Babushka

By | January 24, 2017

This came up yesterday but in case you missed it, STV are making Babushka from Armoza, presumably for ITV.

 

The constant thwarting of slow accumulation and a game that actively encourages risk aversion (especially towards the end) followed by a double or nothing gamble only people that have done badly will take? Sign me up for two tickets on the Entertainment Express, baby!

If they haven’t retooled it it might be one of 2017’s biggest car crashes. If that’s something you want to be a part of then they’re looking for contestants, lines close 14th Feburary.

Meanwhile it sounds like David Dickinson’s doing a new antiques game that’s also looking for contestants, Name Your Pric£.

30 thoughts on “Babushka

        1. Callum J

          Ooops! Wrong video. I was watching some OK Go live performances.
          Here is the actual gameplay video:

          Reply
          1. Andrew 'Kesh' Sullivan

            So it’s basically a revamped Pressure Pad?

  1. John R

    The Colour Of Dolls is my proposed title for the ITV series. Perfect stressful Saturday teatime entertainment…

    Reply
  2. Dan

    Seems like netflix is going into gameshows now, their first one is called ultimate beastmaster, hosted by none other than Sylvester Stallone! Looks like ninja warrior but better.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      That’s actually got *much* higher production values than I was expecting when it was first mooted. Interesting!

      Reply
    2. Callum J

      Actually, Stallone is (sadly) not hosting, he is an executive producer. There will be different hosts for different languages. Terry Crews and Charissa Thompson will be hosting the English-language version.

      Reply
    3. Brekkie

      Filmed on the old Wipeout set. Looks quite decent, and more of a rip off of Sasuke than Wipeout ever was.

      About time Challenge began showing the NBC version of American Ninja Warrior. They’ve shown the earlier G4 reality show style versions – well until they dropped it for more Bullseye.

      Reply
    4. Alex

      A bit weird hearing an American not refer to Sasuke as ‘Ninja Warrior’ in that trailer.

      Reply
    5. Andrew, the Yank

      That looks much better than I was expecting. I was excited just because I am obsessed with obstacle course competitions, but this looks rather good.

      Reply
    1. Chris R

      I’m sure S4C childrens continuity have had real time website / app based play along in the past. I can’t recall any details though sorry!

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        Yes they certainly have, although the names escape me right now – one show set in a tower and another in a Pyramid. However they weren’t webcam based, they were literally play the same games as the contestants on your phone. If we’re thinking of the same thing.

        However the last webcam based show I can think of over here in the UK was Sub Zero about 20 years ago for a round of a quiz.

        In the US there’s been Let’s Ask America.

        Reply
        1. Andrew 'Kesh' Sullivan

          I remember that Ludus show using a play-along app as well. Is that one of the ones you were thinking of?

          Reply
    2. Nico W.

      In Germany there once was a show called “Web vs. Promi” (Promi = German word for Celeb) in which four kids played games with their web cams a bit PS2 Eyetoy style with the winner playing the celebrity that was inbited in that episode. The celebrity could also try to make games harder in the rounds where just the kids were playing by playing the games asymmetrically. E.g. they had to hit fruits when they came up on their screen and the child with the matching colour had some sort of disadvantage then. Winners won a good bit of pocket money (200€ or so) iirc. It was on Ki.Ka (public children television) for a year or so in at least two seasons and hosted by Daniel Budiman (one of the four founders of RocketbeansTV, German Gaming and Lifestyle Internet channel). I loved watching it, despite not being in the target group at all. Games were repetitive, because the same games were played in every episode (not sure they changed any in the second season), but I don’t think so and it didn’t make the joy of watching it any smaller.

      Reply
      1. Barney Sausage

        Isn’t 44k a bit of an odd amount… or am I getting old and fidgety??

        Reply
        1. Crimsonshade

          It’s decisively odd, that’s for sure. I’m intrigued to find out the methodology by which this amount has been achieved…

          (My bet: The highest Babushka is probably going to be worth around £20k if played to completion; and there will probably be a good number of £1-2.5k maximums with maybe two or three £5k+ amounts, leading to an uneven money distribution overall.)

          Reply
          1. Crimsonshade

            Okay, I couldn’t resist being a nerd. After doing some maths, here’s a money ladder I see could work to lead to a £44k jackpot if we assume it will still be 10 Babushkas to choose from:

            Two “worthless” Babushkas.
            All Babushkas with money have a minimum of £500.

            Babushkas 1-2: One level, £500 maximum (=£1k)
            Babushkas 3-5: Two levels, £1k maximum (=£3k)
            Babushka 6: Three levels, £5k maximum
            Babushka 7: Four levels, £10k maximum
            Babushka 8: Five levels, £25k maximum

            If you play all 8 correctly and to the maximum level possible without going too far, this would lead to a pot of £25k + 10k + 5k + 3k + 1k = £44k.

            Originally, I had it as four Babushkas with £1k and two with £2.5k, with no smaller amounts. However, this would have made gambling on there being more levels -EV pretty much all the time. After careful reconsideration, I came up with the potential configuration shown above, which I consider far more plausible. To begin with, players would have a higher-to-equal chance of Babushkas that reveal money containing more money at the lower levels (up to 75% chance of a two-level Babushka; and a maximum 50% chance of a 3-5 level Babushka if you’ve already reached two levels), making early gambles attractive. However, the truly big money would be left to the higher, less-likely Babushkas.

            I still feel I could be wildly inaccurate – and we could discover that ITV have shortened the game – but I think my back-of-the-packet calculation gives a good idea of the potential awkward sums possible.

          2. Brig Bother Post author

            Don’t forget there’s a double or nothing gamble offered at the end in the pitch tape.

            The vastly lower stakes *might* work in its favour if they play it up as fun, and Rylan’s a fair choice for this, I’m not getting excited though.

          3. Cheesebiscuits

            I’ve never understood double or nothing. On million pound drop it didn’t work as you would only gamble the money if you knew the right answer. On DOND with box 23 you only take it if you are <~5000.

            This seems even worse if it's just a 1/2 chance. It's a silly excuse for a show to advertise twice as high a jackpot as they would otherwise without risking it ever going that high.

            My breakdown going for a 22K jackpot I think would be,

            10K
            5K
            2K
            2K
            1k
            1K
            500
            500
            0
            0

  3. Arun

    Does the button they press actually do anything or is it just a rubbish prop.

    Reply

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