Inquizition
Host: The Inquizitor
Premise: Four in-studio and four home players answer multiple choice questions, hoping not to be the player in last place at the end of each round.
Rules: Four contestants appear onstage, and four are chosen from an elimination phone game. Questions are asked with three choices, C always being None of the Above. One point is awarded for each correct judgment, and nothing is taken away for incorrect answers, or no answer. Points are displayed on the front pf each players' desk, but the players in studio have no way of knowing who has what score, or what position that player is in until the end of the round. At the end of every round (between 20 and 30 questions), the low scoring on-camera and phone player are eliminated. The remaining two players each win $250.
While the game itself is very bland (the players do not speak except for their introductions, and when spoken to by the Inquizitor; there are almost no sound effects or flashing lights; the game is set in a barren airplane hangar, and so forth) the point of the show is the "anti-host" performance of the Inquizitor. A man with long white hair who always sits with his back to the camera, he dishes out verbal abuse whenever it is warranted. If a player gets a popular culture question right then misses a science question, you can be sure he'll blast that contestant. Midway through each round, the Inquizitor would take a break from reading the questions, see who had the lowest score, and rather bluntly tell them to pick up the pace, or face elimination. When the "time's up" bell rang, he would do same, but after berating the loser one more time, would prod that player to "Please leave now!"
Notes: Kim Worth, a finalist in the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions in 1998 won on Inquizition, and only gave up sole possession of the lead once. He was one of very few contestants to be lauded by the Inquizitor at the end of the show.
Season two changes: The winners receive $500 each, and the players wear bowling shirts in florescent colors, rather than solid color sweatshirts like before. When a player was eliminated, the hourglass logo was shown on the back of that player's jersey.