Bug in Millionaire 2006

[Nil Satis]

After my post about the problems with Gamesnet payouts, I now feel that I must indeed be turning into Captain Disaster. FOUR times on four separate ItBoxes in four different towns in the space of two evenings I have had the same thing happen to me - the screen freezing on WWTBAM 2006 at almost an identical point each time, namely when Chris is announcing "The next question is worth five/six pounds". The film of him just stops and no part of the screen will respond.

The first time it happened I thought I'd just been too enthusiastic in tapping the screen - I hate to sit through all the preambles so tap the screen to skip over them - but the next three times I had deliberately left well alone and still the same thing happened.

It's really annoying for two reasons - even if you are in the sort of pub where you can discreetly switch the ItBox off and on again at the wall, it takes (as I've found out) about 10 MINUTES for the system to be ready again - I thought my work PC was bad! Secondly, you lose whatever prize you had won - this bug only seems to kick in after the guaranteed prize level of £3/£4/£5.

It's very odd for the same thing to happen in such a similar way for machines that are completely unrelated, so it might unfortunately be a bug introduced by some change in the latest ItBox revision (46 I think). It all however adds to my growing belief that this is now the worst time to be playing quiz machines in the 20 years since I first saw a Give Us a Break. It's bad enough that 80% of games are total dross and that any decent games seems to be killed quicker than ever - has anyone noticed how soon Caveman Capers has become unwinnable on virtually every ItBox? - but if you can't even rely on collecting the winnings you do legitimately struggle to (the Red Screen of Death, underpayment on ItBoxes, this new problem on Millionaire 2006, ...), I reckon it's time to give up the ghost.

There, I feel (slightly) better now!!

[Storm Lord]

try this! http://www.king.com/opengame.jsp?gameId=68

[grecian]

I came up against this at lunchtime, on a version 46 WWTBAM I think between 64,000 and 125,000 points. I got the question right and the answer went green but then everything froze. I rebooted and the machine remembered I had two quid of credit, but sadly I lost the £5 I would have won from WWTBAM. A really bad bug which I hope Itbox irons out post-haste.

[Nil Satis]

It's definitely real and it has stopped being a rare occurrence - I only played three ItBoxes last night and it happened on two (and on the third I don't think I got that far anyway). It happens at a very similar point each time - when Chris Tarrant is announcing what the next prize is worth (usually the £4, £5 or £6 question).

The only options until (or more likely IF) this gets fixed seem to be:

(1) Don't play the game at all - although given the state of the rest of the current selection, that doesn't leave too much else worth playing

(2) Collect the guaranteed win or the wins lower down and hope it allows you to do this a few times

(3) - this is what I am doing - play whatever other games you like and (crucially) collect your winnings first and only play Millionaire with 50p or £1 in the bank. That way you are "only" going to lose the prize you have rightfully won on Millionaire when the screen freezes (as if that isn't bad enough!).

[wires74]

has the millionaire bug been sorted on itbox edition47 ?

[Nil Satis]

I'm not sure - I'll post something on here if it looks like there's a clear answer either way.

[wires74]

cheers for that

[Nil Satis]

has the millionaire bug been sorted on itbox edition47 ?

I'd say a cautious Yes to this. I haven't encountered the same bug again recently, but I have consciously changed what I do in that now I always tap the screen after each question above the guaranteed prize level to stop Chris Tarrant being able to give his usual spiel. It may be that the bug has indeed been fixed but there seems no harm in doing what I now do as well.

I would also reiterate my earlier advice, namely to make sure you collect any existing winnings before playing Millionaire 2006, just in case this bug does crop up again. You will get those winnings eventually if you switch the machine off and on again but may be in a pub where that has been made impossible or may not have 10-15 minutes spare to wait for the reboot.