Hollywood Showdown

''OPENING SPIEL: These six players have selected an envelope with a cash value inside. Only one has the "Box Office" card. Find that one, and you could be in for a payoff of over (insert amount), because this is Hollywood Showdown! And here's our host, Todd Newton!''

''REST OF SPIEL: Thank you, Randy West. Hi, everybody, and welcome to Hollywood Showdown. This is the show where you need to know all about the World of Entertainment, because I ask lots of questions, and each of them have something related to Movies, Television, Music, and much more.''

Hollywood Showdown, the pop culture/entertainment game show that plays very similar to Jackpot.

Gameplay
Seven players competed for one whole week trying to win thousands of dollars in cash, simply by answering Hollywood-related trivia questions.

Main Game
In each game, seven contestants competed for the right to win all the money in the "Box Office", which was an increasing jackpot which started at $10,000. Six of them sat in a gallery and held envelopes. Five envelopes contained cash amounts (one in each envelope), while the one remaining envelope had the "Box Office" card.

One player would stand at the "Box Office" podium and choose which one of the six players seated in the gallery to face. Once that player is chosen, that player opened the envelope and revealed how much money was inside it. That amount was then added to the "Box Office" jackpot. Those two players would then face-off in a Hollywood Showdown, which was a showdown full of nothing but entertainment questions. Host Newton gave three possible answers & posed a question to both players. The first player to buzz-in with a correct answer won the question. A wrong answer gave the opponent a chance to answer from the remaining two choices. If both players missed it, the right answer was given, the question was thrown out, and a new one was asked. The first player to answer three questions correctly won the showdown and got to choose another player to face.

As soon as the "Box Office" card was found or if there was one gallery player left, the player to win that showdown won a chance at the jackpot.

Box Office
In the Box Office round, the winning player attempted to answer five questions correctly to win the "Box Office".

On each question, the winning player had a choice of two categories to answer a question from. Once the category was chosen, if the contestant can answer that question correctly, he/she won the question and moved on to the next. Before each new question, the winning contestant was given two new categories and had the option to either select one and attempt to answer the question in that category or stop the game and take the money because if at anytime he/she answered a question incorrectly or ran out of time, the round was over and the contestant lost all money accumulated. Each correct answer was worth $500 which became the contestant's should he/she stop, but if the winning contestant can answer all five questions correctly, he/she won the entire "Box Office".

Contestants who did not win the Box Office started a new game & search for the Box Office card. Likewise contestants who did win the Box Office retired from the show, and a new contestant took their place and started the next game with a fresh $10,000 Box Office.

Friday Payoff
Like Jackpot, all weeks were self-contained, meaning that a game in progress on Friday could not continue into the following Monday. When time ran out, all remaining players in the gallery opened their envelopes, and the player with the Box Office card competed in the final question round for that week. The winner of that round could either take $1,000 or return next week to play again for a brand-new $10,000 Box Office.

Box Office Bonanza
The Box Office Bonanza was a special week of Hollywood Showdown shows during the first season. On those shows, the "Box Office" card was replaced at times by the "Blockbuster" card. If that was found, then the winner of the "Blockbuster" showdown played for double the "Box Office", causing the "Box Office" to be worth more than $20,000 or $30,000. But if the subsequent Box Office round was not won, the Box Office returned to its pre-doubled total. The highest "Box Office" total was $33,260 which was won. The Friday payoff rules remained, except that the winner took home $2,000.

Merchandise
In 2000, the website Boxerjam.com once had an online version of Hollywood Showdown in conjunction with Game Show Network.

Inventor
Sande Stewart

Trivia

 * When players are locked in to answer, the sound effect is from Windows Default Beep. The lights used to indicate correct answers are reminiscent of those on Jep!, as they are a larger version of the timer lights on Jeopardy!, Rock & Roll Jeopardy!, & Sports Jeopardy!.

Indonesian Version
A short-lived Indonesian version of Hollywood Showdown called Showbiz produced by Becker Entertainment, hosted by Harsya Subandrio, aired on RCTI in 2003.

Links
Rules for Hollywood Showdown

Josh Rebich's Hollywood Showdown Rules Page

Hollywood Showdown online game rules @ Boxerjam.com (via Internet Archive)

Hollywood Showdown online game @ Boxerjam.com (via Internet Archive)

YouTube Videos
Veteran Game Show Contestant Alex Purnell

$18,110 Box Office Bonus Round