1 vs 100 beta gives taste of multiplayer Xbox Live game show

Last Friday, I finally was available at the right time to sign up for the beta of 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live. 1 vs 100 is based on a game show on television (the box in your living room with the moving pictures on it) where one person squares off in a trivia game against a mob of 100 people. The more mob members get the questions wrong (one wrong answer and you’re out), the more money the one contestant makes (assuming he or she gets it right).

Last year, the idea of “community gaming” was proposed along with the new Xbox 360 dashboard. The dashboard came out last fall, but it took until now to release the beta version of this adaptation of the TV show. The fabulous part about 1 vs 100 is that it’s practically a massively multiplayer on-line game show. Everyone participating in 1 vs 100 is an on-line human being—the crowd, the mob, the contestant, and even the host are live.

When the finished product is finally released, there will be different categories on different nights of the week (even community written questions). Everyone that gets a chance to be in the game has the chance to win Microsoft Points, which are used on Xbox Live Marketplace to purchase things). In order to win more of these points you have to go on long streaks, answer faster, and win your group (everyone in the audience is separated into groups of four). The person who plays the “1” gets the biggest chance at winnings, with a max prize of 2,000-plus points (about $20 to $40 in real money).

Since the version I played was just a beta, no one actually won anything, but it gave us all a great idea of how the real thing will work. I highly recommend Xbox 360 owners check out the next beta show. To do so, go to the marketplace, click on 1 vs 100, highlight the show (times and dates of shows are posted), and click it to set a reminder. The reminder will trigger an alarm on your console (I think it was 30 minutes before the start of the show).

Wyatt Fossett can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/SheriffEarp.