Top Card
The Nashville Network
1990-1993
Host: Jim Caldwell, Dan Miller
Dealer: Blake Pickett, Paige Brown
Premise: Cross country music with blackjack. What could be better? Well, quite a few things.
Play: The host reveals the eight categories to be used in the game. The champion (or player
on the left if there's no champion) chooses a topic. The host reads the question, and the first
to ring in gets to answer. A wrong answer incurs no penalty, but you can't answer again. The winner
can either take the card under the category (A-10, each appearing once at most) or the Top Card
from the deck. After answering a question and taking a card, a player may FREEZE (accompanied
by placing a FREEZE sign over their name on the lectern). That player is out of play until someone
beats his or her score (There are no ties). The round continues with the controlling player taking
categories, questions and cards until the end:
When two people are broke or someone hits 21, the round
ends. The winner gets a prize (and a bonus prize for hitting 21). The two others play round two.
If all eight categories are used, there is one final question behind the "Top Card" logo in the center
of the gameboard.
Round two is similar, but if one person freezes, the other player must continue to answer questions
(a miss ends the round in favor of the frozen player). Again, the players go back and forth until
someone gets 21 or breaks. The winner plays against the round one champ in round three.
The winner of round two also wins a prize.
Round three is similar to round two, but the winner is the champion, and plays Top Card Plus.
In Top Card Plus, the champion is given a bankroll, and can buy prizes with cards behind them
(with the option of taking the Top Card as always.) The player can freeze at any time and keep
the prizes won, becaise going over forfeited everything won in the bonus game. Getting 21 won
a car, and retired the champion.
When Dan Miller hosted, the bonus went more like the main game; the winner had four chances
to answer questions; which won a prize, and the card behind.
Also on the board was the JOKER, which ended the round immediately.