THE REAL DEAL!
Now, ALL the family can join in the fun – with the fantastic new DEAL OR NO DEAL board game.
It’s part gameshow, part psychological thriller. It’s a nail-biting, stomach-knotting test of nerves. Who can stay in the game down to the last two boxes? Who will succumb to the lure of the Banker’s crafty offers? Who’s got the bottle to go to the wire?
It’s for you-hoo Watch everyone jump to the ceiling when, after five choices, the phone suddenly starts to ring…. Yes, it’s the Banker. He’s ringing with his first cash offer, which is displayed on the telephone’s screen. Each player then has to answer the question … DEAL OR NO DEAL? If the answer is ‘no deal’, the players carry on, right down to the final two boxes, just like in the TV show. By this time, no one will have any fingernails left to bite!
If you’re a fan (and currently up to 4 million or more viewers tune in to Channel 4 every weekday - and Saturday evenings as well) you’ll know that every day 22 expectant contestants pair up with 22 sealed boxes, each containing a sum between 1p and the top prize of £250,000. Then one player is chosen – he or she carefully selects one box at a time, to reveal and eliminate a cash prize until all but two are left. The tension mounts as the sums are struck off the scoreboard. The audience cheers when the smaller amounts go, and groans with disappointment if a large sum is chosen. During the game, the Banker rings the telephone on host Noel Edmonds’ desk and makes an offer to buy the player’s own box. Will the player gamble that their box contains a higher amount? Will it be ‘Deal or No Deal’?
The actual gameplay is a cinch for anybody who’s ever watched the TV show – which of course means that Deal or No Deal is a game that all the family can play. You start by laying the 22 money tokens, representing the prize amounts ranging from 1p to £250,000, face down on the table, mixing them up, and placing them at random into the 22 red boxes (no peeking!). Each player is given four answer cards (Deal, No Deal, Swap and Stick), and the Banker’s electronic phone is placed on the game board.
The youngest (or oldest, if you prefer – you’re in charge!) player starts by selecting one box and places it onto the white table next to the scoreboard. This is the ‘prize box’ everybody’s playing for.
Also on the board is the Banker’s phone – which naturally is a big ‘retro’ replica of the one on which Noel converses with the unseen Banker on the TV show. Play proceeds with the next player selecting the first box to be opened; this is done by the player to their left, and is the opportunity for any amount of amateur dramatics! The value inside the box is covered on the scoreboard - hopefully it’ll be low and blue, but if it’s got to be red, all players will want to steer clear of the biggest amounts, ‘the power five’.
Can you Beat the Banker? Now comes the really clever bit. Each time a money amount is revealed it’s entered into the Banker’s phone; and after the fifth amount has been entered, the Banker makes his first ‘offer’, which is displayed on the screen of the telephone. Each player must then decide whether to accept the offer or hold out for a higher amount – Deal or No Deal.
A player indicates his or her decision by placing the relevant card face down on the table. Those who choose to deal write down their prize money amount for that game on the score pad provided; those who refuse the deal carry on, with the Banker then offering further deals after every third box is opened. (If luck’s against them, however, the Banker’s offers might well go down instead of up!) When only two boxes are left, players can use their cards and choose to swap or stick, just like on the TV show. The winner is the player with the highest money total after six games.