Allowing the player to randomly select the contents of box 23 would be more consistent with the main game, but maybe it was deliberately not done that way to psychologically put a bit more power in the banker's court.

It may indeed be better to allow the player to randomly choose the box 23 contents, though, and this option may be available during the themed weeks (along with some different options for what box 23 could contain).

If it were done on a permanent basis, I think adding four more differently numbered boxes to the game would be a bit clumsy; Weaver's suggestion of having five envelopes in box 23 would be a better option. An alternative would be to have five identical-looking box 23s - they could bring back the old viewer's competition bench, extend it and use that to put the boxes on.

It's taken three weeks, but today we had the first time where Box 23 has transformed a trainwreck game!

£5 has been a significant value in Box 23's life - it's been 'bought' for £5 three times already.

Full Box 23 stats here - viewtopic.php?f=37&t=25920

Simply dont like box 23, would be better if say player could gamble percentage in 10's but only if 3options Half/Even/Double, at the minute most who win £3000 or less will gamble, the old format needed an element of luck but mainly good timing on what is right for the player. This new thing is purely look if you dont win 1st time.

There was an interesting Box 23 statistic provided by Noel at the recent recording I attended but it would be too much of a spoiler to reveal it. (I'll point it out when the show is actually aired).

What I can reveal... (The below is not really a spoiler but just in case!)

Here's a thought: what if Box 23 didn't have the +£10,000 option? Then, it'd be useless, as the only people who go for it are blue winners, and they'll have barely anything to gain from it, especially if they've won pocket change like Stephen or Kash.

I mean, the +£10,000 is the only real option people are going to play for, if they've won either a blue or an orange like Kelly. If they win an orange or a high blue, double might be of some use as well.

Also, removing the NOTHING option, and making it just DOUBLE/MONEY BACK/HALF might make it more attractive to those who've won a substantial sum, like Erin.

Just get rid of the NOTHING option. It's because of that, no one (apart from Joey) will ever risk 23 on more than £10,000.

If that occurred, nearly every player would go for Box 23 with the worst case scenario being HALF, and the show certainly does not have the budget for that nowadays. Plus it could encourage some to take the very first offer, as many nowadays only decline a five figure opener with the hope that their game goes well enough that they could secure a circa £20,000 sum without taking a significant risk, and Box 23 without the NOTHING would provide a safer route than playing the board.

What about having a QUARTER option instead of NOTHING...

Not really thought this through in any great detail, but that might actually tempt more of £250k winners to reach for the £500k - it would still be -EV at £239,500, but £62,500 would be a hell of a decent "worst-case" consolation!

But as you say, the show's budget probably couldn't stretch to that in the long-term, and games would likely be dominated by box 23 rather than it being a slight influence which they wouldn't want...

Replacing the 'nothing' option with a 'quarter' option would have an interesting effect. I assume it'd encourage more cautious deals because some players would consider it's best to deal early for a good sum of money (and then use box 23 with minimal risk) rather than risking playing on when the offers may decrease if the game goes wrong.

Replacing 'nothing' with '-£10,000', for example, would also have a weird effect whereby only people who have won over £10,000 would probably be willing to take it on, and it'd be a very favourable tool for people who have won large sums.

Another option would be to have two box 23s. The player would open the first one and then have the choice to either stick with its contents, or open the second box and then stick with the contents of that. Of course if the first box contained 'nothing' then they may as well go for the second, but if the first one contained 'half' then the player would have to decide whether to risk revealing 'nothing' in the second box if they went for it. So effectively, it decreases the chances of going home with absolutely nothing.


For this reason, I suspect the 'nothing' option will never be tinkered with. It feels like it's been introduced as a device to help people who have won blues, and the fact that it can also be used by adventurous players to potentially substantially increase their winnings is a side factor.

Or have a Box 24?

We can go all the way up to Box 86 for all I care, GoCompareThis.

How about Box 9001?

How about... have a box 24 that you're FORCED into opening should you choose to open Box 23?! It has 3 options: TRIPLE, NO EFFECT or NOTHING.

So, effectively, you could turn £5k into £45k (and a 13.2% chance of getting at least £30k!). The jeopardy would exist on the bigger sums then, with the huge enticement of winning up to 9 times more in that scenario. Would also mean of course, if you got HALF on box 23, you could still end up with more than your stake by trebling it with box 24!

Would mean there'd be an outside chance of turning £250k into £1.5million... Actually, perhaps being able to advertise a potential prize that high would get DOND back on the map!

Would also open up the "Agony-Ecstasy-Agony" finish (10k+ on blue followed by nothing with box 24!)

As Tommy Said, The show's only an hour long.

The Logistics wouldn't work, too many PoTD's.

And a JP that high didn't help Red or Black so it sure aint gonna help DoND.

In reality, nothing will save DOND now, it surely should be its last season...

There's only been a handful of memorable games in the past couple of years (most I was fortunate enough to see live; Tony, Tommy, Marlene & most of the mega-money era of Mar/Apr '13). Way it is panning out at the moment, they're increasing the payouts with box 23 in the long-term, and adding viewer competitions in an attempt to make things more "exciting"...

It's just not really working out that way at the moment...

Here's another idea: scrap Box 23 altogether, and make the extra offer box they have on valentines day specials permanent. It would encourage at least a little bit more bravery (i.e. less contestants will deal a 5 box offer significantly less generous than their 8 box offer like many have lately ) and will force the Banker to be at least a little bit less tight.

I fail to agree with statsman. Ratings are going up, people are watching until the end because of the un-predictability of Box 23, and I HATE it when people, who regularly post on this forum, and watch it on the television slate the show.

Fair enough! Think there's a lot of "critical fans" around these parts now that REALLY want to see the best for the show, but realise it's basically become a shadow of its former self. That's my view at least. A 10% increase in ratings (or whatever it's become in 2014, I haven't checked!) would be fine if it wasn't sub-million in the first place; unlikely to sway their decision.

Maybe they will give it another run. Maybe it'll be terrific again. We can dream if we want. Occasionally it is brilliant again, but more occasionally than before. The rotating character types loses its value. Tension has HUGE value in a show of this nature, trouble is there's too little of that to grab attention for the casual viewers.

No show is "immune" from criticism anyway, there's a TV critic on Twitter that basically moans about every show he watches! (Yes, you can argue it's his 'job' to moan, but at the same time it's not necessarily my job to agree with everything! )

...AND ONE person (Joey) has taken box 23 above stakes of £3,000 - that's not "unpredictability", as in my view they've been formalities. They're generally turning bad games into good ones, when it'd be more exciting if they turned a moderate win into a good one.

There's virtually no jeopardy at the moment, I'm prepared to give it a few months for a bigger picture sure, but the early signs aren't great, to be honest. Plus, all the extraneous mentioning of Box 23 for NO reason is ruining the momentum and flow of a game sometimes...