Okay, I blew 10 bucks on this, simply because I wanted the case as a prop for a prject I'm working on, and I'm always for getting my hands on some general-knowledge trivia questions.
With apologies to Matt Ottinger, I'll steal the format from the GSHGHP and give you the rundown.
Contents:
- 80 Question Cards, 5 questions on each (400 questions total)
- 20 Mob Cards
- 1 Score Pad, for crossing out mob members and tabulating winnings
- Instructions
Game Play:
One player serves as host, the other as contestant. The contestant picks a number between 1 and 5, and the host will read that question off of each card (as was done for the "Lightning Round" editions of Password.) If the player answers correctly, he/she draws one of the "Mob Cards" to see how many mob members got the question wrong.
"Mob Card" values are as follows: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30.
The host then multiplies the number drawn by the question value to determine the amount of money won that round.
The money tree for the game follows the original version:
$100, $250, $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $6,000, $7,500, $10,000.
The multiplication is actually printed on each card for the host.
After each question, the player is given the choice of taking "The Money or The Mob," with the knowledge that a wrong answer will cost him/her everything. Play continues until 1) The player takes the money; 2) The player answers incorrectly; or 3) The player successfully answers 12 questions, regardless of mob members remaining (more on that below.)
Multi-Player Variation: Players rotate roles of host, contestant, and mob members. If a player answers incorrectly, his/her winnings are split up by the mob. After everyone has had an equal amount of turns in each role, the player with the most total money is the winner.
Differences to TV Show:
First off, there is no $1,000,000 grand prize. If you answer 12 questions correctly, it's game over, automatically. If you knock off all 100 mob members before reaching the 12th question (quite likely, given the numbers on the Mob Cards,) the game instructs you to keep playing regardless, up to that 12th question. That pretty much eliminates the whole point of the Mob in the first place, turning this into a game of random, escalating money values. As for the helps, there are two, which were clearly an afterthought; the game instructs you to either Ask The Host, or Phone A Friend (!). IMs are also encouraged. Yeah.
Comments:
Just a couple of tweaks could have made this game infinitely more playable, and hopefully will be taken into consideration for any future versions. First off, most obviously, the $1,000,000 grand prize for eliminating the entire mob should have been included, and the idea of playing on anyway after the mob is completely gone upends the entire premise of the show. Secondly, the random nature of the "Mob Cards," while arguably necessary, detracts from the game with its imbalanced distribution of numbers. Put into terms of probability, there is a 55% chance you will knock off at least 10 mob members on a question, and a 30% shot that you'll knock off at least 20. Having multiple cards with single digits, and adding in a "zero" card would bring things back down to earth a bit. Third, all three of the helps from the show could have been implemented here: "Ask The Mob" would require the host to simply eliminate one wrong answer; "Trust The Mob" could be pulled off by placing a 1, 2, and 3 after each answer, reflecting the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most popular answers among mob members. "Poll The Mob" would be altered slightly, using the same 1-2-3 system: The player asks the host about one answer, and the host says whether that answer ranked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd among mob members.
The entire package smacks of rushed production. Not only is the game packed in the same case as DoND (when shiny suitcases have factored into "1 vs. 100" well, um, never,) but the plastic insert inside used to hold the cards is also the same. One problem with that: this game doesn't have the larger-size "case cards" that DoND does; therefore, half of this game's cards won't properly fit in the case. This is clearly an effort by Cardinal to quickly push out a product that can ride the coattails of the success of "Deal or No Deal;" then again, perhaps a similar statement can be made in regard to Endemol and its production of the show upon which this game is based.
If you're really interested, I'll post pics of the contents later.
