The bong game is a phone-in

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

created in the 1980s by the London-based radio station,

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

. It is a game based purely on chance, but remained suspenseful because both rewards and risk increased as it progressed. The game was invented by David Briggs, a former traffic reporter for Capital FM who went on to create ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

'' He also provided the smooth voice on the recordings. The contestants were primed by

's ''Breakfast Show'' host,

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

, whose collaboration with Briggs led to him becoming the presenter of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''

How it works

A recorded voice reads a sequence of numbers, representing an amount of money, that increases in value by irregular amounts. For example: £1, £4, £20, £31, £70, £72, £300, £301, £600... The recording ends, at an unpredictable point, with a "bong" sound. Players shouting "stop" before the "bong" wins the last sum of money mentioned. Players waiting too long and interrupted by the "bong" win nothing. Contestants who shouted "stop" would then be played the rest of the tape to see how much more they could have won. The numbers would go up in varying increments, sometimes 3 or 4 numbers differing by only a few pounds, and then a jump of several hundred pounds. There were also various special tapes that had holidays on them, if the contestant waited long enough (without being bonged out). An additional variation was the "Bouncing Bong" which, instead of just going up, went up and down randomly, with the contestant having no idea whether the next number would be higher or lower than the current one. Again, if the tape "bonged out" before the contestant said stop, they received nothing.

Similar shows

*'' Colour of Money'', which started in 2009, uses an extended version of the same principle, in which winnings are accumulated through repeated playings of the Bong Game *''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

'' *''

The New Treasure Hunt ''Treasure Hunt,'' also known as ''The New Treasure Hunt'' during its 1970s run, is an American television game show that aired throughout the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. In the show, contestants selected a mystery package (originally a treasure che ...

'' * ''

The People Versus ''The People Versus'' was a British game show that aired on ITV from 13 August 2000 to 18 June 2002. Series 1 was hosted by Kirsty Young and Series 2 by Kaye Adams. The central format was that the questions were sent in by the viewers. Format ...

'', daytime version, used a variant of the Bong Game; contestants would choose one of three sequences, one of which would permit the entire sum of money previously won to be retained before the "bong" was sounded

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bong Game British game shows