The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime

1985 Pilot Spiel: "This is $1,000,000. Tonight, Carey and Lauren Heck, a vocal coach and a restaurant manager from Long Island, New York, will compete with Heidi and Chuck Mahalick, an office manager and a marine helicopter pilot from Willoughby, Ohio, as they battle for the biggest prize in the history of television. A single word can turn one of these couples into millionaires, all on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime. And here's our host, Jim Lange."

Season 1 Spiel #1: "This is $1,000,000. In a moment, (insert couple and occupations) will compete with (insert couple and occupations), as they battle for the biggest prize in the history of television. Just one single word could turn one of our couples into millionaires, all on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime. And now, here's our host, Jim Lange."

Season 1 Spiel #2: "This is $1,000,000. Today, (insert couple and occupations) could be only (insert number of days) away from/could win $1,000,000, as they face (insert couple and occupations), as they battle for the biggest prize in the history of television. Just one single word could turn one of our couples into millionaires, all on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime. And now, here's your host, Jim Lange."

Season 2 Spiel: (clips of past millionaires) "These couples have all become instant millionaires on the richest game in television! Today, two more couples will compete for $1,000,000 in cash and prizes including two fabulous new automobiles, all on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime! And now, here's the man with the millions, Jim Lange!"

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime was the short-lived, daily game show where two couples each day competed to solve word puzzles in hopes of winning $1,000,000.

Main Game
In each round, one member from each couple played the entire round. Their partners can cheer them on but they cannot help out in any way.

The two active players saw a series of blank squares representing the number of letters in a mystery word/phrase/name. When Jim said "Go", letters in the puzzle appeared one at a time (the same as Scrabble's Speedword & Wheel of Fortune's Toss-Up Puzzles), and as soon as a player knows the puzzle, he/she must then buzz in. Giving the right answer won money, but giving a wrong answer or running out of time gave the opposing player a chance to see the remaining letters minus the last, then had two seconds to buzz in and answer.

Each toss-up puzzle was a clue to a bigger puzzle. The player with a correct guess came up to a giant computer housing the puzzle and picked two letters from the keyboard in front of him/her. The keyboard in question consisted of the entire alphabet and a star key (the star key represented punctuation marks and/or numbers in the puzzle). The contestant can only choose from the letters that were lit, for they were the only ones that were in the puzzle, except for just the one which does not belong, and that letter is dubbed "The Stinger". The Stinger was always shown at the start to the home viewers so they can keep their eyes on it, but not to the contestants; any letter can be the Stinger (though letters Q, X, and Z were never Stingers) but the star key is the only one that is never the Stinger. When choosing the letter, each time a letter/number/symbol appeared in the puzzle, money (which was always the value of the toss-ups) was added to the puzzle bank; if the letter chosen was the Stinger, the contestant lost a chance at solving the puzzle. If the two letters chosen were safe, the contestant had a chance to solve the puzzle and if he/she solved it, he/she won all the money in the bank for the team; otherwise, another toss-up was played.

Scoring
Here's how they scored in each round:
 * Round 1 - $25
 * Round 2 - $50
 * Round 3 - $100

In the event there was time remaining after three puzzles, a fourth puzzle was played with the same amount from the third puzzle. When time ran out in the middle of a puzzle, letters in the puzzle were revealed one at a time just like the toss-up clues until one player answered correctly.

The couple with the most money at the end of the game won the game. If the game ended in a tie, a tiebreaker toss-up was played with the first player to buzz in with a correct answer winning the game; if a contestant buzzed in and was wrong, the game went to the opposing team.

The winning couple got to keep all the cash earned and went on to play the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime bonus round.

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime Bonus Round
To start, the winning couple was shown three categories, they must choose the one they know best. After choosing a category, the winning couple entered into an isolation booth where they can hear only host Jim and not the audience. Once they entered, they had 60 seconds to solve six puzzles under the chosen category. Each puzzle worked the same as the clue puzzles in the main game except that the couple can now guess as many times as they want at any time. As soon as they yell out the right answer, the puzzle was filled in and they moved on to the next puzzle. If they can solve all six before time expired, they won a cash bonus depending on their appearance.

The first win was worth $5,000, and the second win was worth $10,000. On the first two bonus games they can either take the appropriate bonus cash prize and leave the show or come back the next day to face a new couple. In any bonus round, if they fail to get all six right when time ran out, their reign as champions ended but they do keep all the main game cash. However, if the winning couple won three bonus games, they win $1,000,000. In the first season the million dollar prize was all cash and delivered in an annuity fashion ($40,000 a year for 25 years). In the second season 9/10 of it was cash or $900,000 ($36,000 a year for 25 years) while the remaining $100,000 was in prizes including two new Mazdas, 40 round-trip tickets to anywhere in the USA (on Delta Air Lines); five complete rooms of furniture (a kitchen, living room, dining room, den, and bedroom); and an outdoor spa.

Nine couples became millionaires over the course of the series, and despite the cancellation & various buyouts and acquisitions in terms of the production company (Warner Bros. now owns the Lorimar-Telepicures catalogue), all payments were honored until 2011/2012.

Merchandise
A board game based on the show was released by Cardinal in 1986. (NOTE: host Jim Lange is on the cover of the box along with the artwork of the set)

International Versions

 * A Colombian version hosted by Frenanado Gonzalez Pacheco ran on Cadena Una and Cadena Dos (One and Two Chain Chain) from 1987 until 1990 as El Programa del Millon (The Million Program).
 * A UK version hosted by David Hamilton ran on ITV from 1988 until 1991 as All Clued Up.

Other Pictures
The logo is the same in both seasons, but the backdrops are different.

Music
Score Productions

Inventor
The El Encanto Group - Based on a failed 1970s pilot called The Letter Machine

Catchphrases
"YOU'VE WON A MILLION DOLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS!" - Jim Lange

"YOU'VE MADE IT!!" - Jim Lange

Tagline
"I'm Jim Lange, (and I'm Karen Thomas,) we'll see you next time on the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime. And 'Thanks a Million!' Bye! - Jim Lange & Karen Thomas

Links

 * Rules of the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
 * Another $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime rules page
 * Chuck Donegan's $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime rules page
 * Josh Rebich's $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime Rule Sheet
 * Chris Lambert's $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime rules page
 * Screengrabs of the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
 * A blog about the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
 * An interview with $1,000,000 winner, Cheryl Gilmore
 * Game Show Garbage's induction of the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime board game

YouTube Videos

 * Cheryl & Bill Gilmore win $1,000,000 in cash
 * Dan & Laureen Cristafuli win $1,000,000 in cash & prizes