Up to 50,000 people took in the online Big Time Live game show put on Facebook by local entertainer Richy Roy last Wednesday, and he hopes the numbers will continue growing. (He is shown above with two of his children as they looked over a fire truck that dropped by for sister Bailey's 11th birthday on Monday.)
He and brother Preston had planned on rolling out the online game show some time later, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he saw an opportunity to give people some free entertainment since everyone had to be at home.
“We started out with only about 200 people, but then it doubled by the next week, and doubled again the following week,” said Roy, noting his game show had players from as far away as Florida and California, and from coast to coast in Canada.
Last week, they had 750 online players, with the video reaching about 50,000 people who were watching the show. This past Wednesday night, Roy said they had 1,075 players and reached 13,000 people, with over 35,000 video views.
Roy noted that many people told him how several members of a family gathered around to play the game on one device, so the numbers of active players was probably much higher than that.
“It’s going to keep catching on as they keep telling others about it. As a live game show company, we wanted to progress with what a game show is, and the next step was to have an interactive online game show. That’s exactly what this is,” he said.
On Wednesday, a nurse from Regina won the lawn mower from Canadian Tire, Mark Tribiger of Estevan won the Pet Valu prize, and Alan Hillstead of Weyburn won the Absolute Computer prize.
When the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions came into force, he lost 22 bookings for his live game show, along with a few weddings that have been rebooked to 2021, and some magic shows he also had lined up.
“I’m supposed to be doing a week of magic shows at the Regina Public Library this summer, and that’s probably going to be cancelled as well. There’s just no telling how it’s all going to go,” said Roy.
“Our entire calendar opened up, so I said, you know what, let’s keep ourselves busy, and we used that opportunity to bring some entertainment to people while they’re sitting at home,” he added.
There are some game show hosts in the United States who are taking a look at what he’s offering here, he said, and they’re excited to see what might develop as this COVID-19 crisis continues.
The Big Time Live game show is held every Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m.
Coming up on Saturday, he is offering a children’s edition of the game show, with a top prize of an $800 scooter from Canadian Tire as the first prize, a basket of toys as the second prize and a $40 prize from Pet Valu for third.
He noted that parents can log in to the page and play along with their kids.
