Awake: The Million Dollar Game

Awake: The Million Dollar Game is a Netflix game show which deals with sleep deprivation. Contestants on the show must stay awake for over 24 hours before competing in various physical and mental challenges. The show is hosted by James Davis. The eight-episode first season was released on June 14, 2019.

Gameplay
Seven contestants are asked to place a number of quarters into a basket and count the total number of coins one-by-one over a period of 24 hours without sleeping; they are asked to make guesses about how much money they have counted over that timeframe. After the coin counting is done, the contestants appear on the stage. The contestant who counted the least amount of money and the contestant who is the least accurate in counting his or her money are eliminated before the main portion of the game begins.

Main game
The five remaining contestants compete in a series of three physical and mental challenges. The contestant who obtained the highest challenge score in the fastest amount of time automatically advances to the next challenge. The remaining contestants are put up for elimination; they are given 10 seconds to accept a cash buyout ($2,500 in round 1, $5,000 in round 2, and $7,500 in round 3) and leave the game by pushing the button in front of their podium. If no one accepts the buyout, the contestant who has the lowest score or took the longest to complete the challenge is eliminated and leaves the game with no money. This process repeats each round (albeit with one fewer contestant) until there are two contestants remaining.

Once there are two contestants remaining, both of them are given 10 seconds to accept a cash buyout of $10,000. If no one accepts the buyout, the contestant who was the least accurate in counting their money is eliminated; the other contestant advances to the bonus round to play for $1,000,000.

End game
The champion is asked to guess the total amount of money they have collected. The contestant can walk away with that figure, or they can risk it based on how accurate their guess was. If the contestant’s guess is within $500.00 of the actual amount of money they counted, which is revealed via a “money meter”, they will win the Big Bank, which is the combined sum of the money all of the seven contestants counted. If the contestant’s guess is outside of that range, they leave empty-handed.

If the Big Bank is won, the contestant must face another decision. They can keep the Big Bank or make one final bet once again based on how accurate their guess was. If the contestant’s guess is within $25.00 of the actual amount of money they counted, they will win $1,000,000. If the contestant’s guess is outside of that range they leave empty handed.