Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Windows, 1999) Gameplay

In loving memory of Regis Philbin: 1931-2020
If ever there were a period piece of early 2000s television, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was that incarnate for game shows of the time. You all know the show by this point, and in fact it's one of my earliest TV memories that doesn't involve PBS. Of course, I was so young at the time that I didn't know an ounce of even the 100 dollar questions, but a lot of things about it stuck with me -- the dramatic lighting, the dark and foreboding music, all the sounds you heard, "final answer", lifelines...indeed, it was a ratings behemoth for several years and was a big trendsetter, for better or worse, on game shows to come, such as the aforementioned dramatic environment, trivia questions, lifeline equivilants, super slow pacing, and extremely prestigious top-dollar prizes. With a show as popular as this, it's pretty much inevitable it'd get a video game adaptation, and I figured doing a video of it was a good way to pay tribute to Regis Philbin, which as suggested from that first line has only recently passed away as of this posting (in fact, by sheer coincidence I first tried this game on the day of his passing, as you may note in the high score list...talk about timing).
The game is exactly as you expect, but for those who may be too young to remember this show, the format is as follows -- you are presented with a multiple-choice trivia question. Answer it correctly, and you win the next tier cash prize. There are fifteen questions in total, and the top prize is -- what else? -- one million dollars. However, if you mess up on even one question, the game is over, and you will either walk away with nothing, the fifth-tier prize, or the tenth-tier prize, if you reached either one. Or you can choose to take what you have if you don't want to take any risks (which is kind of pointless in this game since no real money is involved so why not just try to go as far as you can anyway? Sure, you won't hit the high score list, but does that really mean anything?). If you're stuck, you can also use a lifeline to potentially aid you in answering the question, but you only get one use of each of the three, so use them wisely.
So let me just say this right now, I absolutely cheated my way through this game. Oh come on, don't act like you're surprised, if you were doing a video on this and needed to show off winning the top prize you'd do it too. And besides that, it's no secret that I am absolutely horrible at trivia. In fact, I'm bad enough that I've even messed up some of the first questions on this game (though it's not always guaranteed to be kindergarten-simple, in my defense). So yeah, I basically had my phone on stand by to look up answers while I played. I did make sure to use the lifelines at least once so you could see what they were like, and since this would have been very short if all I showed was one perfect run, I also showed a few more odds and ends they included as part of the package. Some of them are pretty funny (hey, it is Regis Philbin after all!), so stick around!
Hope you enjoy the video!
All copyright belongs to their respectful owners.

[@stephena.railey7125]

This was one of the best games of all time! I had this as a kid…how many times I landed with $0.00 lol. 😂

[@Otto8845]

Rest in peace, Brother Regis. 🙏🏿

[@bethmcclerren8110]

Rest In Peace Regis. You were me favorite host. 😞

[@ToonLittleCat]

20:39 "Hi there, how many players?" ... "Come on it can't be that hard, how many people are playing?" ... "I MEAN IT, HOW MANY ARE OUT THERE?!" ...¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "That's it! No game, I'm outta here!" [game quits on its own] I miss this kind of personality in games nowadays.

[@MrEightThreeOne]

This was made by the same people as the You Don't Know Jack series, which has all the personality you could ask for in a trivia game and is still going to this day. Give it a look!

[@ToonLittleCat]

@@MrEightThreeOne Yup, and I've also learned that the developer company Jellyvision, went on to become Jackbox Games, best known for their Party Pack games. Amazing.

[@zacharys41]

The game also closes by itself if you repeatedly fail the Fastest Finger First round. Regis wants someone to get into the Hot Seat, but it turns out his berserk button in this game is people not cooperating with him. Specifically the player.

[@MouseQueen86]

Gotta loooove spamming Reege’s berserk button… hehe totally worth it… don’t go NAMING yourself ‘Regis’ either when he asks your name… hehe…

[@Computerman859]

The angry tagline I remember from this game (if no one uses the keyboard) ends with "Good night, goodbye, good luck!"

[@mrwonderful2142]

3:21 If you entered Regis as your name Regis would shout "Hey, that's my name"

[@kplewisvox]

Starting with the second edition. Allegedly with the first edition, using the name "Regis" would give you easier questions.

[@kingchrisl89]

Your Name: Fakey Fakerson.

[@anonymousgamer5771]

Seeing Regis get angry is kind of unnerving ngl.

[@joeyjoe308]

It's giving Ellie Lee from iHeartRadio, especially “Fan vs. Artist” 😂

[@AdriennevsUncleJamesWashington]

Happy birthday 🎂

[@AdriennevsUncleJamesWashington]

Piece out

[@tfteletoonauttp9613]

21:03 Regis Is Angry!

[@richardpallet4552]

21:03

[@richardpallet4552]

21:08

[@CEO100able]

I never watched "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" when I was a kid, although this game looks fun. Good job!

[@zachhoran]

If you're under 30, you wouldn't remember how hot Regis Millionairemetime on ABC primetime was for the first two of its almost three years on the air. They then, besides running it too many times a week, ditched the phone game in favor of traditional game show contestant auditions to get more diversity in the contestant, so they said, and had too many weeks with celebrities in the 2001-02 season,

[@Switch-pu3un]

Thinking of Regis and I miss that guy, only he could host Millionaire, thank you and the lord bless him

[@shafichowdhury2315]

Thank you so much for uploading this!!! I remember having this game on my PC!!! Brings back such great childhood memories! Rest In Peace Regis!

[@DakariKingMykan]

I had this game too... it was soooooooo frustrating... and yet I never gave up trying until I did it. (Couldn't look online in those days... so I did it from memory)

[@adamschulte5903]

Omg, the nostalgia! I used to play this on my Grandma's Windows 95!! I still know the answers to all the questions too 😁

[@justinedse8435]

Yeah! That was great, if you played the game a lot it got to a point where you knew all the answers.😊

[@apersonsad]

As a kid in 2023, I’m so sad the newest Millionaire game doesn’t have rules.

[@occono3543]

Which one, the Switch/PS4 one? How does it not have rules?

[@AdriennevsUncleJamesWashington]

Happy birthday 🎂

[@AdriennevsUncleJamesWashington]

Piece out

[@mattheweskender7781]

Regis Philbin: So there you are. You're a millionaire! Yeah, can you believe it? Don't believe it. Just kidding, heh, you're kind of a millionaire. You're a fake millionaire. But you had a good time didn't you? What else do you want? We all love you! Congratulations! 14:49

[@occono3543]

The way his voice breaks when he says Don't believe it is great

[@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820]

Oh my goodness, he actually writes you out a check for $0, that is brilliant ahaha

[@uncaaj]

Ah, yes, Jellyvision. Fine purveyors of irreverent quiz show party games since 1995.

[@andreapatane4204]

I used to have a copy of the kid's edition of this game when I was growing up. It's so sad that Regis died. 😭 It was donated to charity before the game show got cancelled. Please note that I also had the 3-pack set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on CD-ROM growing up until my PC didn't have any more virtual memory to run all 3 of them at once.

[@FooPanda]

I do believe this is the edition of the game I played at a friend's house at the time that berated me!

[@jody-lynnkerr5372]

This game reminds me of my childhood

[@mattheweskender7781]

Regis Philbin: Oh, how about that? You're a millionaire! Congratulations! 14:31

[@canhhoang2609]

Congratulations! Mr. 831! You're a millionaire! 14:31

[@HeadsetGuy]

Made by Jellyvision, the same people behind You Don't Know Jack.

[@Jaren929]

Now known as Jackbox Games

[@Krohnoh]

They don’t make games like this anymore. Still got my copy hiding somewhere, but no disc drive on my PC :( Loved this game so much as a kid. Rest In Peace, Regis, the show ain’t the same without him.

[@sd2go]

and it won't work in windows 10/11

[@Computerman859]

@@sd2go Yes, the game will not work properly on newer operating systems.

[@bronxscratcher]

Use an external CD drive and virtual box, and you should be fine.

[@athomeucachorrobugado]

Imagine you are playing the game on windows me and on the final question happens a bsod

[@Inactive18302]

Seeing Disney and Jellyvision (Jackbox Games) in this same game is something I’ll never see outside this-

[@ghefersoncurva]

Unique

[@zachhoran]

And if you pick a multiplayer mode, it asks a Fastest Finger question like those used to see who made it into the Hot Seat on the ABC primetime run.

[@Computerman859]

I remember that, yes.

[@jewelianperez7038]

This might be a weird question but, when I was a kid, I remember watching your channel. You made videos for both Pac-Man world 1 and 2. I can’t seem to find them on your channel, and I’m just curious on what happened to them. Sorry if that’s a weird question lol.

[@MrEightThreeOne]

Ultimately I decided Let's Plays weren't the direction I wanted to take the channel in and took both of them down. The PMW2 one in particular was really bad and became a bit of an old shame for me.

[@jewelianperez7038]

Oh I see Thanks for your reply! I appreciate it 👍

[@alexw499]

I remember owning this game as a kid.

[@shafichowdhury2315]

Me too! I remember how this game was on the PC!

[@firelightyear]

Did you know there was a Indian version of the games show? Because Slumdog Millionaire.

[@andrewschroy6368]

Even though said Indian version, Kaun Banega Crorepati, predates Slumdog Millionaire by eight years.

[@occono3543]

India had 7 versions of WWTBAM before Slumdog Millionaire. The original UK show started in 1998, came to the US with Regis in 1999 and came to India around 2000.

[@decimatorentertainmentstud8523]

May Regis rest in peace...

[@rush5rider]

Yeah I will miss him but luckily Jimmy Kimmel pay tribute to him

[@aaromotivestudio3869]

My grandparents used to have this on their old PC

[@shafichowdhury2315]

I remember getting the million dollar in this game! That was fun times!

[@Computerman859]

I was able to do that as well. I received this game sometime in 2007 as a gift from my aunt and uncle; it was part of the three game pack which also included the Second Edition (which I already had for the Game Boy Color) and the Sports Edition. I was able to achieve the jackpot on this version and the GBC version. I won on this CD-ROM sometime in Spring 2009 and the Nintendo 8-bit version sometime in 2010, for the first time respectively.

[@MidnightPodcastGaming]

I wonder if there is a PS1 version of this, the very first. NOT the 2nd Edition. SO curious.

[@kingchrisl89]

On Fastest Finger "You're a bunch of dummies, COME ON LET'S GO!!😡"😂

[@zacharys41]

I thought it was, "What's the matter with you, you dimwits?! Come on! Let's go!"

[@kingchrisl89]

@@zacharys41 nope. It's the dummies line.

[@zacharys41]

@@kingchrisl89 It’s been forever since I played Fastest Finger First in the 1st Edition PC game, so I don’t remember all the lines exclusive to that version.

[@Link77793]

Happy birthday, Auntie Juanita Wanda Holliday VS Uncle James Washington 🎂

[@mattheweskender7781]

Let's play Who wants to be a millionaire 3:27

[@ribljacorba4874]

1995

[@dominhtien6693]

14:15 C: Oedipus final answer ! C: Oedipus ! Is that your final answer? Yes, final answer ! You had $500 000 ! You've just winner $1 000 000 ! Congadulations ! YOU ARE A MILLIONAIRE ! Mr 831 : Millionaire !

[@brennangraham7088]

How are you able to play this game

[@jasonwharton5426]

I got the ISO file for this game and it seems to install but when I open it, it does nothing. I've tried compatibility mode but nothing helps - any ideas? I have windows 10

[@donovandownes5064]

I remember winning this for the first time. I might have been 6 years old. Truly expected the million dollars to come out of the printer or something lol

[@justinedse8435]

You're going with........ A? He sounds so condescending! A? Psshhhhh get out of here.

[@kplewisvox]

20:08 The game was the first place where I heard the Minor Chord of Doom. I remember it scaring me out of my chair at the time.

[@occono3543]

Fun legacy with that, it was submitted as part of the original soundtrack for the UK show but the UK show has never ended up using it, though it was on the CD album and in videogames. Ken Basin bore the privilege 11 years later of getting to hear it in the intended context on Regis's anniversary show.

[@PlucktheDragon]

0:58 Does Jellyvision still exist anymore?

[@winser21]

It was started and later rebranded by Harry Gottlieb into the now well-known Jackbox Games.

[@sd2go]

Was a good attempt but not as realistic. Main game never had a timer and music for the first 5 questions never stopped and paused and then answers were never all in lower case

[@Computerman859]

Out of all the Millionaire games I own (CD and cartridge), this version seems the most comparable to the actual show. Before the first question, a different song is played as is the case with the contestant about to see question six. Specifically, the cue used for advancing to the $4K question and $125K question is also used before the $2K question in this CD game; in addition the proper cue for advancing to $2,000 is only used before the $64,000 question. This show had a timer in real life, but that was not official until fall 2008. I don't mind the case of the answers as long as they are spelled correctly. Applying a grammar rule, the proper names have always used capital letters as the first letter here and on the real show; an example is shown at 4:56. The checks and question/answer displays are different in the second edition. kzbin.info/www/bejne/joSUmWukbMqcatk

[@xmanval2]

17:33

[@demonkingofvalor8162]

If it weren't for JonTron, I would've never guessed the $200 question lol

[@AgentArcher]

Ang Tamang Sagot.

[@robinflener6271]

I like this game.

[@coltino99]

This is the PC version I had when I was younger.

[@deftcoleman0552]

Way better than the one Microids did.

[@jayramos8316]

109

[@actic555]

1:43

[@canhhoang2609]

Regis: Let's play Who wants to be a Millionaire! 3:27

[@ChocolateFizzles]

Nice video!

[@Confidentlyperf]

10:10 *UH OH*

[@SheriffOutlaw]

I remember playing this and making it all the way to the end just to get the last answer incorrect. The answer was Mark McGrath

[@Nonii-92]

what was the question?

[@MillionaireWizard]

@@Nonii-92 In 1990, which of these singers graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in communication? A: Snoop Dogg B: Mariah Carey C: Kid Rock D: Mark McGrath*

[@TDI_CharlieBrown]

​@MillionaireWizard on the bright side you'll never forget that the rest of your life

[@novaturhidayat9636]

My childhood is ruined

[@ThomasWoolum]

Which computer was you playing this Game on?

[@MrEightThreeOne]

A Pentium 2 desktop running Windows 98 that I acquired earlier this year.

[@ThomasWoolum]

Mr. Eight-Three-One wher was that Pentium 2 Desktop located at?

[@MrEightThreeOne]

@@ThomasWoolum Bought it from a friend at a retro computer meetup (yes, we have those). In turn, he originally acquired it at a place called Computer Reset (look it up, it went viral recently thanks to LGR).

[@TNL_CHANNEL-g4i]

🪦rip regis phibblin⚰️

[@rootnegativesixteen6550]

So there you are Youre a millionaire Yeah can you believe it Times 1000 Thats right Youre now a billionaire Times 1000 again Thats right Youre the first trillionaire ever In the whole history of the world No one has achived that amount of money until you came Ive never been such proudness in you How about if you declare round 2 on that videogame Or at least keep that money away Its simple See you next time!!!

[@christopherchiampa2321]

Can you do the fastest finger in this game please?

[@ernawulandari3969]

Ok 6:02

[@markcombrinck-hertz3649]

hi mark

[@JTRAIN]

20:41

[@walkingfurret8896]

This game scared me when i was still a kid

[@jayramos8316]

206

[@jayramos8316]

205

[@jayramos8316]

107

[@jayramos8316]

111

[@jayramos8316]

110

[@ashleyharris7028]

I what see who million

[@ASMS2024]

Jellyvision Becomes JackBox Games.

[@Burymlife]

20:09 this music is so scared

[@jeradpaulson771]

No its the final answer you just lost a lot of money

[@jayramos8316]

108