[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 01:59 PM\']So Randy, what would happen if a contestant won more than $2 mil?[/quote]
Maury pulls out his wallet and pays off the balance $20 at a time. :-)
I tried out for Twenty One in Chicago about a month before its debut. The rules for the game changed frequently. Contestant coordinator Harv Selsby told us at the tryouts on a Saturday afternoon that there had been rule changes by Fred Silverman right before Selsby and another contestant coordinator named Nancy boarded their flight from LA to Chicago.
The rules we were told were similar to the 1950s game, but with 1 through 5 point questions needing 1 answer, 6-8 point questions requiring 2, 9 and 10 pointers need 3, and 11 point answers required 5 answers. The winner of each game won $10,000 for each point in the difference between the winner's score and the loser's. Ties added $10,000 per point to the pot for the next game i.e. if 2 players tied at 21, the pot would start at $210,000. Each subsequent game was played for $10,000/point, but there was talk about the stakes going up $10,000/point for each tie game.
The bonus round had Maury reading 6 true/false questions. Getting 5 of 6 right doubled the money won in the previous match. Under 5 right did nothing to what was earned.
One interesting rule was a champ could not retire undefeated. Their earnings were always at risk, as any money won by the player who knocks off the champ came directly out of the champ's winnings.
The best line about Twenty One came from Nancy--"This version of Twenty One will NOT be rigged."
