I got my first sight of this at lunchtime - it's on the new ITBox 41 edition. The changes are:
- completely new graphics and film of Chris Tarrant
- you get 10 seconds for the Bonus round at the beginning, and get 50/50 and Phone a Friend if you only get two answers in the right order
- you get 15 seconds not 30 for each normal question
- Phone a Friend involves choosing one of three 'named' people, with their gender, age and profession listed (too early to say if these are crucial to how useful they are); you have a little scripted conversation with your selected friend and they give a percentage confidence for their answer (again, too early to say how trustworthy the percentages are)
- there is an entirely pointless change of colour on the 1000 point level which doesn't mean the first prize is there
- the whole game takes a bit longer to play, even assuming you touch the screen after every right answer to speed things up. This includes what appears to be the need to reconfirm every answer you give after 1000 - I hope this isn't the case as that will really catch people out and may look like 'cheating' to the ordinary punter
- the prize structure on this particular machine was very standard - £2 for the guaranteed prize at 32,000, with the Jackpot at £20 (which I didn't really get close to)
Being an old stick-in-the-mud it will take time for me to get used to the new version but at least it hasn't disappeared from view altogether, and for that we should be thankful I suppose!
Millionaire 2006
Hi, TKA. The questions did appear to be all new, including the Bonus round at the beginning. As for the switch to Version 41, I do find the IT Box frustratingly well managed in that regard i.e. that once one box is converted to a new suite of games, they all seem to done together (the frustration being that when you lose one from the precious few games worth playing, it disappears from them all).
Having had my first proper go at this at the weekend, I can only award it my first ever Very Mad:
Basically almost everything that was good/fair about Millionaire, which made it a long-term consistent favourite for both pro's and punters, has gone. The worst changes are:
(a) the Phone a Friend bonus takes too much time and is, if my weekend's playing is anything to go by, misleading in about 75% of cases
(b) the Ask the Audience lifeline is similarly misleading
(c) Spoilers - some of which are almost comically difficult e.g. things like 'On what exact date did Jimmy Greaves score a hat-trick against Fulham?' - not the year or the month but the exact date. Rather than these appearing right at the very end or when the game is empty, they crop up around the 8,000 points mark!
(d) inability to tell if the game is in a good (paying) mood - I may have been misled about this one by the weekend's games but my impression was that the old rule about definitely playing if it was £3 at 32,000 has gone, and instead that prize is offered quite a lot but the early spoilers make it much harder to get
Have they (JPM or whoever) sat down round a table and decided actively to make the new version as cr*p as possible?? The ordinary pub punters would have been happy with the new graphics and gimmicks and would have continued to play it - I see a lot of punters in a lot of pubs and Millionaire is still the game most punters seem to play (with Bullseye probably second). Instead they seem to have killed another great game.
I know the game and pub companies don't want necessarily to please the sort of people who read a Forum like this as they lose money on the whole to us, but I'd say that in terms of evangelising and supporting SWPs, many of us have a role to play in their marketing etc. And what happened to the old idea that seeing someone win actually encourages the ordinary pub goers to risk their £1s as they have seen it isn't impossible?
Grrrrr. Time for one last
Basically almost everything that was good/fair about Millionaire, which made it a long-term consistent favourite for both pro's and punters, has gone. The worst changes are:
(a) the Phone a Friend bonus takes too much time and is, if my weekend's playing is anything to go by, misleading in about 75% of cases
(b) the Ask the Audience lifeline is similarly misleading
(c) Spoilers - some of which are almost comically difficult e.g. things like 'On what exact date did Jimmy Greaves score a hat-trick against Fulham?' - not the year or the month but the exact date. Rather than these appearing right at the very end or when the game is empty, they crop up around the 8,000 points mark!
(d) inability to tell if the game is in a good (paying) mood - I may have been misled about this one by the weekend's games but my impression was that the old rule about definitely playing if it was £3 at 32,000 has gone, and instead that prize is offered quite a lot but the early spoilers make it much harder to get
Have they (JPM or whoever) sat down round a table and decided actively to make the new version as cr*p as possible?? The ordinary pub punters would have been happy with the new graphics and gimmicks and would have continued to play it - I see a lot of punters in a lot of pubs and Millionaire is still the game most punters seem to play (with Bullseye probably second). Instead they seem to have killed another great game.
I know the game and pub companies don't want necessarily to please the sort of people who read a Forum like this as they lose money on the whole to us, but I'd say that in terms of evangelising and supporting SWPs, many of us have a role to play in their marketing etc. And what happened to the old idea that seeing someone win actually encourages the ordinary pub goers to risk their £1s as they have seen it isn't impossible?
Grrrrr. Time for one last
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Istenem
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you can't polish a turd.
i abhored the previous version but i marginally prefer the newer wwtbam. played it twice out of curiosity, never again though. as NS says the spoilers seem to be very early and it is the same formulaic (bor-ring) escalating Q&A scale. on a +ve note it seems to have stopped asking more than one Q per tier.
if you are a boffin then fine; play it for profit and good luck to you but i can see the casual players being alienated by the update. and it is those guys who give better players their beer tokens.
i abhored the previous version but i marginally prefer the newer wwtbam. played it twice out of curiosity, never again though. as NS says the spoilers seem to be very early and it is the same formulaic (bor-ring) escalating Q&A scale. on a +ve note it seems to have stopped asking more than one Q per tier.
if you are a boffin then fine; play it for profit and good luck to you but i can see the casual players being alienated by the update. and it is those guys who give better players their beer tokens.
nobody ever wins on those things.
Zax
There have been three 'flavours' of the Phone a Friend option:
(1) - the standard one seen on all the common £20 and £40 games over the years which isn't really a bonus in that it only awards you extra time but that can sometimes come in handy when there's a 'mathematical' question - with standard questions I normally know the answer either straight away or not at all so personally extra time doesn't really help much
(2) - on the rarer version with 1 and 2 Player options, Phone a Friend played an actual dialogue with the imaginary friend (with the words confirmed on screen), and I found that one normally trustworthy - if they said they were say 60% sure, it was usually the right answer
(3) - this new variety where again the conversation is relayed on screen, only without a soundtrack (although this may be an option that can be switched on or off). However as I and unknownpseudonym have found to our cost, it seems that you just can't trust it to help
Overall I've only ever really thought of there being two bonuses on Millionaire - Ask the Audience and 50/50 - and I normally stick to a game plan of never using them until after the safe 32,000 points mark - if the game is worth playing it is worth losing a few 50p's for the chance at going for the Jackpot with your bonuses still intact.
As for being a fan on the game or not, I realise that general gameplay is a big factor in people's likes and dislikes and I do prefer WWTBAM's simple approach over some of the more complex ones (Mousetrap or Spiderman anyone??) but my preference for it is in the end a mercenary one - in 20 years of playing these games it would definitely be in my Top 3 payers of all time, and has been so for a lot longer than some other excellent payers. Seeing it (to my mind) ruined like this is a little like losing an old friend...
There have been three 'flavours' of the Phone a Friend option:
(1) - the standard one seen on all the common £20 and £40 games over the years which isn't really a bonus in that it only awards you extra time but that can sometimes come in handy when there's a 'mathematical' question - with standard questions I normally know the answer either straight away or not at all so personally extra time doesn't really help much
(2) - on the rarer version with 1 and 2 Player options, Phone a Friend played an actual dialogue with the imaginary friend (with the words confirmed on screen), and I found that one normally trustworthy - if they said they were say 60% sure, it was usually the right answer
(3) - this new variety where again the conversation is relayed on screen, only without a soundtrack (although this may be an option that can be switched on or off). However as I and unknownpseudonym have found to our cost, it seems that you just can't trust it to help
Overall I've only ever really thought of there being two bonuses on Millionaire - Ask the Audience and 50/50 - and I normally stick to a game plan of never using them until after the safe 32,000 points mark - if the game is worth playing it is worth losing a few 50p's for the chance at going for the Jackpot with your bonuses still intact.
As for being a fan on the game or not, I realise that general gameplay is a big factor in people's likes and dislikes and I do prefer WWTBAM's simple approach over some of the more complex ones (Mousetrap or Spiderman anyone??) but my preference for it is in the end a mercenary one - in 20 years of playing these games it would definitely be in my Top 3 payers of all time, and has been so for a lot longer than some other excellent payers. Seeing it (to my mind) ruined like this is a little like losing an old friend...
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Istenem
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to be fair the time i phoned a friend he got it right at 60% was better than my 25% guess.Nil Satis wrote: However as I and unknownpseudonym have found to our cost, it seems that you just can't trust [PAF lifeline] to help
that said i am quite sure the machine's friend can be 99% sure and still lead you up the garden path.
i also noticed that the longer you let tarrant fester on the vidcaps the more ridiculous his gurns become.
on one of them i do believe i noticed him quavering on the edge of uncontrollable mirth.
nobody ever wins on those things.
A few more games recently have made me wonder whether the refit has actually made the new Millionaire a bit like Bully, in that a few quid should usually be available on each new visit but never any more than that, and only then if someone hasn't beaten you to it. It may simply be that I was playing on 'virgin' machines but on each of three or four machines I played over the weekend the guaranteed prize for 32,000 points was £4, which was the Golden Tit setting on old Millionaire.
The downside to this was that the questions were significantly harder to get to the £4 in the first place, and so I needed to use all the bonuses before that point, and the questions immediately after 32,000 points were just impossible. After taking the £4 (or £5 with a lucky guess on the 32,000 question), each machine then seemed to reset so that you were only offered £1 for 32,000.
I live in hope of being proved wrong but, until that happens, I'm off to set up a 'Bring Back Real Millionaire' Society!
The downside to this was that the questions were significantly harder to get to the £4 in the first place, and so I needed to use all the bonuses before that point, and the questions immediately after 32,000 points were just impossible. After taking the £4 (or £5 with a lucky guess on the 32,000 question), each machine then seemed to reset so that you were only offered £1 for 32,000.
I live in hope of being proved wrong but, until that happens, I'm off to set up a 'Bring Back Real Millionaire' Society!
Am I right in assuning that the money is now at first glance more attainable, however the early spoilers prevent you reaching this? That surely can't be good for gameplay.
As for gameplay taking longer.... christ. The earlier versions are in danger on becoming short films as it is, which would put most folk off. I don't understand the logic of offering money at question 8 if it has taken a good 5 minutes to get past the fist five questions, at which point an impossible question rears it's ugly head.
My recommendation would be to cut the cheesy filmstrips and just list questions - I reckon more money would flow through the slot if that were the case. I'd also like to see achievable jackpots although I'm digressing here and referring more to STD than WWTBAM). I know they are diffucult to win but my local does not pay out top whack, ever. Never will either in my opinion.
As for gameplay taking longer.... christ. The earlier versions are in danger on becoming short films as it is, which would put most folk off. I don't understand the logic of offering money at question 8 if it has taken a good 5 minutes to get past the fist five questions, at which point an impossible question rears it's ugly head.
My recommendation would be to cut the cheesy filmstrips and just list questions - I reckon more money would flow through the slot if that were the case. I'd also like to see achievable jackpots although I'm digressing here and referring more to STD than WWTBAM). I know they are diffucult to win but my local does not pay out top whack, ever. Never will either in my opinion.
Still kicking about.
step7 - you are right on both points. You get 1 of the 3 bonuses (50/50 I think but I can check) if you only get one of the four answers in the right place in the order, and the questions have definitely got harder, to my mind from around the 1000 points mark onwards.I like how they've reworked the bonuses round at the start - a lcuky punt can still earn you one.
The questions generally seem harder - or am I just getting thicker?
Demmerz - that is definitely my impression now I've played the game properly a few times. This for me is bad enough but if the real position is that in fact the money gets less attainable as people win a few quid but the early spoilers remain then for me this will kill the game stone dead.Am I right in assuning that the money is now at first glance more attainable, however the early spoilers prevent you reaching this?
I'm with you on this point, although to be fair there are some on here that dislike classic Millionaire as being too 'basic' and maybe prefer games with lots of add-ons like this. For me the clips etc. are good for attracting real novices to play a few games but for 99% of people the novelty soon wears off and you end up touching the screen to skip each piece of film as much as possible. If you don't know what I mean by this, you simply touch the screen anywhere after a correct answer has been confirmed and the game moves on to the next question, although I believe the 2006 version requires two touches to do this not one.My recommendation would be to cut the cheesy filmstrips and just list questions - I reckon more money would flow through the slot if that were the case.
I'm definitely for games with achievable jackpots. I have won the JP many times on all the versions of classic Millionaire, and virtually every time this gets a positive reaction from anyone watching - locals, punters and even some landlords - as they like to see it is possible. Sadly I think those days are gone with Millionaire 2006.I'd also like to see achievable jackpots although I'm digressing here and referring more to STD than WWTBAM). I know they are diffucult to win but my local does not pay out top whack, ever. Never will either in my opinion.
As for Spot the Difference, as I mention in another thread I think that game is such a wasted opportunity - not only are the jackpots ludicrously unattainable but the game is usually set up so that even £1 is beyond the range of anyone with normal eyesight and hand/eye co-ordination. If it could offer just £1 or £2 occasionally, the sort of punters who play this might be tempted to (a) keep playing it more and (b) try a few of the other games, which for me benefits everyone in the end.
Hello - I'm a newcomer to this forum and regular quiz machiner in and around Central London.
I agree the new WWTBAM is superficially appealing but ultimately much less of a payer than the 'classic' version which can still be found on GamesNets.
That said, I did manage to take £20 from new WWTBAM the first time I played it (in O'Neill's, Bath, in March). Nearly all the questions were very easy so this indicates to me that occasionally, if it wants to pay, it will do. Since then, though, the most I've taken is £5, and more often than not I haven't got anything (compared with consistent £1/£2 takes from 'classic' WWTBAM). In particular, the earlier incidence of 'kipper' questions is the big difference between the machines.
I agree the new WWTBAM is superficially appealing but ultimately much less of a payer than the 'classic' version which can still be found on GamesNets.
That said, I did manage to take £20 from new WWTBAM the first time I played it (in O'Neill's, Bath, in March). Nearly all the questions were very easy so this indicates to me that occasionally, if it wants to pay, it will do. Since then, though, the most I've taken is £5, and more often than not I haven't got anything (compared with consistent £1/£2 takes from 'classic' WWTBAM). In particular, the earlier incidence of 'kipper' questions is the big difference between the machines.