Monopoly Millionaires' Club (U.S. game show)

Monopoly Millionaires' Club
Genre Game show
Created by Steve Saferin
Based on Monopoly Millionaires' Club
by the Multi-State Lottery Association
(under license by Hasbro)
Presented by Billy Gardell
Todd Newton
Starring Paige Collings
Korrina Rico
Narrated by Joe Cipriano
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 25
Production
Executive producer(s) Scott St. John
Kevin Belinkoff
Todd P. Levitt
Billy Gardell
Steve Saferin
Location(s) Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (season 1)
Bally's Las Vegas, Las Vegas (season 2)
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 60 minutes (season 1)
30 minutes (season 2)
Production company(s) Entertain the Brutes
Hasbro Studios
Scientific Games
Release
Original network Syndication
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Original release March 28, 2015 (2015-03-28) – April 30, 2016 (2016-04-30)
Website

Monopoly Millionaires' Club (MMC) is an American game show that debuted in syndication on March 28, 2015. Hosted by stand-up comedian/actor Billy Gardell, best known for his role as Chicago police officer Mike Biggs on the sitcom Mike & Molly, MMC was initially based on an unsuccessful drawing game of the same name that was coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), using the Monopoly board game brand under license from Hasbro. The lottery game returned, in scratch-off form, in the spring of 2015.

Each episode culminated with a round called "Go for a Million," a bonus game with a top prize of $1,000,000. The show originated as an hour-long program in its first season, which aired from March 28 to June 13, 2015, consisting of five games per episode. For the second season, which aired from September 12, 2015 to April 30, 2016, the show was reduced to a 30-minute format incorporating only three games. The program's cancellation was announced February 9, 2016.[1]

Format

Each episode featured winners of a second chance drawing (through an online website), who were flown to Las Vegas to participate in the show. Selected contestants, each from a different section of the audience, played a series of games that each offered a top prize of $100,000. Every contestant played a different game and kept half of his/her winnings, with the other half split equally among the members of his/her section.

Episodes were originally taped at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino and featured five games per hour-long episode. The audience was split into five sections (battleship, boot, cat, dog, and wheelbarrow—all named after tokens in the classic U.S. version of Monopoly). One contestant was chosen from each section to play a game. Later, the taping location was moved to Bally's Events Center in Bally's Las Vegas and the episodes were reduced to 30 minutes featuring three games. The boot and cat sections were initially eliminated but later restored. Contestants were still chosen from different sections.

Residents of states that did not sell lottery tickets during the period of the show's production were not eligible to participate on the program.

$100,000 Games

$10,000 Games

Twice per episode in season 1, and once per episode in season 2, co-host Todd Newton invited a second-chance drawing winner to play a short game with a top prize of $10,000, keeping all winnings for him/herself. Three different games were played.

Go for a Million

At the end of each show, one contestant played "Go for a Million," giving up all previous winnings (including the portion shared with his/her audience section) for a chance to win up to $1 million in cash and additional prizes. Two different methods were used to decide which contestant played.

Throughout the show's run, contestants who won nothing in their games became eligible if no one ahead of them chose to play. Ties between highest-scoring volunteers were broken by random selection. Contestants in the short $10,000 games were not eligible to participate.

The contestant started at GO and attempted to make one full circuit of the Monopoly board within five turns. Two dice were rolled on a shaker table referred to as the "Monopoly Rock-and-Roller," and the contestant stopped it by pushing a button and moved clockwise according to the total shown. Rolling doubles awarded an extra turn. All colored properties awarded cash amounts, starting at $2,000 for Baltic Avenue (landing on Mediterranean was not possible, due to its being only one space away from GO) and increasing clockwise to $40,000 for Boardwalk. Other spaces awarded prizes or triggered mini-games as described below.

Rolling three consecutive doubles, or drawing a "Go to Jail" card from Chance or Community Chest, had the same effect as landing on the "Go to Jail" space. During season 2, as soon as the contestant found the "Lose a Roll" penalty once, it was removed from play for all other spaces that included it as a possible choice.

Running out of turns without reaching GO or going to Jail split the cash total with the audience section and allowed the contestant to keep all non-cash prizes. Passing GO augmented the cash total to $200,000, which was split with the section. Landing on GO exactly, either by dice roll or by choosing an "Advance to GO" card from Chance or Community Chest, awarded $1 million to the contestant and split an Audience Jackpot among the section. This jackpot was $200,000 for all but two episodes, in which it was $300,000. When a contestant won the top prize, the models gave him/her a shiny, diamond-encrusted "Rich Uncle Pennybags/Mr. Monopoly" top hat.

GSN Controversy

Monopoly Millionaires' Club was scheduled to rerun on GSN beginning March 31, 2015, However, it was replaced by Shop 'til You Drop in the morning slot and the The Chase in the afternoon slot respectively. For whatever reason, seemingly at the last minute, these listings were pulled from the advance schedules and the show's page was removed from GSN's website. Furthermore, the show's website has removed all references to GSN.

References

  1. Albiniak, Paige. "Exclusive: 'Monopoly Millionaires' Club' Won't Pass Go to Season 3". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
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