Using the same lifelines and answering the same way each time on repeat questions, I won $29,300; $1,000; and $250,000 on my first three playings. That last number is nowhere near what I usually win when I play along from home, so it will be interesting to see if the contestants fare better this season.
I'm not sure where the claims of "more strategy" come from. Since the question values were all a big mystery, my strategy was simply "use a lifeline if you don't know." The only change in my playing strategy was that I realized I could save Ask the Audience for any point in the first tier, rather than usually using it first.
In one of my games, the easiest question in the stack wound up being worth $25,000, and I didn't feel the elation I think they expected me to. As a contestant, I was glad to have banked the big one, but as a viewer, it felt like it wasn't earned.
The other thing that kept throwing me (both as contestant and when I play along from home) is because the question difficulties are randomized, I never knew whether I was out-thinking myself on an answer. It was also jarring when an easy question followed one that I had to jump. I'm wondering what effect it would have on the gameplay if the questions were presented in order of difficulty, but the dollar amounts were still randomized. It just feels more natural to play questions in increasing order of difficulty.
