Title: 
Deal Or No Deal - The Format

Word Count:
467

Summary:
Deal or No Deal is a very popular game show on NBC. The premise is a fairly simple one although playing the actual game can be stressful for the contestants since there is a pot of one million dollars at stake.

For each game there is only one contestant, the host (who happens to be Howie Mandel in the United States version of Deal or No Deal), a banker, and 26 attaché cases filled with various cash amounts.

Each game starts with the contestant selecting one case from th...


Keywords:
deal or no deal game


Article Body:
Deal or No Deal is a very popular game show on NBC. The premise is a fairly simple one although playing the actual game can be stressful for the contestants since there is a pot of one million dollars at stake.

For each game there is only one contestant, the host (who happens to be Howie Mandel in the United States version of Deal or No Deal), a banker, and 26 attaché cases filled with various cash amounts.

Each game starts with the contestant selecting one case from the 26. The host places this case next to the contestant and this particular case is not opened until the end of the game.  The contestant then proceeds to randomly select and open the rest of the cases. After a few cases are opened, it is time to get an offer from the banker.  The banker will consider how many attaché cases are left to open and if the big dollar amounts have been revealed, or if they are still in play. He then makes a cash offer to the contestant to stop playing the game. If the contestant accepts the cash offer, the game ends. If the contestant does not accept it, the game proceeds as before until all cases have been opened except for one from the remaining 26 and the original one the contestant selected. The banker then makes the final offer and if turned down, the contestant opens the first case he selected and gets to keep the amount inside.

Since there are a set number of attaché cases in the game, and when the attaché cases are opened we learn the dollar amounts, it can be determined what the odds are that a big dollar amount is left to be won. This helps the contestant determine whether to accept the bank's offer, or to go for the big payout.  Of course ultimately it comes down to luck. In order to win the one million dollars, the contestant has to pick the case containing it out of the 26 original cases at the start of the game and not sell out until the end. That is why not many players go on to win the million dollar jackpot. However, many contestants have won large pots in the tens of thousand and hundreds of thousand dollars.

Contestants are allowed to bring a support group of family members or friends along with them to Deal or No Deal for advice throughout the game. The support group is not allowed in the playing area but is seated just off to the side so they can easily communicate with the player.

Due to the unique playing format of Deal or No Deal, this game show has become one of the most favored game shows in recent history and has millions of fans worldwide.