Mastermind

[bobbie22]

I like this programme and have watched for years, but I have to ask if any of you think the questions are very long.

[Mamyalynne]

They are wordy, yes but everyone gets the same number of questions as long as they answer quickly.

[Boto]

I also think the general knowledge questions are getting easier.

[cashier]

Sorry Mamyalynne they don't get the same number. I've seen people get eg 12 with none wrong and no passes, and the next get 9 with none wrong and no passes. No chance of getting 12.

[Mamyalynne]

I should have said that is how they explain it - only takes a slight hesitation or three to add seconds on.

[andy-hughes]

I always understood that a contestant with longer specialist questions got shorter general knowledge to level the field.

[cashier]

You're probably right then Mamyalynne.
Yes bobbie I think the questions are very long and sometimes unnecessarily so.

[JimF]

That's the way it's intended to be, and the way it used to be with Magnus, but Humphrys is such an appalling quizmaster that, more often than not, it isn't.

[bednobs]

what i dont understand is why the answerer doesnt interrupt

[JimF]

The rules say that the contestants must wait for the quizmaster to finish the question before answering.

[THECORBYLOON]

As I understand it, the questions are timed along with the ideal answers so that everyone should have an equal chance to score the same number of points.

[JimF]

They are indeed. The questions themselves aren't the problem...

[jim360]

They've been getting longer for some time. Perhaps with a new question reader coming the format will change a little.

[Hopkirk]

I doubt it Jim, they have always been keen for the format to stay the same. Clive won't be able to do anything differently.

[bobbie22]

I think that’s often possible to answer the question after the first sentence (not always). But more and more details are added on using up time. Just my thoughts

[jim360]

I doubt it too, Hopkirk -- still, if there were going to be tweaks to the format and the question structure, the introduction of a new question reader is as good a time as any to make them.

[novalis]

The opening format is based on Bill Wright's wartime experience where being asked for name, rank and number became name, occupation and specialist subject. The questions are longer than they were when Magnus Magnuson was in charge. They always try to make sure that each contestant has the same number of questions assuming that the 'ideal' answer is given. The knack is to balance the time taken to give a wrong answer and being given the right answer against the time saved by passing. In the 2004 final I got that balance wrong and Shaun Wallace beat me purely on the number of passes.