe it was Poland? I'm not sure, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the kid gambled on question 15 and took the very very long drop back down to the second safety net.
Cheers,
Ryan :) [/quote]
Wow. Can anyone confirm that?
-
Certainly.
http://www.angelfire.com/80s/gameshowsteve/wwtbam-poland.wmv (http://\"http://www.angelfire.com/80s/gameshowsteve/wwtbam-poland.wmv\")
-
The video clip may still be out there. I believe it was a 50/50 shot too. Anyway, the video was up because the webmaster of the site with it advertised it as "playing the mil. dollar loss cue." I had it on my system at one point.
-Jason
-
[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 09:48 PM\'] So far on Syndie Millionaire, we have had a few special edition weeks, including Radio Week and Pop Culture Week*. I had one idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. I thought I'd ask you, the experts...
...what about a Kids Week?
Kids age 13-16 getting a shot at $1,000,000? Would it work?
One flaw I could imagine is if they lose a lot of money, they might start crying or something, but other than that, it seems like an okay idea to me. What do you think?
Discuss and cuss. [/quote]
Any particular reason for the asterisk?
Anyhow - as I tried to bring up earlier, I could see huge gambling implications here. Or is there something that exempts game shows from gambling laws?
But it would be fun to watch.
Would you make the questions easier, then? Or risk having a 13yr old deal with a 70's pop culture question at the $300 level?
-
[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 11:59 PM\'] [quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 09:48 PM\'] So far on Syndie Millionaire, we have had a few special edition weeks, including Radio Week and Pop Culture Week*. I had one idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. I thought I'd ask you, the experts...
...what about a Kids Week?
Kids age 13-16 getting a shot at $1,000,000? Would it work?
One flaw I could imagine is if they lose a lot of money, they might start crying or something, but other than that, it seems like an okay idea to me. What do you think?
Discuss and cuss. [/quote]
Any particular reason for the asterisk?
Anyhow - as I tried to bring up earlier, I could see huge gambling implications here. Or is there something that exempts game shows from gambling laws?
But it would be fun to watch.
Would you make the questions easier, then? Or risk having a 13yr old deal with a 70's pop culture question at the $300 level? [/quote]
It's no different that Teen J! or Teen Wheel, etc.
The way I'd do this, though, is scale things down, and maybe have the teens play for a grand prize of a full college scholarship, say $100,000. Maybe make the first two tiers playable for savings bonds, then the final level could be scholarship money.
$50
$100
$150
$250
$500
$1000
$2000
$3000
$4000
$5000
$10,000
$20,000
$25,000
$50,000
Full Scholarship
I know this little exception could cause confusion, but you see where I'm going here. :-P
-
First, I'm not sure whether there are any legal ramifications to the gambling aspect of some game shows when kids are involved. However, it certainly feels uncomfortable having a kid play with that kind of money.
I remember TJW finding a clever way around the bad feeling about kids gambling (in the Beat the Devil bonus). They played the maingame normally, but a parent came up for the bonus round. For Millionaire, it might feel better if you had parent-child teams. (To make it more like a true Kids' Week, I'd stipulate that Phone-a-Friends have to be kids, and only the kids in the audience participate in the Audience Poll.)
As to the scholarship suggestion, I've never objected to scholarship money substituted for cash, but my long-standing complaint about Kids' Weeks on game shows is when they go cheap. My first recollection of this was on TJW, when kids played for points and winners got a $500 savings bond. (1) Savings bonds cost half the face value, so they were only spending $250 instead of $500. (2) Because they played for points, a game that would be a $650 win for an adult was still, even at face value, only a $500 win for a kid.
The worst offender that I recall was when they had kids on Pyramid in 1980. There were two versions: (1) For several weeks, a kid and a relative would play together in a way that resembled the future $25/$100K Pyramid, but it was $2,500 on the first win and $5,000 on the second, and they had to leave after winning one WC. (2) For the final week, they played the normal way, but instead of $10/$15/$20K, they went for $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000. You could easily win more by having three good rounds in the WC than by winning the first time around.
-
What's the difference between deciding to answer a question on WWTBAM and J!? In both instances, your decision to answer a question may cost you money. No one to my knowledge ever had a problem with kids playing J!. So, I don't see the problem.
-
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 11:05 PM\'] [quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 07:48 PM\'] Kids age 13-16 getting a shot at $1,000,000? Would it work?
[/quote]
I think that is an incredible amount of pressure to put on someone that young. [/quote]
What Chris said. I remember Michael Davies being quoted as saying that the kids in the prime time Family Edition were so distraught after losing that he would never do Millionaire with kids again. Of course that did not stop them from doing another edition.
I do not think you will ever see kids by themselves in the hotseat. It is an enormous amount of pressure for them.
Tim :-)
-
I agree. Nothing could be worse than watching a kid walk away with zilch after bombing out on the first 5 questions.
-
[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 04:09 AM\'] IIRC, wasn't that done somewhere in Europe? Maybe it was Poland? I'm not sure, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the kid gambled on question 15 and took the very very long drop back down to the second safety net. [/quote]
I may be getting confused, but didn't it happen in India as well? The Indian version of the show, which after a little Googling I believe to be called Kaun Banega Crorepati, had a very good web site with details of their biggest winners and fallers. Unfortunately the site seems to have gone, so perhaps the show isn't on the air there any more, which seems faintly unlikely, somehow.
The reason why I'm confused is that I also recall a kid in India winning the big money as well; Joe Isham had a chart of which version of WWTBAM? paid out most worldwide relative to typical salary and I suspect the Indian version was most generous in this regard. I have a suspicion that the Indian version had a child Q15 winner followed immediately by a child Q15 loser, but I have only my memory to rely on here.
Actually, I know there are a lot of quiz fans in India; I'm not sure why none of them have ever found us here. Perhaps the term "game show" just isn't known.
Hey ho!
C
-
Oh, that Polish Clip was heartbreaking. I don't know if it was the quality of the movie, but it appeared that the kid had all of his lifelines intact. He should of used another one. I wonder if what Hubert Urbankski was saying ("Aleck" sp?) ment "Sorry".
Still, at leas the kid was brave, I'll give him that.
-Joe R.
-
They must have made the questions easier for the show. I really can't see a kid getting that far without using his lifelines.
-
[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 11:44 AM\'] What's the difference between deciding to answer a question on WWTBAM and J!? In both instances, your decision to answer a question may cost you money. No one to my knowledge ever had a problem with kids playing J!. So, I don't see the problem. [/quote]
No child on J! has had a decision that potentially had $468,000 riding on it.
-
[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 06:20 PM\'] I wonder if what Hubert Urbankski was saying ("Aleck" sp?) ment "Sorry". [/quote]
It sounded to me like "Olly." I assume that was the kid's name.
-
Scaled down version would work, and gear the questions towards their age. The last few Teen and the Kids Week(especially) have been easier than the regular shows IMHO.
For example dont use this question:
What was the first black and white game show on tv?
Better question:
Which state does not border any other state(Alaska)
-
[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Dec 26 2003, 12:06 PM\'] [quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Dec 23 2003, 11:44 AM\'] What's the difference between deciding to answer a question on WWTBAM and J!? In both instances, your decision to answer a question may cost you money. No one to my knowledge ever had a problem with kids playing J!. So, I don't see the problem. [/quote]
No child on J! has had a decision that potentially had $468,000 riding on it. [/quote]
Missing that question would have the same effect as being the one who fumbled the football in the last seconds of the last game in your senior year of high school resulting in the team losing by a touchdown. A lifetime of shame.
-
Being the kids game show apologist on this board, ill bite on this and say its not too bad an idea. I believe the most ever offered on a kids game show was a 25k scholarship on Pick Your Brain, for special kids weeks im sure it was the 32k on CS YPWs, I believe a good smart kid can and should be challenged to win a large amount. With some precautions
I think that it could be a good idea if done right, I think the kids can take it if they are handled correctly, and without too much cheapening.
1. Like what Eubanks CS did for the YPWs make all winnings up to a certain point go to the kids, the rest go into an annunity when they turn 18. Actually I would make the payouts go like this.
up to 8k, everything goes to the kid.
16-64k 2500 goes to kid rest CD annuity like CS.
125 K level is replaced with a full ride scholarship + 20k Annuity + 5k to the kid.
As the levels go up the amount to the kid is upped to 10k and the full ride stay constant while the ammount in the annuity keeps skyrocketing to the desired level.
2. Phone A Friend is split into an option the traditional phone a friend must be a kid under 18, but also they can bring their parents out as one lifeline to give their advice on a question. So a kid gets 4 lifelines instead of 3, techancally, but can only use 3.
3. Gaurenteed payout of $100 on the first level (aka no leaving with nothing, just the lowest possible payout)
4. The gaurentee points are scaled differently, 1st gaurentee point is at 2k, next at 16k and the 3rd after the full ride is won at 125k to make the fall less steep, but still challenging.
5. Categories are revealed before the question is asked (a la greed) to make the kid's decision to go or not easier.
6. Should the kid enter the final question with any lifelines intact they are automatically used.
7. Easier on the dramatics on a reveal from the host, no hanging the kid out to dry after a final answer is given.
My 2c...Flame on!
-
[quote name=\'Starkman\' date=\'Dec 27 2003, 05:40 PM\'] Being the kids game show apologist on this board, ill bite on this and say its not too bad an idea. I believe the most ever offered on a kids game show was a 25k scholarship on Pick Your Brain, for special kids weeks im sure it was the 32k on CS YPWs, [/quote]
Pick Your Brain had only a $5K scholarship for winning the main game, which made the bonus round for a prize worth at most $1500 anticlimactic.
The most I can recall being offered on a kids' game show was during the Perry CS Young PLayer's Weeks, where the two players competed in two matches before being retired, a player could potentially win $58,000(before maingame $500 bonuses were added) or $66,000(with $500 exact predictions and $500 for running the cards bonuses added). The most won by one player was $22,400 in Xmas 1980.
-
Dick Clark's "America's Smartest Kid" offered a $500,000 prize.
-
whoserman Posted on Dec 27 2003, 08:22 PM
Dick Clark's "America's Smartest Kid" offered a $500,000 prize.
Not quite. For the first episode, the prizes were: $300,000 to the eventual winner, $100,000 to second place, $50,000 to third, and various prizes for each stage completeed. But for crying out loud, $300,000. That's a lot of money for anyone, let alone a kid.
Travis
-
[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 27 2003, 07:22 PM\'] Dick Clark's "America's Smartest Kid" offered a $500,000 prize. [/quote]
I thought the actual title was "Battle Of The Child Geniuses-The Smartest Kid In America."
Anyway, I went to Travis's page about the show, and it says the winner gets a trust fund worth $300,000; not $500,000. The runner-up wins a $100,000 trust fund. This was back in May 2000.
In November 2000, the prizes changed. Winner got a $150,000 trust fund, the runner-up got a $75,000 trust fund.
-
[quote name=\'HSquares2003\' date=\'Dec 26 2003, 07:12 PM\'] Which state does not border any other state(Alaska) [/quote]
Also Hawaii.
-
[quote name=\'HSquares2003\' date=\'Dec 26 2003, 10:12 PM\'] Scaled down version would work, and gear the questions towards their age. The last few Teen and the Kids Week(especially) have been easier than the regular shows IMHO.
For example dont use this question:
What was the first black and white game show on tv?
Better question:
Which state does not border any other state(Alaska) [/quote]
I think you are both undermining and insulting a child's intellegence. I think its an aberration. You are insinuating the popular belief that children don't care about the past.
How untrue. In fact, I get this feeling that with geography scores as low as they are; more kids might know the gameshow question.
Anyhow, I don't see why you would need to "baby" down the show as much as some of you are suggesting. I do agree with putting into a trust after $32,000; but above that; the format needs to stay true to the original. (IMHO, the changes that Starkman suggested stray from the format, and would lead to confusion. Why give an automatic $100? Kids who lost on other shows were stuck with Nestle Quik...)
-
Fair criticism...the only things i would demand really is a higher gaurentee point than 32k, and the right to bring your parents onstage in leiu of phone a friend again this would be an option not an extra lifeline.
The others i see your arguement it does hack the format somewhat.
Ok, a whole lot.
And thanks for the PYB clarifcation, given that the last time i saw PYB i was a kid (well teenager) myself, im not suprised i wasnt quite right, forgot that endgame wasnt for the scholarship. As I said it was a good format for kids if it wasnt brought crashing to it's knees by too many fee plugs (2XL!!!!) and bad acting in the hit man like segments.
Never seen clark's smartest kid...intresting.