Deal or No Deal

Just got done watching
Deal or No Deal, a show that just premiered here in the United States. According to the promos, this show runs in over 30 other countries.

The show works like this:

A contestant picks one of 26 cases. The cases contain signs that show how much money that case is worth. The values are between one penny all the way up to one million dollars. After the case is picked, the contestant picks a number of cases to eliminate money values. Then a “banker” offers to buy your case for a certain amount of money. That amount depends on which dollar amounts are left. The contestant can then decide whether or not to take the deal. The game continues until the contestant either decides to take a deal, or waits until the end to see what their case holds.

Pretty simple game…. and kinda weird. This is probably the first game I can remember that requires absolutely no skill to play. I suppose you can say that calculating odds is a skill, but I seriously doubt there’s any serious odds calculation going on….. well, other than the “banker” who’s obviously doing some of that.

The lady the played tonight turned down over $130,000, only to later take $25,000 after a couple of more cases were opened. Not bad… Not what she wanted, but not bad.

20Q Challenge

20Q Challenge

Another game from Radica games (maker of CubeWorld) is something I do highly recommend: Their series of 20Q games. The latest is their 20Q Challenge game. It has a mechanism inside very much like the one inside the InfoGlobe.

The game itself is twenty questions. The twist is that you think of an object, and the device itself asks you the questions. You answer “Yes”, “No”, “Sometimes”, or “Unknown”. Usually it can determine what you’re thinking of…surprisingly so. There are several different models, and they make a great stocking stuffer, if you’re looking for one this Christmas.

CubeWorld


CubeWorld cubes are pretty interesting, but I have to say, a bit overpriced. You collect sets of cubes, and when the cubes are connected, the little stick figures inside the cubes can interact with each other, and even move from their cube into the cube right next to it. They’re asking around $30-$35 for each pair of cubes. Neat idea, but they need to drop to price to about $10 per pair for people to really start collecting them.

Update:

The Cube World toys are now available for pre-order through Amazon.com, for both the Slim & Scoop and Dodger & Whip. The initial price of these through Amazon.com, is $22.95 as of this writing (check Amazon for the current prices), which is a lot lower than the original $30-$35 when these were first announced.