Deal or No Deal


Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by French content production company Banijay. It is played with up to 26 cases, each containing randomly assigned sums of money. The player claims one case or a box at the start of the game, without its contents being revealed. The contestant then chooses the other cases or boxes, one at a time, to be immediately opened and removed from play. Throughout the game, the player is offered an amount of money or prizes to quit, being asked the titular question, "Deal or no deal?" If the contestant rejects every deal and eliminates all the other cases or boxes, the player keeps the money that was in the original case or box. Thus, the contestant "wins" depending on whether the player should have taken one of the deals or should have held onto the original case or box until the very end.

Gameplay

The gameplay of the show differs from country to country. In some countries, there is a preliminary contest in which the studio audience is whittled down to one final contender by several trivia question rounds, this final contender then proceeds to the main game. This was the format used by the Dutch show "Miljoenenjacht" which initiated the "Deal or no Deal" game. There are also some versions with the number of players equal to the number of cases, each player receives one case. Via a short trivia round or a random selection, one player is selected to be the contestant for the main game with his case. In other countries, there is only one preselected contestant who will play the main game without any preliminary contest.
The main game revolves around the opening of a set of numbered briefcases, each of which contains a different prize. The contents of all of the cases are known at the start of the game, but the specific location of any prize is unknown. The contestant claims a case to begin the game. The case's value is not revealed until the conclusion of the game.
The contestant then begins choosing cases that are to be removed from play. The amount inside each chosen case is immediately revealed; by process of elimination, the amount revealed cannot be inside the case the contestant initially claimed. Throughout the game, after a predecided number of cases have been opened, the "Banker" offers the contestant an amount of money and/or prizes to quit the game; the offer is based roughly on the amounts remaining in play and the contestant's demeanor, so the bank tries to 'buy' the contestant's case for a lower price than what's inside the case. The player then answers the titular question, choosing:
This process of removing cases and receiving offers continues, until either the player accepts an offer to 'deal', or all offers have been rejected and the values of all unchosen cases are revealed. Should a player end the game by taking a deal, a pseudo-game is continued from that point to see how much the player could have won by remaining in the game. Depending on subsequent choices and offers, it is determined whether or not the contestant made a "good deal", i.e. won more than if the game were allowed to continue.
Since the range of possible values is known at the start of each game, how much the banker offers at any given point changes based on what values have been eliminated. To promote suspense and lengthen games, the banker's offer is usually less than the expected value dictated by probability theory, particularly early in the game. Generally, the offers early in the game are very low relative to the values still in play, but near the end of the game approach the average of the remaining values.
Only a few people have ever won the top prize on any version of the show. For a contestant to win the top prize the player would have to select the case containing the top prize and reject every offer the banker makes during the game. The chances of a player selecting the top prize are 4–5% depending on how many amounts are in the game.

International versions

CountryNameHostsChannelPremiere dateEnd dateTop prize
Tolo TV

KutiaEnkel DemiTV Klan

Eno PopiTop Channel
Sofiane DaniEchourouk TVpresent
Arab MaghrebMoez ToumiNessma TV
Arab worldAmir KararaMBC1
Arab worldDeal or No DealMichel SananLBC
Trato HechoJulian WeichTelefe
Trato HechoSantiago Del MoroTelefeUpcoming
?Armenia TV
Deal or No DealAndrew O'KeefeSeven NetworkAU$2,000,000
AU$200,000
Deal or No DealRainhard FendrichORF1
Davam Ya TamamIdris CafarovSpace TV
Davam Ya TamamMurad DadashovAzad Azerbaijan TV
MiljoenenjachtWalter GrootaersVtm
Te Nemen Of Te LatenFeliceVijfTV
Tek It or Leave ItAngela GeggChannel 5
Topa ou Não TopaSBTpresent
Rumen LukanovNova Television
Ith SethaCTN10,000,000 KHR
Deal or No Deal CanadaHowie MandelGlobalCA$1,000,000
Le BanquierJulie SnyderTVACA$500,000
Trato HechoDon FranciscoCanal 13CL$120,000,000
¡Allá Tú!Julián ElfenbeinChilevisionCL$10,000,000
Cheng QianBTV-81,000,000 points
Chen Huan
Tian Yue
Zuo Yan
Huang Ziwen
ZJSTVCN¥100,000
¡Hay Trato!Julio Correal
Carlos Calero
Canal CaracolCOL$210,000,000
Trato HechoGustavo RojasTeletica₡25,000,000
Uzmi ili ostaviŽeljko Pervan
Mirko Fodor
Mario Petreković
HRT 2500,000Kn
Ber nebo neberPavel ZunaTV Prima5,000,000
Deal or No DealCasper ChristensenTV 22,000,000 Kr
Trato Hecho con NestléFrank Perozo
Mía Taveras
Antena LatinaRD$3,000,000
Trato HechoRoberto AngelelliTeleamazonasUS$100,000
El Familión Nestlé Trato HechoDaniel SarcosGama TV and
Red Telesistema
US$100,000
Razan MaghrebiAl-Hayat TVE£250,000
E£500,000
Maya DiabAl-Nahar TVE£250,000
Trato HechoDaniel RucksTCSUS$50,000
Võta või jätaAlari KivisaarTV31,000,000 krooni
Võta või jätaAlari KivisaarTV3€100,000
Ota tai jätäPauli Aalto-SetäläNelonen€500,000
À prendre ou à laisserArthurTF1€500,000
€1,000,000
À prendre ou à laisserJulien CourbetD8€100,000
À prendre ou à laisserCyril HanounaC8present€250,000
Misha Mshvildadze
Duta Skhirtladze
Rustavi 250,000 ლარი
Die Chance deines LebensKai PflaumeSat.1DM10,000,000
Der MillionenDealLinda de MolSat.1€2,000,000
Deal or No Deal – Die Show der GlücksspiraleGuido CantzSat.1€250,000
Deal or No DealWayne CarpendaleSat.1€250,000

DealChristos FerendinosANT1€200,000
€150,000

DealChristos FerendinosAlpha TVpresent€60,000

Super Deal Christos FerendinosANT1€500,000
Trato HechoErick ChavarríaTelevicentroLps.1,000,000
一擲千金
Deal or No Deal
Michael HuiTVB JadeHK$3,000,000
一擲千金
Deal or No Deal
Alfred CheungTVB JadeHK$3,000,000
Áll az alkuGábor Gundel TakácsTV250,000,000 Ft
Áll az alkuGábor Gundel TakácsTV2100,000,000 Ft
Áll az alkuÁron KovácsTV221,000,000 Ft
Áll az alkuGábor Gundel TakácsTV2100,000,000 Ft
Áll az alkuGábor Gundel TakácsTV2100,000,000 Ft
Áll az alkuGábor Gundel TakácsTV2100,000,000 Ft
Deal Ya No DealR. Madhavan
Mandira Bedi
Rajeev Khandelwal
SET₹10,000,000
Deala No DealaRishiSun TV₹5,000,000
Deal or No DealMukeshSurya TV₹5,000,000
Deal or No DealSai KumarGemini TV₹5,000,000
Deal or No DealSai KumarUdaya TV₹5,000,000
Deal or No DealRonit Roy&TV₹10,000,000
Deal or No Deal IndonesiaTantowi YahyaRCTIRp. 2,000,000,000
Deal or No DealDeddy CorbuzierantvRp. 1,000,000,000
Deal or No Deal IndonesiaCak LontongGlobal TVRp. 500,000,000
تمام یا دوام
Tamam Ya Davam
Sina ValiollahFARSI1US$20,000
Deal or No DealKeith BarryTV3€250,000
הדיל הגדול
Hadil Hagadol
Moran AtiasChannel 10 1,500,000
דיל או לא דיל
Dil o Lo Dil
Moran AtiasChannel 10₪ 1,500,000
Affari TuoiPaolo Bonolis
Pupo
Antonella Clerici
Flavio Insinna
Max Giusti
Rai 1€500,000
€1,000,000
The Digicel Deal or No DealSimon CrosskillTVJJM$3,000,000
ザ・ディール
Za Dīru
Shinsuke ShimadaTBS¥10,000,000
Deal or No DealSaad Zghoul
Anas Hamdan
Channel 1
Roya TV
Awraas TV
ON
presentJOD100,000,000
Удачная сделка
Udachnaya sdelka
Shah-Kerim KarmenovKhabarpresent₸3,000,000
Deal or No DealMichel SannanMurr Televisionل.ل. 200,000,000
Taip arba NeMarijonas MikutavičiusTV3 Lithuania200,000Lt.
500,000Lt.
Deal or No Deal MalaysiaAanont Wathanasinntv7RM100,000
一擲千金
Yi zhi qian jin
Goh Wee Ping
Owen Yap
ntv7RM100,000
Deal or No Deal MaltaPaulo MicallefTVM€25,000
Vas o No VasHéctor SandartiTelevisaMX$1,000,000
MX$5,000,000
Yoo si voyRaul AraizaTelevisaMX$2,500,000
¿Te la juegas?Luis GarcíaTV AztecaMX$1,000,000
Da sau NuDan Negru:ro:Prime|Primepresent250,000 lei
Deal or No Deal MyanmarKaung Htet ZawMRTV-42,000,000 Ks
Miljoenenjacht
and season
Linda de MolTROS, Tien, RTL4present€5,000,000
Deal or No Deal
small program
Beau van Erven DorensTien, RTL5€250,000
Deal or No DealJeremy CorbettTV3NZ$200,000
Deal or No Deal NigeriaJohn FashanuM-Net AfricaUS$100,000
Земи или остави
Zemi ili ostavi
Igor DzambazovALFA TVMKD6,000,000Flag|North MacedoniaDate table sorting|December 18, 2011Flag|NorwayDate table sorting|September 30, 2006Date table sorting|2007Flag|PanamaDate table sorting|2006Date table sorting|2007Flag|PanamaDate table sorting|March 29, 2010Date table sorting|2012Flag|PeruDate table sorting|August 8, 2005Date table sorting|December 9, 2005Flag|PeruDate table sorting|September 12, 2016Date table sorting|December 21, 2016Flag|PhilippinesDate table sorting|June 5, 2006Date table sorting|March 27, 2009Flag|PhilippinesDate table sorting|February 25, 2012Date table sorting|September 28, 2013Flag|PhilippinesDate table sorting|February 9, 2015Date table sorting|March 4, 2016Flag|PolandDate table sorting|October 1, 2005Date table sorting|August 31, 2007Flag|PortugalDate table sorting|January 28, 2006Date table sorting|2006Flag|RomaniaDate table sorting|September 5, 2005Date table sorting|2006Flag|RomaniaDate table sorting|March 1, 2008Date table sorting|2009Flag|RussiaDate table sorting|September 20, 2004Date table sorting|January 5, 2005Flag|RussiaDate table sorting|April 17, 2006Date table sorting|September 22, 2006Flag|SerbiaDate table sorting|May 7, 2007Date table sorting|June 12, 2008Flag|SingaporeDate table sorting|May 13, 2007Date table sorting|January 31, 2008Flag|SlovakiaDate table sorting|September 2005Date table sorting|November 7, 2006Flag|SlovakiaDate table sorting|January 5, 2018Date table sorting|December 29, 2018Flag|SloveniaDate table sorting|2005Date table sorting|2007Flag|SloveniaDate table sorting|2007Date table sorting|2008Flag|South AfricaDate table sorting|February 4, 2007Date table sorting|2008Flag|South AfricaDate table sorting|October 19, 2007Date table sorting|January 9, 2009Flag|South KoreaDate table sorting|2006Date table sorting|July 2007Flag|SpainDate table sorting|January 26, 2004Date table sorting|2008Flag|SpainDate table sorting|January 10, 2011Date table sorting|November 4, 2011Flag|Sri LankaDate table sorting|December 12, 2008Date table sorting|March 6, 2009Flag|SwedenDate table sorting|March 25, 2006Date table sorting|December 1, 2007Flag|SwedenDate table sorting|March 4, 2012Date table sorting|January 3, 2014Flag|SwedenDate table sorting|November 18, 2014Date table sorting|December 22, 2014Flag|SwitzerlandDate table sorting|September 1, 2004Date table sorting|September 29, 2010Flag|TaiwanDate table sorting|July 9, 2005Date table sorting|September 29, 2007Flag|TaiwanDate table sorting|September 12, 2009Date table sorting|December 12, 2009Flag|ThailandDate table sorting|2005Date table sorting|2006Flag|TunisiaDate table sorting|2005Date table sorting|2007Flag|TunisiaDate table sorting|June 29, 2014Date table sorting|June 25, 2017Flag|TunisiaDate table sorting|January 29, 2018Date table sorting|June 2018Flag|TurkeyDate table sorting|December 9, 2003Date table sorting|February 3, 2004Flag|TurkeyDate table sorting|June 5, 2006Date table sorting|2006Flag|TurkeyDate table sorting|September 10, 2007Date table sorting|September 16, 2010Flag|TurkeyDate table sorting|November 8, 2011Date table sorting|March 29, 2012Flag|TurkeyDate table sorting|September 11, 2013Date table sorting|2014Flag|UkraineDate table sorting|March 7, 2010Date table sorting|December 19, 2010Flag|United KingdomDate table sorting|October 31, 2005Date table sorting|December 23, 2016Flag|United StatesDate table sorting|December 19, 2005Date table sorting|May 18, 2009Flag|United StatesDate table sorting|September 8, 2008Date table sorting|May 28, 2010Flag|United StatesDate table sorting|December 5, 2018Flag|United StatesDate table sorting|October 8, 2006Date table sorting|May 26, 2007Flag|United StatesDate table sorting|2020Flag|UruguayDate table sorting|October 28, 2019Flag|VietnamDate table sorting|June 19, 2005Date table sorting|October 8, 2017Flag|VietnamDate table sorting|September 10, 2006Date table sorting|2008Citation needed|date=April 2007

Top prize winners

All amounts below the prizes are their equivalents in United States dollars at the time of their win.
At the other end of the spectrum, in the UK edition broadcast on 7 December 2009, a contestant named Corinne opened her box to reveal 1p, having turned down first an offer of £88,000 and then an offer to swap boxes, which would have given her the top £250,000 prize. A similar event occurred on the U.S. version on August 25, 2008, where contestant Koshka Blackburn won $5,000 which was in her case after turning down the banker's offer of $530,000 and then the option to switch cases, which would've made her the first $1,000,000 winner. Also in the U.S. on September 22, 2006, Michelle Falco kept in $750,000 and $1,000,000 in play all the way to the end, she turned down the biggest offer of $880,000 and refused to switch her case, in her case was $750,000. She also would have been the first $1,000,000 winner had she switched cases. And again, in the U.S. on October 22, 2008, contestant Richie Bell won $1 which was in his case after rejecting the final offer of $416,000 and the option to switch cases, which would've made him the second $1,000,000 winner. Richie also won an additional $10,000 after completing the "Banker's Challenge" minigame, thus making his total winnings $10,001. Had he had switched, he would have won $1,010,000. Many other contestants around the world would have won the top prize if they had swapped their box/case.

Basis and antecedents

The game show has attracted attention from mathematicians, statisticians, and economists as a natural decision-making experiment. In 2008 a team of economists analyzed the decisions of people appearing in Dutch, German and U.S. episodes and found, among other things, that contestants are less risk-averse or even risk-seeking when they saw their expected winnings drop. They went so far as to say that the show, “almost appears to be an economics experiment rather than a TV show.” They found that contestants behave similarly in different versions of the show, despite large differences in the amounts at stake; amounts appear to be evaluated in relative terms, for example in proportion to the initial average, and not in terms of their absolute monetary value. The research received a great deal of media attention, appearing on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and being featured on National Public Radio. This work was built upon by de Roos and Sarafidis, who analysed the Australian version of the show and determined that the risk-taking behaviour of a number of contestants would be inconsistent within each game, depending on the state of play and relative risk aversion of their confidant on the show.
Australian Deal or No Deal contestants are selected "on the basis of being 'outgoing', but there is no screening of contestants on the basis of their risk preferences". It is thought that other versions may screen contestants for being amicable to risk-taking behaviour.
Despite its air of originality and huge international success—there are more than 60 versions worldwide—there have been, in fact, numerous antecedents to the current run of shows. The first was the It's in the Bag, a New Zealand radio game show invented by Selwyn Toogood which began in the 1950s and which ran for decades after it was later adapted for television. The show popularized the catch-phrases, "By hokey," and "What will it be, customers--the money or the bag?" in New Zealand. Similarly, in the 1950s, the UK TV show Take Your Pick offered contestants the choice of taking a money offer or risking opening a box. Later, in the 1980s, The Bong Game, a radio call-in show created by UK's Capital FM, tested contestants by offering them increasing returns in tandem with increasing risk.
Another long-running game show, Let's Make a Deal, involved contestants deciding whether or not to take offers based on what may or may not be behind a curtain/door or inside a box. Let's Make a Deal ran in the U.S. for nearly three decades from 1963 to 1991, during which time Monty Hall was the program's "Big Dealer," and has recently been revived with Wayne Brady as the Big Dealer. Also in the U.S., in the 1970s and 1980s, was a game show called Treasure Hunt, hosted by Geoff Edwards and produced by Chuck Barris's company, which featured a similar concept to Deal or No Deal. The show featured contestants selecting a treasure chest or box with surprises inside in the hope of winning large prizes or a cash jackpot. Both game shows, however, also featured worthless or nearly-worthless joke prizes, which Let's Make a Deal called "zonks" and which Treasure Hunt called "klunks." Deal or No Deal does not feature such joke prizes in the US version but does in many international versions. Finally, from 1997 to 2003, Win Ben Stein's Money pitted contestants against an in-house adversary.

Algorithm used by “The Bank”

There are several theories concerning the algorithm that “The Bank” uses to determine the appropriate bank offer. This is a secret held by the various publishers around the world, however a number of people have approximated the algorithm with various levels of accuracy. In many variations of the format the Bank does not know the contents of the briefcase, and therefore the Monty Hall Problem does not apply to the probability calculations, but this varies from country to country.
Statistical studies of the US version of the show were undertaken by Daniel Shifflet in 2011, and showed a linear regression of bank offers against expected value. In summary, Shifflet found that the bank would offer a percentage of the expected value of the remaining cases, and this percentage increased linearly from approximately 37% of EV at the first offer to approximately 84% of EV at the seventh offer. This version of the program also allowed players to ‘hypothetically’ play out the remainder of the game from the point where they accepted the bank's offer, and Shiffler noted that the hypothetical bank offers were significantly higher than real bank offers at equivalent points in the game. Keep in mind, that this is for the syndicated 30-minute version of the show.

Video games

  • Innovative Concepts in Entertainment developed and currently sells an arcade redemption adaptation of the show, replacing prize money with redemption tickets.
  • The U.K. version of Deal or No Deal was converted into a mobile game by Gameloft and featured the same rules and format as the TV show. The game was so well-received that versions of it were developed for other countries as well. Its international success landed it on the top-sellers list.
  • Almost all major formats of the game were converted into games for various gaming consoles, the PC, Macromedia Flash, and even a dedicated handheld made in China.
  • Various online gambling and gaming sites have adapted the Deal or No Deal concept for their games.

    Online gambling

The Deal or No Deal television game show, based on the original Dutch Miljoenenjacht, was introduced to the world by Endemol. The popular format, which requires the contestant to choose from 26 boxes or cases to reveal cash values, grew in popularity and eventually made its way into the online gambling industry as a result of the 2009 partnership between Playtech's Virtue Fusion and Endemol Games.
Online Bingo licensees of Virtue Fusion, previously acquired by Playtech, introduced DOND themed 75-ball and 90-ball rooms in addition to a slot game based on the game show, scratch cards and the launch of a new bingo brand named after the game show, Deal or No Deal Bingo.
Online gamblers experience the show's concept when securing a Full House win in the themed bingo rooms. The winner or winners enter a round of negotiations with the banker where they must make the ultimate decision, Deal or No Deal. The sense of community, often embraced by bingo players, is called upon as they assist the winner in determining the best option by commenting in the room's chat section. The Community Jackpot is divided among the Full House winner and all game participants.
In February 2016, Playtech announced the renewal of its licensing agreement with Endemol UK, which will see the availability of DOND licensed online products continue for an additional three years. Under this contract, Playtech is granted exclusive rights to deliver these themed games to the UK market.
The range of DOND games are available at Virtue Fusion powered bingo brands such as bet365, Gala Bingo, Ladbrokes, Mecca Bingo and William Hill.
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