Who wants to be a millionaire? A Game in MATLAB 

Introduction

Hello again, this time I want to ask you a question, wouldn't you like to be a millionaire? I have good news for you. No, I'm not going to teach you how to be one, but I can teach you how to be one in a game, don't you like it? Give me a chance. Let me show you. What do you think if we create this game using MATLAB? Let's do it. For this, some points will be covered: we’ are starting with some useful functions, then we see some game features, and finally, an example is shown.

Used Functions

For this code, we used two kinds of functions: built-in functions and others I have created.

Built-in functions

Let's think what MATLAB functions we might need, let me give you a hint:

• disp()
• fprintf()
• tic()
• toc()
• input()
• pause()

Ok, it seems easy, I have used these functions in other tasks, is that all? Actually no! But calm down, take it easy. Three more functions are needed: rules(), ask_me(), play(). Let’s see each other.

Author’s functions

Code: rules()

You know, what would be a game without rules? Well, this function adds ones, the game is designed to not be difficult, this function includes the number of questions as well as aids and other things, let's see:

Did you see? Only 5 questions and only 1 aid, of course! By the way, you only have 30 seconds to answer.

Code: ask_me()

This is an interesting function. It has one input and two outputs, the input is a number, this corresponds to the question depending on your level. As you know, there are 5 questions, so the input will be a number between 1 to 5. Now, two outputs are expected. The first is the variable result (contain information about the answer) and second Need_help (you know, in case you have selected this aid).

The function looks (partially) like is shown below:

Oh! Sorry, I forgot it, the aid allows you to choose no limit time for the question.

Code: play()

This is the main function. It uses a while statement. Into while the game is executed. The game will continue since the player does not decide to quit, get a wrong answer of if s/he has not completed all the questions, this information is updated here. Finally, the earned money is shown.

Example

When you run the code, you will probably get this:

As you see, questions are displayed, the time is shown too and finally the money you have won.

Conclusion

MATLAB is very useful software, it can be used for academic tasks, research, data processing, and even for playing games. We have learned how to create a game by creating functions, using control flow statements (while loop), and some conditional structures (if-else).