So, we've nearly reached the end of, what has been, another memorable year for DoND for a variety of reasons. So, it's time to look back over the year just gone by.

Like last year, I'll be looking back over the year month by month. But I won't be doing long essays every time this time. No, it'll just be a quick run through of some of the most memorable games of the month, and drawing comparisons.

This may sound complicated, but I'm sure it'll be clearer when I start. January's review should be up by 3:40, when this afternoon's show is on.

So, off we go then.

January 2013

Initially, the year got off to a good start, with a total of FOUR OPWs in the first two weeks (Luca, Ryan, Paulina and Gary), as well as another (Joyce's) that probably should have been an OPW as well, and a great recovery from Steve. Then, things began to slide somewhat, and the games the following week were all somewhat average. The most notable thing that next week was probably Lynda nearly selling the Jackpot for £5,000 long before Colin did.

And then we so nearly got the first first offer deal, when Steph got completely thrown by a very generous first offer of £16,500. He did turn it down, and eventually settled for a less generous third offer of £13,500. We saw two further third offer deals that week, none of which resulted in OPWs, but none of which resulted in undersellings either.

We didn't see any blue wins until the final weekend of the month, when Waraporn joined a long list of 'black widows' who ended up with unavoidable trainwrecks.

But the final games of the month were all memorable: 'Twitcher' Gaz got a £20,000 OPW after shocking everyone by going on at 11-box, Bronwyn got the first Power 5 win of the year after a dramatic game, and then a very unfortunate juxtaposition: Ahmed's dramatic crash to a blue after one of the bravest NO DEALs of the year, and the next day Kimberly dealt a cautious 8-box deal, and had the Jackpot in her box. If only they'd had each others' games; Paddy would've been the second rather than the first.

But overall, January was a decent month. A mixture of decent and memorable games. We continue with February tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £45,000 (Bronwyn)
Smallest win of the month: £1 (Waraporn)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Steve (£15k)

Great summary, hogwild.

As I said before, I really wish my account had been activated sooner, as I would've voted for Bronwyn as show of the month and her and Steve would've been joint shows of the month.

In addition, like you said, it's a shame Ahmed didn't have Kimberly's game, as the Banker underestimated him so he probably would've gotten a similar 5 box offer as her which, given his final No Deal, he probably would've no dealt and won the jackpot with a guaranteed £75,000 at the end.

Also, I REALLY wish Steph would've stuck to his true preferences and dealt his 1st offer, as it was very clear the Banker overestimated him and was just going to tamper off with the generosity had he no dealt it reluctantly (which he did ). That's one trend I noticed that is FAR more abundant this year than in previous years; VERY generous opening offers on strong boards that usually tamper off in generosity later on.

100% agree with ACB. There is a stigma against accepting the first and second offer, which is ridiculous.

February 2013

So, we began February with Giuseppe, a mad Marmite character, who gave us a very mad and entertaining game. But amidst the madness, he did deal a very generous £18,000 offer at 8-box, which he dealt for an OPW. The next game, Trish had a very similar 8-box to Giuseppe's (only with £75k instead of £35k), but she took the risk, and it paid off, as she got a £36,000 offer at 5-box which she took for another great OPW. So that's four OPWs and two Power 5 wins in a week. What a week that was!

The rest of the month petered out by comparison. The next week was a lot quieter, with the biggest win being Tom's very average £12,000 OPW. Also, poor Zoe had one of the worst trainwrecks of the year.

And so on to Love Week, and Hollywood Heartthrobs, a theme which was considered good by most. Not much to say about the games that week, the highlight being Danny's £31,000 win on the Monday, and the rest of the games being average wins of less than £20,000 for the most part (the exception being Lyn's £22,000 win).

The games the next week were OK, but still nothing terribly notable. Highest win was Ryan's £26,000, via a somewhat cautious 5-box deal, which later saw him get the Scream Ending! (1p was in the box) And also Theo's game, which was entertaining, despite another fairly cautious deal, and this time big money in the box. We did get a much needed OPW from Maggie, though.

The final games of the month were mostly average wins again, apart form Charlie's game, which was very exciting, as the Banker clearly saw him as a threat, and he got good offers throughout. He eventually settled for a 3-box extra offer of £15,000.

Overall, February was probably a bit more low key than January, but things would more than pick up March. More on that tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £36,000 (Trish)
Smallest win of the month: £100 (Zoe)
Games(s) of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Giuseppe and Trish, with Charlie second, after the first ever SotM run-off

Overall, February was probably the lowest key month of the year. The rest of the months thereafter were marked by either astonishing games, an amazing run of good fortune, an infuriating run of caution, or a combination of the three.

Happy Christmas all!

March 2013

Well, the month started off pretty averagely, with the first week and a bit by some fairly average games, and a few good ones. George's game is probably one of the most underrated of the month, while Marcus' provided some good tension as well. We also had Wanda's, which was another character driven game where the 'humour' sort of made up for it being a rather cautious 11-box deal, but not by much.

The next week started rather poorly, when Pete narrowly usurped Katie Chipchase's record after selling the Jackpot for £7,950. (How many of us were expecting that record to fall a further three times later in the year?!) But things picked up after that, with Kristian getting a £15k OPW from the box, and some more good games later in the week, including Amy's great recovery from £2k at 8-box to a £28k OPW!

Also that week, the show got an unexpected Tuesday off due to Cheltenham overrunning, meaning the shows all got shunted back a day.

The next week started out averagely, but things picked up with Jainaba's £40k win (soured somewhat by the Jackpot being in the box), and then another great recovery from Kerrie (another underrated one there). Then, things came crashing back down very rapidly, with Mike suffering one of the worst trainwrecks ever, and Shan having an almost equally bad one the next game.

Then, along came Tommy's game, which was one of the standouts of the year, after a chance remark from his sister resulted in hugely generous offers. He timed his exit perfectly, taking an ultra-generous £45k offer at 5-box for an OPW! Next day, Jen also dealt £45k at 5-box, but her offer was not generous, and her deal didn't work out, resulting in the Dream Ending! A great month ended with Dave, Betsy and Wai Ling all dealing their highest offer, and only Dave had more in his box.

It was undoubtedly a strong month, and I can see the Month of the Year poll being very closely fought between March and April. And more on that tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £45,000 (Tommy and Jen)
Smallest win of the month: 10p (Mike)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Tommy

April 2013

Well, March was going to be hard to follow, but the first week of April did a great job of it! We got two five-figure OPWs from Kirsty and tourettes sufferer Rob, as well as a good recovery from Colin, and Lee got the biggest win for months with a £48,000 deal at 5-box. Offer could've been a bit more, but still a large sum whatever you cut it.

The good luck sort of continued into the next week, with Conrad and Kev both recovering from poor starts to get £14k OPWs. But, alas, we also had our first 1p win of the year, as poor Laura became the first player with her name to win less than £10k, following a huge crash in the fifth round. Less said about that game, and the fallout from it, the better.

And the next week began with Neil becoming the ninth player to leave with ABSOLUTELY nothing (not counting Danielle and Mark, who got holidays but no money). But, as is often the case, a win of NOTHING was cancelled out by a big win the next day, this time Nicole getting a £30k OPW. And a couple of days later, Jamie dealt from £33k, and the following week, Craig also won £30k.

But the biggest win was to come, as, in the penultimate game of the month, Roy came along, and bravely made his way to a final two of £20,000 and the Jackpot. Offered £100,000, Roy decided to take the money, and became the first player to DEAL at £100,000, rather than win it from the box. But, he could've beaten Paddy to the title had he gone for it.

But overall, April was yet another good month for the show, with some great games and (correct me if I'm wrong here) the biggest monthly total of wins of £26,000 or more. Would the momentum hold into May? We shall examine tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £100,000 (Roy)
Smallest win of the month: NOTHING (Neil)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Roy

May 2013

Well, after two great months, would the good momentum carry on into May? Well, things looked promising in the first few games, with Armin getting a £22,000 OPW, and only Jo missing out on significantly more. Things looked good going into Banker's Birthday week.

Deal in Space was a decent themed week, with two good OPWs from Gareth and Sophia, and the two disappointing games of the week (Lee and Mark) being softened by holidays being given out. The twist, involving a remote controlled flying machine, was good as well.

Returning to normal, things resumed well with Dot getting an OPW, but then another unfortunate juxtaposition, with Ratan selling the £75,000 for £7,000 being immediately followed by Bex crashing from £12,230 to 10p. But Matt's game was the most weird of the week, being offered the DFKATBG on a blue-£35k finish, with the added twist of the Banker knowing what was in one of the boxes.

Next week began well, with Laura getting a decent £18,000 OPW (I wouldn't normally mention that, but...). But things went wrong later in the week, when Jeff usurped Pete's record, selling the Jackpot for £7,180. Also, he accomplished a highly improbably 'feat' of taking out the bottom six from 8-box to 2-box in order!

Things got better quickly though, with Ann getting a good OPW, and then the final week of games. And what a week!

Four players, Bryn, Aurea, Rohima and Junie, all recovering from bad starts to all red final twos courtesy of the perfect final round. Two of these games were OPWs (Aurea and Junie), while the other two weren't (Bryn getting £5k rather than £10k, and Rohima getting £35k instead of £50k), but it didn't really matter considering how they got there.

Also that week, Bradley and Jade both got circa £20k OPWs, thus ending the month with a superb bang. Things looked good, but would it carry on into the Summer Months? We'll continue into June tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £35,000 (Rohima)
Smallest win of the month: 50p (Bex) (unless you count Mark winning a holiday, but no money)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Laura (£18,000)

I still can't believe Laura was voted Show of the Month for May.

June 2013

Well, after that extraordinary run of games that ended May, things hit a sharp slump straight away in June, with the highest win in the next four games being Gary's £3,000 box win. We also had Loreen take a slightly cautious deal, and then end up with the Nightmare finish in proveout, and then Craig taking a cautious £7,000 on a £35k-high blue final two, with the big money in his box. We did eventually get an OPW from Suwanna, albeit via extra offers.

Things weren't going to get any betters, with Sabine crashing from a very strong start to £1,000. And then, for the third time this year, the lowest selling of the £250,000 record fell, with Tia selling the Jackpot for £6,000. Noel thought her record would stand for 'a while'; I don't know if just under five months is what he'd call 'a while'.

We did then get a good game from Ryan, who went on while the board was in his favour, then get out when it began to turn against him. This was followed by one of the most controversial games of the year: Iris' game. Offered £11,500 at 14-box, she asked if she could deal, but before she could, the Banker lowered it to £4,000. She went on, and then dealt £10,000 at the next offer with five sums higher, including four Power 5s. She then promptly destroyed the board. Controversy reigns over whether her very cautious deal that worked out counts as an OPW, seeing as she had initially been offered more at 14-box. Noel said it was the next game, but I think most of us would not think of it as one.

After that, we needed some time off, and we did, thanks to Royal Ascot needing the slot. We returned that weekend, and got two good games from Hayley and John; the former, like Ryan, playing a strong board until it fell out of her favour, the latter selling the 1p for £10,000 for an OPW. We ended the month with some more low tariff games, three of which were high blue wins, only one of which was a box win!

Overall, June was disappointing, and it was probably around this month that things began to take a turn for the worse in terms of offer generosity. You can make your own minds up about that. We'll move on to July tomorrow!

Biggest won of the month: £16,000 (Ryan)
Smallest win of the month: £275 (Mary)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Ryan

Without question June was the turning point of the year. After Iris's pathetically low Deal for less than half the Fair Deal being praised, the Banker figured he could keeping getting away with making low offers. He then got EXTREMELY lucky thereafter when every person who tried for the big money (Hayley, Sean, and Sarah) didn't have it work out for them whereas nearly everyone who played it safe managed to make it work, prompting all the other players to make cheap Deals thinking it was the right move. The only good thing about the following period was that the 2 people who had the strongest boards throughout (Marlene and Paddy) just so happened to be the two people who were willing to play them if the offers were low enough.

Iris' family members were even saying No Deal but she completely ignored them!

Ah, Iris. Whatever the offer was, was whatever the offer was, and that was the offer. I can't even remember what I said about that game at the time...

July 2013

Well, July began fairly well, with Emma getting a good result, and Ada getting one of four OPWs this month. Then we had two £10 wins in a row (one unavoidable, the other a crash from a good position), and then two £2,000 wins in a row (both cautious deals).

Jill's game was notable for three reasons: she had one of the best opening rounds of all time, the 50,000th box was opened, and it was one of the four opening rounds this month. And even then, it was another cautious deals. In fact, apart from Alex's arguable either way deal, and Gemma's low stakes 2-box deal, most of the deals we had around this time were cautious.

But they were also being vindicated as well. Beverley provided the third OPW of the month after dealing the Governor (IIRC, I may be wrong) with four of the Power 5 left, and finding them all in the proveout. And while this was all nice and good for the players, all these cautious deals working out was just resulting in more. Best examples were Antonette and James, both of whom dealt circa £7,000 at 11-box, which wasn't even the peak of the game, and both got away with it.

Then, Irene's game finally saw one of these deals not work out. And then, Marlene's game, where the Banker really shot himself in the foot by lowballing on a strong board. As ACB said elsewhere, she was not an aggressive player, so he could have stopped her by being more generous. He did finally play the percentages at the end, offering her £118,000 on a final two of the Jackpot and £35,000. The gloss of finally having such a big win was only slightly overshadowed by the Jackpot being in the box. Many were hopeful this would finally trigger a bit more ambition among the players.

Alas, any possible influence of Marlene's game was cancelled out next day, when Natalie's board crashed from a seemingly impregnable 8-box to the worst 2-box possible at 8-box. Luckily, she had backed out at 5-box before it capitulated. As the week went on, it was as if Marlene's game had never happened, as most players were still opting for cautious smile money deals, and most were gotten away with too. Only Kelvin dealt an above FD offer that week.

Maybe a twist week would enliven things? Dealfest was an OK theme, with a mixed bag of games, including one of the most controversial of the year: Kelly's. The first two offers were above the FD, but the third offer dropped well below it: £20,000 with all the Power 5 bar the £35,000 left. Nearly half an hour until, er, whatever was on next; no-one expected her to DEAL!

Where had this total aversion to risk taking come from? Would it continue into August? And would we ever see anyone go for it again? We shall continue tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £118,000 (Marlene)
Smallest win(s) of the month: £10 (Lewis and Sara)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Marlene

August 2013

Well, what a month this was!

We began with the remaining Dealfest specials, the best of which was Scott providing a much needed OPW, dealing for £19,000.

Around this time, speculation was emerging that the unclaimed title would finally be claimed. But we still had a week to go until the date of this speculated game. We began with Tel, who made one of the bravest NO DEALs of the year, turning down £15,000 at 5-box. Unfortunately, he hit the wrong 10% chance, and ended with a blue finish. Next day, Nikky dealt £26k on a slightly stronger board than Tel's, and she hit the wrong 10% chance at ended with an all-Power 5 finish. An unfortunate juxtaposition that.

There were two things we hadn't seen for a long time: a 1p win, and a red box win. We subsequently got one of each, the latter from Nathan after a low tariff game, the former from Jolene after a highly dramatic one. But these were soon glossed over, by what was to come to the next Monday.

Paddy's game was the one many had outright suspected would be the one where the First Male £250,000 winner title would finally be secured. And, after a highly dramatic and fast moving game, they were right: Paddy finally claimed the elusive title! (Hats off to Archstered for totally throwing me off the scent of the rumours, by telling me it would be close, but no cigar)

Maybe the title finally being claimed would be the event that changed the players' attitude. Not if Kaytee's cautious deal (that worked out for her) and Bryan's trainwreck were anything to go by. We also saw Rosie recover to a £20,000 box win after a £425,000 round, and another game (Danny's) not go out at all due to issues unrelated to the show.

The rest of the month petered out by comparison. We saw Richard join Jolene in the 1p club, Sam get an £11,000 OPW, and Clare win £21,000 after a pretty tense game. But I'm pretty sure this month will be best remembered for the events of the first half of the month!

We shall carry on to September tomorrow!

Biggest win of the month: £250,000! (Paddy)
Smallest win(s) of the month: 1p (Jolene and Richard)
Game of the month (as vote for by the forum): Paddy

September 2013

Well, September has a reputation as a weak month for DoND. But this didn’t seem to be a problem at first, as the first two weeks of the month were two of the best of the year.

The first week saw Kerry and Will both get OPWs, and Jacquie gave us one of the most controversial games this year. After dealing £17,500 at 5-box, she was offered the DFKATBG on a 1p-£100,000 final two. She appeared to say ‘DEAL’, but Noel and the Banker were worried she’d misunderstood the question, and was asked the question again. She refused the gamble this time. As it turns out, she should’ve gone for it!

The next week was great too. Lolly, Shola, Yuwadee and Joyce all got OPWs, and only Ryan missed out on significantly more. And even then, it was still a tense game and a decent sum won. There is also debate over whether Yuwadee’s game counts as an OPW, as she all but admitted that she wouldn’t have picked the box that destroyed the game in LIVE play.

Things began well next week too, with Carmel recovering from a poor start to another OPW, and Nadia getting a good win. But things slowed down later in the week, with Zie and Finley both dealing the third offer, and Danny crashing from £16,000 to £3,000.

And the final week was average, the highest win being James’ £26,007 via a rather cautious 8-box deal. And we also saw the month’s only blue win, with Wendy suffering a horrific trainwreck and ending up with £1. The month ended with Ozzie taking a somewhat cautious 8-box deal, which didn’t work out as he left the Jackpot to the end. He didn’t have it in his box though.

Overall, September was a fairly reasonable month for the show. We shall move on to October next month.

Biggest win of the month: £26,007 (James)
Smallest win of the month: £1 (Wendy)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Joyce (£19,000)

October 2013

Well, traditionally, October is the pick-me-up month after an average September. This year, I'd say they were on even terms.

The month began with a run of average games that we'd got used to. The standout of that first week was Sidi's game, where he took a series of calculated but not reckless gambles, but unfortunately crashed to a blue win. At least it wasn't the 1p, but it would've been if he'd swapped. We also had Mikey's game, which was a good comedy game and a fairly respectable £8,000 deal.

The next week was more like it: after Niall's fairly average deal on Monday, we had Mel's game. Now, she had the determination. Faced with the Jackpot, £50,000 and three blues at 5-box, she was offered a very generous £35,000. But she turned it down. And this proved a fatal mistake, as she wiped both big sums out and left with just 50p. The next day, Emma had a similar board to Mel, same two biggies but with two oranges and one blue, but she was offered a much less generous £22,000. At least, when she took it, it worked out to be an OPW.

Then, two days later, the Jackpot came to the table for the first time since Paddy's game. Unfortunately, Dave had already taken £16,141 at 8-box. But, a couple of games later, we got a good game from Jamie, where he negotiated a generous £15,000 offer, provided he proposed to his partner. Which he did.

Then, another very unfortunate juxtaposition: Laura crashed from a very strong 11-box position and £16,500 offer to a heartbreaking 10p box win. The next day, Dawood was offered the same sum on a weaker board; he took it, and had the Jackpot in his box! I said at the time how annoyed I was that they hadn't had each others' boards. It's also typical that Luke's game the following week saw his £16,500 third offer turn out to be the peak of his game.

Olivia's game was another interesting one: she also attracted generous offers, but they gradually got less so as the game went on. She dealt £15,000 at 5-box, which was the lowest of her game, and controversy reigns over whether it counts as the biggest OPL of all time, as she hypo-swapped the Jackpot to the table.

A run of fairly average games followed all this, including Nath winning the highest sum of the month: £26,000. But she could've had the Jackpot!

The month ended with the usual Halloween specials, where we saw Zoe take one of the weakest deals of the year, and Iola and Jafar both take reasonable offers, but not quite converting them into OPWs.

Overall, another fair month for the show. Into the home stretch now, we move on to November tomorrow.

Biggest win of the month: £26,000 (Nath)
Smallest win of the month: 10p (Laura)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Nath

November 2013

On to November then, and after Georgie bought Freaky Fun Fayre to a close with another cautious deal, we had another from Colin. In fact, he took £5,000 with the Jackpot still in play! And it was in his box! And the record fell for the fourth time this year! I very much dealt this record will be broken, and even if it is, the player may still get some more out of Box 23. Or maybe have insult added to injury by getting it halved or wiped!

Moving on, and Zopaash and Gaz picked things up nicely with a pair of OPWs, and Grant gave us an interesting game where he oh so nearly took the first offer. But he went on, and actually took his lowest offer. And the Jackpot was in the box again! The next game, we did finally see someone take a reasonable punt. And, luckily for Pat, it paid off, and she ended with a £15k-£75k finish. The final offer of £33,333 was pretty weak, but she took it. And could've had the £75,000!

Moving on, Harriett managed to salvage a £3,000 win from an unlucky game (and the Banker didn't mind, for reasons I won't repeat here; read the thread!), and 'Honest to God' Steve managed a respectable £7,000 OPW. And Lily provided another the next week, taking £20,000 at 5-box for a good OPW. A perfect pick-me-up from Shona's cautious-deal-gone-horribly-wrong the previous day.

Into the final few games, and Douglas took a somewhat cautious £22k deal at 8-box, and converted it into an OPW, in one of the most opinion splitting games of the year. And Sue, a prolific advice offerer on the wings, took another the next day, only her's wasn't quite an OPW. She was offered the chance to give her £12,081 back on a 1p-£100k final two, but decided not to. And it was lucky for her she did, as the 1p was in the box.

The month ended with Sunny taking a respectable £5,500 deal at 8-box, Wendy getting a £17,000 OPW, and Emma taking one of the most cautious deals of the year, taking £7,000 at 8-box with three of the Power 5 left.

Overall, another month where things weren't terribly good, but not terribly bad either. We will conclude this series with December tomorrow.

Biggest win of the month: £33,333 (Pat)
Smallest win of the month: £250 (Julia)
Game of the Month (as voted for by the forum): Sue (£12,081)

December 2013

So, the final month of the year, and some memorable games in this lot. Not least the first one with Nenad, where the Banker's tactic of hoping the player would play the money rather than the board finally went wrong: Nenad's 5-box offer of the Governor with the top 3 in play must be one of the weakest of all time. He played on and, faced with the Jackpot and 50p, was offered £75,000, which he dealt for the first Power 5 win since Paddy!

Two more notable games were to come: first was Rosie's emotional game, which saw reds go in almost every round. Left with £35,000 and 4 blues at 5-box, she took the offer of £700. And £35,000 was in the box! First time a Power 5 has been sold for a blue!

And then next week came Gwyn, who had a similar 5-box to Rosie, with £75,000 instead of £35,000. He kept it to 2-box with £750, and was offered £21,000. And he turned it down! And he won the £75,000! One of the most dramatic and well deserved victories of the year!

The rest of the month wasn't that memorable: Russ and Doreen both got OPWs, and Mana played a dramatic game, which saw her win £13k. We also saw the return of the pitch invasion, with Indira and Chelsey both getting one after their middle red wins.

The Christmas specials weren't terrifically memorable, but some decent results considering, including Harry winning £8,001 for a happy Christmas Day result, for a change. As we've been used to, we saw a few players deal before the twist, Lisa and Paul both taking their fourth offer, which was their highest offer, though Paul did have more in his box.

A couple of decent orange wins to end the year courtesy of John and Polly, who played the first games of the new run in the new studio, and the final '22-box' games.

So, that was 2013. Where will 2014 take us? With this 23rd box, who knows? We shall have to wait and see. Thanks for reading these.

Biggest win of the month: £75,000 (Nenad and Gwyn)
Smallest win of the month: £10 (Julie)
Game of the month (as voted for by the forum): VOTE NOW!