Beat the Banker (Deal or No Deal)

Member Name: Donf18

Product:	Deal or No Deal
Date:	18/03/06 (2502 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be quite absorbing

Disadvantages: can also get pretty boring

As game shows go Deal or No Deal has a very simple formula, this might be the reason it seems to be catching on so fast and has been moved to a prime time slot on saturday night.

The basic idea is to win the £250,000 by select a selection of boxes. These boxes contain monetary somes from 1p right up to that elusive 250 grand. The boxes are sealed before the show by an independant adjudicator. There are 22 players who each select a box at random from a bag containing the box numbers.

The studio is divided into three sections, The West wing, The East wing and the plyer area. At the begining of the show which is hosted by the ever charming Noel Edmunds a player is selected at randomby the computer. The game can be followed by a large screen which has all available amounts lit up on it. When an amount has been discovered in a box it's light is extinguished so the player knows what values of money are still available to win.

In the first round the player must choose 5 boxes from the boxes still in play. The players box is not in play at this stage. By progressivly selecting boxes which contain low amounts of money the player increases their chances of getting a good offer from the dreaded Banker. The banker as his name suggests is the man who pays out the winnings. he studies the game as it is played, but he also studies the player in an effort to find a weakness which he can use. The banker also has no idea what sums of money are contained within any of the boxes.

So round one over and the Banker makes an offer for the box which the player has. The player may ask advice of any other player or in fact anyone she.he chooses. After a short period of time Noel will ask the all important question to the player. "DEAL OR NO DEAL. If the player Deals then the money on offer for that deal is safe. The game continues to see if the player has in fact made a good deal or a bad deal.

The next round consist of pretty much the same except in these rounds only three boxes have to be opened. It is at this point that things become interesting and the viewer is sucked into the game along with the player. The Banker is very crafty and knows exactly what he is doing. Often when a player has had a few low numbers left and a couple of high ones the Banker will make what appears to be a rather mean offer. This he has done to force the player to No Deal in the hope that should they play on they will dicover a high value and eliminate it from the game thus saving him lots of money.

I enjoy watching this program very much, with one exception, I cannot see the point of playing on once a player has made a deal. the theory is that they will still select the numbered boxes that they would have done had they not dealt. The idea of carrying on is too find the high numbers and proove that the Deal decision was correct for the player. Now the player is looking for high numbers so might choose different boxes had he/she been looking for low amounts.

There is no skill involved in playing the game but there can be a great deal or nerve required when the game draws to its conclusion. If the player has still got the £250,000 in play and a few other reasonable prizes and is offered a decent amount to Deal, does he/she play on in the hope that the BIG MONEY is in their box.

The game is quite absorbing for the viewer since you are always trying to decide what you would do in a particulare situation. There is a lot of talk during the gameplay about omens, lucky numbers,fate, possitive thinking, but at the end of the day it's all down to luck no matter how absorbing.

No one has yet won the BIG MONEY but a few have went home with a hefty amount of cash £74,000, £50,000, £32,000. Players can be in one of the wings for weeks waiting for their name to be drawn as the player so if you are selected you have to at least hope you are going to cover your losses plus get a decent bonus on top. Only one player as far as I know has currently gone home with the lowest prize of 1p which is a big sickener.

It is a good game show to watch, but it does get a little repetitive, I'll most probably keep watching until someone gets the BIG MONEY and then............................well we'll have to wait and see.

Summary: A good show which draws the viewer into it's spell.