deal or no deal

Deal or No Deal is a television game show format owned by Endemol, a Netherlands-based production company known for creating such shows as Big Brother and Fear Factor. The first version of the show was broadcast in the Netherlands as Miljoenenjacht, followed by an Australian version, which was the first version with the Deal or No Deal name.

Format

The basic format of Deal or No Deal consists of a number of cases (usually 26, but varies in some countries), each containing a different amount of money. Not knowing the sum of money in each case, the contestant picks one case which potentially contains the contestant's prize. The contestant then opens the remaining cases, one by one, revealing the money each contains. At predetermined intervals the contestant receives an offer from the bank (run by "The Banker") to purchase the originally chosen case from the contestant, the offer being based on the potential value of the contestant's case. The contestant must then decide whether to take the deal from the bank, or to continue opening cases. If the contestant decides not to take the deal and reveals low value cases, then the next bank offer is likely to be higher (as the contestant's case is proven not to contain these low values). Alternatively, there is risk in revealing higher values, lowering future offers from the bank. The aim of this system is to try to make an exciting and suspenseful game. Each offer from the bank is typically significantly less than the expected value of the player's case, especially early in the game.

The format of Deal or No Deal varies in each country. In the UK version, for example, contestants choose from 22 boxes rather than 26 briefcases which are opened by future contestants[1]. The concept of pitting a contestant against an in-house adversary (in this show, the Banker) is unusual, though not unique, among game shows.

International versions

The show has many versions that air around the world:

Game strategy

Main article see WikiBooks

Deal or No Deal and its deceptively simple format have attracted attention from mathematicians, statisticians, and economists as a study of decision making under pressure. A team of economists have analyzed the decisions of people appearing in European and US episodes of Deal or No Deal and found, among other things, that contestants are less risk averse or even risk seeking when they have seen their expected winnings tumble.^[1] The study received a great deal of media attention, appearing on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on January 12, 2006 as well as being featured on National Public Radio in the United States on March 3, 2006.

Antecedents

• The New Treasure Hunt, a 1970s and 1980s Chuck Barris game show similar in concept to Deal or No Deal
• Let's Make A Deal, a long-running game show involving contestants deciding whether or not take offers based on what may or may not be behind a curtain/box.
• The Bong Game, invented by the London-based radio station Capital FM in the 1980s, also tested contestants by offering them increasing returns in tandem with increasing risk.