Blockbusters (UK Game Show) - Main Game

Main Game

A solo player competed against a pair of contestants, thus setting out to prove or disprove the old adage that two heads really were better than one.

The game board consisted of 20 interlocking hexagons, arranged in five columns of four. Each hexagon contained a letter of the alphabet (except X and Z). A contestant would choose one of the letters, and would be asked a general-knowledge trivia question whose correct answer began with the chosen letter. (A typical question might be, "What 'P' is a musical instrument with 88 keys?" The answer would be a piano.) The phrasing that contestants would use to ask for a letter has entered the language, and is frequently heard to this day. It is also the source of a pun - "Can I have a 'P' please, Bob?"; 'having a pee' being slang for urinating.

The game board is designed in such a way that a tied game was not a possible finishing result. Even if all 20 hexagons were filled, there would always be a winner.

The game began with a toss-up question to play for control of the board, starting with a letter that was chosen at random. The teams or players could buzz-in during the middle of reading of a question. If a player or team got the correct answer, they gained control of that hexagon and were given the chance to choose another one. If the contestant answered incorrectly, the opposing team or player was given a chance to answer it after the host re-read the question. If nobody answered it correctly, the host asked another question whose answer began with that same letter. Each correct answer won £5. In the case of the two-player team, each player won whatever money the team accumulated.

The solo player attempted to complete a vertical connection of white hexagons from the top of the board to the bottom; that required at least four correct answers. The pair attempted to connect a path from left to right with blue hexagons, requiring at least five spaces. The first side to connect their path won the game. The first player or team to win two games won the match. When either party was one correct answer away from completing their path, the hexagons forming their path would flash to indicate this. If both were one correct answer away, all lit hexagons on the board would flash, indicating that the situation was effectively "Blockbusters either way", and the next player to give a correct answer would win the game.

All players received a Concise Oxford "Blockbusters" Dictionary and Sweatshirt in the original ITV series. In the first Sky One series in 1994 it was a Blockbusters Encyclopedia and T-shirt. In the BBC2 1997 series it was a fountain pen. In the second Sky One series it was a Blockbusters Dictionary and a CD ROM. In the Challenge series the players receive an Elonex brand E-book reader.