$1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime

From RulesWiki

Jump to: navigation, search
THE $1,000,000 CHANCE of a LIFETIME

The opening title to The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.

Airdates: Syndicated January 1986 - September 1987
Host: Jim Lange
Co-Host: Karen Thomas
Announcer: Johnny Gilbert
Producers: Lorimar-Telepictures Productions

Contents

Gameplay

Front Game

One member of each couple play a toss-up
Enlarge
One member of each couple play a toss-up
Two married couples competed for the entire episode for the chance to win $1,000,000 in the bonus game. One player would represent the team in each round. A round would begin with host Lange showing the players a series of blank spaces representing the number of letters in a word or phrase. On Lange's cue, those letters would fill in the spaces until a player buzzed. Solving the phrase won the team $25 and the right to go to the board.

The object for each round was to solve a puzzle on the giant screen onstage, each space bearing a letter or punctuation mark. All of the letters that were in the puzzle were lit keys on the keyboard onstage. One additional letter key was lit but had no letters in the puzzle. That key was the "Stinger" and would end that team's turn if it was pressed. In addition, if there were punctuation marks in the puzzle, the Star Key (next to the "Z" key) would be lit as well, and could be chosen to illuminate all such punctuation. (The Star Key was NEVER the Stinger; if it was lit, there was definitely punctuation in the puzzle.)

The computer keyboard - with the punctuation "Star Key" lit
Enlarge
The computer keyboard - with the punctuation "Star Key" lit
The player that solved the jump-in clue pressed any two lit keys on the keypad, and those letters would be placed in the puzzle. Using that information as well as the jump-in clues during the round, players attempted to solve the onscreen puzzle to win the accruing puzzle bank. Every space filled in the puzzle would add $25 to the bank, going to the team that eventually solved the puzzle. If two keys were pressed and the player could not solve the puzzle, another jump-in clue was played, and this process repeated until the puzzle was solved.

For round two, the players swapped roles and the clues/letters were worth $50 each. For round three, either player could participate, and each clue/letter was worth $100, as was the case if there was time for a fourth puzzle. The team with more money at the end of the main game won the game and had the chance to play the bonus game. If time ran out, the puzzle would be filled in like a jump-in clue and the puzzle bank awarded to the team that solved it.

Bonus Game

The winning couple plays the bonus round
Enlarge
The winning couple plays the bonus round
The winning couple had three choices of categories to play the bonus game, such as "Middle Eastern Cities," "People Who Predict" or "Seagoing Vessels." After their choice, the winning couple was sealed in an isolation booth so they could see the screen and hear the host, but not hear the audience.

In the bonus game, the couple had to solve up to six words or phrases that fit the category. They would be shown blank spaces just like a main game jump-in, but this time the couple was competing against a sixty-second clock. If the couple could solve all six puzzles before time ran out, they won $5,000. If not, they retired with their main game money and left the show.

Couples who won the bonus game could take their $5,000 in addition to the main game money won and leave, or buy a second game with the money just earned. If they won that game, the bonus game would be worth $10,000 and a similar decision. A team that won three main games and three bonus games would win $1 million. In the first season the grand prize was awarded as a 25-year annuity; in season two the teams won three rooms of furniture, twenty round-trip airline tickets, an outdoor spa package, a pair of Mazda automobiles and a $900,000 annuity.

Notes

  • Nine teams managed to win the jackpot during the show's run, and are still receiving their yearly checks, even though a clause in the appearance contract said the production company could file for bankruptcy in order to terminate payment.
  • This show was one of the few game shows to employ on-set pyrotechnics: for some jackpot wins the "$1,000,000" sign upstage would spew fireworks.
  • While some in the game show fan community derided the show for appearing to be a carbon copy of Wheel of Fortune or Scrabble, it was actually the development of a 1979 pilot titled The Letter Machine.