Format Focus: 20Q

The Format
20Q features three contestants battling to reveal a mystery word by using 20 clues or fewer.

The twist is that they also battle against a robot named Q, who has played the game 66 million times and gets smarter every time.

In the first round, a subject is picked randomly, determining the word to be guessed.

The contestants are then offered a selection of questions, which all have yes or no answers. They select questions in turn and use the answers to work out the mystery word.

The first contestant to guess the word correctly before the robot goes through to the final in which they compete with Q. If they guess the final word, they win a large cash prize.

A live demonstration of the gameshow was given at Mipcom last week featuring three TV industry execs. The winner was Karen de Groot, programme director at Dutch channel Ned 5, who won $10,000.

Who's showing it?
The format is new and has not yet been aired on any channel.

Coming to the UK?
The gameshow format was being pitched by Endemol International, which has the worldwide rights, to UK broadcasters at Mipcom last week.

Could it work here?
If Q were given a funny or unusual personality this could be a new gameshow smash.

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