A new twist on an old favourite

Let’s see how we can make this happen

The humble accessory of a TV game show

A substitute for the old-fashioned method

of raising a hand to answer a questionA device which can stop time

Something totally new

What is a buzzer?

Something totally new

Game play

«50 buzzers», follows 1 Contestantcompeting against a team of 10

experts (the ‘Wizzes’).

Wizzes are members of theaudience, each with a strong

knowledge of a specific domain.

Each Wiz enters the studio in turn.

A question in the Wiz’s field ofexpertise is posed, then the race

is on to see who answers first.

Each question has a monetary valueand 5 possible answers.

Contestant

Olympics Wiz

Which city hosted the Olympic Games in 1968 ?

Latino dances

Wiz

French winesWiz

US president

sWiz

James BondWiz

The Beatles

Wiz

Italian carsWiz

Walt Disney

Wiz

Video games

Wiz

OlympicsWiz

Dogs & cats Wiz

Paris

Tokyo

Mexico

Munich

Rome

5 000 €

The studio contains 50 buzzers,arranged like this:

- 1 central buzzer, for the Contestant - 49 buzzers around it, for the Wiz

The central buzzer is lit green.

The Contestant hits it when hethinks he knows the answer.

The remaining buzzers are randomlyallocated colours, unknown to

the Wiz, as follows:

- 1 green buzzer - 6 red buzzers - 42 blue buzzers

Studio design

Contestant

Wiz

Lighting the buzzers

For each new question, the positionof the 49 green, red and blue buzzers

changes randomly.Contestant

Wiz

Searching for the green buzzer

The Contestant stands in front of the central buzzer and can buzz in at any time.

The Wiz runs among the other 49 buzzers, trying to find the green one.Only then can he answer the question.

4 400 €

4 900 €

4 800 €

4 700 €

4 600 €

4 500 €

Paris

Rome

Mexico

Tokyo

Munich

Which city hosted the Olympic Games in 1968 ?

5 000 €

Olympics Wiz

Paris

Rome

Mexico

Tokyo

Munich

The Wiz can press as many buzzers as hewants, as quickly as he wants.

How the Wiz plays

For each blue buzzer the Wiz presses, 2% of the question prize money is lost:

For instance, 100 Euros from 5000.

For each red buzzer the Wiz finds,one of the false answers will beremoved to help the Contestant.

If the Wiz presses the green buzzerbefore the Contestant,

he will answer the question first.

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Mercury

5 000 €

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Mercury

Which planet is closest to the Sun ?

5 000 €

Contestant

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Mercury

5 000 €

4 700 €

4 900 €

4 800 €

4 600 €

How the Contestant plays

The Contestant has a triple dilemma to decidewhen is the appropriate time to buzz :

- He can wait for the Wiz to press red buzzers until enough false answers are removed,but will lose money for each blue buzzer

pressed and risks the Wiz finding the greenbuzzer at any moment.

- If he thinks he knows the answer,he should of course press the buzzer quickly,

so he doesn’t risk the Wiz finding thegreen buzzer, and doesn’t lose money.

- He can risk answering sooner, trying to guessfrom the possible answers. If he succeeds,

he will bank more money and preventthe Wiz finding the green buzzer.

4 900 €

4 800 €

?

?

?

The Contestant must consider at least 6 different issues whentaking the decision to buzz:

- Will the Wiz find the green buzzer quickly or not?

- How many red buzzers will he find?

- How much money will he make me lose?

- Do I have any idea of the answer?

- Should I play a risky or secure strategy?

- Am I or the Wizzes leading the game?

When should I buzz?

The instant of decision is madness.

Soren Kierkegaard

Split-screen

4 800 €

RumbaCha cha

cha

Paso doble

Samba

Tango

Which dance did not originate from South America ?

On-screen, the Contestant and the Wiz are followed simultaneouslyduring each question.

500

50 000

50 000

500

500

5 000

5 000

50 000

5 000

5 000

The sequence of prizes is shownin this diagram.

The winner is whoever has thehighest cumulative winnings.

If the team of Wizzes win,they share the prize equally.

Sequence of prizes - Winner

57 000 €

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

5 700

€

or

After the questionAfter the question, the host spends a minute chatting

with the Wiz, revealing trivia about the question’s topic.

French winesWiz

Château-Margaux 2009 vintage is the

best for 60 years thanks to perfect weather.

Walt Disney

Wiz

In ‘Donald gets crafted’, we

discover that the second name of Donald Duck is

Fauntleroy. James BondWiz

James Bond was a US ornithologist whose name was adopted by Ian Fleming for the

agent 007.

‘Please, please me’, the first album of the Beatles, was

recorded in 585 minutes.

The Beatles

Wiz

Latino dances

Wiz

Between 1976 and 1983, tango was politically subversive and banned by the

Argentinian dictator.

- Reviving and revamping the use of buzzers; emblematic devices of TV game shows.

- Impressive studio design; not only decorative, but also an essential part of the game play.

- Game play combines various skills: knowledge, chance, strategy, and risk.

- The competition between a «Mr Everybody» contestant and a team of 10 Wizzes with aggregated expertise provides strong entertaining potential.

- Antagonistic actions and strategies: the fast-paced, frantic actions of the Wiz running around trying to find the green buzzer vs the Contestant calculating when is the appropriate time to buzz.

- Various possible scenarios, thanks to the combination of money loss, answer reduction and green buzzer discovery.

- Triple dilemma for the Contestant, constantly searching for the best moment to buzz.

- Additional trivia information provided by the Wizzes about the question’s topic.

Attractive aspects of the format

International copyrights at FRAPA and SACD

Contact : : frederic@maire.fm