Golden...what?
I'm in the middle of a European tour here, so forgive the relative lack of posts over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to chime in more with some reviews of games across the world, like the one I saw here in London on Friday.
When I flipped the TV on I saw three contestants each sitting in front of 5 circular orbs, some of which had money on them, some had the word "killer". They were engaging in a bluffing game, trying to convince the others they had money and their opponents had the dreaded killer balls. After much discussion, everyone voted and the contestant with the least votes was voted off.
Seemed interesting, but what was it called? Luckily the host helped out when they went to commercial.
"Stay tuned for more action here on Golden Balls."
Excuse me? Yes, Golden Balls. I realize as a near-30 year-old I shouldn't find humor in that, but I do.
In any event, the game appears to work as follows. 4 players start and are given a random allotment of 5 balls each, most of which have cash, some of which have the word Killer on them. That's bad, more about that later. Like a card game hand, some of the balls are known to the other contestants, some of the balls are known only to the contestant who has them. The contestants then engage in a verbose bluffing session, where each claims to have the fewest Killer balls. Based on the balls that the other contestants can see plus the bluffing skills of the players, they all vote and knock the person out who is assumed to have the worst balls.
This is then done again until they are down to two players. Then the fun starts. By this point, the values of all the balls are known to the two players, but they are re-concealed so they don't which is which. Alternating, the players pick two balls at a time, one to remove from play and one to add to a five-ball jackpot. This is where the Killer balls come into play. There is always at least one Killer ball in play still at this point (and usually more). If a Killer ball is ever added to the jackpot, the last digit in the jackpot's value at that time is removed (so 25,000 pounds would immediately become 2,500). On the episode I saw, the contestants had one Killer ball remaining as they added their last ball to the jackpot, so the potential for the jackpot to soar or fall was definitely there.
With that said, it's best for the contestants to either not add any Killer balls to their jackpot ever or to add them early on. The unique thing here is, depending on their luck, the jackpot can either be huge or tiny.
Despite how strange that sounds, it's actually the most fun part of the show, due to the tension of the reveal. You'd think they'd end there, splitting the jackpot, but they instead decide to play Shafted/Friend or Foe and decide if they'll both split the money, someone will take everything, or they'll both leave with nothing.
Thanks to that poor choice of a final round, and the drawn out bluffing in the first two rounds (it's an hour show that need only be 30 minutes), the game is a mixed bag. It's really Weakest Link meets Deal or no Deals meets Shafted.
Seeing as it's an Endemol production, I'd be stunned if it never at least made it to pilot in the US. And if it does, hopefully they'll tweak the end game...and the name.
When I flipped the TV on I saw three contestants each sitting in front of 5 circular orbs, some of which had money on them, some had the word "killer". They were engaging in a bluffing game, trying to convince the others they had money and their opponents had the dreaded killer balls. After much discussion, everyone voted and the contestant with the least votes was voted off.
Seemed interesting, but what was it called? Luckily the host helped out when they went to commercial.
"Stay tuned for more action here on Golden Balls."
Excuse me? Yes, Golden Balls. I realize as a near-30 year-old I shouldn't find humor in that, but I do.
In any event, the game appears to work as follows. 4 players start and are given a random allotment of 5 balls each, most of which have cash, some of which have the word Killer on them. That's bad, more about that later. Like a card game hand, some of the balls are known to the other contestants, some of the balls are known only to the contestant who has them. The contestants then engage in a verbose bluffing session, where each claims to have the fewest Killer balls. Based on the balls that the other contestants can see plus the bluffing skills of the players, they all vote and knock the person out who is assumed to have the worst balls.
This is then done again until they are down to two players. Then the fun starts. By this point, the values of all the balls are known to the two players, but they are re-concealed so they don't which is which. Alternating, the players pick two balls at a time, one to remove from play and one to add to a five-ball jackpot. This is where the Killer balls come into play. There is always at least one Killer ball in play still at this point (and usually more). If a Killer ball is ever added to the jackpot, the last digit in the jackpot's value at that time is removed (so 25,000 pounds would immediately become 2,500). On the episode I saw, the contestants had one Killer ball remaining as they added their last ball to the jackpot, so the potential for the jackpot to soar or fall was definitely there.
With that said, it's best for the contestants to either not add any Killer balls to their jackpot ever or to add them early on. The unique thing here is, depending on their luck, the jackpot can either be huge or tiny.
Despite how strange that sounds, it's actually the most fun part of the show, due to the tension of the reveal. You'd think they'd end there, splitting the jackpot, but they instead decide to play Shafted/Friend or Foe and decide if they'll both split the money, someone will take everything, or they'll both leave with nothing.
Thanks to that poor choice of a final round, and the drawn out bluffing in the first two rounds (it's an hour show that need only be 30 minutes), the game is a mixed bag. It's really Weakest Link meets Deal or no Deals meets Shafted.
Seeing as it's an Endemol production, I'd be stunned if it never at least made it to pilot in the US. And if it does, hopefully they'll tweak the end game...and the name.
posted by Brad @ 10:02 AM 6 comment(s)