Family Feud Africa

Family Feud Africa is a South African game show produced by BBC African Rapid Blue and American Steve Harvey Global, distributed by Fremantle, broadcast on e.tv, starting from April 5, 2020. It is the South African version of the American show of the same name, and was filmed after Season 21 of the current United States version (which started in 1999) was completed, in December 2019. Fremantle offered selected production staffers and host Steve Harvey for the production.
The show's logo is based on the logo from the first seven seasons (1999–2006) of the current US version, with the set based on the 2010 version. The show uses both the 1976 and 1988 variants of "The Feud" composed Walt Levinsky music cues, and for round-winning or Fast Money-winning situations, the Edd Kalehoff–composed versions used by the 1994–95 Richard Dawson version is used instead. The graphics come from the 2014 Australian version.
Similar to the pre-1992 United States rules, families win money based on their main game score. The first and second rounds are single, the third and fourth are double, and the fifth round, if necessary, is triple money. The winner is the family that reaches R15,000 first, which allows them to play Fast Money. Fast Money is played for R75,000, with a loss earning the family R150 per point.
Unlike the United States version, there is product placement from KFC South Africa franchisee (a practice usually prohibited on United States game shows following the quiz show scandals).
A Ghanaian version is also produced in South Africa, and is broadcast on TV3 Ghana, also with Steve Harvey at the helm. Australian rules are used (four players per family) with only four rounds (double money in round three and triple in round four), and the family leading after four rounds plays Fast Money for $5,000. A Fast Money loss awards $15 per point.
Another Tunisian version of the show is also being produced in Tunisia hosted by Karim El Gharbi and broadcast on El Hiwar El Tounsi while the rules are the same as the U.S. version, however, the name is different due to it being translated as Malla Twensa - ملاّ توانسة in Tunisian Arabic dialect.
Season 1 first episode was aired on Tuesday October 13, 2020.


Fujii System

In shogi, the Fujii System (藤井システム "fujii shisutemu") is a set of Fourth File Rook strategies used against various Static Rook strategies. It was created as a way to attack Static Rook Anaguma castle positions.
It is named after Takeshi Fujii who invented the strategies, which awarded him the prestigious Kōzō Masuda Award in 1998. The system can also be applied for Third File Rook strategies.
Overview.
The Fujii system is a set of strategies for Fourth and Third File Rook openings developed by Takeshi Fujii. In particular, the Fujii System attracted a good deal of attention as a countermeasure against Static Rook Anaguma with Fujii himself playing a prominent role.
As described below, the Fujii System includes countermeasures against Left Mino castles as well as Anaguma castles. In the latter case, characteristically, if the opponent is aiming for an Anaguma, the strategy consists of initiating a fight before the king can be completely castled into the Anaguma with the quick attack leading to the abandoning of the opponent's Anaguma and then dominating by way of the solidness of the Fujii System player's Mino castle. Since it typically involves the arrangement of pieces both in defense and offense across the player's whole camp rather than the move of a particular piece, it is called a "system" instead of a single opening.
Traditionally, when the Static Rook side went for a slow game strategy, they would use Center Vanguard Pawn or King's Head Vanguard Pawn to go from a Boat castle to a Fortress and so on, hence choosing advanced castles, particularly due to the fragility to mate races from the side. However, due to the development of Left Mino and Static Rook Anaguma strategies for Static Rook, which allowed as much or more solidness than the Ranging Rook opponent, the winning percentage of Ranging Rook decreased dramatically. This trend became obvious when comparing the winning percentages of top players – Yoshiharu Habu, Toshiyuki Moriuchi, Yasumitsu Satō and Akira Watanabe – when playing Static Rook Anaguma. For instance, Satō was achieving a winning percentage of above 70% (except for a 58.8% when playing White), and Habu a total (as Black and White) win rate exceeding 90%. (In comparison, the overall winning percentage when playing Black is slightly above 50%.)
For that reason, while taking measures against Left Mino and Static Rook Anaguma, it became necessary to have a comprehensive, well-equipped way of attacking from the static rock traditional right silver quick attack and so on. In the Fujii system:
It underlies Kenji Kobayashi Super Fourth File Rook strategy as well as Masataka Sugimoto's research.
History.
The decline in Ranging Rook Strategies.
Before the Fujii system became widely known, as players using static rook felt uncomfortable in quick attacks against ranging rook strategies, openings which castled the king solidly like Left Mino or Static Rook Anaguma were found effective. As these castles were as solid or more than ranging rook's Mino castles, this turned further into slow game situations where only the static rook side had the liberty of initiating the attack. Furthermore, as ranging rook players had no effective countermeasure, the number of players choosing ranging rook openings declined.
As a ranging rook (Fourth File Rook) player himself, Fujii had been struggling to find ways to cope with Static Rook Anaguma and Left Mino, displaying when playing ranging rook a Silver Crown castle against left Mino, in the process of which (in the situation S-2g, K-3i, G-4g, G4i) the rook returned to the right flank with the goal of storming on the Left Mino king's head (e.g., in his 1995 All Japan Professional Shogi tournament game against Hisashi Namekata). Although this occurred previous to the development of the Fujii system, the attack on the left Mino king's head is a common goal.
The Fujii System against Left Mino.
Originally, the Fujii system developed as an investigation on how to counter Left Mino. Due to the peculiar formation of left Mino, and particularly of Castle Tower Mino, it was very difficult for Ranging Rook openings to invade it.
After breaking through along the rook file, it would turn into an attack from the side, but while the king from the ranging rook's side would be on the rank 1 or rank 2, the Static Rook side's king will be on rank 3, so that when it came to an attacking race Ranging Rook would often lose in terms of number of moves. So, in order to attack the Castle Tower Mino, instead of attacking from the side, an attack from the vertical, aimed at its weak point on the king's head, started to intermingle. In the case of Black (Sente), following the placing of the king on 39, with P-45 the rival won't be allowed to build up his ideal four-pieces Mino, and you will aim at attacking the king's head with P-26. However, if the decision to push P-26 occurs too soon, White can aim to attack with the bishop from 53, so it is necessary to be very careful.
Akira Shima in the NHK Cup playing White against Fujii system won after being forced to build a High Mino following black's B-57, by then attacking the knight's head. From there on the usual formation became pushing black's pawn to 56, and after switching to a Third File Rook pushing the bishop to 68 hence making a direct attack on the king's head, and attacking together with the right knight. To put it simply, the measures of ▲P-25, △Px25, ▲Nx25 are harsh, too, and unless the bishop is at 31 the silver cannot be drawn back to 22 (▲P*24 is possible) when keeping the bishop's diagonal open, this turns into a development in which the static rook player has to be paying close attention always.
This is an unusually completed opening, and Left Mino is now barely ever seen among professionals when playing against Fourth File Rook.
The Fujii System against Anaguma.
What has turned currently into the prevailing variation in the Fujii system is a so-called new version that came to be as a result of the investigation against Static Rook Anaguma strategies. It is become a strategy that combines both a quick vertical attack before the Static Rook Anaguma castle can be completed, relying on the bishop's diagonal as its key point, and counter-measures against static rook quick attacks.
In Black's (sente) case, a quick attack is started on the king by pushing on the pawn on the 1st file, as if it were a sitting king. If White's lance moves to 12 and the king manages to enter the hole in Anaguma, Black will then attack with N-25, and then P-45 and by opening the bishop's diagonal. If White (gote) goes instead for an early fight, Black will switch to K-48, and then K-39 and then to a Mino castle. Although it is often thought that the distinctive initial movements are easy to imitate, it is unusually difficult even for professionals to play them thoroughly, hence the popular saying "No one but Fujii can play the Fujii system."
The Fujii System and the Millenium Castle.
Because the Fujii system made it difficult for the static rook player to build Anaguma, many counter-measures were developed. One of them, appearing around the year 2000, is the Millenium castle. It is characterized by the fact that even though weaker in solidness compared to Anaguma, (white's) king being castled in 21 means not receiving direct attacks on the bishop's diagonal.
Up until then, the ranging rook would break down Anaguma by relying on the bishop's diagonal, as well as its subsequent development in 3rd File Rook's "Isao Nakata XP" tactic, posing a threat on the Static Rook Anaguma's king by way of the bishop's diagonal. For that reason, the Millenium castle that avoided the bishop's diagonal aimed at by the Fujii system's gained considerable influence.
Although the Millenium castle showed new developments against the Fujii system, in terms of the number of moves it took it lacked the solidity of Anaguma and the ranging rook players took advantage of that time by showing counter-measures against the building of Anaguma, so a perfect counter-measure was actually never reached. As a consequence of these particulars, this opening is almost never played against Fourth File Rook's Fujii system. In turn, against Third File Rook's Fujii system, since it has no effects on the quick attacks it has still considerable popularity.
Development.
1. P-76 P-34, 2. P-66 P-84, 3. R-68 S-62, 4. P-16 K-42, 5. S-38 K-32, 6. S-78 P-54, 7. S-67 G61-52, 8. P-15 S-53, 9. G69-58 P-85, 10. B-77 B-33, 11. P-46 K-22, 12. P-36 P-44, 13. N-37 G-43, 14. P-65 G-32, 15. S-47
Black is employing a Fourth File Rook Fujii System position. Black's king remains in its start position. The left silver that formed a Mino castle earlier has been moved to the 47 square to protect the head of the knight that has been developed to 37 for attacking. The left edge pawn has been pushed all the way to the middle rank 5. Black's right silver is advanced to the 67 square and the bishop diagonal has been opened by pushing the sixth file pawn to 65 allowing the bishop to attack the diagonal that White's king is positioned on (22 square) and will continue to be on if White chooses an Anaguma castle (21 square).


John Cochrane (chess player)

John Cochrane (4 February 1798 – 2 March 1878) was a Scottish chess master and lawyer. After serving in the Royal Navy Cochrane chose to become a barrister. While studying law, he became a very strong chess player and published a book on the game, which included the Cochrane variation of the Salvio Gambit, a main line of the King's Gambit. Around this time he played against the Frenchmen Deschapelles and Labourdonnais, who were acknowledged to be Europe's strongest players at the time.
After a long tour of duty in India, he returned to the UK and beat everyone except Howard Staunton, whom he then helped to prepare for his victorious match against the Frenchman Saint-Amant, which established Staunton as the world's leading player. Cochrane returned to India, where he became known as the "Father of the Calcutta Bar" (association of barristers) and a leading member of the Calcutta Chess Club; the Club and Cochrane personally both made significant financial contributions to the first international chess tournament, which Staunton organised. Cochrane continued to play chess and to send games to the UK for publication, mostly in Staunton's columns. His two main opponents were Indians, and against one of them he made the first recorded use of the Cochrane Gambit against Petrov's Defence. When he returned to the UK for good, Cochrane continued to practise law part-time, mainly in important cases that arose in India, and wrote articles and books about the law. By this time he was too old for serious chess competition but played many casual games with strong players.
Cochrane is credited with discovering the Cochrane Defense, a technique to draw the difficult endgame defence of a rook against a rook and bishop. Cochrane is known for his dashing playing style – liberally sacrificing pieces and always attacking. His best-known opening innovations are generally regarded as dubious, although the Cochrane Gambit is still occasionally used as a surprise weapon in master chess. Commentators during his life and after his death expressed strong affection for him.
Biography.
Cochrane was "a member of a distinguished Scottish family of which the Earl of Dundonald was the head". He was probably the son of John Cochrane, an army paymaster and merchant and the son of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald. As a youth Cochrane was a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and is said to have served aboard HMS "Bellerophon" when the ship transported Napoleon Bonaparte to Britain in 1815. The downsizing of the Navy after the end of the Napoleonic Wars made promotion prospects poor, and Cochrane switched to a career as a barrister, apparently joining the Middle Temple without first attending a university.
While he was a student he first came to notice as a chess player. The first records of John Cochrane as a chess-player are five games (−3 =1 +1) played receiving the "pawn and move" from "The Turk" (operated, at the time, by Mouret) in 1819. In 1822 published "A Treatise on the Game of Chess", of which the section on odds was based on the "Traité des Amateurs", written by Verdoni, Bernard, Carlier and Leger. However Cochrane's book contained significant amounts of his own analysis, including the Cochrane variation of the Salvio Gambit, a line in the King's Gambit. It is known that Cochrane played against Deschapelles and Labourdonnais, who were acknowledged to be Europe's strongest players from 1800 to 1820 and from 1820 to 1840 respectively; his games against them may have been played between 1822 and 1824, but by the time of Cochrane's death commentators were unsure of the dates.
Soon after qualifying as a barrister, Cochrane decided to make his career in India. Before he left, however, he took a leading part for the London team in the early stages of a correspondence match against an Edinburgh team, which lasted from 1824 to 1828, and which the Edinburgh team won. The best-known game of this match was the second, in which, according to Howard Staunton, the London team obtained a winning position by following Cochrane's plan, but blundered after his departure. In India Cochrane became a successful and respected barrister, and also lost no opportunity to play chess with other expatriates and with Indians.
By the early 1840s Cochrane had accumulated a lot of leave, and he spent 1841 to 1843 in the UK. Naturally he spent a lot of time at the top London chess clubs, where he beat almost everyone – including Pierre de Saint-Amant, who was France's strongest player. However the rising star of British chess was Howard Staunton, who had been a schoolboy when Cochrane published his book. Staunton and Cochrane played at least 120 games on level terms, of which Staunton won about twice as many as Cochrane. Just before Cochrane's return to India, Staunton began to give him the odds of Pawn and move, and in these games their scores were equal. Although Cochrane was annoyed with Staunton for under-representing Cochrane's wins in his chess articles, he helped Staunton to prepare for his second match against Saint-Amant, which Staunton won and therefore was for several years regarded as the world's strongest player.
Even after Cochrane returned to India, later in 1843, Staunton's articles and books continued to publish Cochrane's games, and contain most of the games by Cochrane that are still known about, whether played in England or India. It was Staunton who made British chess aware of how strong Cochrane was at his peak, and described him as "Father of the English Chess School". During the second part of Cochrane's career in India his main opponents were the Indian players Moheschunder Bannerjee and Saumchurn Guttack. Cochrane's first recorded use of the Cochrane Gambit against Petrov's Defence was in a game against Bannerjee in 1848. Bannerjee's fondness for fianchettoed openings, as reported by Cochrane, eventually led to the Indian defence class of openings. Another game, published in William Norwood Potter's "City of London Chess Magazine" shows Bannerjee playing with the black pieces and beating Cochrane in a game that opened with the King's Indian Four Pawns Attack. When Staunton organised the world's first international chess tournament, the Calcutta Chess Club as a group made one of the largest donations to the tournament's funds, and in addition its principal officers Cochrane and T.C. Morton made two of the largest personal contributions. During his second period in India Cochrane became known as the Father of the Calcutta Bar (local association of barristers). Staunton also published an incident in which Cochrane gave the whole of his fee for a case to a group of famine-stricken Indians
When Cochrane returned to the UK for good, he continued to work part-time as a barrister, arguing several Indian appeals before the UK's Privy Council and writing legal treatises. His most important law book, the "Defence of the Daya Bhaga" (1872), was written in support of the native law of inheritance in Bengal. At the time of his death he was working on another law book. His enthusiasm for chess remained equally strong, although he restricted himself to casual games that typically lasted about 15 minutes – many of them with the veteran master Johann Löwenthal (1810–1876). He was a keen spectator at more serious contests and, as he was going deaf by this time, his comments on the play were often loud enough to be heard by players and amuse bystanders. He became known for his entertaining but always amiable conversation, and for the encouragement he gave to young players.
Cochrane was one of the earliest notable British chess masters, his playing career beginning during those of Jacob Henry Sarratt (1772–1819) and William Lewis (1787–1870). He played against Labourdonnais before anyone had heard of the Frenchman's great opponent Alexander McDonnell, and was a successful writer about the game in 1822, when Howard Staunton was a schoolboy. In 1844 George Walker described Cochrane's approach to the game:"Mr. Cochrane is the most brilliant player I have ever had the honour to look over or confront; not even excepting De la Bourdonnais; and pity it is that his very brilliancy so often mars success." Cochrane was also a well-known chess theoretician, although his innovations in the openings were generally unsound, and only he could get away with playing them.
However the Cochrane Gambit still appears occasionally as a surprise weapon in serious competition, for example Veselin Topalov drew with it against Vladimir Kramnik at Linares in 1999. The Cochrane Defense is the method most often chosen by top-class players to draw in the endgame with a rook versus a rook and bishop.


Climbing Silver

Climbing Silver (棒銀 "bōgin", literally "pole-silver") is a shogi strategy.
Climbing Silver involves advancing a silver upward along with an advanced or dropped pawn supported by the rook aiming to break through the opponent's camp on their bishop's side.
Many different Static Rook shogi openings include a Climbing Silver component. For instance, Climbing Silver can played as part of Double Wing Attack, Fortress, or Bishop Exchange openings. (However, there are other variants of these openings that don't include Climbing Silver.) Climbing Silver can also be used against Ranging Rook opponents as well.
Diagonal Climbing Silver or Oblique Climbing Silver (斜め棒銀 "naname bōgin") is a Climbing Silver attack involving the left silver which moves diagonally from its starting position on 7i to attack on the third or second files. This type of Climbing Silver is typical in Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games.
Positioning.
In the adjacent diagrams, the Black's silver advances to rank 5.
Once the silver has reached the e file (S-15 in the adjacent diagram), Black can attempt to attack White's bishop pawn at 23 by advancing their pawn (P-24). White can capture Black's pawn, but the silver can recapture White's pawn. Because White did not properly defend their bishop's head here, White's camp is somewhat weaker and more susceptible to subsequent attacks from Black.
Similarly, it's also possible to play Climbing Silver when Black has no pawn on the second file. Here the silver can climb to the empty 25 square. And, if there's a pawn in hand, then that pawn can be dropped to 24.
In the board diagram to the right, the Black's silver has successfully climbed to rank 5 on the first file (15).
A subsequent attack by Black, for example, could aim to sacrifice this silver in order to remove White's lance and then drop a dangling pawn within White's camp that threatens to promote.
Climbing Silver formations may be used with several different Static Rook openings such as Fortress, Double Wing, and Bishop Exchange as well as Ranging Rook openings such as Fourth File Rook.


Go Go Stop

Go Go Stop is an Australian children's game show, airing on the Seven Network, and fronted by former"The Big Arvo" co-host (and current Weekend Sunrise weather presenter Jesse Tobin. Each week, three schools compete to win a weekly prize. One student from each school appears on the show daily. The program is currently on hiatus; however repeats are shown at 2:30pm on weekdays during the NSW school holidays. At the end of each week, the school with most points wins.
The game.
Thirty plasma screens make up the gamezone, arranged in a rectangle five screens wide and six screens high. The players have to answer questions with two multiple-choice answers (or true-or-false questions) with control pads attached to their wrists. They can take their time, and only the correct-answering players are allowed to move down the gamezone.
At one time in the 2004 season, the audience was allowed to yell out the answer, but this was soon cancelled as the players all ended up with the audience's answer. Players cannot lose points, and the correct-answering players score points. The first player to answer correctly is the first to have a turn. Before the round, the players take up a space at the top of the gamezone, and when they answer correctly, they can take a step onto a plasma screen. Their plasma screen lights up a command. The player must obey this command.
The contestants.
Each of the three schools has eight students selected via auditioning at the school, five students for each day and three reserves for sick, injured or unavailable students. Sometimes having clothes with brand names on them can force a contestant to be replaced with a reserve. The students which are going to be competing are seated at the very top row of each school.
Rounds.
Round 1.
Round 1 is called "Three-Way Scamble", because there are three players. Answering a question correctly scores 10 points, and stepping off the game zone scores 25 points.
The three players must be lined up in front of the three plasma TVs where there are three white dots.
Round 2.
Round 2 is similar to round 1, except correct answers are worth 15 points. In round 2, there are more hazards on the game zone, which makes it harder to get to the end of the gamezone. This is the first elimination round of the game, and the player with the lowest score leaves.
Round 3.
Round 3 is called Head to Head. There are only two players in this round in result to the name head to head, as one was eliminated in round 2. Answering a question correctly is worth 20 points, and stepping off the game zone is worth 50 points. The player with the lowest score is eliminated. In the event of a tie, two different games have been played. In 2004/2005 the tied players stand facing away from each other, with the host between. He asks a true or false question, and the players put thumbs up for true, and thumbs down for false. When one player gets the question correct, they win, hence they move on. In 2006/2007 the host would read a series of clues for a famous person or thing. If a contestant thinks that they know the answer, they yell the name of their school, to get the host's attention, and then they will have the chance to answer. A correct answer results in the player winning the tiebreaker. An incorrect answer would win it to their opposition.
In this round the 2 remaining players stand on the right and left dots in front of the plasma TVs.
Round 4.
Round 4 is called "Run for Fun". The top scoring player goes to Round 4. This round is for the winner to win prizes for themselves. There are five questions in five categories to choose from, which are true or false questions. Five prizes are hidden in the game zone, and before the round begins are revealed for a few seconds.
The round lasts for 60 seconds. The player stands on a category, which are on the five plasma screens at the front of the game zone. They then must yell out the name of the category, and the host reads the question to them. Once the question has been read out, the player must run to the other end of the game zone and jump on a screen that says "true" or "false" and yell out the word.
If they are correct, the player can jump on the screen they think has a prize. The player must yell "STOP" to reveal the screen. If it has a prize, the player wins it. If not, the category cannot be used again, and the contestant, if time permits, whether they have won a prize or not, can choose another category. The round ends when time runs out, when the player has won all five prizes, or when all categories have been used. If the player has found no prizes, then they'll receive a consolation prize (the same awarded to the player who gets eliminated in the second round).
After all rounds players and the host must stand in the position marked on the ground by white dots.
Questions.
Questions on "Go Go Stop" are always asked with a multiple choice of two answers. Typically, these questions are fairly trivial, and often ask the children a comparative question about two unrelated quantities — "e.g." which is heavier: the largest gold nugget ever found, or an average gorilla? — or a true or false question. As such, children with a high level of general knowledge do not necessarily have an advantage in the game.
Although never actively mentioned during the show, the questions become significantly easier, almost to be point of being blatantly obvious, to promote correct answers when the game is taking too long.
International variants.
Belgium.
Kanakna produced a version in Flemish, also called Go Go Stop, presented by Peter Pype. The series was broadcast on Ketnet, on weekdays at 6:30 pm, beginning in November 2007.
Ireland.
Abú Media produces a version in Irish, called Bog Stop, presented by Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill, for TG4. The shows are recorded in the Black Box Theatre in Galway, around April, for broadcasting in January to June of the following year. The fourth series was recorded in April 2010 and is currently (2011) being broadcast on TG4 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4:30 pm.
For the first series, five students from each school took part, with the shows being broadcast Monday to Friday, featuring three different schools each week. Later, the schedule was changed to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with six students from each school competing, and with three schools being featured for two consecutive weeks.


Video games in India

Video gaming in India is an emerging market. As investments continue to rise, the video game market is expected to grow in India.
India is one of the top five mobile gaming markets in the world in terms of number of users. In FY 2019, online gaming in India was estimated at market with an estimated 300 million gamers.
History and overview.
In October 2005, Level Up! Games was the first to distribute a massively multiplayer online game in India with "Ragnarok Online" and was soon followed by other companies like Sify with the game "A3". The latter are South Korean games whose content has been adapted in order to please the people of the country. However, these games were only modestly successful.
Video games play a crucial role in the development of the market by attracting and retaining customers and, conversely, cybercafés contribute to the promotion of video games. Many companies encourage video gaming in India, such as MTV, Cypher and National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) centres.
Statistics.
Like China and South Korea, India is experiencing strong growth in online gaming. With between 35-50 million internet users, the country is attracting interest from the online video game industry, which is difficult to hack.
With a turnover of $890 million in 2018, the video game sector is still underdeveloped compared to other Asian countries, such as China and South Korea. However, many video game companies are beginning to invest, and India could become an important market for this sector.
To cite a study conducted by KPMG, the number of game development companies in India today stands at around 275. This number was a mere 25 in the year 2010.
One of the factors driving the growth of the video game market is its large number of cyber cafes with more than 100,000 in 2006, 40% of which are used to play online.
In 2008, there were 180,000 cyber cafes in India but by 2017, it declined to 50,000, one of primary reasons for decline was rules of IT Act, which caused licensing issues and other restrictions.
Mobile gaming.
As of 2019, India is one of the top five mobile gaming markets in the world in terms of number of users. In FY 2019, online gaming in India was estimated at ₹6,200 crore market with an estimated 300 million gamers.
"PUBG Mobile" became the most popular online game in India in 2018, as of January 2020, India became "PUBG Mobile"'s largest market in the world with 116 million downloads, which is 21% of 555 million "PUBG Mobile" players worldwide.
Estimates suggest that India's mobile games market will be worth $1.1 billion by 2020, and number of users projected to become 628 million by then.
Video gaming is growing very quickly especially in the mobile space with the advent of cheap and affordable smartphones. A recent survey has found that women mobile gamers are actually more active than men in India.
During the lockdowns of 2020 there was an increase in the amount of mobile gamers in India.
Local industry.
Local Indian video game studios are yet to make a significant impact in the world market mostly relegated to mobile games that have development cycles of not more than 3–6 months. Video game studios are slowly sprouting up around India, most notably in Bangalore; which is often called the "Silicon Valley of India".
Many studios in India derive most of their income from outsourcing to foreign companies. Although there are a few studios working on their own titles, most of the studios are mobile based. There are a few studios working on larger projects on PC and console like Bangalore based Tentworks Interactive.
Tentworks Interactive recently revealed India's first major PC title. The studio unveiled their upcoming game, "City Block Builder" at EGX. It is set for release in 2021for PC. "City Block Builder" also recently won Best of EGX (2019) in London by "Cultured Vultures Magazine". This marks the first time that an Indian title has won such an award in a foreign expo.
The indie game scene in India is also growing most recently with small indie title like "Raji:An Indian Epic" being released on steam and receiving positive reviews on steam.
Esports.
India won bronze medal in Asian Games 2018 where esports was a demonstration sport. "Tirth Mehta", from Bhuj, Gujarat aka "gcttirth" became India's first esports athlete to win a medal for the country in esports for Hearthstone, a video game which was part of 6 game titles selected for esports at Asian Games 2018. Another esports athlete "Karan Manganani" from Jaipur was placed 4th for Clash Royale, another game title.
The total prize money in Indian esports in 2016 was ₹77 lakhs. This grew to ₹2.06 crores in 2017 with "Dota 2" and tournaments contributing to 87% of the total amount.
The total announced prize money in Indian esports in 2018 grew to ₹5.63 crores of which ₹3.84 crores is attributable to tournaments that actually took place during the year. The share of "Dota 2" and "CS:GO" tournaments dropped to 61% as "PUBG Mobile" tournaments accounted for 18% of the total prize money during the year.
In 2019, the total prize money in Indian eSports grew by 180%. International eSports events such as ESL One Mumbai and DreamHack: Delhi 2019 were hosted in the country.
In October 2019, international esports team organization Fnatic announced its expansion into India by acquiring the Indian "PUBG Mobile" team XSpark. In January 2020, Fnatic's Indian "PUBG Mobile" team moved into a temporary bootcamp in Mumbai.
Piracy.
The Indian video games market is very varied. While there are a section of hardcore gamers, there are still many gamers playing cartridge games on TV and handheld devices.
This has led to the proliferation of pirated, second hand and knock-offs to meet the needs of a diverse range of consumers with different access to money and information.
With a piracy rate of software and consoles of over 80% and a penetration rate of PC still low, India's video game market has long lagged behind the rest of world, publishers and distributors of video games are struggling to find their place.
This delay is also explained by the fact that the country has traditionally never had a real culture of gaming. However, this situation is changing due to the increase in the average income of Indians and the increasing interest in internet and entertainment.
Controversies.
In March 2019, "PUBG Mobile" was banned in the Indian state of Gujarat after the local government decided the game was "too addicting and violent" and an unnecessary distraction during exam season. A number of students caught playing the game were arrested as a result. The ban was lifted in some cities in the state after March as exam season had ended.
Amidst the ongoing 2020 China–India skirmishes, on June 29, 2020, ' was officially banned in India along with other 58 Chinese apps like TikTok, UC Browser, and Xender due to privacy concerns. ' was one of top grossing mobile games in India. On September 2, 2020, the Indian government banned "PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite" along with more than 100 other Chinese apps, most made by Tencent and Netease, asserting the apps were "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India". India was "PUBG Mobile"s largest market with the country accounting for 175 million downloads and 24% of global users.


Dynasty Warriors (film)


Dragon Valor

 is an action role-playing game developed and released by Namco for the Sony PlayStation on December 2, 1999 in Japan. It is the third game in the "Dragon Buster" series, and features platform and hack and slash elements.
In the Dragon Valor world, dragons are monsters with immense power; the player's role as a Dragon Valor is to slay them with a magical sword that is passed down through successive generations of the family. In a manner somewhat reminiscent to Phantasy Star III, the game differs from other action platform games of the time in that whom the protagonist marries during the game will influence who will lead the adventure in its next phase. There are two choices in the first chapter, and a possible two choices in the second chapter, hence the game flow has three potential paths and thus three different endings.
Gameplay.
In Dragon Valor, the player's character is placed in a stage, with the intention to get from where they start towards the end of the stage or to defeat specific boss enemies along the way. Ultimately, the player must fight and defeat a dragon at the end of each chapter (a chapter being a series of stages leading towards the dragon) in order to clear the chapter. Along the way, players can collect items to boost their hit points, magic points, attack and defense. Players can also obtain 'tomes' after defeating specific enemies, which grant access to spells.
The game's currency is Val, and players can collect this to buy recovery potions (which are used immediately upon purchase), status-improving items, or items that may be sold for Val or traded for other items later on in the game. Furthering this topic, the items that the player usually gets in a trade are status-improving items.
As stated above, the protagonist changes after clearing each chapter. There are three possible paths, coinciding with the three magic swords that are found on those paths: Azos, Soul, and Kadum. Players generally control a character for one chapter, though some characters can be played twice. The paths, as stated above, are chosen depending on certain triggers in the first chapter. Fulfilling the trigger in Chapter 1, for example, means that Clovis marries Celia and becomes King of Raxis, and the next player character is their son, Arlen. Not fulfilling the trigger means that Clovis instead marries Carolina, which results in the next player character being Kodel. There is a similar choice trigger as Kodel over whether or not to save Fannah in his chapter.
Regardless of the fact that the characters change every chapter, the basic commands remain almost the same, with some slight variations in how they are carried out visually being the only telltale difference.
Reception.
Chet Barber reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "It may not blow your socks off, but "Dragon Valor" is a solid title worthy of any gamer's attention."
The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.


The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki

The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki is a first-person shooter developed by Maelstrom Software and Future Visionary. It was released in 1994 for MS-DOS by Merit Studios. The game uses a 2.5D graphic engine, similar to the one used in "Wolfenstein 3D".
Gameplay.
The plot of the game is that a mad scientist named Dr. Radiaki is going to destroy the world if an amount of $1 billion is not deposited in his account. The player controls a special agent named Mack Banner, whose mission is to kill Dr. Radiaki. The objective of the game is to find the exit of each level in order to progress to the next, each level being infested with enemies that attack the player including guards, mutant monsters and robots, etc. To defend yourself, the game offers an arsenal of 7 different weapons. The player can find the weapons and ammunition in various spots throughout the levels. Some doors require a specific key in order to be opened. The keys also are found throughout the levels. The game also features boss battles in some levels.
Reception.
"Next Generation" reviewed the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "the game's incredible graphics and tongue-in-cheek cult-film atmosphere are sure to appeal to fans of other first-person shooters."


Center Game

The Center Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The game usually continues 3.Qxd4 Nc6, with a gain of tempo for Black due to the attack on the white queen. (Note that 3.c3 is considered a separate opening: the Danish Gambit.)
The Center Game is an old opening. It was mostly abandoned by 1900 because no advantage could be demonstrated for White. Jacques Mieses, Savielly Tartakower and Rudolf Spielmann seemed to be the last strong players who would adopt it. The Center Game was rarely played by elite players until Alexander Shabalov revived it in the 1980s. Later, Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams, Judit Polgár and Alexander Morozevich also contributed to the theory of the Center Game by forcing re-evaluation of lines long thought to favor Black. In recent years, the young player Ian Nepomniachtchi has also experimented with the opening.
With white's 2nd move, he challenges the center by attacking the e-pawn and also opening up the d- for the rook and queen to attack, but at the cost of moving the queen early and allowing Black to develop a tempo with 3...Nc6. In White's favor, after 4.Qe3, the most commonly played retreat, the position of the white queen hinders Black's ability to play ...d5. The is cleared of pieces quickly which facilitates castling and may allow White to quickly develop an attack. From e3, the white queen may later move to g3 where she will pressure Black's g7-square.
Variations.
3.Qxd4 Nc6.
The nearly universal sequence of moves in the Center Game is 3.Qxd4 Nc6 ("ECO" code C22). Now White has a choice of retreat squares for the queen. Although 4.Qa4 corresponds to a fairly commonly played variation of the Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5), it is rarely played in the Center Game because tournament experience has not been favorable for White in this line.
The best move for the queen seems to be 4.Qe3, known as "Paulsen's Attack". White intends to castle queenside in this line. Black usually continues 4...Nf6 when a typical line continues 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0-0 7.0-0-0 Re8. White may try to complicate play by means of the pawn sacrifice 8.Qg3!? intending 8...Rxe4 9.a3! – Shabalov's move. Black's best reply seems to be the 9...Ba5. Even though this line gives White some compensation for the pawn, it is probably fine for Black.
A more solid option for Black is the natural 5...Be7! intending ...d7–d5 (sometimes even after White plays 6.Bc4), opening up lines as soon as possible. Black also seems to get a good game with 4...g6, and 4...Bb4+ has been played successfully as well.
3.Nf3 or 3.Bc4.
Postponing recapture of the queen pawn is a standard idea in the Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6), but 3.Nf3 is less commonly played in the Center Game. Black can safely transpose to the Scotch Game, Petrov's Defense or the Philidor Defense, or play a line recommended by Alexander Alekhine, 3...Bc5 4.Nxd4 Nf6 and now 5.e5 would be met with 5...Qe7. Similar ideas are possible after 3.Bc4, which is also uncommon.
3.f4?! (Halasz Gambit).
The Halasz Gambit (3.f4?!) is another rare try. Although the move dates back to at least 1840, it has been championed more recently by the Hungarian correspondence player Dr. György Halasz. The gambit seems dubious but it has not been definitively refuted.


Fantastic Personalities

Fantastic Personalities is a 1982 fantasy role-playing game supplement published by Judges Guild.
Contents.
"Fantastic Personalities" described 85 non-player characters at length, including level, social level, armor, alignment, class, and 14 ability numbers, to be selected from in accordance with the user's fantasy role-playing game.
Reception.
Lewis Pulsipher reviewed "Fantastic Personalities" in "The Space Gamer" No. 52. Pulsipher commented that "While the characters themselves are good (if you can't or won't devise NPCs yourself), the layout and editorial conception of the booklet is poor. You should get more than this for [the price]."


Man O Man (Australian game show)

Man O Man was an Australian television game show that was broadcast of the Seven Network in 1994. Hosted by stage actor Rob Guest and Jason Body, the program was based on the original German version of the same name.
Program synopsis.
The program was presented loosely in the format of a male beauty pageant whereby an all-female audience voted for the winner via a series of elimination rounds. Notably, losing contestants would be pushed into a swimming pool.
The final episode of "Man O Man", which aired on 25 November 1994, was a Footballers Challenge special that featured players from Australian rules football, rugby league and Soccer.
The episode was more risqué than usual, with some footballers performing a striptease for the talent act round.
"Man O Man" returned briefly to the Seven Network on 26 January 1997 when the first episode was repeated as part of the network's " Coca-Cola Interactive Summer Night" promotion...however, the show has not been repeated since.
"Man O Man" was filmed at the Seven Network Melbourne studios located in South Melbourne. The studio which was used for the show is currently utilised as the "Dancing with the Stars" dance floor set.
The series established itself as prime competition for the long-running program Hey Hey It's Saturday. In a 1994 article in TV Week, Rob Guest responded to criticism made by Daryl Somers (host of the rival show), saying, "when you’ve been doing a show for 23 years and a show that is not expected to do well comes up and knocks you for six, then you’re not going to take it very well. So I can understand why Daryl would say things like that".


Joel Brooks

Joel Brooks (born December 17, 1949) is an American actor, known for his roles in "Stir Crazy", "My Sister Sam", "Six Feet Under", "The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green" and "Phil of the Future". Brooks also had a recurring role as a psychologist in "Ally McBeal".
Brooks was born in New York City, New York. Brooks had a successful career as a character actor in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he won $10,000 on "Pyramid", his celebrity partner was Lucie Arnaz. Twelve years later, in 1988, Arnaz and Brooks were both featured as the week's celebrities.
Brooks appeared in an episode of "M*A*S*H" as a wounded Italian soldier who fell in love with Margaret and refused to be shipped back to his unit because of his undying love for her. He appeared as a movie director in "The Dukes Of Hazzard" seventh-season episode "The Dukes in Hollywood". He appeared in an episode in the second season of "Night Court" as a representative of a cat food and accessories company that wished to reclaim their ostensibly stolen feline mascot. He also appeared in two episodes of "Three's Company" as Dr. Prescott, a psychologist Jack sees to build his self-confidence.
In 1980, he played Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor's lawyer in the movie "Stir Crazy". He played gay Secret Service Agent Randy in the short run of "Hail To The Chief". Brooks was featured in two episodes of "The Facts of Life" as Edna Garrett's son Raymond and reprised that role in the 2001 reunion film.
In the 1990s, his career continued in such hit shows as "", where he played Falow in the episode "Move Along Home". In 1998, Brooks played Emperor Larry, the cousin of Sabrina Spellman on the television series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch".
In 2008 he appeared in an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" as a Jewish professor from whom Sheldon seeks advice in the episode "The Jerusalem Duality".
Brooks is currently involved in teaching an audition techniques class, Auditions LA. In 2014, he guest-starred on "The Young and the Restless" as the judge in the trial of Ian Ward -v- Nikki Newman.


Neil Kaplan

Neil Kaplan is an American voice actor, entertainer, and comedian.
Biography.
Kaplan grew up in San Jose, California. He got his start as a comedian doing impressions of presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. He also impersonated a little-known journalist at the time, Dan Rather. He then started work on video games, including several "Star Wars" titles. From there he went on to do such shows as "Power Rangers", ' and most recently, '. One of his most well known voices is Hawkmon from "Digimon". He was once a contestant on the game show "Street Smarts". On that appearance, he showed off some of his other impressions, including one of Gilbert Gottfried. He was a guest to the Power Morphicon (in Los Angeles) in June 2007 and August 2010, to Armageddon (in Australia and New Zealand) in October 2007, and to AVCon: Adelaide's Anime & Video Games Festival (in Australia) in July 2018. He also created the television series "The Way it WASN'T!" and the graphic novel "I, of the Wolf". He voices Captain Fort Worth in the adult video game "BoneCraft".


Celebrity Blackjack

Celebrity Blackjack is an American television show where celebrities played tournament style blackjack for charity. The show, which ran on Game Show Network, was hosted by Matt Vasgersian (and Alex Borstein in the first season). Dave Stann was the dealer. Season 1 aired weekly from July 5, 2004, through August 9, 2004. Season 2 premiered October 12, 2004, and ran weekly through January 11, 2005.
Overview.
Season 1.
Five celebrities started each tournament with $100,000 in tournament chips and played 21 hands of blackjack. Minimum bets were $1,000 and maximum bets were $25,000 for the first ten hands. For hand 11-20, the minimum bet was $5,000 and there was no maximum bet. Double down for less is permitted. All bets throughout the tournament MUST be in $1,000 increments. A player cannot bet the remaining $500 which it would count as an all-in bet when the minimum bet is $5,000. However, a player may use the remaining $500 for the insurance. Insurance pays 2 to 1. Blackjack pays 3 to 2. The bets for the 21st and final hand were secret, with each player writing the bet out prior to the hand being played.
The deck included four jokers into the six decks they play with. Whatever a player is dealt with a joker card as one of the first 2 cards, a player will have a choice to replace any card on the table still in play once a player has received their first two cards (meaning, once a hand is stood on, it's no longer in-play). A player can also take the dealer's up card, if they wish.
Final table results.
Caroline Rhea was the champion of Season 1, she won the title and $100,000 USD for her charities. <br>
1 Billy Baldwin substituted for his wife, Chynna Phillips, who won her preliminary table.
Season 2.
The play for the second season of Celebrity Blackjack was the same, with the following exceptions:
Final table results.
Jason Alexander was the champion of Season 2, he won the title and $300,000 USD for his charity.
1 Jeff Probst filled in for Shannon Elizabeth, who won her preliminary table.


Skatoony

Skatoony (stylized as SkatoonY) is a children's live action/animated game show, pitting live-action kids against cartoons. The series was co-produced with FremantleMedia Animation (for the British version), Blink Studios (for the Arabic version), and Marblemedia with Smiley Guy Studios (for the North American version). The series used to air on Cartoon Network in the UK. Reruns are still occasionally shown on Teletoon in Canada. Now it is online in the US on Toon Goggles. On US television, the show aired on Starz Kids & Family until 2019.
The show is hosted by 'Chudd Chudders' (voiced by Rupert Degas in the UK and Jonathan Wilson in North America) and 'The Earl' (voiced by Lewis MacLeod in UK and James Rankin in North America).
History.
In 2001, "Skatoony" began as a competition microsite on the Cartoon Network UK website co-developed by James Fox and Brian Boyle, who the latter left Cartoon Network before the series premiered. In 2006, the first full-length Skatoony TV show premiered on the Cartoon Network UK channel. However, a few phone-in shows such as Skatoony Quizmas, Ready Steady Skatoony and Skatoony Truckatoony existed before as a sort of continuity during school holidays. These phone-in shows ended in 2005. The British version of Skatoony was filmed at MTV Studios at Camden and in London with schoolchidren from around the world auditioning as contestants.
According to creator James Fox, the process of producing a Skatoony episode was very complicated and developed over all of the series.
On February 9, 2009, Marblemedia announced they would be producing a North American version of the series "Skatoony" (in English and French) for]. The Canadian adaptation, titled Skatoony North America to differentiate it from other adaptations follows the same format. The North American version of "Skatoony" is filmed in Toronto, while the French version is filmed in Montreal with a different set of contestants; however, the outcome of the animated contestants remains the same between both versions. Jonathan Wilson voices Chudd Chudders while James Rankin provides the voice of The Earl, and new addition to the North American release, a NA replacement for Skatoony boss Tony Eagle-Eyes (also voiced by Degas) named Charles La Puck, which is voiced by Jeff Lumby. A Middle Eastern adaptation of "Skatoony" debuted on April 5, 2011 on Cartoon Network Arabic. Original Skatoony creator James Fox serves as an executive producer for all Skatoony releases and met every single kid contestant on the show.
In addition to the British format, one contestant in each episode of "Skatoony North America" will be a guest contestant from a show from a Canadian animated series. Accordingly, a significant figure from the series will also be seen in the "Skatoony" opening sequence. Other children's series (including but not limited to shows on the Teletoon lineup) are often the subject of the questions asked on the shows. Guest contestants are taken from the following series:
A similar situation occurs in "Skatoony Arabia" where guest contestants were taken from the animated series, Freej instead. With the exception of "Skatoony North America", all non-English language Skatoony releases uses animation footage from the original British version, which is why Tony Eagle Eyes are the hosts' boss instead of Charles La Puck.
Guest contestant replacement.
In "Skatoony", the quizblock has 6 colored squares - green, red, pink, purple, blue and yellow. The children get the green, pink and blue squares (occasionally they get purple, red and yellow squares), and the cartoon contestants get the red, yellow and purple. The guest contestants take the place of a cartoon character from the UK version. In the episode 'Skeleton Crew in Da House' in NA, Scabz was originally a contestant but he left before the 1st round and was replaced by Harold.
Season 2.
Note: The episodes "Space: The Final Souffle", "Pre-School Problem", and "It Could Be You!" are all skipped because they have no guest.
Factories in which eliminated contestants are ejected into.
Season 1.
1) "Knights and Daze" - Sandpaper Factory
2) "Invasion" - Dentist's Convention
3) "I Stink, Therefore I Am" - Manure Factory
4) "Pirates" - Sewage Factory
5) "Skeleton Crew in Da House" - Porcupine Sanctuary
6) "Xcquankly" - Mousetrap Factory
7) "To the Quiz Cave" - Really Hard Mattress Company
8) "Quizoo" - Africa, Australia, and The North Pole
9) "Hoo Loves Ya, Baby!" - 80's Disco Nightclub
10) "Quiziatori Gladihost" - Secondhand Sock Depot
11) "Superheroes" - Broken Glass Factory
12) "Dinosaur" - Liver and Onion/Chopped Liver & Tripe Ice Cream Factory / Tar Pit
13) "Hooray for Bollywood" - Rat Perfume Factory
Season 2.
1) "Body Swap" - Concrete Pillow Factory
2) "Sports Academy" - Angry Pig World
3) "Space: The Final Souffle" - Planet Dung
4) "Pre-School Problem" - Dirty Diaper Factory
5) "Trash Talk" - Land o' Trash
6) "Vikings" - Toenail Warehouse
7) "Stop the Pop" - Faulty Bagpipe Superstore
8) "Inside La Puck" - Miniature Village
9) "It Could Be You!" - Compost World
10) "I Spy, You Quiz" - Spikey Spike Factory / Spikey Spike Shipping
11) "Out to Sea" -Super GassyGut Beans Shipping
12) "Freakshow" - Fernando Fernando Fernando and Xcquankly's Freakshow Circus / Human-Animal Hybrid Genetics Lab
13) "Destination: Moon" - Galactic Garbage
Season 3.
1) "CJ's Birthday" - Sweaty Footballer's Pants Depot / Faulty Bagpipe Superstore (UK Error)
2) "Amusement Park" - Rejected Hot Dog Meat Factory
3) "Follow that Quizblock" - Leftover School Dinners Dump
4) "Style Trial" - Pointy Pin Factory
5) "Pop Video" - Home for One Hit Wonders
6) "Quiz to the Future" - Broken Clock Factory / Tar Pit
7) "Broke Charles" - Worm World
8) "In Your Dreams" - Giant Frog Factory
9) "Unusual Suspects" - Gravy Recycling
10) "Café Le Quiz" - Hot Dog Factory
11) "Host of Doom" - Robo-World: Turning People Into Products for Over 20 Years
Seasonal episodes.
1) "Halloween" - Rotten Pumpkin World
2) "Stoopid Santa" - Fake Holly Factory
Format.
The show's format is that three child contestants and three cartoon character contestants, making 6 contestants in all, compete in a quiz show lasting three rounds. At the end of each of the first two rounds, the two lowest scoring contestants are eliminated. The first round is always Bang On! or Bogus?, a rapid-fire true-or-false questioning round; with "Bang On!" meaning true, and "Bogus!" meaning false. The last two rounds vary between episodes. As contestants are eliminated, they are usually catapulted out of their seats as the hosts (and the remaining contestants) sing "You're Outta Here!". The losing contestants are catapulted into a factory containing a nasty thing like 'Compost World' or 'Leftover School Dinners Dump' or 'Dirty Diaper Factory' or 'Concrete Pillow Factory', and then they are (sometimes) not seen for the remainder of the episode. Vignettes featuring eliminated animated contestants (and on occasion, eliminated child contestants) interacting with Chudd or the Earl (as well, on "Skatoony North America", Charles La Puck, their boss [Tony Eagle-Eyes in the UK]) also appear during the progression of the show; in "Skatoony North America", this extends to the web extras available on the "Skatoony" website. The first round always ends with having one live-kid and a cartoon contestant being eliminated.
At the end of the third round, only 1 of the 2 remaining contestants gets eliminated through ejection, based on who has the lowest score at the end of the round. At the end of three rounds, the remaining contestant takes on the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge, where they must answer ten questions correctly in 90 seconds. After 45 seconds, the clock will temporarily stop, and Earl's Halfway Deal will be offered, trading in time for correct answers (10 seconds per point to raise the contestant to a maximum of 7 points or 25 seconds for three points if fewer than five questions have been answered correctly at that point; the clock will stop briefly without a deal offered if the player already has at least 8 points. A contestant will be offered 1 point for 10 seconds if the player has exactly 7 points. If the contestant finishes with time remaining and gets ten questions right, the contestant wins a prize, offered at the start of each episode. If a contestant finishes with the ten correct answers in under 45 seconds, they are further honoured with being called "#1 "Skatoony" Quiz Champ Champion".
Note that the games used in each round and the contestants' interactions are based on the number of child contestants remaining, and that the game always ensures that a child contestant will always be the last remaining contestant. Sometimes, for the third round, it can be either 1 child vs 1 toon, or 2 children vs each other. In addition, it is typical for the second-round challenge to be rigged against an animated contestant, leading to their elimination as well.
In "Skatoony North America", the prize for winning the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge in the first season is an iPod touch; later seasons have refused to disclose the grand prize. Other merchandise from "Teletoon" shows are also awarded to the contestants for their participation.
In the British version, the Prizes were like this:
Rounds.
Beyond Bang On! or Bogus? (used in the first round) and the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge (when one contestant remains), the following challenges have been used:


Dinah Manoff

Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on "Soap", Marty Maraschino in the film "Grease", Libby Tucker in both the stage and film adaptations of "I Ought to Be in Pictures", for which she won a Tony Award, and Carol Weston on "Empty Nest". She has starred in numerous television movies and guest-starred on various television programs. She mostly appeared on TV during the 1990s, but she has been seen in more recent theatrical films, such as "The Amati Girls" and "Bart Got a Room", and a co-starring role on "State of Grace".
Manoff is the daughter of actress Lee Grant and screenwriter Arnold Manoff. Since 1997, Manoff has been married to Arthur Mortell, and currently resides in Bainbridge Island, Washington. She was previously married to Jean-Marc Joubert and had resided in Los Angeles and New York City.
Early life.
Manoff was born in New York City to actress, director, and writer Lee Grant, and screenwriter Arnold Manoff. Her half-brother, Tom Manoff, is the classical music critic for NPR's "All Things Considered" and a notable composer. Her stepfather is producer Joseph Feury.
She spent her childhood and teenage years in New York City and Malibu, California. She attended the New Lincoln School and Santa Monica High School and later studied at the Actors Studio. Manoff is Jewish.
Career.
1970s.
Manoff's first project was the independent film "Everybody Rides the Carousel", providing one of the voices. In 1976, she made her first television appearance on the PBS production of "The Stronger". This was followed by a guest appearance on "Welcome Back, Kotter" in the episode "Sadie Hawkins Day", followed by an appearance in "Visions". In 1977, she made a cameo appearance in her first TV movie, "Raid on Entebbe".
In 1978, Manoff got the role of Elaine Dallas (née Lefkowitz) on the ABC sitcom "Soap", and remained on the show until the end of the year. Manoff made her film debut in 1978 as Marty Maraschino, one of the Pink Ladies, in the movie version of "Grease".
1980s.
In 1980, Manoff made her Broadway debut as Libby Tucker in Neil Simon's Broadway play, "I Ought to Be in Pictures". For her work in the play, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, as well as the Theatre World Award. She reprised that role for the film version in 1982, with Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret. Also in 1980, Manoff appeared as Karen, the suicidal friend of Timothy Hutton's character, in the multiple Oscar-winning "Ordinary People".
In 1985, Manoff portrayed songwriter Ellie Greenwich in the Broadway jukebox musical "Leader of the Pack". In 1988, she played Maggie Peterson in "Child's Play", the first character to be killed by the murderous, possessed doll Chucky. Manoff then started a seven-year stint as Carol Weston on the NBC sitcom and "Golden Girls" spin-off "Empty Nest", a role for which she is best known on television, and appeared in every episode of the series. In 1989, Manoff appeared in minor roles in two films late in the year: "Bloodhounds of Broadway" and "Staying Together".
1990s.
In 1990, Manoff appeared in "Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael", starring Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels. After this, Manoff focused primarily on television work, appearing in a cameo role in an episode of "Blossom" entitled "Rockumentary" and TV movies such as "Babies" and "Maid for Each Other", as well as continuing on "Empty Nest" as actress and director on two episodes until its ending in 1995; she also appeared on "The Golden Girls" twice as Carol Weston in this period. Manoff's subsequent TV appearances included "Touched by an Angel", "Cybill", and "George and Leo".
In 1999, Manoff directed the 82nd episode of the television series "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", titled "Prelude to a Kiss".
2000s–present.
In 2000, Manoff appeared in the TV movie "The Lost Child" starring Mercedes Ruehl. Just a few months later in 2001, Manoff returned to film work by starring in "The Amati Girls", the sole movie released theatrically in which her mother and she have appeared together. The film also featured Mercedes Ruehl, Sean Young, and Lily Knight. Manoff appeared in a second 2001 movie, "Zigs", starring "Beverly Hills, 90210"'s Jason Priestley. From 2001 to 2002, Manoff co-starred in the cable television series "State of Grace". In 2003, Manoff played Aunt Marla in "A Carol Christmas", a variation on Charles Dickens' classic story.
In celebration of the poet Oscar Wilde's 150th birthday in 2004, Manoff read some of his works in the documentary "Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde". After a four-year hiatus, Manoff appeared in the film "Bart Got a Room" in 2009, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, but was not released widely until the following year, when Dinah also appeared in two episodes of "Lose Yourself" on Strike.TV.
In 2010, "Grease" was released a second time as a sing-along. Coinciding with its release, Manoff appeared at the Seattle International Film Festival.
Personal life.
Manoff has been married twice and has three children. She married French designer Jean-Marc Joubert in 1980; this marriage ended in divorce in 1985. In 1997, Manoff married realtor Arthur Mortell, with whom she has three children: a son Dashiell and twin boys.


If I Ruled the World (game show)

If I Ruled the World is a television show aired in the United Kingdom in 1998 and 1999. It was a comedy panel game show, similar to "Have I Got News for You" but focused on parodying the behaviour of politicians. Rounds included answering questions without using the words 'Yes' or 'No', and finding reasons to disagree with policies proposed by the other team, no matter how sensible. The winning team was chosen each week by a vote of the studio audience. The show was named after the 1960s theatre song "If I Ruled the World".
The show was presented by Clive Anderson. Team captains Graeme Garden and Jeremy Hardy were the Blue and Red Party Leaders, with Anderson quipping that there was no more of an official political difference between these two teams than existed between Britain's major parties of the time. "I was supposed to be a Labour politician, and Graeme was supposed to be a Tory, but we didn't have to stay completely in character if we wanted to sort of shamelessly do gags," recounts Hardy, who affected the far more absurdly right-wing of the two characters, an extremely wealthy aristocrat disdainful toward the voters and infrequently heard to advocate a coup.
Repeat guests included Rebecca Front, Andy Hamilton, Tony Hawks, Fred MacAulay and Pauline McLynn, with Hawks deputizing for Jeremy during his one absence. Other guests included frequent Hardy collaborators Mark Steel, Gordon Kennedy and Linda Smith, and also journalists John Sergeant and Janet Street-Porter. Maureen Lipman was advertised to appear in the fourth episode although McLynn appeared in her stead. The series was produced by Anne Marie Thorogood and Richard Osman for Hat Trick Productions.
Rounds.
Several rounds were played throughout the programme's run:
Discontinuation.
The decision to discontinue the show was that of BBC2 controller Jane Root, who (based on interviews with Garden and Hardy) "allegedly accepted it was a great show, but [felt it] didn't fit ... the direction BBC2 should be headed," and is also widely credited with the decision that Garden's most well-known program, The Goodies, "would never be repeated on the BBC."
Episode list.
Fourteen episodes of the series were broadcast in all, airing weekly from 27 February to 3 April 1998 and from 8 February to 29 March 1999.
The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:


USA Gonzo Games

USA Gonzo Games was a game show that aired on the USA Network from October 6, 1991 to December 29, 1991. Mark L. Walberg made his debut as a game show host on this series. The show was produced by Stone Stanley Productions.
Premise.
Ten contestants (5 male and 5 female) competed in various stunts that tested their endurance.
Each episode was set up in a tournament format, with the top 2 male and female contestants being announced as the winners. Unlike most game shows, USA Gonzo Games did not offer prizes.


Ssangnyuk

Ssangnyuk (hangul: 쌍륙, hanja: 雙六) is a traditional Korean game.
Introduction.
"Ssangnyuk" (or Ssang-yuk) is a game using dice that is most commonly played in winter. It has a game board, 30 horses and 2 dice. It is also called "ssangnyuk" (same spelling and sound but different "hanja": 雙陸), "aksak" (hangul: 악삭, hanja: 握槊), "sangnyuk" (상륙, 象陸), and "ssang-yuk" (상육, 象陸).
The game is similar in structure and play to Backgammon the classic strategy game and is probably related to the Tables family of games.
Contents.
The game board doesn't have any required size, but on average it is 80 cm long and 40 cm wide. A die is about 1 cm³ and is made from ivory or bone. Tiger bone is preferred.


Best of the Worst (game show)

Best of the Worst is a British panel game television programme, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2006. The show was created by Giles Pilbrow and Colin Swash.
Hosted by Alexander Armstrong, it featured two teams of two players, one captained by David Mitchell and the other by Johnny Vaughan. The other panellists were either comedians or well known television personalities.
The show looked at the worst things ever to happen in the world, such as the person with the worst luck, the worst diet, or the worst inventions.
Rounds.
"Best of the Worst" was made up of four rounds.


Mighty Truck of Stuff

Mighty Truck of Stuff (MTOS) is a British children's television programme, where a truck was filled with toys and one phone-in viewer won its contents. After the show, the truck was driven to the home of the winner. It was shown on Saturday mornings from 15 October 2005 to 8 July 2006 on the CBBC Channel. It was presented by Reggie Yates. The format was devised by Joe Mace and Juliet Denison.
Although it was targeted at children between the ages of 8 and 12 (the phone-in age), the frequent references to TV production issues, mixture of characters and bizarre humour won it a small cult following amongst adults.
Cast/Characters.
All the packers have 'packer' added onto their names; this usually applies also to guests.
The Truck.
The Mighty Truck of Stuff is located in a depot in West London. It is turquoise in colour. The sides display the "Mighty Truck of Stuff" logo. The Truck is also used for a stage when they play "Show Me the ropes" – a game where two people have to simulate an event (e.g. dating) with their arms controlled by the packers via ropes.
The end of the show.
When the viewer wins the Mighty Truck of Stuff, the audience, Packers, guest packers, Reggie and Kojo all cheer and the music/song "All comes back to you". Reggie, usually accompanied by Nick, drive out of the studio/depot to the winning viewer.
The last in the series was broadcast on 8 July 2006. Following that, on 15 July were 2 special Sport Relief shows called "Get Sub'd!" and "Reggie Goes the Extra Mile". Then a week later (22 July), a new Saturday morning show called "The POD" began to broadcast on both the CBBC Channel and BBC Two.
Allusions.
"Mighty Truck of Stuff" cast, particularly Reggie, frequently make references to entertain older viewers. In one episode, Reggie encountered a man with bad breath, and said: "Get that man a Tic-Tac! [pause] But of course, here on the BBC, Tic-Tacs are as good as any other breath mint" (respecting the BBC's no-product-placement stance). In another episode, where judges for a dancing contest were holding up paddles with scores, Reggie exclaimed: "Paddle me! [pause] Er yes, mums, I did just say paddle me." An actress playing Pablo's mother (Nuria Benet) appeared in one episode, making highly suggestive moves towards Reggie. The Old Man, Fat Man, Bat Fan section was also a source of in-gags and humour generally beyond the scope of the young target audience (8- to 12-year-olds).
Old Man, Fat Man, Bat Fan.
Every week, before showing "The Batman" cartoon, Reggie would receive a phone call from a 'Commissioner' character, who would set an 'evil' challenge to win toys for the show. In typical "MTOS" fashion, Reggie would be amazed at the demands of the Commissioner, before moving on to chat about cookery or pubs. Always rhyming or alliterating, these challenges created comical scenarios, such as the task to "Glue 42 blue shoes to the boxing kangaroo's blue canoe, before the tattooed dude eats his stew". In that episode, an unidentified man dressed in an obese Batman suit faced the task of glueing shoes to a plastic boat while a man dressed in a boxing kangaroo outfit played around on top. The cartoon was introduced, and when it had finished, the number of blue shoes was compared against the amount of stew that another unidentified tattooed man had consumed. For these games, the audience of children was oblivious to the bizarre humour, but it provided entertainment for older viewers. In the second series it was decided to use a regular Old Man, Fat Man, Bat Fan who was played by Nigel Rouine every week, he had such tasks as "Eating the pasta fasta than the rasta" and to "Sticker the vicar quicker than the penalty kicker". In the final episode the character was played by Jade Goody.


Vladimir Bagirov

Vladimir Konstantinovich Bagirov (; ; August 16, 1936 – July 21, 2000) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player, author, and trainer. He played in ten USSR Championships, with his best result being fourth place in his debut in 1960. Bagirov was world senior champion in 1998.
Biography.
Vladimir Bagirov was born to an Armenian father and a Ukrainian mother in Baku. He showed chess talent as a youth, and came under the wing of the master and trainer Vladimir Makogonov. He made his debut in the semi-finals of the Soviet Championship in 1957, but did not advance to the final. Bagirov qualified for the final for the first time in 1960, and finished in 4th place at the 27th USSR Championship in Leningrad, which was won by Viktor Korchnoi.
In 1961, he was selected to the Soviet team for the European Team Championship at Oberhausen 1961 and at the World Student Championship in Helsinki. Bagirov was awarded the title of International Master by FIDE in 1963 and that of Grandmaster in 1978.
Bagirov moved into training work in the 1970s, and for a short time in 1975, as Azerbaijan national coach, was the sole trainer of future World Champion Garry Kasparov. Following a dispute with chess officials, Bagirov moved to Latvia in the late 1970s, and coached former World Champion Mikhail Tal, and future grandmasters Alexei Shirov and Alexander Shabalov.
Bagirov was also an openings theoretician, with one of his favourites the unusual Alekhine's Defence. He published two books and a CD-Rom from 1994 to 2000.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Bagirov played more tournament chess than he ever had before, taking part in many open tournaments in Europe. He won the 1998 World Senior Championship at Grieskirchen, Austria, with a score of 8½/11.
Bagirov played for Latvia in Chess Olympiads:
Bagirov played for Latvia in European Team Chess Championships:
Bagirov played for Latvia in World Team Chess Championships:
Bagirov died while playing a tournament in Finland in 2000. He had started the Heart of Finland Open event with three straight wins to take the lead, and, following a time scramble, was in a winning position in round four against Teemu Laasanen, but suffered a heart attack, and died the next day, on July 21, 2000.


Acrobat Mission

Acrobat Mission is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by UPL in 1991, licensed to Taito for manufacture and distribution. It was ported to Super Famicom in 1992.
Gameplay.
Players started the game equipped with the default weapon, the Standard Shot: a semi-automatic laser weapon. Though moderately powerful, the Standard Shot cannot be upgraded or charged. Once the player has lost a significant number of lives and their selected weapon his lost its upgrades, the Standard Shot will once again take over.
Two other weapons are selectable to the player, one of which is the Wave Shot (announced as Wide in the Arcade version). The Wave Shot is a spread shot that increases in size, numbers and strength. When charged, the Wave Shot can unleash a short range, but powerful laser blast that increases in width and strength when Wave icons are collected. The other weapon was the Hurricane Shot, a unique area-effect weapon that encircles the ship clockwise when fired before flying forward. When charged, the Hurricane Shot fires a ball of energy across the screen, but there is a one-second delay every time the shot is fired.
The player also had Bombs although unlike many shooters, the player can only hold up to two bombs. Once collected however, the two bombs get physically mounted under the ship's wings. If an enemy shot hits one of the bombs, then the bomb will detonate, creating a destructive shield for the player. The player can manually detonate either bomb at will.
The player's Icarus fighter ship has a number of defenses at its disposal as well. Whenever the player moves their ship in any given direction, a burst of flame from the ship's jet exhaust will shoot out from the opposite direction the player moves the ship in. This applies to all directions: left, right, front, back and all four diagonal angles. This jet exhaust not only serves an aesthetic purpose, but it can also harm nearby enemies and destroy nearby objects.
Whenever the player is hit, their ship will steer wildly out of control. Once this happens, a timer will appear near the ship which indicates how long the ship has until it explodes. The explosion of the player's ship will harm any nearby enemies. Also, because the Icarus is apparently well built, any kamikaze enemies or drifting objects that touch it will not damage or destroy the player's ship, allowing the player less restrictive movement.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Acrobat Mission" on their September 1, 1991 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.
Record.
Antonio R. Filho (Brazil) holds the official world record for this game with a maximum 279.900 points.


Matthew Strachan

Matthew Strachan ( or ; born 11 December 1970) is an English composer and singer-songwriter.
His best known work is the music for British television game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" written with his father Keith, which would become a global franchise, and the BBC Radio 4 World War I drama series "Home Front". He has also contributed music to film and television productions such as "Extract", "The Detectives", "Question Time", "Winning Lines", jingles for several television commercials, and scores for stage musicals.
As a singer-songwriter Strachan is regarded as having a bittersweet style, often employing satire and characterisation to make political points about unusual subjects such as social networking and the media. As a composer of stage musicals he is noted for writing songs with a complete narrative arc.
Strachan has won twelve awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and in 2012 received the ASCAP Hall of Fame Award in recognition of ten consecutive wins for the soundtrack of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
Biography.
Strachan began writing songs as a teenager and his first professional job was to write five songs for the BBCTV drama "Boogie Outlaws".
After training at Dartington College of Arts and Goldsmiths College, University of London, he worked as a soundtrack composer throughout the 1990s creating music for television, radio and theatre productions until concentrating on songwriting in Nashville, Tennessee where he collaborated with songwriters Don Henry, Tom Kimmel, J. Fred Knobloch, and Thom Schuyler.
Following two years in America he created score and lyrics for the stage musicals "About Bill" and "Next Door's Baby". In 2012 he announced the creation of a comedy oratorio based on the life of the "Coronation Street" character Ken Barlow for inclusion in his live shows.
A new studio album by Matthew Strachan titled "Serious Men" was released by Lonely Goat Records in August 2016.
He is also the creator of the comic fictional 1970's composer Klaus Harmony. In March 2017 Simon & Schuster announced that it would be publishing a series of crime fiction books co-written by Strachan and his wife, Bernadette Strachan.
In October 2020, he appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates Court in London, charged with one count of arson.


Millionaire Hot Seat

Millionaire Hot Seat, also known as Hot Seat, is an Australian television quiz show. The show is a spin-off of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and began airing on the Nine Network on 20 April 2009. As with the original Australian version of the show, it is hosted by Eddie McGuire, and follows a similar format.
History.
Rumours about a new shortened version of "Millionaire" first began circulating in February 2009 after a man named Nicholas Sherridan was the 1st winner of the million dollars and Eddie McGuire had called him out for cheating in the game show and were confirmed when the Nine Network produced a pilot version of the format titled "Millionaire: Russian Roulette" in March 2009. The official title was announced as "Millionaire Hot Seat", but this was later shortened to simply "Hot Seat". The new format was originally promoted as a short-run series, with advertisements featuring McGuire exclaiming "20 nights! 20 million dollars!" It was announced on 7 April 2009 that "Hot Seat" would begin airing on 20 April 2009 in the – weeknight timeslot and would compete against the high-rating game show, "Deal or No Deal", on the Seven Network. As expected, the show's format was shortened to 30 minutes and given an overhaul of the rules and gameplay, in a system based on the Italian version of the show.
Previously, a half-hour edition of the original version aired for a two-week period in June 2004, aimed at attempting to arrest declining ratings leading into its most-watched news service.
The Nine Network commissioned a second series of the show, to begin airing the week after the original 20-episode order had finished airing on 15 May 2009. The second series began airing on 18 May 2009.
A special prime time edition of "Hot Seat" aired at on Monday, 8 June 2009, featuring a contestant, Barry Soraghan, playing for the format's first million-dollar question. Ultimately, Soraghan answered the question incorrectly, and won only $1,000. At the completion of the taped episode, Soraghan was visited live on air at his Blackburn home by McGuire, who then awarded him a two-week holiday for him and his family, as well as $5,000 in spending money. The episode achieved a ratings figure of 1,224,000 viewers nationally, and was the eleventh-highest rating program for the night, which was a vast improvement from the 812,000 viewers that "Hot Seat" managed in its regular timeslot on the same night.
"Hot Seat" was originally filmed in the iconic Studio 9 at the GTV9 Richmond premises; however, as of February 2011, it has been filmed at GTV9's new home at Docklands Studios Melbourne. The show's 500th episode went to air on 3 August 2011; that day's contestant winning $100,000.
On 15 August 2011 the four remaining couples from the 2011 season of "The Block" appeared on the show, attempting to win $1,000,000 for charity. But the final couple in the hot seat faltered on the seventh question. The last couple won only $1,000 for their charity.
On 3 October 2011, a "The Farmer Wants a Wife" special went to air, ahead of the final that was to air later that night. Farmer Frank, the last contestant in the Hot Seat, had a chance to win $100,000 for his charity but lost, winning only $1,000 for the Royal Flying Doctors Services.
On 27 July 2012, "Hot Seat" stopped airing for the London 2012 Olympic Games until 13 August 2012.
A local version began airing exclusively for Western Australian viewers in 2014.
On 2 June 2014, "Hot Seat" celebrated its 1,000th episode. In this episode, that day's contestant Janine won $50,000. In addition, McGuire called back all the contestants telling them they each won $1,000 for appearing on its 1,000th episode.
On 16 March 2015 the top prize of $20,000 jackpotted to $541,000 and was won by Gerard Lane from Victoria, Australia.
On 13 April 2015, Hot Seat had its first revamp since it launched in 2009. The intro was slightly changed, a new set with higher resolution LED screens was introduced and new graphics using the Eurostile font. A new lifeline was also added for the final question, the Switch lifeline. The contestant on the final question could use it to change the final question to another one of the same value. This lifeline was dropped after 8 May 2015 episode, but was reinstated for episodes airing between 21 and 25 September of the same year.
The program marked 1,500 episodes on 12 October 2016.
In December 2016, it was announced that "Millionaire Hot Seat" would extend to one hour from 2017. Having rated strongly since its launch in 2009, which led to "Nine News" regaining its ratings dominance nationally, the show started to lose ground to rival show "The Chase Australia" in the last fifteen months. Despite this revamp, "Millionaire Hot Seat" continues to languish behind "The Chase Australia" in the ratings, often by an average margin of 100,000 viewers; however, "Nine News", which immediately follows "Millionaire Hot Seat", has continued to retain its ratings dominance on the east coast.
Since January 2019, "Hot Seat" has stopped airing in December each year, due to a clash with the summer of tennis includes Australian Open until resumes in late January and early February.
In February 2020, in Adelaide only, the show was moved forward to 4:00 pm in order to combat poor ratings for its flagship 6:00 pm bulletin.
As of 25 January 2021 Hot seat now airs at 3pm in Perth, swapping Places with Tipping Point UK
Format.
2009–16.
Designed to be a faster-paced format compared to the traditional "Millionaire", "Hot Seat" involves six contestants playing each episode. The contestants take turns trying to be the one in the "Hot Seat" who reaches the goal amount and answers the question correctly. The goal amount is the highest amount on the money tree (shown on the right) and is reduced by one step for every wrong answer given. The traditional three lifelines are replaced by a single "pass" lifeline, which will pass the current question to the next contestant in line (who cannot pass that question further) and send the current contestant to the end of the line.
Each question is given a time limit: with 15 seconds allocated for the first five questions, 30 for the middle five, and 45 for the last five. The timer starts after McGuire reads the question and the four possible answers. If a player fails to give an answer in the time limit, it is considered an automatic use of the pass lifeline. In the case that time expires and the current contestant cannot pass the question (either because they were passed the current question or they used their pass already), they are treated as if they gave an incorrect answer.
Unlike other "Millionaire" formats, the game does not immediately end on a wrong answer. Instead, the current contestant is eliminated from the game, the next contestant in line becomes the "Hot Seat" contestant while all remaining players move up one chair, and the goal amount is reduced to the next highest amount on the money tree. Once the players are shuffled around, a new question is now asked and play resumes. Additionally, contestants may not walk away from the game under any circumstance.
The game ends either when all contestants are eliminated or when the question for the highest value in the money tree is answered. If the question on the last tier is answered correctly, the answering player receives the value of the question. If it is answered incorrectly, the last player to be eliminated receives either nothing (which means that nobody receives any prize money for that show), or $1,000 if the fifth question milestone is reached. No final contestant has ever gone away empty-handed. Another difference from the traditional format of "Millionaire", the only guaranteed sum of money is the $1,000 for answering the fifth question correctly. This sum will be awarded to the contestant that is playing the final question of the money tree or to the last remaining player after the other five players are eliminated. If a contestant did not get a chance to answer a question and sit on the hot seat, they may get a chance to return at a later time to play the game as the producers often invite such contestants back. However, if a contestant had a chance to play a question but passed their place in the seat, they are eliminated and will likely not be invited to return.
Variations.
During the second half of 2011, audio and visual questions were introduced to the format. Either an audio or a visual question would be asked once per episode, usually towards the beginning of the game.
During 2015, the "Switch" lifeline was added for contestants on the final question. This allowed the contestant to switch to a different question if they were unhappy with it. This feature was soon dropped on 8 May 2015, but was brought back for a week of episodes from 21 to 25 September of the same year.
Later in 2015, the "Ask a Friend" lifeline was added in for contestants. Similar to the traditional "Phone a Friend" lifeline, the contestant is able to ask their designated friend or family member in the audience to help them answer the question. Before the player can use the lifeline, they must answer three consecutive questions after the $1000 'safe level'. The feature was added for a week of episodes from 14 to 18 September 2015.
2017–present.
Starting 23 January 2017, In response of the continued strong ratings of Seven's "The Chase Australia" since 2016, Nine's Millionaire changed its format to mix both the traditional format with the Hot Seat format. In this format, the show was lengthened to a full-hour show as opposed to half an hour show and is divided into two parts: Fastest Finger First and Hot Seat.
In this version of Fastest Finger First, all six players use a touch screen to lock in their answers. The round is played similar to the original format of FFF, where there is a question presented with four possible answers and the contestant must lock in the singular answer to the question. (This is different from the second version of Fastest Finger First where the contestants had to put the four possible choices into a designated order.) A minor difference between the original version and this new version is that the players only have 10 seconds to lock in a guess rather than the normal 20 seconds. Additionally, some questions incorporate audio or visual clips or a visual still accompanying the question. In this part of the game, there are fifteen questions asked to all six players. Whichever player answers the most questions correctly in the shortest amount of time receives a bonus $1,000 cheque. That cheque is theirs to keep unless they choose to give it back during the Hot Seat game in exchange for a lifeline. After all fifteen questions have been asked, the game moves into the Hot Seat round starting with the player in the first player position (regardless of how they finished in Fastest Finger First).
The new Hot Seat round plays exactly like it did before with one exception; the player with the $1000 bonus from Fastest Finger First can now buy a lifeline when it is their turn in the Hot Seat. If a player is stuck on a question, they may return the $1000 cheque to McGuire to pick one of the following lifelines:
To use a lifeline, the contestant will simply ask for a lifeline to stop the clock and McGuire will present the choices to the contestant. Upon resolution of the lifeline, the question clock will restart.
Top prize winner(s).
Edwin Daly (29 August 2016).
On 29 August 2016, 67-year-old Edwin Daly became the first Australian contestant (and the fourth worldwide) on the Hot Seat to win the top prize of AU$1,000,000.
Controversy.
In one episode, a contestant gave an answer to the final question, but McGuire told the contestant that she had not answered it in time and checked with the producers to see whether this was a "pass" or she was to be awarded $1,000. While the decision was being made, the contestant insisted that she had two seconds left on the clock. In the end, the contestant won $1,000.


Seer 2

Seer 2 (Chinese: 赛尔号大电影2之雷伊与迈尔斯) is a 2012 Chinese animated fantasy adventure film based on an online game. The film is part of a film series, being preceded by "Seer" (2011) and followed by "" (2013). It was released on June 28, 2012.
Reception.
Box office.
The film earned at the Chinese box office.


Oscar Nunez

Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's "The Office".
He was a member of The Groundlings and later became a regular cast member on "The Office". He also created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series "Halfway Home" in 2007, and in 2014 co-starred in the short-lived USA Network comedy series "Benched". Since 2018, he has appeared in a series of State Farm commercials.
Life and career.
Nuñez was born in Colón, Cuba. Nunez's mother, a dentist, and father, a lawyer, attended school at the University of Havana while Fidel Castro was a student there. The family circa 1960 moved first to Caracas, Venezuela, and then to the United States. His family moved to Boston when he was two years old and then to Union City, New Jersey, when he was four. He was naturalized an American citizen in 1964. He is bilingual in English and Spanish. Nunez attended various colleges in New York, including Fashion Institute of Technology and the Parsons School of Design for writing, and became a certified dental technician after studying at the Magna Institute of Dental Technology.
Nunez started his comedy career in New York, performing over 300 shows with "The Shock of the Funny" theater company. The troupe was active in the East Village for several years. In addition to his work with "Shock", Nunez appeared in theater in New York and Washington, D.C. before moving to Los Angeles in the mid 1990s. In LA, he joined The Groundlings and performed in their Sunday Company. While with the Groundlings, he wrote and starred in a production called "Smooth Down There."
In 1997, Nunez graduated from the Warner Brothers Comedy Writer's Workshop. In 1999, he was a finalist in the ABC Latino Writers Project.
In 1998, he appeared on the game show "Match Game" but was not a winner.
Nunez was Adam Carolla's stand-in on "The Man Show".
Nunez's television credits include "Malcolm in the Middle", "24", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Reno 911!", "The District" and "Mad TV", in addition to his role on "The Office". He was also the creator and executive producer of the Comedy Central series "Halfway Home", in which he co-starred as the character Eulogio Pla.
His film credits include "The Italian Job" (as a security guard), "", and "When Do We Eat?". In 2009, Nunez played the role of Ramon, the caterer, stripper, soda jerk, and finally clergy performing the wedding ceremony in "The Proposal". In 2012, Nunez played the role of Jose Baez, an attorney in the Lifetime movie "Prosecuting Casey Anthony".
Nunez appeared as one of eight judges in the 2010 Miss USA Contest, posing a question about the Arizona undocumented immigrant law to Miss Oklahoma USA, Morgan Elizabeth Woolard. Nunez was booed by the audience before finishing the question; however he asked the audience to wait until he finished the question before they reacted. Although Woolard replied that she supports the law as a state rights issue, she added that she is against racial profiling.
In 2014, Nunez co-starred alongside Eliza Coupe and Jay Harrington in the short-lived USA Network comedy series "Benched".
In 2016, Nunez appeared as a regular in the TBS comedy series, "People of Earth", on TBS.
In 2018, Nunez portrayed State Farm Insurance Agent Cole Perez in a series of commercials.
In July 2018, Nunez took on the role of Desi Arnaz, starring in the world premiere production of "I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom," a behind-the-scenes stage comedy about "I Love Lucy" by Gregg Oppenheimer (son of series creator Jess Oppenheimer). Recorded before a live audience at the UCLA's James Bridges Theater, the L.A. Theatre Works production aired on public radio and has been released on Audio CD and as a downloadable mp3.
Currently, Nunez is portraying Mr. Hernandez on Netflix original "Mr. Iglesias".
Personal life.
Nunez is married to actress Ursula Whittaker, who gave birth to their first child, daughter August Luce Nunez, on October 4, 2012. The couple rescue retired show dogs, and reportedly have over 10 purebred pugs and Italian greyhounds as family pets.


Kobyashi Naru

Kobyashi Naru is a 1987 adventure game by Mastertronic. The title comes from the Kobayashi Maru scenario in the Star Trek fictional universe, a training test. The player attempts to complete a series of challenges in order to complete the Kobyashi Naru test. Gameplay is standard for text-based adventures of the era. ZZap!64 summed it up as "harmless claptrap", while CVG Magazine commented on the "extremeley basic" graphics. Computer Gamer praised the intuitiveness of the game's parser, as opposed to other games that require a persnickety combination of words.


Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Hot Seat (Indonesian game show)

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Hot Seat was an Indonesian game show based on the original British format of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". It was broadcast by RCTI from Monday, September 13, 2010 at 17.30 (UTC+7). The host was Ferdi Hasan. Despite its name, the top prize was a quarter of billion Indonesian rupiah, however since September 19, the top prize was increased to half a billion rupiahs, and the money tree was changed. It can be earned by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. The only lifeline was "pass".
October 31, 2010 was the last day the show aired on RCTI, fueling rumors of cancellation.
Unlike the previous 2 'classic' Millionaire ever aired in Indonesia, this time the format used is the Hot Seat format, similar to the Australian version. Several of the first 5 questions usually have 3 joke answers and 1 correct answer.