À l'épreuve du diable

Some brainy people are invited to stay in a big house and compete in mental games for a chance to win a sack of money.

The games are complex (which I love) and each game has about five minutes of rules explenation - my wife would switch off for these bits - but it doesn't matter as a voice-over provides tips on what is going on.

The characters are great and it really is moving when one is eliminated.

The format has some interesting kinks in it: like the "pieces" the players can obtain.

This isn't a straight forward "you lose you go home" affair - you can come last and be fine and come second and be eliminated.

I was at the very edge of my seat on several occasion.

Please, please, please renew this!

Season 2 Is a big step down.

They really leaned into the social element. On each game groups formed and picked on individuals.

Imagine playing a game of Monopoly where the only goal is to prevent one player winning.

Everyone else trades properties, let's each other of rent and purposely ruins the victims sets.

This makes for a tedious and unpleasant time.

It is still good and there are moments of tension but often you have to sit through a hour long game where the winner was decided in the first few minutes.

We've become accustomed to how reality games like this work. Deceit, betrayal-- it's all fair. We might tut-tut, but part of the fun of these shows is that opportunity for self-righteousness: how could they do that? I would never! And we believe that, behind the scenes, the producers are doing whatever they can to promote that drama. It makes for engaging viewing. Of course, the producers like to keep mum about it; they'd rather we judge the contestants for any moral failings, not the show for incentivizing them.

Devil's Plan is a little different. It explicitly invites deceit from the beginning. The plan is to turn the contestants themselves into devils. But is it possible that DP is not playing completely above the table here? Is it possible that DP's goal is instead to demonstrate how clever one must be to be a saint?

The heart of DP are two games played daily. The first, ostensibly competitive, pits players against each other in cleverly designed games that include challenges both mental and social. If they win, they gain or lose "pieces" which allow them to remain in the game-- when they lose their last piece, contestants are eliminated. The second game of the day, explicitly cooperative, raises the prize pool.

But there are hidden games as well. Unbidden, contestants discover new puzzles in their environment. What is the prize for solving these challenges? On this, our show's hosts are, so far, silent.

DP is a game about puzzles, and if you like good puzzles, I think you'll like to play along-- DP certainly invites you to, never revealing secret information until the game is already won or lost. The cooperative puzzles are somewhat interesting, but purely mental in nature. But where the game shines is in its "competitive" puzzles. Why the quote marks? Because these puzzles typically contain carefully designed (and carefully shrouded) Prisoner's Dillemmas. If you like to solve puzzles the wrong way, if you've ever heard, "Yeah, okay, but I don't think you're supposed to play the game that way," then you'll love these puzzles, because I'm pretty sure DP's designers really, really want us to solve them the wrong way. (We home viewers can think about the rules at leisure, finding the creative solutions, but unfortunately, DP's contestants are not yet finding all the strategies. Their schedule is strict.)

For people who are not into puzzles-- particularly, not into political puzzles-- there is probably not much here, just another reality show. But for me, there's a lot, and I'm greatly looking forward to the rest of the season.

Watching episode 1 made me jump out of my seat. The concept is so different, people are so intelligent, smart and unpredictable, it's like I'm watching a thriller movie. It's interesting to see how outcome changes with everyone's actions. An amazing show and you guys must watch it if you're into solving puzzles and collecting **pieces**.

You'll get to see different kind of people, acting differently in various scenario, how alliances are made and how betrayal happen.

Day 1 which makes two episode of it was completed package, the jealousy, competitiveness, teamwork, trust, distrust - I just can't wait for more episodes....

This is one of the best reality shows I've ever seen. It kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time, the cast was very likeable and by the end of the show I felt I had watched all of them for months. Every individual player had enough screen-time, so by the end I knew them so well and felt heartbroken when some of my favorites left. High steaks, high emotions, super interesting games that I would love to try playing. Season 2 would probably even be more interesting, because the contestants will know what to expect and will probably be a bit more cutthroat. I'm convinced anyone who doesn't like this just doesn't have the mental capacity to follow the rules of the games and the strategies implemented by the players... there is simply no other explanation 😂

I was done with those reality shows where the temp in the room is higher than the avg is. It is a breath of fresh air to see both intellectual with good emotional intellect, playing the games without constantly betraying each other or being mean and all over the place. Such a wholesome group of people with genuine interaction, strategies.

I particularly loved the games designs, their ingenuity and how it all comes together. There was no smart exploit that ruins it for one player, it was either you're good in a field needed or you aren't. No tricks. They pushed all the participants to their limits making them all likeable as they displayed weaknesses to each other.