guys, this isn't a trick question, the answer for everybody shouldn't be $1.

If 'how much' isn't clear (I guess it could be a bit deceiving), the context should make it obvious that the question is "what is the most you would be willing to pay?" This is obviously the case.

I would just give gabe 50k straight up (none of this anonymous bs), a typical unknown a trivial amount where my feeling of goodwill ~equaled my value of the loss of money, and aquantences, friends, and family members would be somewhere inbetween.