Millionaire - Anyone to the hot seat?

[silvio]

Does anyone here got a chance to sit on the hot seat. How was it?

 

[Michael623]

I was nervous at first but after a few questions it got easier. I blew the 125,000 point question. It was about Ansel Adams.

 

[paladin]

This is my favorite attraction. I have been been in the Hot Seat 4 times, making it to 500,000 points one time - I have quite a collection of the hats, pins and shirts! I once spent an entire day at MGM doing nothing but going to Millionaire. It's a blast. (By the way, you can only be in the Hot Seat once in a 30-day period.)

 

[sunking]

I have been to the hotseat twice. The first time I made it to the 500,000 point question and choked there. The second time I didn't get nearly as far. It is a blast to get down there but let me tell you, it is a totally different game when you are in the hotseat with all of those eyes on you. Talk about nervous....

Good luck and have a great time!!!!
Sunking

 

[PJesse25]

I was lucky enough to make it to the hot seat once. I agree that it is TOTALLY different being in that seat. It takes twice as long to make your mind work. The host said she thought I was going to rub the blue off my jeans! I blew it on the $64,000 question (did you know that a million million is a trillion? Neither did I - that time limit really works against you sometimes).

 

[karebear1]

I've been there twice too. The first tmie I went out on the $500,000 question. The second time I got to 125.000. It's a lot of fun- but I feel like a big dork seeingf myself on that screen!

 

[KBFinFan]

I got there once in March, I think I got the 125,000 point question wrong.

In August, I was second or third I think on the board. More importantly, someone won the whole shibang while we were there! It was exciting, and she and her son were so happy.

 

[caverill]

I blew the 32,000 point question...Of course I knew all the answers that the person before me had.

It is quite exciting to be in the hot seat. It is strange to see yourself on the big screen.

This is my favorite attraction in all of WDW!!!!

 

[DisnutDave@work]

I was in the Hot Seat last year. I always made fun of people who seemed jumpy and couldn't come up with the simplest of answers.

I knew I'd be nervous, but I was surprised and just how truly nervous I became! DW still won't let me forget about it. They asked me if I was married and all I could come up with was, "Yes." After an awkward pause, the host asked me what my wife's name was, and I almost couldn't come up with it! (We'd been married 13 years at that point).

Anyway, I finally settled down a bit, and made it to the 64,000 question. It was an obscure sports question that even the lifelines couldn't help me out on. Better luck next time (I hope).

 

[B'rer Karen]

I've made it to the hot seat twice. The first time I lost on the 16,000 question and I really could just kick myself. I didn't really read the question well. The question was "Which director won the 2002 Golden Globe for best director." The choices were Robert altman, Ron Howard, and two others I can't remember now. Without hesitating I said Ron Howard. When he told me I was wrong I was shocked (and so was the audience) because I remembered seeing him win the Oscar. And that was my problem, I was thinking "Oscar" not "Golden Globe." So on my second trip to the hotseat this past March I made sure to read the question thoroughly no matter how simple it was. I made it to the 32,000 question and lost. But this time I used a life line and I went with my gut instinct and I was wrong. But that was okay. Nothing I could do about it. I sure would like to at least wiin the polo shirt though! Hopefully with two weeks in the world coming up I'll be able to get back in the hot seat again.

 

[lark]

We were just there and I actually thought it was quite lame who gets to the hot seat. We went to the show twice. On the fastest finger, which is how they generally decide the first player, there is no way to win other than to guess and push the buttons in random order. Since it's a 1/16 chance, the priority is on speed not figuring out the question. Both times we saw FF, the winning time was less than half a second, which obviously was not the result of someone actually figuring out the question.

With respect to the rest of the game, just note that you're going up against some serious pros. Each time we went, they had to go deeper and deeper on the list, because the winner would have to fess up that they had been there in the last 30 days. One time, the winner had to say no, the second person had to say no, and was a brother of the person who had won, and the third highest points was also in the same family and played. What was worse about it was that they all simply had guessed at answers to get there. One guy who got the FF in .4 seconds was essentially a moron who couldn't even get past 1,000 points without using lifelines on pretty simple questions. Everyone we saw who was in the hot seat all admitted that they had been there multiple times. When the arena is full, 650 people is generally enough that sheer guessing for speed will enable someone to get in in front of people playing the game straight up.

It would be a better attraction, in my opinion, if there was some feeling as though you didn't have to know tricks to make it and that it put some premium on knowing correct answers. For example, on the FF, I would make it so that everyone who got the question correct in 5 seconds or less would have a chance at the hot seat; the computer would pick one at random. Same with the points -- I'd make it so that the top 25 or so all had a random chance. It would be nice to think that if you only visit once every couple of years or so you still have some semblance of a chance, other than as part of a complete guessing lottery.

 

[B'rer Karen]

Originally posted by lark
We were just there and I actually thought it was quite lame who gets to the hot seat. We went to the show twice. On the fastest finger, which is how they generally decide the first player, there is no way to win other than to guess and push the buttons in random order. Since it's a 1/16 chance, the priority is on speed not figuring out the question. Both times we saw FF, the winning time was less than half a second, which obviously was not the result of someone actually figuring out the question.

With respect to the rest of the game, just note that you're going up against some serious pros. Each time we went, they had to go deeper and deeper on the list, because the winner would have to fess up that they had been there in the last 30 days. One time, the winner had to say no, the second person had to say no, and was a brother of the person who had won, and the third highest points was also in the same family and played. What was worse about it was that they all simply had guessed at answers to get there. One guy who got the FF in .4 seconds was essentially a moron who couldn't even get past 1,000 points without using lifelines on pretty simple questions. Everyone we saw who was in the hot seat all admitted that they had been there multiple times. When the arena is full, 650 people is generally enough that sheer guessing for speed will enable someone to get in in front of people playing the game straight up.

It would be a better attraction, in my opinion, if there was some feeling as though you didn't have to know tricks to make it and that it put some premium on knowing correct answers. For example, on the FF, I would make it so that everyone who got the question correct in 5 seconds or less would have a chance at the hot seat; the computer would pick one at random. Same with the points -- I'd make it so that the top 25 or so all had a random chance. It would be nice to think that if you only visit once every couple of years or so you still have some semblance of a chance, other than as part of a complete guessing lottery.

While I agree with your point about the Fastest Finger (in fact my second time in was due to just punching numbers in, although I actually did know the answer), I disagree with the rest of your post. First, in order to make it in on points you do have to know your stuff. I consider myself a pretty intelligent person. That in conjunction with the fact that I know how to answer quickly to get the most points for my correct answer are what keeps me consistently in the top 10. You can be really fast at this point in the game but if you don't have the right answer, you get no points. Also, I go to WDW at least twice a year, but I wouldn't say that's enough to afford me any greater advantage then anyone else. The only reason people who go so often get in more is because of the odds. The more you try and play the more you're bound to get in.

 

[lark]

I think it depends. We talked to one guy who had been frequently in the hot seat and he said you can win the points by guessing if the person in the hot seat bombs out early -- within 6 or 7 questions. He says you play straight up for the first 3 or 4 questions, because they are easy to answer immediately and to even know always when D is the right answer before it is revealed, at least fast enough to get in at the first instance. But after that, you need to start just pushing buttons immediately to get the split second jump on those playing straight up. Once it gets to more than 7 or so questions, though, the premium switches back to ability to accurately answer the questions quickly, because the odds just get too great of getting that many guesses in a row; even with 200 or 300 people guessing. So if you're playing the game straight up, root for the contestant in the hot seat to get up to 16,000 or so, at which point you have a better chance. I think it is relatively easy to get in the top 10 if it goes more than 5 questions. It's relatively harder to get in the top 3, because even if you know exactly what you are doing and correctly anticipate correct D answers, you're still at a split second disadvantage over guessers. (If D is not a correct answer, then you're at no disadvantage, but I think D is virtually always a correct answer at least once early by design, and the guessers also apparently know that D is always a good one to guess, becuase you automatically get the jump on about hundreds of people if you've guessed correctly.) I think it's what frustrated us so much when we played -- we were easily in the top 10 each time, but rarely in the top 3, with the point differences being very slight. When the winners got to the hot seat, it was pretty clear that either they were so nervous that they had entirely forgotten everything they ever knew, or they had been guessing the whole way. The shows we went to were all full, as well, which of course makes it more difficult. It could be made more equitable, I think.

 

[detective mickey]

what are the prizes and what is the grand prize?

 

[Lives4Disney]

Last October we saw someone make it to the end and win a Disney Bahamas cruise!!

 

[ellyn2000]

Boy, there are some talented Dis'ers here! I've never made it anywhere but to be in the audience and pitifully participate. It's still one of my favorite attractions, though. Can't wait to go back next month. Congratulations to all of you who have actually made it into the "hot seat".

 

[kenneyjo]

Congrats to anyone who has made it!

Whether through random buttons on FF or on points when the hotseat contestant misses his question. Congrats!

LARK: "Playing the game straight up" Since when is strategizing a game not playing a game. Every game has a strategy and it is up to you to figure what strategy would be useful to you.

It is not a secret that some people get on by fudging the buttons, you can do it also...so why don't you?

Knowing that random button pressing may actualize an appearance on the hotseat is part of the game. It is skill and not cheating as you are implying.

Back to the topic, I have been on the hotseat three times. Once through the random FF and twice on points when the previous contestants lost at 32,000 and 4000 points respectively.

I think this is the greatest non-ride attraction at any theme park ever.


Good luck to all and if anyone wants to hear about tips, skills and strategies...let me know!

JK

 

[lark]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I don't think I'd agree that random button pushing should be part of the game. I agree that, the way the game is set up, it is. But I don't think it should be, and that was my point. I'd argue that's a completely different game. That's just a button pushing game; a game I'm not all that interested in playing and that does not make a particularly interesting attraction to me -- cruise or not cruise. Nor does it make a particularly interesting attraction to me where a family plays so often and games the system so well that they win the FF repeatedly even though they aren't eligible.

I'm personally more interested in a speed/trivia game, which I think is what most people who enter think they're getting. And I think most leave completely unaware they just watched in the hot seat random button pushers. I think most also leave shaking their head in wonder how someone who was able to put the last 4 prime ministers of Britain in order in .74 seconds, could not figure out the freezing point of water without asking the audience.

FWIW, I didn't say random button pushing was cheating. I didn't imply it either, nor do I believe it. So if that's what you took from my post, my apology; I was not clear and was not accusing anyone of cheating.

 

[kenneyjo]

Okay,

after reading your reply post and your intial posts, I will concede that you are not implying cheating.

Do we agree that it is a necessary flaw for a wide demographic of audience participation though?

I advised that I got on once doing the FF and twice the points way. Seeing 6-7 year olds who get on because of the random button pushing is priceless. When the parent goes up with them to help, that is an experience that family will likely not forget for awhile.

I have been to this attraction numerous times since its opening and other than the obvious potential of winning a prize, the other huge fun of this is watching people nervous, there family laughing and everyone having a great time. That person is in the limelight for about 8-12 minutes in front of 650 people. Probably a position most people have never experienced and may never again.

I guess short of beating a dead horse here, I believe FF is a necessary evil that provides entertainment that would other wise have the game turn into boring old Jeopardy! (Which I love BTW!)

Interesting discussion though!

 

[lark]

Well, that's a good point -- the attaction is really about watching the people down there, not necessarily in winning.

I just reacted a little poorly to the fact that each time we went, each of the contestants was simply not up to playing the game because of how they ended up in the hot seat. It was actually a little embarrassing -- why they would come back week after week and press buttons randomly to be unable to answer pretty basic questions in front of 600 people was a little peculiar. To each his own. Even the host was a littel tired of it -- repeatedly informing each one, sternly, "you can't come back for another 30 days. I guess I would have liked to have seen someone seriously compete for the top prizes.

Anyway, I might try it a little differently -- give everyone who answers the FF correctly under 5 seconds a chance and then pick one at random. Or everyone who gets the all questions right withing a second of them putting them up has the same chance of being randomly selected. Still won't eliminate random guessers, but would give others a semblance of a chance too.