While game shows have often made the jump into video games, and trivia games are a popular draw for bars and restaurants, Microsoft is trying something new by hosting real, live, game-show-like content on Xbox Live. The first experiment? 1 vs. 100, a scheduled, live game show with a real host, real prizes to be won, and questions that never repeat. Originally revealed at last year's E3, the game is nearly ready for prime time. Ars took part in the Canadian beta and, after talking to the game's director, we think Microsoft could be on to something.

Here's how it works: the live shows are scheduled, so you have to make sure you're free to take part in the game. When you join, you either are part of the Mob, the 100, or the One. The Mob competes on the scoreboard and could win Microsoft points and Xbox Live Games, the 100 have their avatar shown on the big wall, and could become the One if the main player is knocked out. If you answer a question incorrectly, you're out of the Mob.

The One answers the questions for prizes, and if he or she is knocked out by a wrong answer, one of the 100 takes his or her place. It may sound complicated at first, but you'll soon get it, and the best advice is just to answer all the questions right and see how long you can last against your fellow contestants. You can also play during scheduled "extended play" sessions that don't feature a live host, but playing well during these can bump your chances of being part of the 100 in the next show. Don't bother trying to Google the answers, you only have a moment or two to answer.

"What we're doing here is new territory. We're bringing people together with a live host, and creating new questions for an experience that's always fresh, with prizes," game director Manuel Bronstein told Ars. Because you're playing against real players, and there is a live host emceeing the whole experience, every game is something different.

The host is part of what makes each episode interesting and gives the game its flavor. "The live host has the host tool, which gives information like names, gamertags, things that are in your public profile. He can see the top three scorers, and the players with the fastest answers," Bronstein explained. "Along with the stats he can see, we're complimenting that with Twitter, the forums, e-mails, so he can balance the factual data with things that are more emotional, and he can interact with what people are saying about the game."

The host and the producer sit down before each game for an hour or so, talking about ways to make each experience special.

While the game does benefit from the live host, the experience was a bit more canned than we were expecting. Game mechanics and question setup are handled by a recorded female host, with the live announcer breaking in during various pause points in the game. As with most online multiplayer games, there's a real thrill that comes with knowing you are competing in real time against thousands of other players—and an even bigger thrill that comes when you whip most of them in points.

Microsoft set us up with a Canadian Xbox Live account to take part in the beta, and boy were the questions Canada-centric: you better know your hockey, geography, and Canadian history. One question did in fact use the word "hoser," and my knowledge of Trailer Park Boys came in handy.

The questions are a big part of the experience, and their difficulty is a tricky thing to nail down. "It's very interesting for us. We have our internal team of writers, and we're trying to strike a balance between difficulty, fun, and the entertainment value of the question," Bronstein told Ars. "We have mechanisms to measure right and wrong answers, and we can then see if questions are too easy. It's a great exercise to keep fine tuning to keep the experience very inclusive and entertaining."

The service clearly remains in beta. Getting into the game caused my Xbox to hang; when I did enter the game lobby, the program stalled; when I finally got into the game, I was disconnected after a couple of minutes. But persistence paid off, and eventually my avatar found his way into the circular game hall, where 15,000 Canadians had assembled to answer trivia questions about the Canadian Football League.

"You can test a lot internally, but when you go live and see the network conditions, with scaling, you start discovering things," Bronstein said when we brought up the technical issues. "We're discovering issues early, and we're monitoring information from servers, forums, from disconnects, then we can sit down and analyze that data, understand what created it, and try to get it fixed." This is what betas are for, and hopefully the game will be a smooth experience when it launches in the spring.

The play itself is rather leisurely. For every question, you simply hit a button to lock in your answer; there is a lot of production for very little game-type interaction. "The mechanic is simple, I'm not going to argue that," Bronstein agrees. "There's going to be a lot of opportunity to take on the feedback we get, and to make the next version even better."

While the cost of a live host and scheduled events may only make sense in games where large amounts of people can play, Bronstein says that there are many other concepts or game play ideas that can be used in the live environment; this just the first stab at this kind of experience.

Even the digital prizes of Microsoft points and Xbox Live Arcade games are enough to make the play more thrilling—it really feels like something is at stake. The scheduled nature of the shows also makes playing something of an event; this could be the closest many of us get to getting on Jeopardy. Players can also be entered into drawings for real electronics and other prizes.

We look forward to playing more when the technical issues are ironed out, and of course it will be more fun without Canadian-flavored questions for us Yanks. Still, this is an interesting step in the world of interactive entertainment, and leaves plenty of room to grow. Even better, the first "season" of the game will be free if you're an Xbox Live Gold member, and it's expected to begin this spring.