Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is NOT based on the popular television show by the same name. Nor was the television show based on it. This game requires little strategy and much luck. You begin by typing in your name, and then you are told a background story. This story contains information about when you were born, in what type of city, and the social status of your parents. From these humble beginnings, you are told how much money you begin your independent life with, what kind of job you have and what kind of income you will be making at this job.
If you type in the same name twice, it will not give you the same story – these are random.
Throughout the game a series of good and bad events occur. Again these events are random and include such things as moonlighting from your job, getting fired, being offered to buy items of value (the value may or may not be correct), buying or selling such popular stocks as IBM (Incredibly Bad Machines) and TWA (Totally Washedup Airlines), paying for medical expenses and the funerals of dead relatives, vacationing, betting money in Vegas, getting robbed, and inheriting items. Many of these things are one time good or bad events, but if you buy stocks, you are frequently allowed to buy or
sell them. (Unless the stock market crashes – then all your stocks will be sold for a fraction of what you paid.) You live to a random age, at which time you are told your final net worth. The object is to obtain those illusive million dollars. I have never reached this goal (either currently or in the past), so all I know is what the game initially tells you – that if you reach the million, you win.
You use the keyboard to play. You can advance the story by pressing either “enter” or the “spacebar.” If you are asked a question, “Y” for “yes” or “N” for “No” usually is enough to answer it. When you play the stock market, You are given the options to “B” – buy stock you want to own, “S” – sell stock you already own, or “L” – leave without changing anything (if you choose to do this and own no stock, you are choosing to not play the stock market at all). If you pick buying or selling, the game will ask which stock you want to buy or sell (you have four options), and then it will ask you how many of that stock you want to buy or sell. Once you have selected which stock and how much you want to buy or sell, you will again be given the option to buy, sell, or leave. You can continue in this loop without advancing for as long as you want, but the stock prices will not change unless you advance the game by selecting “leave.”
If your style of game is one based on chance and luck, this is the game for you. When you complete your life, you will be given the option to play again. Each time you play it takes about ten minutes maximum.
