Classic Millionaire Software + Graphic Question

I made one of those setups of the old format a few years ago. Here's a brief video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W486Y4X-CYk

Awhile after I finished that one, I redesigned it to me more accurate with graphics and whatnot, but for the life of me I don't know what happened to it. It was on an old PC and I don't even know where the hard drive is anymore since I've dismantled the thing for parts.

Here's the basic rundown of the screen data though if it helps:

Top Left: (Icon: White Bulls-eye) "Away: XX"
Shows the number of questions the contestant has left in their game, starting at 15 and decreasing to 0 if the final question is answered correctly.

Top Middle: (Icon: 3 Stacks of Gold Coins)
Shows the contestants current winnings/walk-away value

Top Right: Gray / Red / Green Swatch
Remains gray at all times except after an answer is finalized and correct answer reveal is pending. Turns red if answer is wrong, green if answer is right. Returns to gray once the correct answer has been revealed.

Bottom Left: (Icon: Circle with white check mark)
Shows the value of the current question.

Bottom Middle: (Icon: Circle with black "X")
Shows contestant's winnings if they answer incorrectly (Either $0 or a milestone value)

Bottom Right: (Icon: Black circle with Arrow pointing down - half black, half white)
Shows amount of money contestant is risking by answering. (e.g. on a $1 Million question, it will show $468,000/$475,000)


Message Area:
A medium for producers to communicate with the host during the game. Most common uses: "BREAK" to indicate a commercial break after the current question, or pronunciation assistance for certain words in the question or answers (e.g. if an answer choice is "Anagram," if the producers feel this word may be hard to pronounce, the medium may have the text "An - a - gram")

Ask the audience data is also shown in this area, as well as a simple countdown clock for Phone-a-friend.

Bottom of Screen:
Contestant's Name - Home town


Hope this helps! Good luck!

AMAZING! Thank you all! And thanks for the warm welcome. I can tell I'm among true enthusiasts here. I will definitely post my progress as it happens. Actual production won't be til next summer at the earliest. But the software will happen quicker. I'm in the midst of code for the next while, but some day I'll have some set diagrams and cabling info as well.

I was definitely seeking a commercial break signal. My old software could go to commercial break, but there was no way to alert the host that it was time for them to announce that. (The old system had only one video output, the program signal itself, which we just re-used on every monitor). As a result we just took commercial breaks between players. I also noticed in Mech's video, the message area displayed a paragraph of text. Perhaps a "background info" segment so the host can sound smart after the question, and inform the audience of some tidbit related to the question, as I've noticed they do sometimes. It'd be wise for me to work a 'post-question-tidbit' into my question schema.

I notice in that last (really detailed, thank you!) screen capture that there's a "Q" lifeline. Is it known if this was the general screen layout (the coloured blocks) before they started fiddling with lifelines (circa 2004 according to Wikipedia)? I'm going really retro here

You're right, I meant to put that in there but forgot about it. They are called "Frills" - small tidbits of information about the question/answers so the host can explain it to everyone if need be. (e.g. If a question asked what the 'S' stood for in "I.R.S." the frill might say "Internal Revenue Service - Tax Collections"



This layout was introduced when the show went syndicated. Before that, the general information on the screen was the same, but it was placed elsewhere and icons weren't generally used in the stat boxes. There were also some other changes to how the information was displayed back then, but I'm afraid I don't (and probably not really anyone else) knows much about it. The really old computer system looked like it just fed the question/answer lozenges in from the broadcast output, instead of being it's own dedicated software. Outside of that, it's up for debate. I've heard many different ways of how information was given to Regis through that system.

Interesting unrelated fact: The computer software used for the Japanese version of the show is the same software that was used for the "Millionaire - Play It!" attraction in Walt Disney World.

Hi all. If nobody minds I might just use this as a project thread.

On my mind currently - Fonts. I believe Copperplate Gothic Bold is used for prize values and so on, but what font is used in the question text? (Original Millionaire US format 1999 onwards) I've seen conflicting info on this. Thanks again

They're expensive!

I got the phone-a-friend working over Skype! The operator can run the introduction as long as required, dialing out to pre-registered "friends" of the current contestant. When someone answers and the host finishes his spiel, they can start the clock.

The music is pretty much fully managed at this point, starting, fading out, looping etc. when needed. The operator is only required to press keys to progress the game play.

Up next is the HTTP Client for audience polling (done over SMS).

Since I've not had much to show visually yet and I don't want anyone getting bored, here's a clip from summer 2001. It was done entirely 'live to tape' meaning no editing was done. I know the graphics are terrible


Here's a much younger me, seemingly in my element. And in my parent's kitchen! I'm sure they had a fit when they saw this. (In the background is the "set" from the video)