Grand Slam (2)

Hosts
Dennis Miller & Amanda Bryam
The Questioner
Pat Kiernan
Broadcast
GSN: 8/4/2007 – 9/8/2007
Packagers
Embassy Row Monkey Kingdom Productions Sony Pictures Television

"Welcome to Grand Slam, where television history will be made. For the first time, the greatest game show champions will gather on the same field of battle, and only one will reign supreme. From "Jeopardy!" champions to "Millionaire" winners, "Pop Culture" masters to "Word Wizards", sixteen of the game show world's elite have been seeded based on how much they've won. To compete in the most challenging game ever played, a winner-take-all tournament to finally prove who is the best of the best. At stake, a $100,000 grand prize, the coveted grand slam crystal trophy and the right to be called America's greatest game show player. On the most difficult game on television, who can withstand the pressure? Who will win…Grand Slam!"

Grand Slam (not to be confused with NBC Daytime's 50 Grand Slam) was a quiz show tournament-styled series with 16 of the biggest winners in United States game show history in a single-elimination style tournament. The contestants were seeded by the amount of money won on their original show(s). The sole winner took home the $100,000 Grand Prize and a crystal trophy.

Gameplay[]

The contestants faced off against each other in a rapid-fire style series of questions. There were four rounds of questioning: General Knowledge, Numbers and Logic, Words and Letters, and "Mixed" (questions from all of the previous categories). Exclusively for the final match, a fifth "Contemporary Knowledge" round was added as Round 3, between "Numbers and Logic" and "Words and Letters". In each round, the players were given one minute on their clocks, and the first contestant (determined by coin toss for the first round where the loser goes first; alternates for each subsequent round) was asked a question by the off-camera "Questioner", and his/her clock started counting down. The timing mechanics were similar to those of a chess clock; if a contestant answered correctly, his clock stopped, and his opponent's clock started running. If the active contestant answered incorrectly or passed, their clock continued to run and another question was asked.

When one contestant's clock expired, the round ended and whatever time the other player had remaining carried over. At the beginning of the final round, each players' carried-over time was added to their one-minute base time. Once a player's clock ran out, the other player was declared the winner and moved on to the next round.

Each contestant was given three "switches" at the beginning of the game, and one more before the fourth round: by saying "switch", a player could stop their own clock and start their opponent's with the current question. Switches could be used consecutively (by saying "switch back") to switch the question back and forth between contestants.

International Version[]

The original British version presented by Carol Vorderman (of Countdown fame) and James Richardson respectively briefly aired on Channel 4 from 6 June (June 6) until 12 September (September 12) 2003.