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Revision as of 22:36, 3 June 2010
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases (or in some versions, boxes) with certain sums of money. The player chooses a case or a box to knock an amount of money off the board.
Gameplay
Deal or No Deal is played in many different ways around the world. Many different countries have their own version or versions of the show, each with their own twists on the same general format. The general format is described here.
The game revolves around the opening of a set of numbered briefcases, each of which contains a different prize (cash or otherwise). The contents of all of the cases are known at the start of the game, but the specific location of any prize is unknown. The value of each of the cases is indicated by a label or card sealed within it.
The contestant claims (or is assigned) a case to begin the game. The case's value is not revealed until the conclusion of the game.
The contestant then begins choosing cases to be removed from play. The amount inside each choice is immediately revealed; by process of elimination, the amount revealed cannot be inside the player's chosen case. Throughout the game, after a predetermined number of cases have been opened, the banker offers the contestant an amount of money and/or prizes to quit the game, the offer based roughly on the amounts remaining in play and the contestant's demeanor. The player then answers the titular question, choosing:
- "Deal", accepting the offer presented and ending the game, or
- "No Deal", rejecting the offer and continuing the game.
This process of removing cases and receiving offers continues, until either the player accepts an offer to 'deal', or all offers have been rejected and the values of all unselected cases are revealed. The player wins the value of the deal taken, or if no deal is taken, the contents of the player's case.
Should a player end the game by taking a deal, a pseudo-game is continued from that point to see how much the player could have won by remaining in the game. Depending on subsequent choices and offers, it is determined whether or not the contestant made a "good deal", i.e. won more than if the game were allowed to continue.
Since the range of possible values is known at the start of each game, how much the banker offers at any given point changes based on what values have been eliminated. To promote suspense and lengthen games, the banker's offer is usually less than the expected value dictated by probability theory, particularly early in the game[1]. Generally, the offers early in the game are very low relative to the values still in play, but near the end of the game approach (or even exceed) the average of the remaining values.
Only a few people have ever won the top prize on any version of the show (see table below). For a contestant to win the top prize the player would have to select the case containing the top prize and reject every offer the banker makes during the game. While the chances of a player selecting the top prize are reasonable (4–5% depending on how many amounts are in the game), the chances that a player will be able to turn down a number of inevitably large offers to win that top prize are much smaller.
International versions
Various versions of Deal or No Deal have between 20 and 26 prizes in the game; some versions have only cash values, others include prizes such as a car or item prizes. For instance, there are 26 prizes in the original U.S. version; all cash values from 1 cent to $1,000,000. The current U.S. version only has 22 values, ranging from $.01 to $500,000. The Australian version has 26 values from 50 cents to $200,000, but includes a $30,000+ car as one of its more valuable prizes. The British version has 22 amounts which contain anything from 1p to £250,000. The South India version of Deal or No Deal ranges from Re1 to Re 50 Lakhs (5 Million).
The stopping points at which the Banker places an offer vary wildly from format to format, but don't change within any specific format.
In some versions, a player is allowed to choose their starting case; in others, they are assigned a case at random.
In a small number of variants, the Banker knows the locations of the prizes.
In some versions, a player who rejects all offers is given the option to swap the initially selected case for the last unrevealed case before revealing the contestant's final prize. Some versions even allow the banker to offer the opportunity to swap in lieu of a cash offer during game play.
Some versions occasionally add side games, with or without impact to the central game.
There are scores of variations in presentation otherwise having little or no effect on the central game. Two common differences are the type of container holding the prizes (briefcases or boxes), and the people who open the containers (models, future contestants, or sidegame players who can earn money for guessing their container's contents).
Worldwide, the largest win (after adjusting for exchange rates) is €1,495,000 on Dutch version Miljoenenjacht, offered on November 13, 2005. It stands as the biggest win in the history of the format, despite many versions (either occasionally or permanently) having higher top prizes.
The follwing table shows the many versions that air around the world:
Véronique Landry is the only model to appear on more than one version of the show, on both the French and English Canadian versions.[citation needed] Howie Mandel, Héctor Sandarti, and Linda de Mol each have hosted multiple versions of the show: Mandel, with the American English and Canadian English versions, Sandarti with both the American Spanish and Mexican Spanish versions, and de Mol with both the Netherlands Dutch and German (in 2004) versions of the show. In the UK version Deal or no Deal helped relaunch Noel Edmonds' career.
Other countries that have their own versions of the show include Albania, Armenia, Austria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal (SIC network), Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Scotland, and Wales according to the UK version's website.
Top prize winners
All amounts below the prizes are their equivalents in United States dollars, and those in USD at the time of their win.
| Country | Name(s) | Amount won | Previous offer | Other amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia |
Dean Cartechini (June 17, 2004) |
A$200,000 ($178,659, then worth $136,986) |
A$102,500 ($91,563, then worth $74,818) |
A$5 ($4.47, then worth $3.65) |
| Anh Do (celebrity) (September 19, 2007) |
A$200,000 | A$125,000 ($111,662) |
A$75,000 ($66,997) | |
| Leanne Benbow↑ (June 2, 2010) |
A$200,000 | A$115,000 ($95,577) |
A$100,000 ($83,110) | |
 Brazil |
Paulo (April, 2007) |
R$1,000,000 ($557,678, then worth $492,611) |
R$444,000 ($247,609, then worth $218,719) |
R$100 ($55.77 then worth $49.26) |
 Bulgaria |
Veneta Raykova (celebrity) (February, 2006) |
75,000 BGN ($54,819) |
unknown | unknown |
 Chile |
Mauricio Hermosilla (May 4, 2007) |
CL$10,000,000 ($19,938) |
CL$6,500,000 ($12,960) |
CL$5,000,000 ($9,969) |
| Farándula (August 29, 2007) |
CL$10,000,000 | Change Box | CL$50,000 ($99.69) | |
 France |
Sabrina (November 29, 2005) |
€500,000 ($714,750, then worth $588,235) |
€350,000 ($500,325, then worth $411,764) (the banker also offered €200,000 and €300,000 – it is rare for a contestant to have more than one offer after a single round) |
€75,000 ($107,213, then worth $88,235) |
| (Unknown) (January 23, 2009) |
€500,000 ($714,750, then worth $588,235) |
€210,000 | €$100,000 ($128,000) | |
 Georgia |
Rezo and Archil Arveladze (February 3, 2009) |
50,000 lari ($29,904) |
25,000 lari ($14,952) |
50 lari ($29.90) |
 Greece |
Gogo | €200,000 ($285,900) |
€80,000 ($114,360) |
€1,000 ($1,430) |
 India |
S. Raghunathan (November, 2009 |
Rs25,00,000 |
Rs 10,00,000 | |
 Italy |
Danilo (Umbria) (September 20, 2008) |
€500,000 ($714,750, then worth $714,286) |
€170,000 ($267,477, then worth $242,857) |
€30,000 ($47,215, then worth $42,857) |
| Francesca (October 22, 2008) |
€500,000 | €185,000 ($230,408) |
€30,000 | |
| Clarissa Meneghini (December 19, 2007) |
€500,000 | €170,000 | €30,000 | |
 Malta |
Maria (Doris) Abela (October 17, 2008 |
€25,000 ($31,149) |
€19,500 ($24,296) |
€15,000 ($18,689) |
 Mexico |
Paty (June 3, 2006) |
$1,000,000 ($92,379) (weekday) |
$550,000 ($51,500) |
$100,000 ($9,238) |
| Laura (March 2, 2006) |
$1,000,000 (weekday) | $700,000 ($64,665) |
$400,000 ($36,952) | |
| Luis (December 6, 2005) |
$1,000,000 (weekday) | unknown | unknown | |
| Elena (June 11, 2005) |
$5,000,000 ($461,894) (Saturday) |
unknown | unknown | |
 Malaysia |
Timothy Shim (March 2, 2008) |
RM100,000 ($31,250) |
RM 50,800 ($15,875) |
RM 250 ($71.83) |
 Netherlands |
Arno Woesthoff+ (September 2, 2001) |
Fl10,000,000 ($6,600,000) |
none | none |
| Eelco Schumacher (April 2, 2009) |
€250,000 ($336,383) |
€170,000 ($228,741) |
€125,000 ($168,191) | |
 Philippines |
Terry Lim Cua (December 29, 2006) |
P2,000,000 ($42,180, then $40,800) |
P1,400,000 ($29,526, then worth $28,560) |
P1,000,000 ($23,895, then $20,400) |
 Serbia |
Vidoje (October 19, 2007) |
RSD1,500,000 ($24,475) |
RSD615,000 ($10,035) |
RSD500,000 ($8,158) |
 Spain |
Gilbert de Tarragona (June, 2007) |
€600,000 ($857,700, then worth $800,000) |
€240,000 ($343,080, then worth $320,000) |
€1,500 ($2,144, then worth $2,000) |
 Tunisia |
(Unknown) (October 22, 2007) |
TND1,000,000 ($797,130) |
unknown | TND500,000 ($398,565) |
 Turkey |
Ülkühan Yılmaz (October 24, 2009) |
500,000TL | 128,000TL | 20,000TL |
 United Kingdom |
Laura Pearce (January 7, 2007) | £250,000 | £45,000 | £3,000 |
| Alice Munday (March 12, 2009) | £250,000 | £17,500 | 1p | |
 United States (primetime version) |
Jessica Robinson (September 1, 2008) |
$1,000,000 | $561,000 | $200,000 |
| Tomorrow Rodriguez (October 29, 2008) |
$1,000,000 | $677,000 | $300 and 2x $1,000,000 |
+Arno Woesthoff was on Miljoenenjacht when the bonus round consisted of seven questions that could add up to 10,000,000 guilders instead of the case game, which is why there were no other amounts.
At the other end of the spectrum, in the UK edition broadcast on 7 December 2009, a contestant named Corinne opened her box to reveal (and thus win) 1p, having turned down first an offer of £88,000 and then an offer to swap boxes, which would have given her the top £250,000 prize. A similar event occurred on the US version on August 25, 2008, where contestant Koshka Blackburn won $5,000 which was in her case after turning down the banker's offer of $530,000 and then the option to switch cases, which would've made her the first $1,000,000 winner. Also in the US on September 22, 2006, Michelle Falco kept in $750,000 and $1,000,000 in play all the way to the end, she turned down the biggest offer of $880,000 and refused to switch her case, in her case was $750,000. Needless to say, she also would've been the first $1,000,000 had she switched cases.
↑Most recent top prize winner in the Deal or No Deal franchise to date.
Basis and antecedents
The game show has attracted attention from mathematicians, statisticians, and economists as a natural decision-making experiment. In 1998 a team of economists analyzed the decisions of people appearing in Dutch, German and US episodes and found, among other things, that contestants are less risk-averse or even risk-seeking when they saw their expected winnings drop.[3] They went so far as to say that the show, “almost appears to be an economics experiment rather than a TV show.”[4] They found that contestants behave similarly in different versions of the show, despite large differences in the amounts at stake; amounts appear to be evaluated in relative terms, for example in proportion to the initial average, and not in terms of their absolute monetary value.[5] The research received a great deal of media attention, appearing on the front page of The Wall Street Journal [6] and being featured on National Public Radio.[7]
Despite its air of originality and huge international success– there are more than 60 versions worldwide – there have been in fact numerous antecedents to the current run of shows. The first was the It's in the Bag, a New Zealand radio game show invented by Selwyn Toogood which began in the 1950s and which ran for decades after it was later adapted for television (1970s–90s). The show popularized the catch-phrases, "By hokey", and "What will it be, customers - the money or the bag?" in New Zealand. Similarly, in the 1950s the UK radio show Take Your Pick offered contestants the choice of taking a money offer or risking opening a box. Later, in the 1980’s The Bong Game, a radio call-in show created by UK’s Capital FM tested contestants by offering them increasing returns in tandem with increasing risk. Another long-running game show, Let's Make a Deal, involving contestants deciding whether or not take offers based on what may or may not be behind a curtain/door or inside a box. Let's Make a Deal ran in the US for nearly three decades from 1963 to 1991 and has recently been revived. Also in the US in the 1970s and 1980s was a game show called Treasure Hunt, which featured a similar concept to Deal or No Deal. The show featured contestants selecting a treasure chest or box with surprises inside in the hope of winning large prizes or a cash jackpot. And from 1997 to 2003, Win Ben Stein's Money pitted contestants against an in-house adversary.
Variations
South Korea
A variation of "Deal or No Deal" was embedded in a variety show called Idol World. Super Junior-T played the game and there were only 10 cases, the prize goes from ₩10 (about 1¢ US and ¥1, less than €0.01, 1p, and 1¢ AU) to ₩1,000,000 (about US$1,073, €723, £521, AU$965, and ¥116,000). See Yes or No.
Taiwan
Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) has a variation of "Deal or No Deal" embedded within its Saturday night weekly variety show hosted by popular TV host and one time recording artist Jacky Wu. The portion involved 16 boxes wherein celebrity contestants will play for NT$1.5 million top prize (about US$46,000, €32,000, £22,000, AU$49,000 and ¥5,280,000), in denominations starting from NT$1.00 (about 3¢ US, €0.02, 1p, 3¢ AU and ¥3). In this game though, Wu the TV host, also acted as a banker. He would randomly come up with an amount when the choice of boxes become fewer. Contestants however have to win a talent portion of the show before playing this game.[citation needed]
Even when they don't make $100,000,000, the lucky ones usually get a $200,000 grant for making a record on the show.[citation needed]
United States
The "Million Dollar Mission" was only on the United States version of Deal or No Deal. During season three, it was shown abbreviated in intros as "M$M." Introduced on September 26, 2007, host Howie Mandel would add one extra case containing the million dollars for every person that does not win it. The purpose of this mission was to increase the chance of somebody winning the million dollars. The "Million Dollar Mission" had four runs, the first lasting from September 26 to October 12, 2007 with seven games, the second from January 2, 2008 to February 25, 2008 with 13 games, the third from August 25, 2008 to September 1, 2008 with two games, and the last from September 9, 2008 to October 29, 2008 with eight games. During this mission, only two contestants won the million dollar prize: Jessica Robinson on September 1, 2008 and Tomorrow Rodriguez on October 29, 2008. From May 22, 2008 to June 25, 2008, a very similar variant of the Million Dollar Mission was used, entitled the "Multi-Million Dollar Madness." The five contestants that played went into a chamber before their game where small golden balls bounced around with numbers printed on them ranging from 2-13, the number on the ball they pick will be the number of million dollar cases they have in the game. No millionaires were crowned at the time.
Video games
- Innovative Concepts in Entertainment developed and currently sells an arcade redemption adaptation of the show, replacing prize money with redemption tickets.[8]
- The U.K. version of Deal or No Deal was converted into a mobile game by Gameloft and featured the same rules and format as the tv show. The game was so well-received that versions of it were developed for other countries as well.[9] Its international success landed it on the top-sellers list.[10]
- Almost all major formats of the game were converted into games for various gaming consoles, the PC, Macromedia Flash, and even a dedicated handheld made in China.
See also
External links
- Officially licensed game of Deal or No Deal (UK Version)
- NBC game
- Official United Kingdom Deal Or No Deal website
- Official Quebec Le Banquier (Deal or No Deal) website
- Official German Deal Or No Deal website
- Official U.S. Deal or No Deal version website
References
- ^ . Formula for offers in the NBC online version of Deal or No Deal from the personal website of a former physics and finance student
- ^ http://www.nationalenquirer.com/deal_or_no_deal_mystery_banker_revealed/celebrity/66043
- ^ Post, Van den Assem, Baltussen, and Thaler (March 2008). "Deal or No Deal? Decision Making Under Risk in a Large-payoff Game Show".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Quoted in William Poundstone, Priceless, Hill and Wang, 2010, p. 130
- ^ Baltussen, Post, and Van den Assem (December 2007). "Risky Choice and the Relative Size of Stakes".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2006
- ^ Economists Learn from Game Show 'Deal or No Deal' from the NPR website. March 3, 2006
- ^ ICE games
- ^ "Top 50 Mobile Game Downloads in the UK". 2007-1-27. Mobicritic.com. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- ^ "Non-Stop International Success for Gameloft's 'Deal or No Deal'. 2008-4-07. FindLaw.com. Retrieved 2008-11-06.