A question to all past players.

How are the boxes selected?

Are they all in a room and numbers showing and you pick? Do you pick a number out of a hat and get given a box? do you all walk in at the same time and pick a box in a big fight for your favourite one? (Less likely)

At least one player has specified her box number as a lucky number. Was that luck?

Yes it is luck, I don't remember too many players ending up with their lucky number.

When you enter the studio all the sealed numbered boxes are lined up on the walkway between the desk where the solo player sits and the screen.
When all the contestants are in position a member of the production team comes down the row with a red bag containing numbered table tennis balls. You select a ball and shortly afterwards a member of the production team hands you the appropriate box. You then spend 20 minutes getting filmed for the various shots which they insert into the show and then they let the audience into the studio. The studio is then warmed up by the resident comedians that they have - and trust me they are bloody funny! - and then Noel arrives and before you know it - one of your friends has been selected to play. The player is then taken out the back to have their make up topped up and their microphone put on and checked. Then its back out there and filming restarts with Noel calling out your name and away you go down the walkway .........

Gerry

Thanks for that

Some of the conspiracy theorists at Bother's Bar have suggested that the player for a given episode might be chosen after the boxes have been selected, thus allowing them to pick a player who has a blue value in their box. (53 players have had blue values so far out of the 87 shows and it's 65 shows since anyone's had the quarter-million, both of which have less than a 5% chance of happening randomly.) I'm not sure they're justified but somehow you have to wonder. (Especially as we never see the independent adjudicator in the UK version, unlike in most other versions of the format in other countries.)

An interesting thread!

At last!

it certainly would, geordie

Geordie/any other ex-players-

The player's friends/family are sometimes in the audience, do they get tickets for every game, or just get to sit in only for their contestant's game?

hi mally here x contestant,
i never knew it was my turn because we all thought there were another 7 contestants before me ,
we all try and quess whose next when we are in the green room,
(inbetween shows)
what geordie has told you is correct , but i never had nothing booked for me after my show
my transport was arranged, after i played,
OH I HAD THE £250.000 in my box and i dealt at £54 grand,
take care now
like the site
love the banter
have fun
mally

And if there's contact with the 'independent' adjudicator there, that's possible.



I'd like to think that. Though given the fact that your time on box-opening duties is meant to be undetermined, I'm not sure why I'd book tickets home for any given day.



They do this on the Italian version. Certainly offers potential for interesting second-guessing of the Banker; is he making a joke offer because he knows you have the penny? Is he making an excessive offer because he knows you have the biggest remaining value? That in turn could lead to very big mistakes being made if the Banker is bluffing.

SUCH A SIMPLE GAME,
YET HEAD DOING
IF YOU LET IT
AND I PLAYED IT
I KNOW WHAT DAZ WILL BE GOING THOUGH KNOWING YOU HAD THE BIG BOY IN YOUR BOX ,

THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY ?

While I have never played the game, I don't think that people should worry after the fact. As long as you feel you made the correct decision when the odds dictated you do so, then there is no point beating yourself up about how the boxes eventually played out.

Were I to play, I would only have two rules for myself.

1. Don't set a target figure for yourself. That may influence your choice when to deal in a negative way. Probability should be uppermost in your mind when considering your decision. If you have the 250,000 in play with a number of other small boxes and you get a big/reasonable offer you should deal. The offer is only there because you may have the top amount. However, the odds that you really do have it are heavily against you.

2. I would write down a list of numbers that I selected randomly, and stick to them. This eliminates any nagging feelings of 'what if' that you might get after the show.

I understand that I have never faced the pressure of playing the game and seeing all that potential money available to me, but I like to think that I could stick to my rules.

WHEN I WAS PLAYING
I JUST WENT WITH THE GAME PLAN OF WHO HAD A HIGH VALUE BOX AND A LOW NUMBER BOX IN THE GAME BEFORE ME , IT IS ALL RANDOM,
YOU PICK YER BALL , AND THATS YER BOX,
WITH ME BEING CHOSEN EARLY THAN EXPECTED ,
I BELIVED I HAD IT IN MY BOX
DONT ASK MY WHY
YOU GET THAT FEELING
BUT THERE COMES A TIME IN THE GAME WHEN IT TURNS INTO A GAMBLE,
AND I JUST COULD NOT AFFORD TO TAKE THAT RISK(54GRAND OFFORD)
IT IS ALL ABOUT ODDS
5 BOXS LEFT
THE BIG BOY IN PLAY
5/1 CHANCE
WHOULD YOU HAVE GAMBLED
ALL I HAD LEFT WAS
£100
£250
£500
£20.000
£250.000

ITS ALL DOWN TO WHAT YOU WANT OUT THE GAME,
WELL £54.000 WILL DO NICE THANK
TAKE CARE NOW
MALLY

Is your caps lock broken there Mally

No, that's very interesting how it works, cheers Geordie

hi panda
am new to this pc lark
am a one finger man at this moment in time
but i love to chat
and i like this site ,
and its great to be part of
DEAL OR NO DEAL
take care

Oh

GET IT SORTED BOY

I mean, er, enjoy your winnings

WHAT ME FINGER

So they dont really choose a player at random?

If this is true they might make the contestant play with 250k in their box on the last game in the series

They know who they are going to have playing, because Noel has his crib cards ready for that player... And after I'd played someone in the crew referred to "when I heard this morning that it was going to be you". I imagine they know who it will be before we choose our boxes.

Trying to guess who it will be doesn't always work - there was a bit of a theory that there would be two from the oldest group and then one from the second oldest group, each day, but as you've seen some people are there for ages and some play quite soon! And they don't tell us who is going into the next show until after the player is called, so there is no way to guess who will be playing based on who is replacing them.

I played on the one day my family were in the audience, and I had repeatedly said that this was the ONLY time I really didn't want to play! Grr! Also another player was called to play the day before his wife was due to join him. So you really can't tell - they call you when they want you and that is that!

I don't think who they call has ANY relevance to who has which box, though.