The Cube is a British game show which first aired on ITV on 22 August 2009.
Presented by Phillip Schofield, it offers contestants the chance to win a
top prize of £250,000 by completing challenges from within a 4m × 4m × 4m
Perspex cube. It is based on the idea that even straightforward tasks become
extremely challenging when confined and put under pressure inside a small,
enclosed area whilst surrounded by a large live studio audience. Once inside,
contestants can feel both claustrophobic and disorientated, affecting their
concentration and abilities. Using "state-of-the-art filming techniques",
the show aims to demonstrate the intense anxiety which contestants undergo as
they progress through each task. The challenges involve catching, throwing,
estimating, reacting, memorising, balancing, etc. Colin McFarlane provides
the disembodied voice of The Cube, who explains the rules of the games.
Format The game is played by a single
contestant in a 4m x 4m x 4m Perspex transparent cube. The object of the game
is to complete as many of seven games, each of which worth an increasing amount
of prize money, inside The Cube as possible before failing an attempt nine
times in total. Each game is pre-selected for the contestant before
the show to suit their difficulty and can test a contestant's mental agility,
physical ability, intelligence, observation or response. Each episode
usually consists of two contestants' games.
Each contestant begins with nine lives. Each time a contestant makes an
unsuccessful attempt at a game, one life is lost. The contestant must repeat the
game until they are successful or run out of lives. Any contestant who runs
out of lives is said to be defeated by The Cube and loses all money
accumulated, with the exception of celebrities. After a contestant succeeds
in a game, they are able to see a preview of what their next challenge is
and can choose to leave with their prize money or play the next game to win the
larger sum of money. During a preview, the name of a
challenge is revealed and its rules are then explained by the voiceover. They
are each physically demonstrated by "The Body", a metal-masked character
described by Colin McFarlane in the original series as "an expert at all
games played within the Cube". Her real name is currently unknown.
Some games have specific restrictions to increase the difficulty of the game,
which, if disobeyed, will immediately cost a life. For example, some of the
games may only be played with one hand. Some have time limits, and some of these
games feature stopwatches that are started and stopped by the contestant.
Games that involve throwing or catching an object at a target usually have a red
line the contestant must stand behind whilst playing the game.
The seventh and final game is worth a jackpot of £250,000; contestants who
complete this game are said to have "beaten the Cube". It is a more
difficult version of one of the six games a contestant previously played,
and struggled to complete. Only one person has attempted, and completed, the
seventh game: runner Mo Farah, who appeared in a special episode of a
celebrity series in 2012 where British gold-medallists were the contestants.
Contestants are given two lifelines, each of which can be used once only. The
first is called 'simplify', which makes a game considerably easier. It may be
used before any attempt at a challenge and remains in effect until the
contestant succeeds or fails the current challenge. Once the contestant completes
their first game, the second lifeline is unlocked. This is called a 'trial run'.
The trial run allows them to play the game once without being penalised for
losing or committing to playing the game before deciding whether to play or take
the money. Phillip Schofield occasionally offers
statistics to advise a player about whether to bank their money or continue
gameplay. Family members and/or friends of the contestant watch on in the
audience, sometimes providing assistance with making decisions and recommending
techniques for the game. Filming
Objective Productions first approached Channel 4 in 2008 with the format. It
was made into a non-televised pilot by the channel, and was hosted by Justin
Lee Collins. Channel 4 eventually decided not to commission the show
because it would have been too expensive. In February 2009, ITV
purchased the rights to the show and filming began during April 2009 at
Wembley's Fountain Studios. The Cube is one of the first shows to use the game
freeze filming technique on a frequent basis, such as when a contestant jumps
in celebration. The technique used is called "time slice". Using specially
designed cameras, it allows the viewer to see one side of the Cube before the
action is frozen, spun to another face of the Cube and then resumed.
Slow-motion shots are again common to show action replays of the task a
contestant just completed, or the critical moment of a game, to heighten
the excitement of whether the contestant will succeed or fail. The show makes
extensive use of CGI to project images onto the walls and ceiling of the Cube,
while a screen on the floor is also capable of showing images. These film
techniques make the seemingly simple tasks that are put before the
contestants seem much more exciting than they would normally be.
For Series 8, which premiered on 1 March 2014, the show received a revamp,
including a new studio set, new opening credits, a redesign of graphics and
several new games. The 7 game format and prize money structure remain the same.
Transmissions Prize money
Since the first episode, The Cube has had a prize money structure starting at
£1,000 and ending at the £250,000 jackpot. Below is a breakdown of the
prize money structure, showing the game number and amount of prize money that
can be won for successfully completing that game. If a player loses all their
lives at any point during the game they lose all the money they have accumulated
to that point. = Text Santa special=
On 19 December 2014 as part of the annual ITV Text Santa charity appeal,
The Cube was played with a two player team. The format was adjusted and
consisted of only 3 games worth £1,000, £50,000 and £100,000. The players were
given 5 lives and a Simplify. Reception
Readers of ukgameshows.com named it the best new game show of 2009 in their
"Hall of fame" poll. Awards
International versions The format has been successful with
international broadcasters. As of 2015, eleven countries have produced their own
versions of the show. Some are still broadcasting, some have ceased
broadcasting and in the case of the US version have not even been shown.
Below is a breakdown of the countries that have created their own versions
along with other information including the Jackpot available and broadcast
dates. Legend:
Currently airing No longer airing
Non-broadcast pilot The UK version of The Cube is also
currently being simulcast in Ireland by UTV Ireland. It is broadcast in New
Zealand on TV1, and in Australia on the Nine Network. Old series are broadcast
in Bosnia and Herzegovina by RTRS, in Serbia by Ultra TV and in Singapore by
MediaCorp Channel 5. = Filming locations=
The German, Italian, Portuguese, Saudi Arabian, Spanish and the U.S. pilot of
The Cube were filmed at The Fountain Studios in London using the British set
and games. Other international versions have created their own studio sets. The
Chinese version of the show is filmed at the Zhabei Gymnasium in Shanghai; the
Ukrainian version of the show is filmed at the Antonov Serial Production Plant
in Kiev; the Russian version of the show is filmed at the Ostankino Technical
Center in Moscow; the Arabian version is filmed at the Dubai Studio City in Dubai
and the French version of the show is filmed in La Plaine Saint-Denis, near
Paris. Top prize winners
Across all versions of the show, 6 contestants have won the final game and
taken away the jackpot. Merchandise
An electronic board game based on the series was made available in stores from
November 2010. As of June 2011, the game has been discontinued by most main
retailers. The game comes with an electronic handheld system featuring
games such as Time Freeze and Stop Zone, as well as 9 balls- six 18mm blow
moulded balls, 1 30mm EVA foam ball, 1 25mm hard ball and one 50mm hard ball.
The balls are used for different reasons and the foam ball is used for most games
with a ball. For Multisphere, all balls are used unless it is being played in a
room with hard floors, in that case eight balls are used. Tubes are used for
almost every physical game for starting positions, voids, tubes, towers and
columns. Other equipment in the board game are track pieces, discs, clips, z
shaped platform pieces, cannons, blocks, a ball flipper, a beam and card
pieces,and a 7 cm x 7 cm x 7 cm plastic cube for playing a series of physical
games. The cube is used for a container and to connect onto the cube platform
for the electronic games. A reducer also comes with the cube, allowing it to
reduce the size of the open top of the cube. This is, in almost all games
involving the cube, removed in a simplify. Many well known and classic
games are here as well as new games such as Roller, Catch, Retrieval and Bounce,
everyday life games and interesting and complex games.
Around the time of the release of the board game, a Game App version of the
series was made available via the iTunes store for use on the iPod Touch, iPhone
and iPad. This app version originally featured sixteen games from the series:
Balance, Cylinder, Descent, Drop Zone, Focus, Multisphere, Perimeter,
Precision, Quantity, Reaction, Revolution, Shatter, Stabilise, Stop
Zone and Time Freeze. The first update for the game came in April 2011 with
Pulse added Another update for the game was made available in June 2011, adding
a further free game, Succession, and making eight games available via in app
purchase in 2 "packs" Exact, Pathfinder, Totalise and Tower in Pack one and
Invert, Composure, Calculate and Navigate in Pack two. A further update
was made available in October 2011, adding a further free game, Axis. 2
further games followed in 2012, Eliminate in April and Symmetry in
October. In February 2013, Chase, which at that time had not been shown on TV,
was made available. Almost a year later on 21 February 2014 Avoid was added. The
most recent update came on 19 May 2014 when 4 games new games were made
available via In App Purchase. These new games were Reset, Plummet, Selection and
Tally all which are new games from the most recent series. There are currently
35 games available to play in the App version.
On 9 November 2012, a Cube game was released on consoles for the first time.
It was available on the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS. 33 games
are playable in this version including two unseen new games: Flight Path and
Retrace. If the Cube is beaten, Extreme Mode is unlocked, featuring more extreme
versions of five popular games: Revolution, Pathfinder, Perimeter,
Rebound and Momentum. References
External links The Cube on Twitter
The Cube at itv.com The Cube at stv.tv