1 vs. 100

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Game Show which originated in the Netherlands and has been exported to over 30 countries. The U.S. version aired on NBC. In the game, one player (the One) plays against 100 other people (the Mob). The players are asked a series of questions; if the One correctly guesses, he moves on to the next question, while all Mob members who answered incorrectly are knocked out. The goal of the One is to answer as many questions as it takes to knock out all of the Mob. If the One answers a question incorrectly, the game ends and (in some versions) the prize money is distributed amongst any remaining Mob members.

In 2009, Microsoft revived the show as an Xbox Live game through a twice-weekly event for all Gold members. The One and Mob remained unchanged, while the game allowed the crowd (anyone playing the game who was neither the One or a member of the Mob) to also answer questions; the top three scorers of the round got a free Xbox Live Arcade game (no small feat, as there could be up to several thousand crowd members at any time). Selection for being the One or a Mob member depended on score, and the game was played for Microsoft Points using the last NBC format.

Microsoft also hosted daily Extended Play games with no prizes, though scores achieved here counted toward a person's chances of being selected during Live. Season 2 of the Xbox run ended on February 12, 2010, but in July it was reported that the show had been canned again.

Reruns began airing on GSN, which became very popular — especially when combined with the Xbox Live version. The show was Uncanceled again on November 15, 2010 with Carrie Ann Inaba as emcee. The GSN version is a cheaper production, with no physical setup for the Mob and a much smaller top prize of $50,000 (sometimes $100,000).

The following Game Show tropes appear in 1 vs. 100:
  • Bonus Round: The 3x Bonus Question in Extended Play, which wrapped-up each session.
  • Bonus Space: The 2x Bonus Questions in Extended Play.
  • Lifelines: "Trust the Mob", present in all American versions, where the most popular answer among the Mob is automatically locked in.
    • The NBC run had two other helps — "Poll the Mob" [1] and "Ask the Mob" [2].
    • The Xbox run used "Trust the Crowd" [3] and "Trust the Top 10" [4].
    • The GSN version removed "Ask the Mob".
    • Most versions before the American version gave the contestant a number of "dodges" [5] and a "double" [6].
  • Personnel:
    • Game Show Host: Bob Saget on NBC. The Xbox version had Chris Cashman live but Jen Taylor (pre-recorded) actually on-set; Jen, again in pre-recorded form, also hosted Extended Play. Carrie Ann Inaba hosted the first season on GSN, but announced via Twitter that she wouldn't be returning.
    • Studio Audience: And no, it wasn't just the Mob.
  • Who Wants to Be Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: The top prize is a million. Three lifelines are used. There is a money ladder connected to the amount of people you eliminate. A wrong answer means you lose everything.
Other tropes include:
  • Ad Nauseam: Extended Play featured ad breaks every few questions; the commercials were repeated extremely frequently, especially early on.
  • Badass Normal: Jason Luna, the only contestant to win the top prize on the NBC version.
  • Commercial Break Cliffhanger: Occasionally done.
  • From a Certain Point of View: Since the Xbox era came between the NBC and GSN runs, it (or at least Live) could reasonably be considered Seasons 3-4; the GSN version would hence be Seasons 5+.
  • Guest Co-Host: Occasionally, Live brought in celebrities that the Xbox audience was likely to know (such as Cliffy B, Gabe, and Tycho) to serve as an additional source of commentary.
  • Title Drop: Before the first question, the host shouts "It's 1 vs. 100!" For each successive question, this is altered to "1 vs. x".
  • Trailers Always Spoil: NBC promoted the hell out of the only $1,000,000 win, including in the episode itself. This was averted on its Canadian broadcast, which wasn't spoiled beforehand.
  • Uncanceled: Twice — once on Xbox Live Arcade (Seasons 3-4), and the current revival on GSN (Season 5). The GSN version, however, features a Mob that participates with all their questions answered before the show, pre-recorded reactions, and everyone in the Mob staying for the whole season regardless of how many questions they miss.
  • Versus Title
  1. ↑ (the player picked an answer and saw how many Mob members chose it)
  2. ↑ (the player heard the reasoning of two Mob members, one who is correct and one who is wrong {thus eliminating one wrong answer in the process})
  3. ↑ (all players in the game)
  4. ↑ (the 10 highest scorers on the leaderboard)
  5. ↑ (the player doesn't have to answer, but loses a percentage of their bank and gets no money for eliminated members of the 100)
  6. ↑ (the player gets double for each member of the 100 eliminated)
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/1_vs._100?oldid=1630115"