Worthy of futher discussion, from Sams game 22/08. How players choose which boxes to open.


That is really interesting and I agree. I've always admired the rare bunch of players who have announced at the beginning of the show their choice of boxes. Shows honesty in live play and especially proveout. I've seen a couple of shows when this has happened - one based on height of the person in the wings, another their age. I couldn't remember their names though, but I think it was in the 2008 era. I think there was even a game where the player chose every other box, left to right, then repeated it.

Would you go in with choice of boxes already made or rely on spur of the moment hunches?

Choosing 1-22 in order is another one.

I'd have three particular boxes (16, 18, and 21) I would leave until the end, though I am of course aware they are as likely to have big figures as the remaining boxes. Other than that I'd go with hunch or perhaps some convoluted system (like picking primes first) to distinguish my system from the others.

Yeah, if I was ever to go onto the show, I'd probably go with a pre-selected order of boxes.

Picking randomly can often lead to big regrets if, say, you find the 250k in the last box of a pivotal round, and end up thinking "Damn it, if only I'd left that box for longer". Especially if the person changes their mind... and the new box has a big red in it.

One highly unusual system that stuck in my mind was Thanh's game way back in January 2007, where she based her box choices on 'colour clusters' that she'd noted in previous games which, IMO, just seemed like an unnecessary amount of thought put into it, compared to an extremely simple system like Geordie's, where he started from W1, then went along the wings in order.

Geordie had a rather interesting system, which he worked out I think on the morning of his game....

Yes, I would have a system now, in spite of it being a random game. Go for the numbers I don't like first, the odd numbers, so they're out of the way. Then, of the evens, work my way down to 5-box with any four of 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 or 16 remaining. If my box is odd, so be it; if it happens to be 4, then I'll have my box, plus 2, 6, 8 and 16 as my final five.

Simples.

I've had the same system for about 5 years now which I've memorised. It consists of taking out birthday numbers (days and months) first, and significant house numbers second, leaving 7, 12 or 3 to the end (swapping if still in live play).

I would use a combination of Mally logic and the Geordie/Doreen system. First, I would eliminate all the numbers and people that held power 5 amounts the day before (excluding 9 or 19 if both meet that criteria, keeping the one that contained the highest number the day before). I would then go along the wings from right to left (as I'd much rather have a game like Doreen's than a game like Geordie's ), keeping 9 and/or 19 to the end. I would then SWAP for (1)9 at the end if the Banker allowed it.

Simple,

I would take 22 cards (each numbered 1-22) and shuffle them, then turn them over one by one, that being what boxes I will open.

I once thought using balls in a bag like the IA and the contestants use to choose box numbers would be a good system, but it's a little too boring for my liking.

How's this for an improvement: Take a bag of balls numbered 1-22. Then, one at a time, look in the bag and take the lowest number out of the bag.



Well, it looks like I've hit the bottom of the well when it comes to jokes this year.

I'd also like to add that my selection of boxes wouldn't involve anything to do with lucky numbers (don't believe in them), birthdays, death boxes, newbies etc.

Why overcomplicate a random game?

I would take 4, 7, 8, 3 and 11 out in the opening round (in that order), and have 5, 10 and 13 as my final 3 boxes. I'd probably keep 10 if it wasn't already on the table, and if it was then I'd keep 13.

Other than that, it would be random

I just leave 11, 18 and 22 til the end. I would leave box 33 too... but there ain't no box 33.

Whenever I play the game online, I alternate between odd and even-numbered boxes or cases. For example, my first selection would be odd, then even, then odd, etc.

If I don't have Box 7 or 17 on the table - favourite numbers - I leave those until the end.

That's my system in a nutshell.