Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak

This was Pyramid with a twist. It's the only US game show hosted by British personality Bruce Forsyth.

Gameplay
Two teams of five contestants (one consisting of men, the other consists of women) compete in a battle of the sexes game of word association.

In each round, the captain of the team in control chose one of two words presented by the host. The other four team members wore headphones to ensure they couldn't hear the word. Once a word was chosen, the team was given 40 seconds to communicate the word down the line. The team captain would describe the word to the second team member, who, after guessing the word, would then do the same for the third team member. The process is continued down the line until one of the following events happen:
 * The team completed the transition down the line (classified as a Hot Streak)
 * Time ran out
 * A player repeats a clue or a keyword already given

In Rounds One and Two, each successful transition was worth $100, for a maximum of $400 per round. For Round Three, each correct transition was worth $200, for a possible $800. The maximum grand total for a game was $1,600.

The team with the most money won the game, kept the cash and advanced to the bonus round. If the game ended in a tie, the captain of the champion team was given one final word and opted to play or pass. The team that played the tie-breaker had to complete four transitions to win; failing to do so sent the other team to the bonus round.

The Bonus Round
A subject word was given to the team captain to start, with his or her teammates once again wearing headphones. The captain gave four words associated with the subject. After that, the teammates have 20 seconds (five seconds per team member) to guess the four words provided by their captain. Each word guessed was worth $200. This process was repeated with a second subject word worth $300 per correct guess.

For the third and final word, if the team was able to guess all four words provided by the captain within 20 seconds, their bonus round score was multiplied by five, for a maximum payoff of $10,000. If the team was unable to do so, they added whatever they won in the first parts of the bonus round to their winnings from the main game.

The Party Line Pilot
Three pilots for the show were made, with the first from 1983 titled Party Line. It was hosted by Gene Rayburn with Jay Stewart announcing. Forsyth hosted the other two pilots (with Rod Roddy announcing both).

For the most part, the main game was played the same as the other two pilots and series, but contestants earned points instead of money. Ruck Zuck, the German version of this show, used the same scoring format.

However, the bonus round for the first pilot was substantially different than the series and other two pilots. The winning team faced a zig-zag line of nine players, and all team members were given the same word. The team captain was given a baton, and with the baton he or she gave clues to each of the nine players, without repeating any clues. If at anytime the captain runs out of clues, he/she can pass to the next teammate in line (the process is the same for the other team members). The first transaction was worth $100 and the money doubled for every subsequent transition, up to $25,600. The process lasted for 40 seconds as in the main game.

International Versions
There were several international versions of the Hot Streak format produced.

Russia
Russian version was called Пойми меня (Understand me), and it was broadcasted from 1995 to 1996 on Channel One and from 1996 to 2000 on NTV. It was hosted by Oleg Marusev. In this version rules of the first round was very similar to American and team received 100 rubles for each correct response. In the second round answering player couldn't say anything and he or she had to write the answer on paper. Each correct answer was worth 200 rubles. In the third round captain gave 4 associations to word in the card, and the other team members had to guess this associations - each player had 5 seconds to name as many words as the time limit allows. Each correct guess was worth 300 rubles.

Germany
The German version, entitled Ruck Zuck, was one of the longer-lasting shows based on the format, running from 1988 until 2000.

Australia
An Australian version of Hot Streak was produced as an afternoon game show for the Seven Network in 1998, hosted by James O'Neill. .

The game was played as per the U.S. version, with each correct response in the main game being worth $5. Originally this amount was doubled in the third and final round, for a potential maximum winning score of $80. Towards the end of its run, the game was extended to four rounds with the final round being worth triple instead (for a maximum of $120).

The score of the winning team determined the value of correct answers in the bonus round: each answer for the first word was worth this amount (for example, if a team won with a score of $60, each answer was worth $60). The second word was worth twice the winning score, and the third word was then played to multiply the cash won so far by five. The maximum possible winnings on one show was therefore originally $4,800, and later $7,200. Winning teams could return for five shows; a team's fifth bonus round was played with only one word, with four correct answers winning a team $50,000.