Millionaire at MGM ...question?

[agnes!]

Back to "fugacious"(from the Three Stooges post)...
[from The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]
Main Entry: fu·ga·cious
Pronunciation: fyü-'gA-sh&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin fugac-, fugax, from fugere
1 : lasting a short time : EVANESCENT
2 : disappearing before the usual time -- used chiefly of plant parts (as stipules) other than floral organs

About the prizes...
Let's say that you've made it to the 250,000 point level and you do NOT know the answer and also maybe you don't want to guess. You can then choose to *walk away* WITH the prizes you have already won (12 pins, polo shirt, cap...all the stuff from the 125,000 point level) IF and only if you choose NOT to give an answer.
What usually happens though is that people get so caught up in the excitement of the game that they forget that they now have this option. (I don't think this was always the case, but it has been part of the hosts' spiel every time I've been to WWTBAM/PI! recently.)

agnes!

 

[LadyZolt]

Agnes is right -- you can choose to "walk away" and then you'd get the prizes and pins up to where you left. But since it's not really money, I think most people just say "what the heck" and make a guess. Had I really had $16,000 and got that editor of a fashion mag question for $32,000, I would have walked away and not guessed. But since it wasn't real money, I guessed, got it wrong, and got bumped back down to the $1,000 for my prizes.

I did "phone a complete stranger" just to give me time to think about the answer, and I did not go with what the stranger said, and I got it right. I agree with what the other poster said about it -- it's hard trusting a complete stranger. But you can use the time to think more about the question. I'd gone to the game lots of times before and only made it into the top 10 once, but the day I went, the teen who won the "fastest finger" got a lot of questions I knew the answers to, and that's how I ended up in the hot seat. It seems to be a matter of luck -- if it's stuff you know, your chances increase with each question, and if you know a lot of trivia, you should definitely go to lots of the games because you stand a good chance of getting in the hot seat.

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[hightown]

Yeah....On my first time in hot seat at the 1,000,000 point question, the host reminded me I could walk away with 14 pins, hat, shirt! I asked her "youve go to be kidding right?" She said they make her say that!

 

[wwtbamrob]

This was not the case for us. My husband answered 8 questions correctly - missed on the 16,000 point question. He only got the lanyard and 5 pins, not 8 pins!

I think you misread my post. This is the part that explains your husband's prizes:

If you miss a question in the first 5, you leave with only a button that says "I was in the Hot Seat". If you miss a question in the next group of 5 questions, you receive the prizes for reaching 1,000 points. If you miss one of the last 5 questions, you receive the prizes for reaching 32,000 points.

Since your husband missed the 9th question, he would only receive the prizes up through 1,000 points. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Rob

 

[jbdreamer]

Getting in the hot seat is just a matter of luck. The entire audience does a fastest finger to compete for the hot seat. My trick it to push the buttons as fast as I can and don't even pay attention to the question. I have seen too many five year olds up there to worry about trying to figure out the answer. It doesn't matter - someone randomly guessing will always beat you.

 

[santonucci]

It's alot of fun! I am a big trivia buff.

I NEVER made it into the hotseat !
I was #2 four times on the board last year! AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

I am determined to win the cruise!

I also qualified for the real WWTBAM 48 times, over the years, was at the NY studios, had my pic taken & was interviewed many many many times...and NUTIN...never heard from them ever again. Now I have a complex!

I've been #2 when the show ended the last 2 times! AAAAARGGGH!

I want to play... :-(

Steve

 

[wwtbamrob]

It doesn't matter - someone randomly guessing will always beat you.

Change the word "always" to "usually" and I agree with you. However, it is very possible to win a Fastest Finger question by thinking about the answer and punching it in quickly. I've done it several times.

The easiest way to do it is when the question being asked has only a few possible answers. For example, they once asked us to put four letters in order to spell the word for the part of the hand between the fingers and the wrist. Since I deduced that they were looking for PALM as the answer, I was able to punch in the letters that corresponded to P-A-L-M quickly enough to win.

Sometimes the questions don't lend themselves to this. For example, if they asked you to arrange four movies in chronological order, you would almost certainly need to see the choices before you could really begin the thought process. However, if they asked you to arrange four Johnny Depp movies in order, you may be able to get a little bit of a jump start. You could think of as many movies with Johnny Depp in them as you could and generally have them arranged in your mind.

Personally, I would much rather win the Fastest Finger question by knowing the answer than randomly punching. However, I can't deny that in general that strategy does work.

Rob

 

[fakereadhed]

I got in the hotseat on our last trip. The 16,000 answer was folic acid. I missed it. Yep, I'm an RN and I was pregnant at the time and had taken my folic acid that a.m.

The family still goes on about it...

I'm hoping to get in there again so I can come home with my pride intact this time.

 

[Credit Man]

Something else to think about. When you are playing along with the person in the hot seat, as soon as you know the answer to the question, start pressing the button. Don't wait till the end of the question becaust the fastest answer gets the most points.

 

[nicknamy1996]

As to the guessing on the fastest finger... I sort of did. I knew A was the first and B was last on the list so that left C and D which I could have figured out in about 1 second... but I panicked and hit A ? ? B real fast figuring I had a 50 50 shot at it. It worked!

I lost going for $250,000. "Who wrote "America the Beautiful" I was out of lifelines and guessed wrong. Francis Scott Key was one and I knew he was wrong. There was one other name that was familiar and I couldn't place it, but I knew it from somewhere so I guessed it... LOOKING BACK THAT BUGGED ME FOR A LONG TIME!!! Because (I love trivia) and yet I had never heard this question before... so if I recognized the name it must have been from some other trivia question. Make sense?

And the part that really bugged me was "wasting" a life line on "What country celebrates Julenissen (spelling?), the Christmas gnome" I realized the answer before the even got the "stranger" on the phone... who had no clue anyway.

But being a huge fan of triva... and WWTBAM when it first came out... this was a great memory for me.

 

[Yensid_MD]

I have been in the hot seat twice. First time missed the 125,000 question and the second time a couple of years later missed the 250,000 question. The questions seem easy asl long as you know the answers. They do get harder as you move up.

You get pins hat and polo at the 32000 mark.

 

[twardw]

Very true, CREDIT MAN. It's all about the button speed.

The last time I played, I pressed the correct answer button repeatedly as fast as I could even before the lights came on. After the first contestant was done I was in third place! Then the person in first place declined. The person in second place almost declined, but her family/friends talked her into playing (rats!). I kept up the strategy during the second game, but the time ran out (they never play 3 games anyway). When they posted the final results, guess who was in first place?

Of course this was our last stop before leaving to go home, but wait until next time.....the hot seat is mine unless CREDIT MAN is in the crowd. Then we will have to click for it!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

DH made it in the hot seat when we were there 2 weeks ago. The questions were pretty easy, actually. He made it to the 8,000 level and then was asked a question about musicals. Well, he's not very knowledgable on musicals, and I knew he didn't know it. But he guessed. Had all 3 lifelines left and guessed. aargh! He said that he was saving them for the last few questions and knew they'd get harder.

So when you hit the 1,000 mark you get that prize no matter what, and at the 10,000 mark too. So he got a hat and a pin set (lanyard and 5 pins). I'm not sure what the 10,000 prize was as he missed that question!

He is still beating himself up over not winning us that cruise!

Oh man. He forgot the Cardinal rule. It does no good to save them for the end if by trying to do so, you don't get there.

 

[dtaylor98]

I was in the hotseat once. I missed when I trusted the audience--that was a big mistake.

 

[remmy_7]

I've never been in the hot seat, but I did make it into that top ten list they show (or is it top 20?) Most of the questions at the beginning are pretty easy, but every time we go see it, they always throw a bible question in there (like on the 200 dollar question!)...if I were up there, I'd already be using a lifeline!!- never read it before

I hope to get in the hot seat some day and not look like a complete fool

 

[fakereadhed]

I've never been in the hot seat, but I did make it into that top ten list they show (or is it top 20?) Most of the questions at the beginning are pretty easy, but every time we go see it, they always throw a bible question in there (like on the 200 dollar question!)...if I were up there, I'd already be using a lifeline!!- never read it before

My mom would say that is God's way of telling you to read the Bible...
Even if it's not up your religious alley, it's interesting from a literary perspective. And you might win a cruise, too!

 

[Pumbaa7287]

Sounds like they may recycle questions. Someone on one of the earlier posts mentioned her husband getting out on the question about the meaning of "bees knees". We were there a couple of years ago with a big group and a friend was in the hot seat and he got the same question. Unfortunately he didn't know it either and he still had his phone a stranger left and didn't use it. My DH was hanging around outside by the phone and knew the answer of course!

This past January my DH made it into the hot seat at the beginning of our trip. He did know the correct answer to the fastest finger and managed to punch it in in under a second. He used the phone a stranger at 64K. They blurted out an answer at the last second and he went with it and it was wrong. But at least he got the shirt, hat, and pins. He gave it all to our DS who is 18 and has been collecting pins for about 5 years.

Of course DS and I wanted to go to every show after that to try to get into the hot seat ourselves. The show was only open for one more day because it was then shutting down to get ready for Meredith and crew to film the real shows for a few days. We went the next day after my DH had been in the hot seat and went to 3 shows while my DH stayed at the hotel and napped. We never made it but we were in the top 10 several times and I was #1 once when they did an audience check.

Looking forward to it when we go back in October. I hope they keep this attraction for a long time. I was disappointed when we went to Disneyland in Feb. 05 that they had already closed it down.

Cathy K.

 

[remmy_7]

My mom would say that is God's way of telling you to read the Bible...
Even if it's not up your religious alley, it's interesting from a literary perspective. And you might win a cruise, too!

..Well I'm Jewish, and I wouldn't ask you to read the Torah!

 

[tchrrx]

Are the ?'s during Star Wars weekend related to the movies or are they regular questions? For some reason I had decided that it was all Star Wars trivia and that's what I told my DH, who can't wait to play. Did I give him inaccurate info?

 

[dvc_john]

My $64,000 question was what is the state bird of Iowa? I had NO idea, having never studied or been to Iowa.

Being from Iowa, I should know this! The Eastern Goldfinch. And if it ever comes up, the flower is the Wild Rose.

I've been in the hot seat 5 times. Best I did was 125,000.
Went last week 3 times. All 3 times a teenager (12-14) won the fastest finger by just hitting buttons. The second contestant in 2 of the shows missed at 500,000. The first 10 questions were pretty easy, but at 64,000 they got really obscure, like 'who would know that?'.

I did see someone win the million one time. That was pretty neat, with all the confetti, etc. And another time I saw someone miss the million question, and I knew the answer. (What president's daughter was married at Camp David: Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, George H. W. Bush, or Jimmy Carter. Answer; Bush).