The Main Game
Three teams of two compete to win cash and prizes. They do this by moving across an archway of ten television monitors arranged on stage, answering questions as they go. At the start of a turn, a player is given a category with six possible answers. That player then must decide how many answers he or she gives - either two, three, or four - to attempt move the corresponding number of spaces along the archway of monitors. If the player answers this number of questions correctly, their partner moves across the archway accordingly, but otherwise an opposing team has the opportunity to move instead.
Each monitor except the last hides a prize or a "Hot Spot", which are revealed in turn as players move across the archway. Each time a player reveals a prize, they win that prize and must decide either to bank the prize and end their turn or to reveal another monitor. If they reveal the Hot Spot, they lose all the prizes earned up to that point and their turn ends. If they can make their required number of moves without hitting a Hot Spot, they not only bank their prizes but also keep their turn and answer another question.
On reaching the last monitor of the ten, the team decides whether to answer a final question or to bank their prizes. An incorrect answer forfeits the prizes not banked and the game continues, while a correct answer wins the game and allows the team to progress to the "bonus game".
Before playing the bonus game with the winning team, Barrymore would run through the prizes won by the other two pairs before bidding them farewell. These varied from Barrymore hitting the last two screens himself to claim prizes for the contestants or, if a pair had lost prizes as a result of a Hot Spot, reinstating those prizes.
Read more about this topic: Strike It Lucky
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