The Challengers (2)

The one year old game show, where three contestants (one being a returning champion, and the two others being challengers) answered general knowledge & current events questions to win cash.

Challengers Sprint
To start, all three contestants were given a starting bankroll of $200 (originally they started with nothing). Then host Clark asked a series of rapid-fire toss-up questions. The first player to buzz-in with a correct answer won $100, but an incorrect answer lost $100. Originally on a miss, the other player(s) got a chance to answer; later on a miss, the question ended (ala Sale of the Century). The round lasted for 60 seconds (one minute (1:00)) and when time was up, the player with the most money earned control of the board.

Main Rounds 1 & 2
In each round, six categories were displayed on the video wall. The player in control selected a category and three sub-categories were shown with money amounts attached to each. The contestants then selected in secret what question they want to go for. After the selections, the questions were asked in order from least expensive to most expensive, and to the player(s) who chose them. If all three contestants selected a different category, then everybody gets their own question; if two selected the same sub-category, a toss-up question was asked to both of them leaving the third contestant with a solo question; but if all three players selected the same sub-category, then the values of all the questions were doubled and all three players get the question they chose for a chance to "run the board". A correct answer to any question added the value of the question, but an incorrect answer deducted the value; on a two-person toss-up while a correct answer worked the same, on a miss, the opposing player can decide to either answer the question at the risk of losing the money or pass it up without penalty; on a three-player toss-up on a miss, the opposing player(s) would have a chance to answer, with the pass option in effect for the last player left, but a correct answer from any player not only won the money but can decide to either take one of the remaining questions or pass and go to another category; when going for the other questions, an incorrect answer lost money and stopped that player's progress, while a correct answer added more money (and the decision to go for the last question or stop).

Dollar values were doubled in the second round, and any player who finished round two with zero or a negative score, was eliminated from the game.

Play continued until all the categories were taken or when time was up.

Money Amounts
When the show began, all dollar values were generous, but they were diminished for the rest of the run.

First Half
Round 1 - The questions were worth $150, $200 & $250, with the double values in case of three of a kind being $300, $400 & $500 (meaning that running the board was worth $1,200). Round 2 - The questions were worth $300, $400 & $500, with the double values in case of three of a kind being $600, $800 & $1,000 (meaning that running the board was worth $2,400).

Second Half
Round 1 - The questions were worth $100, $150 & $200, with the double values in case of three of a kind being $200, $300 & $400 (meaning that running the board was worth $900). Round 2 - The questions were worth $200, $300 & $400, with the double values in case of three of a kind being $400, $600 & $800 (meaning that running the board was worth $1,800).

The Final Challenge
The final round of the game was appropriately called "The Final Challenge". In the Final Challenge, one last category was revealed followed by three sub-subjects with odds posted below (Even, Double and Triple). The bigger the odds, the harder the question. When host Clark said "And the challenge is yours." all three contestants or whoever was left had 15 seconds to choose a sub-subject and made one final wager which can be any or all of their current scores. Unlike the main rounds, only one player can answer each question; if two or all three players chose the same sub-category, the highest wager gets the question. Contestants in play were asked the questions they chose in order of difficulty and a correct answer added the wager (times the odds), but an incorrect answer deducted the wager.

All contestants who didn't finish in the red get to keep all the cash they won, but the player with the most money became the champion and returned to play the next show against two new challengers. Champions stayed on the show until they were defeated.

The Ultimate Challenge
The Ultimate Challenge was a special bonus round played by the championship player in which he/she must answer one or more questions to win even more money.

1st Version
When the show started, in order for champions to play the Ultimate Challenge, they must win three games in a row. During that time, the Ultimate Challenge was always played at the top of the show. To start, the champion was given a choice of two categories. When the champion made his/her choice, three subcategories under that category were revealed and host Clark read each question under each subcategory (one for each subcategory) in order of their difficulty. If the champion can answer all three questions correctly, he/she won a cash jackpot which started at $50,000 (later $25,000) plus $1,000 for every day its not won (originally $5,000 for every unsuccessful attempt).

Champion Larry Kaplan was the first to win the Ultimate Challenge which was worth $60,000.

2nd Version
Later in the run, the Ultimate Challenge followed the tradition of the other self-contained game shows with a bonus round, for it was played at the end of the show. This time only one category was shown and one question was asked. All trips to the Ultimate Challenge were worth $10,000.

During that time, the Challengers Sprint round was deleted from the show in favor of an opening toss-up question. The Ultimate Challenge was eliminated when the Challengers Sprint was reinstated.

Cash Awards
All contestants who went home with money get to decide to either put their money on their account courtesy of Citibank Visa or (in later months) Mastercard or keep all the money in cash. The latter option was usually always taken.

April Fool's Day Show (4/1/91)
On April Fool's Day in the first round after the Challenger's Sprint, a nasty joke was played on Dick and the contestants. For the video wall displayed six unusual category names. They were:


 * Pre-Coloumbian Architecture
 * The Politics of Berundi
 * Quantum Physics
 * 14th Century Philosophers
 * Anaerobic Zoology (Dick couldn't pronounce it, let alone say it)
 * Existential Poets

Mike Dwight, the leader at the end of the Challenger's Sprint and one of the two challengers of that day picked "Pre-Coloumbian Architecture", and Dick wondered what's going on and what are the real categories; and that's when a birthday party-like "April Fool's" sign popped up on the wall, giving everyone a big laugh.

Dick later asked Judge Gary Johnson, "Is this your idea?". Gary replied, "I thought it was appropriate for the day even though I was curious to hear what they had to say about Burundi." And Dick answered back with, "Go to your room!" And that's when the real first round began.

Additional Trivia
Gary Johnson, the show's judge/writer/producer, is now one of the judges/writers/producers on Jeopardy!.

Inventor
Ron Greenberg - based off his previous show, The Who, What, or Where Game.

(Current Events) Question References
Newsweek Magazine

Links
Rules for The Challengers Tim Connoly's Challengers Rules Page Michael Tiller's Challengers Rules Page

YouTube Video
Part one of an episode where Larry Kaplan would win the $60,000 Ultimate Challenge