1 vs 100 has 200,000 players a day

By Robert Purchese Published 17 August, 2009

Quiz service downloaded 2.5m times.

Microsoft has revealed that around 200,000 Europeans are using Xbox Live quiz-game service 1 vs. 100 every day.

Our biggest daily attendance is 215,000, although the US tops that with 230,000. Sounds like the answer to a quiz question.

Together, the UK and Ireland have managed 79,000 simultaneous users. But again, the US wins, with an impressive 114,000 concurrent users.

The 1 vs. 100 client has been downloaded over 2.5 million times since the beginning of the beta. And to celebrate all this, Microsoft has some guests turning up during August.

The Guild creator Felicia Day will show up on 28th August at 7pm PT, which is 2am the following morning for us lot, unhelpfully. And there's an "evening of music" planned for 29th August at midnight our time. All the other events, sadly, are US only.

The 1 vs. 100 service is still in beta here. Created by Big Brother telly-mastermind Endemol, the show puts one person (The One) against 100 (The Mob), and offers Microsoft Points (and real-life prizes, eventually) to people answering questions correctly. But there's plenty more to it than this.

Check our 1 vs. 100 gamepage for a special EGTV show and hands-on impressions of the game.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (33) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    For free (when you consider you don't pay any extra on top of a Gold subscription for this) it's a great game and the trivia questions on the main shows are surprisingly high quality.

  • skillian #2 3 years ago

    It's a great idea and I wish it every success :)

  • andywilkie35 #3 3 years ago

    From what I've played it works great. Unfortunately I still can't complete a full game without getting kicked out 4 or 5 times, so can't be arsed unfortunately. Shame because I was really looking forward to it.

  • Weezer #4 3 years ago

    Went on for the first time on Saturday, and got in The Mob after an extended session. Great fun, apart from the 'stat' breaks, which are clearly designed for real ads when the bugs are shaken out.

    However there are some people on there with monstrous scores. Saddos.

  • viper_h #5 3 years ago

    Some of the questions are insane. I wish they did more specialist sessions.

    Why no video game trivia session? It's a video games console for crying out loud!

  • estoo #6 3 years ago

    It's a good idea and fun for a while but the selection procees is seriously flawed, check out the forum thread to see how.

    I've also niticed the numbers online for each session are dwindling each week. It was 80000 on opening night sure enough but I'm not sure if it even managd 20000 this weekend just passed.

    I do think it has the potential to become massively popular.

  • siro #7 3 years ago

    I like it as I get on the scoreboard in the main show quite often. :) If they ever take money for it, they should definitely not limit the number of prices in a season at all (currently, you cannot win more than three prices in one season). As I got two prices from the last two weeks, I have to lose on purpose now so that I can still win something if I get in The Mob or turn out to be The One one day. Being The One but not being eligible for a price would suck major donkey balls.

  • siro #8 3 years ago

    viper_h: There are sessions with video games as topic (at least in Germany).

  • Domovoi #9 3 years ago

    What European countries is this out for, anyway? Besides the UK and Ireland?
    Edited by 1 at 17/08/09 @ 15:50

  • GaidenZero #10 3 years ago

    From what I can tell the numbers have been falling each week, down from over 70,000 in the first couple of weeks to more like 20,000 - this is for the live shows anyway.

    It's good fun but I can't help feeling it lacks something. Some thoughts:

    - due to it being an interactive experience, I feel you need to get more out of it than you currently do. If you watch the half hour show you root for the one, but thats it. Here you are playing in the hope of winning a prize but I have played for a few hours and not even been in the mob, so I don't feel like it's particularly rewarding for the amount of effort you put in. I know you can win in the crowd but you have to be super quick on every question to stand any chance at all.

    - it can get exciting when the one gets down to around 15-20 mob members left, but this is so rare and then they take the points.

    I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not very rewarding and each week I've become less inclined to play it.

    @estoo - we weren't too far out on our numbers there :)
    Edited by 1 at 17/08/09 @ 15:52

  • siro #11 3 years ago

    Yesterday, The One went to like 9 left, then 7 left and instead of opting out (no jokers left) and taking 6000 points, he lost in the end. It was exciting though.

    Later on, another The One actually won it seems. I wasn't following anymore though.

  • Monkey_Puncher #12 3 years ago

    I've played most weeks and haven't even got in the mob, even though I get most questions right. The selection process seems to be utter nonsense from what I've seen, the amount of times the 1 hasn't got a clue and uses all their 3 life lines on the first 3 questions makes me question how they're picking people.

    Also what's with the amount of people getting picked that have 0 gamerscore? Not saying that gamerscore has any relation to you getting picked, but how can people not have any gamerscore at all? I can't help wondering if these people make new accounts to exploit the system or something, it doesn't add up them having an account but not playing any games other than 1 vs 100.

    I can't say I'm in any hurry to play this again, I've sat through too many Live sessions and had absolutely no interaction with the live show for me to care any more. The dropping numbers on the Live shows also says to me that there are a lot of people that are feeling the same.

  • Gecks #13 3 years ago

    i think it's excellent, and terrific fun. i don't really care about not being picked - a lot of people are playing it at once, so ultimately it's fairly likely you'll never ever get picked unless you play a whole lot, or game the system somehow.

    i don't mind though, really. it's fun in itself without worrying about the relatively meagre prize offerings. play it with some mates and it's like a pub quiz with a budget.

  • WinterSnowblind #14 3 years ago

    I've never been in the Mob and only actually played a few times, but it's good fun to play when you've got nothing better to do, and having the sessions around 5-7pm is just perfect.

    Looking forward to Joyride too, I really hope they add more things like this.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #15 3 years ago

    I'm loving 1vs100 Live. Managed to get it the mob on Friday night and won 400 points and Zuma out of it due to the one getting a question wrong :)

  • TheGoose126 #16 3 years ago

    I think it shows the potential of inter active gaming and is a very good addition to live. I have never been in the mob but hardly play it, where as a mate of mine plays nearly everynight and ended up as the 1 and in the mob 3 times over the w/e!

  • BBIAJ #17 3 years ago

    If you think our selection of Features subjects is limited now, you should take a look at what the US get: Sci-Fi Showdown, Video Game Trivia, Movie Quotes, Sports, In The News, and Musicals as well some other sports related ones are all available to the Yanks.

  • Marviewarvie #18 3 years ago

    To back up GaidenZero, the 79k userbase was indeed the first weekend.

    And to back up the other posts too, the numbers for the Prize events on the weekends are dropping quicker than Didier Drogba on rollerskates. Just past the 9.00pm mark on Friday just gone there was around 12000 people playing. Still a good number, but a country mile from the 79k on the opening weekend.

    For me this is typical Microsoft. They have a fantastic concept, get it working to a reasonable degree (I've been booted too while playing and at times it's murder trying to get connected) and then do their upmost to fuck it all up with some of the worst decisions possible.

    The Instant Answer bonus kills it for mere mortals and for those without rapid fire pads. The staggered answer reveal does have a habit of giving the other people in the party you didn't want to be in the answer. To stand a good chance of being the "One" or in the "Mob" you need to play all week, and not just the UK version of the game (all you need is a friend in their countries version of the game and a game invite), although I can understand that particular stipulation as it's a Beta and they want it used all week, not just the prize weekends.

    And the choice of Xbox Live game for the last two weeks has been shocking. This week: 3 year old, 400 point costing Zuma and the week before - Most people already have it as it was given away as compensation 18 months ago: Carcasonne. Considering this is prize that 99.9% of players have even the merest sniff of winning (dependent on speed reading, inhuman reaction times and a low ping connection), my idea would be a code which entitles you to buy an XBLA game of "your choice". That way, at least everyone has a chance of winning something they would actually like.

    Add some on screen timers for the breaks so that the slower moving people like me know if we have time for a slash or to grab a drink, get rid of the stat report which just destroys the flow of the game, and possibly add the very public and very painful execution of James Whatshisname, address all my other points and they might just some increase in players.

    I do like a moan.

  • mezzomorto #19 3 years ago

    Echoing Domovoi's post, I'd be interested to know what the roll out plan is for the rest of Europe (as far as I know it's not up for Spain yet)?

    EG, any snippets to share from MS on this?

  • Dr_Wadd #20 3 years ago

    The system that determines when the breaks are going to come needs some more work. I find it really annoying when there is a break thrown in immediately after the first question in a round. I would have thought that it would be possible to implement a better rule base so they come at more logical times.

    I know it is a trivial thing in the grand scheme of things, but they really need to do something about Olivia. At the very least, she needs to change her clothes each day, it will at least bring it slightly closer to the illusion that it is a real show, and not one hosted by a very dirty lass (and I don`t mean in the good way). They should also re-record her dialogue, it is getting really tiresome now, and some of the intonation is completely wrong.

    I quite like James, he seems like a harmless fool in a court jester sort of way. I do wonder whether breaks between rounds when he isn`t live aren`t to do with comms problems, but more to do with the fact that either he has said something wonderfully inappropriate, or if he is being dosed up on something. He doesn`t always sound entirely in touch with reality ;)

    On a serious note, I would like to see a proper breakdown of how the scoring works if you are in the crowd, and perhaps a tweak to the importance of the speed answering. If you have just one or two questions that you don`t know the answer for immediately it seems to completely destroy your chances of getting close to the top score, and thus takes a lot of the fun out of the rest of the round. I`m sure the scoring could be adjusted so that you could make one mistake or one slow answer and stil be in with a chance. Personally, I would change it so that all three answers are shown at the same time, but not having seen the TV version it may be that the TV version shows answers one at a time and they can`t change that.
    Edited by 1 at 17/08/09 @ 17:07

  • Domovoi #21 3 years ago

    It's too bad Eurogamer is so UK centric. I can understand the American press treating Europe as one general zone, but I'd expect a website about europe to at least recognize the various european countries and how they are affected.

  • Sharzam #22 3 years ago

    @viper_h

    Yes my thoughts exactly, how the hell am i as a englishman gonna have a idea what the biggest lake in sweden is called, and why no video games section.

    As regards to the idea and concept its a success on every level and i wish it all the best because if nothing else it is a bit of fun that can join quick and easy.
    Edited by 1 at 17/08/09 @ 18:39

  • Dr_Wadd #23 3 years ago

    @ beemoh, I'd not seen those rules, but they don`t seem to make entire sense when it comes to the speed aspect of the score.

    Speed:
    200 points for each answer received before time expires.
    100 points for each correct answer received within 750 milliseconds of question.

    This would suggest that merely answering a question nets you 200 points, irrespective of whether you are correct or not, and a fixed 100 points for a fast answer. However, it is clear that there is a lot more granularity to it then that. Perhaps it is the case that you get marks out of 100 depending on how quickly you answer within the first 750ms, but then sure it is timed from the presentation of the answers individually, not the question. If that were not the case it would be impossible to score maximum speed points when you know the answer is B and anticipate it well.

    Thanks for digging out those rules, I had assumed that Microsoft would be terribly opaque about the whole thing so I'd actually never even looked for them, d'oh. Still, there are aspects to them that don`t correspond to the scoring I've been seeing.

  • Stoatboy #24 3 years ago

    @Domovoi:

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.de/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.de/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.fr/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.fr/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.pt/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.pt/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.nl/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.nl/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.es/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.es/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.it/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.it/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.ro/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.ro/
    [/link]
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.cz/
    ]http://www.eurogamer.cz/
    [/link]
    http://www.eurogamer.dk/

  • Quixz #25 3 years ago

    They seem to be only to picking women/girls with very low gamerscores to be the ONE :((

  • schnide #26 3 years ago

    Busier than Home..?

  • Jonny5Alive7 #27 3 years ago

    I enjoy 1vs100 but they need to increase the chances of getting in the mob or I don't think it will last that long.

  • Marshall2008 #28 3 years ago

    Think this is pretty good. I got in the 100 and won 400 points and an arcade game the first weekend I played.

  • Domovoi #29 3 years ago

    @Stoatboy: you know, that's great and all, but I don't see this being eurogamer.co.uk. And I'm certainly not going to read 15 different websites (and learn all the languages they're written in) to keep up with european gaming news.

  • AgentBalti #30 3 years ago

    Is it just me, or do only 'interesting' avatars or girls get picked? (Not saying there's a problem with girls before someone shouts.)

    For the 'rule' that players with high scores to be chosen as The One, yet the have zero gamerscore strikes me as very, very odd.

    Still...it's a staple diet for my Friday night until the end of the month when the season ends.

  • stepneg #31 3 years ago

    Shame it doesn't work properly, I've given up trying to play the live shows, I can get connected usually for one question then kicked out, very frustrating experience. I know it's beta but it's been like that since the first one and still the same now so doesn't look like it's been fixed.

  • KreyAtiv #32 3 years ago

    I've gone off this to be honest. Was there when there was one guy left in the crowd, the "One" lost and was near the 10,000 microsoft points and all that guy got was a measly 800 microsoft points. Not much incentive to other people to try and get that far if you don't even get at least half of what the "One" has lost.
    Was in the last 40 or so in another game and the "One" messed up, supposed to get some microsoft points but still didn't get them. Also some of the questions are quite UK heavy, especially for those of us in Ireland.
    For example "What is off Junction 1 of the M24". I mean how the heck are we supposed to know?
    Also, I think those video messages repeating themselves with the host explaining the same few things over and over again at each "stat break" is too repetetive. Surely put in a quick funny clip for those who've been playing the game for a bit and don't need to hear the strict rules all the time. Answer, quickly, answer correctly. Yeah, right.

  • metalangel #33 3 years ago

    While the missus and I have played it several times, we're losing interest. The questions are either insultingly easy or hopelessly obscure, the hostess' voice is incredibly grating, the stupid avatar animations are annoying, and you stand no chance of winning against those psychopaths who get every question right and somehow answer within 0.03 seconds.