Debt
Host: Wink Martindale
Announcer: Julie Claire
Security Guard: Kurt Engstrom
Premise: Three contestants answer popular culture questions in an attempt to have their bills paid off.
PLAY
Round One: General Debt"
Each of the three contestants brings with them bills between $6,000 and $10,000. Their debts are posted on the board, and averaged together to make things fair. The player that had accumulated the least debt has their choice of 25 questions. The board looks a little something...like this:
| Category |
-$50 |
-$100 |
-$150 |
-$200 |
-$250 |
| Category |
-$50 |
-$100 |
-$150 |
-$200 |
-$250 |
| Category |
-$50 |
-$100 |
-$150 |
-$200 |
-$250 |
| Category |
-$50 |
-$100 |
-$150 |
-$200 |
-$250 |
| Category |
-$50 |
-$100 |
-$150 |
-$200 |
-$250 |
Gameplay is derivative of Jeopardy: the contestant in control chooses a category and value, and Wink reads the question attached. After the question is finished, any player may ring in to try and answer.
Correct answers reduce the contestants financial liability, but incorrect ones add to it. The last player to give a correct answer selects the next category. One question in the round is the Debtonator, and is worth a whopping $500 off a players' debt, but anyone can play (Not quite like a "Daily Double", then). At the end of five minutes, the two players with the least debt remaining move on. The third place player wins a DEBT piggy bank and a $200 savings bond.
Round 2: "Gambling Debt"
The category is shown, and contestants have an auction to see who can answer the most questions correctly. High bid tries, and if the contestant fails, the opponent automatically wins the money. The values progress -$300, -$400, -$500, -$750, -$1500. If at any time, the trailing player cannot catch the leader, the game ends. The losing player gets a piggy bank and a $500 savings bond. The winner gets the chance to win a whole bunch of money in the bonus round.
Bonus Game: "Get Outta Debt"
The champ has 60 seconds to answer 10 questions in a category. If this is accomplished, the player wins the entire amount of their debt. If not, the player still keeps their front game winnings.
Double? or Nothing?
Whether the champion gets out of debt or not, the player may bet all of their winnings on a question in the category of the players' choosing. If the player misses the question, a $1000 savings bond is won, or $1500 if the player got out of debt in the first half of the bonus. If the question is answered correctly, the player wins twice the amount that player was in debt at the beginning of the show.
Season two changes: To accomodate a nine screen video wall, game play changed slightly. The first question of the game was worth $1. The winner of that chose one of the five categories, and all questions were played. The player who got the last question right picked the next subject. One category became the Debtonator, and doubled the value of all questions in the category.