Ideas for a new lifeline

[DrBear]

OK, here's mine - up to the Hal March level ©ProfSteve a contestant can skip one question entirely but MUST take the next. Could be an interesting decision - if the question is on, say Broadway and you know nothing about the theater, do you skip it knowing you'd have to take the next one no matter what?

I don't think you could do that at a higher level, but at the lower levels, it might be interesting....

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 27 2004, 08:23 AM\'] OK, here's mine - up to the Hal March level ŠProfSteve a contestant can skip one question entirely but MUST take the next. Could be an interesting decision - if the question is on, say Broadway and you know nothing about the theater, do you skip it knowing you'd have to take the next one no matter what?

I don't think you could do that at a higher level, but at the lower levels, it might be interesting.... [/quote]
 Not a bad idea for a lifeline, even if it is reminiscent of the PLay or Pass "red" category from Wink's TTD. All questions in that category were multiple choice with three possible answers IIRC.

Another idea: Make the $10 million dollar question a difficult Fastest Finger like question, and the contestant has to say the letters in the right order as their final answer. We discussed this back on Usenet as a viable Million Dollar question idea.

[Jimmy Owen]

At the million dollar level, you can answer the question but if you feel you can't, you can opt to eat worms.  No wait, you're serious.  How about having a "designated hitter" in the audience, it could be the person in the relationship seat or one of the fastest finger players or even an individual in the audience who is chosen at random and can get some winnings if they can help out.  Another one could be "If You're So Smart, Why Don't You Answer It," in which Regis must answer the question for the contestant.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jan 27 2004, 08:23 AM\'] OK, here's mine - up to the Hal March level ŠProfSteve a contestant can skip one question entirely but MUST take the next. [/quote]
Oh, no. If they skip the question, they must attempt to solve a dilemma. This is, of course, the picking of nits, but there will be no Hal March level due to the tenfold multiplier. There will, though, be a Jim Peck Jackpot ($10000--top cash award on The Big Showdown-- for answering the first five correct).

[Little Big Brother]

At the million dollar level, you can answer the question but if you feel you can't, you can opt to eat worms. No wait, you're serious. How about having a "designated hitter" in the audience, it could be the person in the relationship seat or one of the fastest finger players or even an individual in the audience who is chosen at random and can get some winnings if they can help out.

Hmmm, the Major Ingram's Folly Lifeline, that one might work.  The logo could be a profile of a person coughing.  Of course you have to make sure it's only used once ;-)

I've been putting some thought into this and here are a couple that I came up with (feel free to change the stupid names):

Safety Net:  Since there is so much to lose, and I can't imagine a reasonable person risking $630,000 to get to $1.25 million if they are only 99% sure, this would allow a person to say, "Ok, I'm pretty sure of this answer, but I will use the safety net."  If they are wrong, the $640k they have goes down one level ($320k).  If they are right, they move up to $1.25m, but no longer have a safety net, so a wrong answer takes them down to $10k.

I think they'll need some version of this or a moveable milestone, otherwise no one would be foolish enough to go past $640k (levels of foolishness/heights reached may vary.  Check your local listings.  Void where prohibited.)

This or That:  A variation of the 50:50 where you select two answers and the computer will eliminate one incorrect answer.  This way, if you have narrowed it down to two answers, rather than have the 50:50 knock out the two that you already eliminated, the player gets to knock out one of the answers that they want knocked out.  This doesn't guarantee that the remaining answer is correct (you might still be wrong).

However, this lifeline would have to have restrictions.  If you used it and then decided to use the regular 50:50, the regular one would knock out one more incorrect answer, leaving one wrong and the correct one.  I can't decide if this should be usable after using the regular 50:50 (thereby leaving the correct answer).  You get the answer, but burn 2 lifelines in the process.

That's it for now.

[Ian Wallis]

Another idea: Make the $10 million dollar question a difficult Fastest Finger like question, and the contestant has to say the letters in the right order as their final answer. We discussed this back on Usenet as a viable Million Dollar question idea.

All I can say is that, if a contestant ever gets to see the $10 million question, it had better be very tough.  $10 million is too much to just give away on something easy, and I thought some of the $1 million questions on the original version weren't that hard.

[goongas]

You don't know the answer to a question, switch it for another one. (like Live UK BAM)

Have a set of experts backstage that you can ask a question of.

Ask your companion for help.

Bring one book with you and be able to research an answer.

Someone mentioned already Web search (sponsored by Google)

[cyberjoek]

The "Wildcard": this lifeline acts just like any of the original three, your choice.

The "Pass": This question moves to the top of your stack (ie $10mill) and everything else moves down.  Do you use it on a question you know hoping to get to the $10 mill question or do you use it on something you don't know to try and win a smaller prize?

The "Ask our Library": The reference librarian who verified the question comes on and reads the encylopedia (sponsor) entry on any one of the four choices.

I like the saftey net idea.  A movable fallback...
-Joe Kavanagh

[TravisP]

Flip
As with the UK Live episode have a contestant change a question at the same question level but have it as a full lifeline instead of a exchange for one of the regular lifelines.

Ask Your Partner
Since the contestants partner do have a microphone the contestant could ask if they know the answer and advised them whether to gamble or not.

and

Ask Regis
Since the Millionaire computer does not reveal the answer untill Final Answer is given, Regis could ask them what the answer could be since he has given advice of using lifelines before.

[BrandonFG]

LittleBigBrother's safety net is a brilliant idea. He also mentioned a moving milestone, and I'm offering my idea for one.

Should a contestant make it to $320K without using a lifeline, the 4th would be that the $10K net is raised a bit, maybe to the $40,000 level, since it's right in the middle of the stack (question 7).  

I guess that's more of an incentive than a lifeline, but a minimum $40K might make a contestant consider taking the gamble, as opposed to $10,000.

[scully24]

I like the idea of a panel of experts from whom you can select one to call on.   Perhaps this can be a panel of former winners.

[starcade]

My *guess* is that it's going to end up being the Flip option -- which of course might end up asking whether this version might be LIVE, but that's another point for another day.

[ChuckNet]

I like the idea of a panel of experts from whom you can select one to call on. Perhaps this can be a panel of former winners.

A similar idea was actually considered by Michael Davies as one of the "original 3" lifelines when WWtBaM was in develpoment.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[CherryPizza]

I had an idea for a "safety net" lifeline too, but slightly different from what was described earlier in the thread. I just thought that maybe a "safety net" could be an additional "safe level" like the $1000 and $32000 levels are, only the contestant chooses when it will be instated (ie before whichever question he or she is unsure of)

Another idea I had was "buy the answer". If a contestant is unsure, and not confident enough to have a stab at it, they could ask to "buy the answer", but at a cost of a quarter of that answer's winnings.

For example, if you're stuck on the $125000 question, and don't want to risk dropping down to $32000 you could "buy the answer" and effectively win $93750. That $31250 would then be deducted from the value of future prizes, and the Million dollar question would effectively be the $968750 question. If the contestant doesn't use the lifeline, and doesn't know the million dollar question, they could use it then and take home $750000.

So what's with this 1.25 million dollar level you're talking about? Has the game been expanded in the US?

[goongas]

My *guess* is that it's going to end up being the Flip option -- which of course might end up asking whether this version might be LIVE, but that's another point for another day.

If you call the 212 area code number at millionairetv.com, it gives the tape dates of Super Millionaire.  Each date is one day before the show airs on ABC, just like the taping in the beginning of the show's run.