Winning Lines

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WINNING LINES
The Winning Lines opening title.
Airdates:	CBS December 1999 - January 2000
Host:	Dick Clark
Announcer:	Don Morrow
Producers:	Stone-Stanley Productions

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Front Game 1.2 Bonus Round ("The Wonderwall") 2 Notes

Gameplay

Front Game

The first round is played with a total of 49 contestants, each represented by the numbers 01 through 49. The host reads a math word problem (for example, "If Howie Mandel wanted to buy a pair of earrings for each of the models on his show, how many total earrings would he have to buy?") and each player would then have five seconds to key in their answers on the number pad in front of them. Once the answer was revealed, the player who answered correctly in the fastest time was found, and that player advanced to the second round. A total of six questions were asked.

In the second round, known as "Sudden Death", the host again read a series of questions, the answers to which were one of the six numbers that represented the finalists. Players were allowed to buzz in while the question was being read. If the contestant answered correctly with his own number, he remained in the game. If he answered correctly with an opponent's number, the player represented by that number was eliminated. If the player gave a wrong answer, though, he was out. This continued until only one contestant was left in the game; that person won $2500 and advanced to the bonus round. The other five finalists each received $1000.

Bonus Round ("The Wonderwall")

The winner of the game now had three minutes to answer a series of questions, the answers to which could all be found on one of three giant screens, numbered from 1 to 49. When answering a question, the player had to give both the answer and the number beside it. Twice during the game, the player was allowed to take a "Pit Stop" and freeze the clock for 15 seconds while he scanned the board of the remaining answers and their locations on the board, and was also allowed to pass on two questions. Answering incorrectly or failing to find the answer to a question after 15 seconds gave the player a Strike; if the player amassed three Strikes or ran out of time, he lost all accumulated winnings in the round. A "Bailout Button" was activated after earning two Strikes or when less than 15 seconds remained in the round; hitting the Bailout Button ended the round and preserved the contestant's winnings.

The first four right answers earned $2500 each, followed by $5000 for each of the next four answers. The next seven right answers earned $10,000 each, $100,000 was won for the following four, and a total of $1,000,000 was won for answering 20 questions correctly.

Notes

• The players' numbers were also used for a home viewer contest. If the last digits of each of the six finalists, plus the last digit of the last Wonderwall answer, could be arranged to form the viewer's home or cell phone number, that person was invited to call a 1-800 number to enter a drawing for $50,000.