Category:

Show

Duration: 1:35

138 views

0

Three contestants competed in each game. The white team consisted of a family pair competing against a solo contestant, who was designated as the red player. The game was played using a 5×4 field of hexagons. On each hexagon was a letter representing the first letter in the correct answer to the question in play. For example, if the letter P was chosen, a sample question might be: "What 'P' is a herbivorous North American mammal whose body is covered with thousands of bristles, called quills?", in which case the correct answer would be "Porcupine". Contestants attempted to complete a connection of hexagons to win each round: in red from top to bottom for the solo player, and in white from left to right for the family pair. The solo player was given an advantage in that a connection could be made in as few as four hexagons; the family pair needed a minimum of five to make a connection. In addition, the two members of the family pair were not allowed to discuss questions at any time. Each game started with a letter chosen at random. When a contestant gave a correct answer, the hexagon lit up in their team's color and that team chose the next hexagon. If a contestant answered incorrectly, their opponent was given an option to respond (if the solo contestant missed, only one member of the family pair could attempt to answer the question). Questions were asked using the same letter until the hexagon was claimed.
Due to the interlocking patterns of the hexagons, it was impossible for a game to end in a tie. Originally, winning the first round earned the team no money but allowed the winning team to play the bonus round for $2,500. A second win allowed a return trip to the bonus round for an additional $5,000. Later, each round earned the winning team $500, and teams advanced to the bonus round only after winning two rounds. If the family pair advanced to the bonus round, the captain decided which member would participate. From the beginning until the change in the front game format, the longest a champion could stay on the original Blockbusters was eight matches. Following the change, each champion was permitted to stay up to ten matches. Later, the limit was doubled to 20. To coincide with this, Blockbusters began inviting its previously-retired ten-time champions back to the show. The left and right sides of the board were colored gold, and the object was to make a path across the 20-hexagon board from left-to-right within 60 seconds. However, each hexagon now contained one or multiple letters representing a multi-worded response (e.g., with a hexagon labeled "AC", a question might be "He played Ed Norton on The Honeymooners"; the contestant would need to respond with Art Carney to be credited with a correct answer). A correct answer turned the hexagon gold and an incorrect answer or a pass turned the hexagon black and blocked the contestant's progress. The contestant would need to work around any blocks to make the side-to-side connection. The bonus round was originally known as the "Gold Rush" and played after each game in the match. A contestant/family team's first attempt was worth $2,500 if successful, and an additional $5,000 for the second attempt (dubbed the "Super Gold Rush"). Contestants earned $100 per correct answer if they failed to make a connection. When the format changed to a best-of-two-out-of-three match with $500 awarded per game, Gold Rush was no longer played after each game and instead played the end of the match for $5,000. In the show's 19th week on the air, the round's name was changed to "Gold Run".