I have done it, and we are planning it again for this year, coming up in March.
We are a K through 4 school, so we have this for the 4th grade and the 3rd grade, separate nights.
It is a free family evening, with pizza, salad, beverages. We have the "game" going on up at the stage. When the families come in, and parents who would like to participate fill out a form. Any of the 3rd or 4th graders (depending on the night), who wish to be part of the game, sign up as well.
We select our first five classmates (students), who come up and sit at desks. We've had them work with the art teacher prior to the event to create name signs, which are on hand and then hung at the desks.
The parent contestant is the selected randomly.
That person comes up and the Principal, who hosts the game, introduces them, talks about their kids in the school, what they do for a living, etc...
We then have the categories shown, which there are eight. 2 first grade questions, 2 second grade, 2 third grade and two 4th grade.
We utilize a Powerpoint program for the game.
The contestant then selects one of the eager classmates. That student comes up and stand at a second podium, near the contestant (though care is taken to ensure that the students answer can not be seen). The contestant is prompted to ask the student which subjects they like, etc.
The contestant picks a category and the question is then shown.
All questions come from out state required testing, and we promote it as such.
The $ values for the questions are $5, $10, $15, $25, $30, $40, $50, $75 and $100.
If the contestant answers four questions correctly they become locked in at the $25, meaning that even if they lose they leave with at least that amount.
We actually, since we want the parents to actually want to be part of this, award monetary gift cards to the mall.
The first and second grade questions are really easy, so the contestants almost always get to the $25 level, as they usually select the lower grade level questions (though they can select any question they want from the eight).
Here's some examples of the higher end questions:
Q: What is the largest inland sea in the world?
Q: What is the technical name for a group of islands?
Q: How many years does it take Haley's Comet to make one orbit around the sun?
Q: What are the names of the two moons of Mars?
As you can see, we want the higher questions to be difficult, as we don't want the contestants to be winning $100 each time. I've found that the kids usually can answer the questions for the grades lower than theirs, but have problems with their own grade, or higher questions.
The Principal walks around and looks at the classmates (the ones not at the posium) during the question and brings them into it as well. Like, "well, let me tell you that all of your classmates have answered the question correctly, lets see if you are correct. OK class, please show your answers." Stuff like that.
A classmate can not be used more than once, and returns to their seat if they are either used, or two questions have gone by. The contestant then must select a new classmate. With 8 questions before getting to the $100 question, I've found that usually all 5 are used. If all five end up being used before the constant gets to the end, the five students are provided a prize and return to the audience, to be replaced by five new students. I do not send a student away unless they have been used as a classmate.
There are three saves, lifelines if you will, that each contestant has. One is "Peek", which allows the contestant to look at their classmates answer before locking theirs in. Next is "Copy", which means that whatever the classmate has for an answer the contestant must use. Last is "Auto Save", which means that if the contestant answers incorrectly, but the classmate was correct, they are still in the game.
I've found that we usually get 5 to 6 contestants in in one evening.
Good luck,
PresidentJim
