Twenty One (Quiz)
Quiz 21 is a quiz broadcast format developed by NBC as "twenty-one" .
Rules of the game
Two candidates compete against each other. The candidates cannot see each other or the opponent's score, nor can they hear what question the opponent is asked and how he answers.
The candidates are asked alternately questions, each quiz round (a pair of questions) has a specific topic. The candidate can choose whether he wants an easy or a difficult question. For the correct answer to the easiest question there is 1 point, the most difficult 11 points. This gave rise to the winged word “penalty question” for very difficult questions that only particularly clever people can answer. (The puzzle author CUS , for example, also asks such penalty questions .)
In some versions, each candidate also has the option of using a telephone joker . The television audience is asked to call and answer the question. A caller is put through and has the opportunity, on the one hand, to answer the candidate's question and, on the other hand, to win something himself.
The aim of the game is to be the first to reach 21 points. If neither of the two candidates succeeds after a predetermined number of rounds of questions, the candidate with the higher number of points wins.
The idea for this format probably comes from the card game Black Jack (17 and 4), in which the aim is also to achieve 21 points with the card values.
Theoretically, the winner could play any number of rounds (and win any amount of money).
United States (NBC)
In the United States , twenty-one was broadcast on NBC's main evening program from September 1956 to October 1958 . Jack Barry was the moderator .
Since November 28, 1956, college professor Charles Van Doren was the undefeated champion for four months. He won a total of $ 129,000. Charles Van Doren confessed to a congressional special committee investigating the quiz show scandal in 1959 that the editors had given him the answers to the questions in advance in order to get rid of the arrogant champion Herbert Stempel. It was later found that other candidates were also provided with answers in advance. This quiz scandal was filmed in 1994 under the title Quiz Show by Robert Redford .
The quiz was revived in 2000/2001, this time moderated by Maury Povich .
Issues of German speaking countries
Austria (ORF)
Twenty-one. A quiz for everyone who knows a lot was moderated by Rudolf Hornegg and directed by Otto Anton Eder . In addition to the “penalty question”, Hornegg's “little mishandling”, the shuffling of the knowledge area cards, became a popular phrase. The specialty was that you could pass after the first two questions (one each from a self-selected field of knowledge and one from that of the opponent) if you were of the opinion that you had already achieved more points in order to gain the difference in points as a profit (100 schillings per Point). After 5 double rounds it was over and the winner competed against the next candidate. There was also a referee for disputed answers.
The ORF beamed the quiz from September 1958 14-day on Friday in prime time live out, starting from February 1961, the broadcast date changed to Monday, from November 1962 to Tuesday. In 1974 the quiz was discontinued.
At the end of the 1980s, the quiz was taken back into the program and moderated by Elmar Gunsch .
In 1998 Quiz 21 experienced a remake with Karin Resetarits and Thomas Schüttken as a live broadcast at midnight.
Germany (ARD)
From 1958 to 1969 it ran under the title Had You Knew? a version of this game. Heinz Maegerlein was the moderator .
Germany (RTL)
In Germany, the private broadcaster RTL first broadcast the quiz in 2000. During the summer break of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 21 episodes of twenty-one were broadcast on Mondays at 8:15 p.m. from July to September . The host of the game show was Hans Meiser . The blonde model and former Miss Hessen Claudia Lindner was the assistant to the presenter in all programs of the 3 seasons . Your task was to look after the players and to hand over the sum won.
In 2001 and 2002 further episodes were produced, the last edition of the show was on September 2, 2002.