Parents' Guide to

Deal or No Deal

By Larisa Wiseman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Game of chance is decent family entertainment.

TV NBC Game Shows 2005
Deal or No Deal Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Belinda N.
Belinda N. Parent of 7, 9 and 12-year-old
December 4, 2018
age 8+

A luck based game show that my children can watch together

Deal or No Deal is really entertaining. The basic concept of the show is that one contestant selects a case, and this case can have any amount of money in it, ranging from 1¢ to $1,000,000. Then the player gets to see what’s inside the remaining 25 cases. After seeing inside so many cases, a man, called the banker, will call. He will offer the player a specific amount of money. The game continues until a player either makes a deal with the banker, and wins the offer given by the banker, or the player could never make a deal with the banker, thus ending the game by seeing the amount of money in the players case.
love2
love2 Parent of 17-year-old
September 26, 2009
age 9+

for ages 9 and up

this show is awsome. but i wouldent let any kid under the age of 9 see it because of what the girls in show are wearing and because if there younger than 9 chances are there not going to like or understand the show that well.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

DEAL OR NO DEAL is a primetime game show in which each contestant, chosen at random out of a pool of audience hopefuls, is presented with 26 briefcases displayed by lovely models on a stage. Each briefcase contains a tag showing a certain dollar amount -- from $.01 to $1 million. After each round of briefcase-opening (six are opened in the first round, five the next, and so on), the show's host, Howie Mandel, receives a phone call from \"the bank\" offering contestants a certain amount of cash if they walk away now. If the contestants accept the amount, the game is over; if they decide \"no deal\" because they believe the unopened briefcase contains a higher amount than what was offered, the game continues until they either accept an offer or open the briefcase to find out how much they won.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (10):

Although there's little brain power involved here aside from making smart decisions -- the show is more about luck and is far from being a brainteaser like Jeopardy -- the decision-making element is crucial, as is resisting being swayed by greed. Deal or No Deal is decent entertainment that actually makes you think -- just a little -- and could possibly help teach younger viewers the value of a dollar.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the contestants' decisions, and what each family member would do if they were playing the game. Would you be satisfied with the amount of money a contestant won? Why or why not? Do you think the contestant was too greedy, or too much of a risk-taker? What would you have done differently, and why? Another discussion topic could be money itself and its value. What would you do if you won a lot of money? Aside from buying material things, can you think of some ways you could put the money to good use?

TV Details

  • Premiere date: December 19, 2005
  • Cast: Howie Mandel
  • Network: NBC
  • Genre: Game Shows
  • TV rating: TV-PG
  • Last updated: February 26, 2023

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