Developing A Game Show for our Stage. Will it sell tickets?

[Mike Blakesley]

I serviced a chain of theaters in Wyoming that put big sports stuff on one of their screens

Our booker told me that NFL and NBA have a team of folks that watches for this kind of stuff and stomps on it pretty fast. Regardless, we're still going to have our annual big screen party for "the big event" next month, which you have to be one of our family or friends to get invited to.

[Terry Monohan]

Time to bring back the stage SPIN-O-WIN big wheel. No more dishes these days but give out local gifts from the neighborhood sponsor merchants . Everyone get's a ticket with numbers for the the big spin winning numbers each night, The Balboa Theatre in SF and the Cinelux Los Gatos CA Theatres have these old stage wheels in the lobby. Dust them off and let the host take over the stage. Something they can't get streaming at home. Just like in the depression movie theatre days.

[Martin Brooks]

How about having a comedy night? Hire a comedian... Open mic night... All that. '

You could turn an auditorium into a comedy club, but what I'd do is hire a comedian or two to do a set BEFORE a comedy movie.
And...if we go through another time where it's hard to get movies, get a really bad movie or older film and get three comedians to do a Mystery Science Theater thing to it.

Some years ago, at an outdoor presentation in Prospect Park Brooklyn, a group of comedians live overdubbed new dialog to The Creature from the Black Lagoon and it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. IIRC, they managed to get the sound effects and music track so those were still there. (Or maybe they created a new score and efx track - I can't remember).

I sincerely believe that these kinds of events will put butts in seats because it's not something that can be replicated at home.

[Randy Stankey]

...what I'd do is hire a comedian or two to do a set BEFORE a comedy movie."

I like! Yes, definitely better than the usual, canned experience people seem to be getting used to.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Funny this came up.. way back in the early 80's I hand built the "Buzzer" circuit from a magazine article for our Social Studies (I guess it's more like History in today's vernacular) class. We did a game show of Jeopardy! in class as a study aid before each test. The class was divided in thirds, and everyone had a turn on the buzzer. The winning section's players got 5 bonus points on the test, second got 2 points and third got 1 point.

I hand drew the PC board traces and etched my own boards, used LEDs for the lights (back then each LED was around $2, compared to the $0.02 now) AND added remote LED's in each button. As far as I know, the teacher still has it.

The idea of hosting game shows in your theatre is a good one, but as others have noted, please check your local laws/ordinances in regards to gaming so you don't get into (very expensive) trouble.

[Randy Stankey]

Pretty much the same as Tony:

I have made a few different versions of game show buzzers, back in my high school days.

First, it was made out of sets of latching DPDT relays. The first relay to be energized would latch closed and steal power from the other(s). The reset was done by momentarily interrupting the power. Later, we used 2N2222 transistors and, finally, with flip-flops.

One of our teachers used to like to do quizzes in game show format. Everybody got a chance to answer questions. Those who got right answers moved to the head of the class. I mounted the whole circuit in an old cigar box. It had a battery, the relays, the reset button and lights (later LEDs) mounted in the box. I got a couple of remote starter buttons from the auto parts store for the contestant's buzzers. The cigar box sat on the teacher's desk. The cords on the buzzer buttons were long enough to reach from the teacher's desk to the front row of seats where they could be passed around.

I left the thing behind when I graduated from school and, as far as I know, the teacher used it for a few years, afterward.

Point being... It's easy enough to fashion a quiz show buzzer out of spare parts and it should only cost the proverbial, "$20.00 at Radio Shack."

[Ryan Gallagher]

The fun integration would be a phone app buzzer, they enter their seat number, and you have a PTZ camera mounted somewhere with pre-programmed "tight shots" for each seat number. Everyone loves being on a big screen... would hardly matter what game you play. Would work equally well for trivia games.

Add one of those trowable microphone plushies and people are having fun just with the game mechanics alone.