If they won all 16 bonus rounds that they played, they would retire with $60,000. Championship Formats įor the show's first four weeks, the longest that champions could stay on the original Blockbusters was eight matches. This time, it was a perfect path with no misses or passes. Here, she finished 12 seconds earlier than the other time. If the contestant connected gold to gold, the payout as the amount hidden behind the bar adjacent to the last correct answer. For the Gold Run, the four gold bars on the right-hand side concealed a money amount ($1,000/$3,000/$5,000/$10,000). That's why to potentially prevent this from happening, the winning side was asked to pass control of the game to the opposing side, making the process reversed. If the contestant stumbled along the way, the opposing side received the $250, and a second game of Blockbusters was played to determine the winner of the match.
If the contestant could answer all three questions correctly, it paid $250, ending the match immediately. The contestant answered by calling out a(n) (set of) initital(s) and then give the answer. That side then played a game called "Shortcut to Victory", Bill asked three Gold Run-style questions. A regular game of Blockbusters was played, with the first side to make the connection winning $250. In the pilot, it took $500 to win the match. If the solo player missed, only one half of the family pair could answer, without conference. The solo player went top to bottom, while the family pair went side to side. Either way, Bill would go over any and all missed and/or passed questions, and another match would commence.įor this version, a solo player faced a family pair. If they were blocked out, the contestant could continue and try to build up the consolation prize of $100 for every correct answer until time ran out. If time expired, they received $100 for every captured hexagon. If the contestant made the connection, he/she won a major cash prize. Correct answers would mark the chosen hexagons, but wrong answers or passes put up blocks and the contestant had to work around them. The difference here was that many of the hexagons had multiple letters on them (1 to 5 letters), and naturally, they represented an answer of more than one word (eg: "BS", What people kiss in Ireland: Blarney Stone). The contestant had to connect from side to side in 60 seconds or less. Completing a path earned money, with two games needed to win the match and advance to the bonus round.ĭue to the interlocking patterns of the hexagons, a game could never end in a tie. The other would have to connect from side to side in as little as five moves. One player would have to connect from top to bottom, which could be done in as little as four correct answers. If nobody answered correctly, another question was asked whose answer began with that same letter. If they were incorrect, the other side would get a chance to answer. If correct, the space was marked with their color. The contestant who buzzed in first would get a chance to answer the question. For example, if the letter B were chosen, a sample question could be, "What 'B' is a long silver rod twirled by a majorette or cheerleader?", in which case the correct answer would be "Baton". The answer to the question would begin with the letter chosen. A letter was chosen at random to start a game. A 4×5 board of 20 hexagons was presented with a letter in each hexagon.