Joey's game today.

Happy New Year everyone!

Noel promises that the secret of the banker's gift will be unveiled today, which will make today's game a historic one.

Previous game, £75,000

Yes, Happy New Year all!

Hopefully a good start to the year, and this new thing is a good addition as well.

Joey has box 18.

Joey is a metal-worker from Romford. The banker calls and wishes everyone a Happy New Year. He asks if the gift can be unveiled but Noel says we'll do it later. Joey's girlfriend is in the audience today and he talks about how they met. We get to see some photos of Joey with his mum when he was a child and Noel says he's a mummy's boy! Noel says Joey's shoe-mad and has 150 pairs of trainers, and would like to be able to afford a special pair that costs £900.

Here we go...

£900 for trainers?!!

Excellent twist! Very much doubt most players won't be brave enough to take it on.

OK, so the proper gameplay hasn't changed, but the 23rd box is a sort of added on extra that can come in at any time? Or have I misunderstood that?

The banker rings and says he's been good over the Christmas period. He says we can now open the mysterious gift! Noel invites Janet, the pilgrim of the day, to unveil the gift. Janet unveils it to reveal a BOX 23!

A video plays where the banker's mother explains about the 23rd box. She says the box will make things harder for the banker, whereby the top prize could potentially be £500,000!

BOX 23

At the end of the game, the player can choose to give back their winnings and then open box 23, inside which will be one of five options:

1. DOUBLE - double winnings
2. +£10,000 - add £10,000 to winnings
3. MONEY BACK - get the winnings back (i.e. nothing happens)
4. HALF - halve winnings
5. NOTHING - go home with nothing

Box 23 come into play at the end of each game. So the player can use whatever they have won to buy box 23 and its contents.

Right, I see. That's not that bad an idea actually.

Shouldn't effect the overall gameplay too much.

Round 1

The banker rings and says he doesn't like the new 23rd box!

3 - Roger - £5,000

11 - Stephen - £15,000

14 - Lily - £250

20 - Patrick - £1

17 - JP - £75,000

Banker time

The banker spots that while Joey's into his shoes, he's not done his laces up!

Banker's offer:

£10,000

OK, so, if he'd dealt £10,000, he could've given it back at the end and had it doubled to £20,000, halved to five, or wiped altogether?

Joey answers the question before Noel asks it.

Joey says

NO DEAL


Noel calls a break...

So Box 23 is sort of a Banker's Gamble?

Even if he ends up with 1p, could he still get £10,000.01?

Yep. It does mean that anyone with a trainwreck game does at least have a 1 in 5 chance of winning something decent.

Yes, or he could've had £10,000 added (which in this case would have the same effect as doubling it) or he could just end up with the original £10,000.


I suppose if you won 1p, the options would be to win nothing, win 1p, win 2p, win £10,000.01... or win 0.5p!

So, finally, after almost eight years - it's a day of celebration for Lee - Open Box 23!

Good twist to the game, this. I...I think I actually like it! (Probably because the game as-is hasn't been altered at all...).

Or, if they take a huge risk and lose, they could still get a consolation?

Suddenly the "What would you have done today" thread has a whole new dimension now....