My Quiz Game Show

Further to what I said yesterday about my idea for a new quiz game show, I spent an idle evening thrashing out some of the details, in a nothing-better-to-do frame of mind. This is what I’ve come up with.

Round One

We’d start with 4 contestants. Each one takes it in turn to try to qualify for the next round. Each one will be asked just one question. This is the round where the greatest care would have to be taken to ensure that all of the questions were fairly matched. Each would be told – there are ( for the sake of argument ) 14 words in your question. The point of the round is to answer the question in the quickest time possible. The clock starts when the first word of the question is revealed. A new word will be revealed every two seconds. You can stop the clock and guess the answer any time you like. However each wrong answer will incur an extra 2 second penalty. The three contestants with the correct answer in the shortest time will go through to the next round. If two or more contestants cannot answer the question, then the clock stops for them after they have had their guess after the reveal of the last word of the question.

Round Two

Here we go to the big board in the studio. The three contestants are now all competing against each other on each question. The big board reveals a numbered grid – with a numbered square for each word of the question. The contenders take it in turn to buy squares – it costs 2 seconds for each one, and they can choose any of the numbered squares that are left.. They can guess on their own go after each reveal, but a wrong guess earns a 2 second penalty. When a contestant answers the question correctly, then 2 seconds are added to the other two contestant’s times for each numbered square unrevealed. If all have been revealed, then they get 2 seconds added anyway. After the 6 questions have been asked, whichever contestant has the highest time has to leave.

Round Three

The Head to Head. The two contestants take part in a ‘dutch auction’. They are told that the next question has , let’s say , 15 words in it. A says he will answer in 12 words. B says he’ll do it in 11 – you get the point. It’s the same mechanism used in ‘Name that Tune’ and similar to that used in ‘Who Dares Wins’. When one says to the other –answer that question, then the one who has to answer is shown the big board grid. They pick the numbers they want revealed – if they bid 6, for example, then they can choose which 6 words they get. IF they answer correctly, then 2 seconds are given to the other contestant for every word they didn’t turn over. So if the contestant gets it in one, then 28 seconds would be given to the other. If they get it wrong, then the same amount is given to their own total. Again, at the end of the round the contestant with the highest time has to leave.

Round Four

The Final Countdown. 5 minutes are put on the clock. Then the contestant’s total time is subtracted from this. The big board then reveals a numbered grid for a question. This time each word has a total of the amount of prize money it’s worth. So the 1st word might be worth £7,500, the next £7000 and so on. The contestant can reveal another word each time they want to – they control it themselves. They can guess with each reveal, but an incorrect guess automatically moves down to the next reveal . When they finally get a correct answer, then they bank the money that reveal was worth, and automatically move on to the next question. If they reveal the last word, and their answer is wrong, then they automatically move on to the next question. Once the time is up, then the game is over. However much the contestant has managed to bank during the final is what they get to take home.

Gotta be honest, I think it has legs. What it doesn’t have, though, is a name or title. Any suggestions ?