History IQ

Premise: Three contestants show off their History IQ for a shot at $25,000. Online players can win money by playing along.

Play: In round one, a film clip is shown. The first question is worth $100, and is open to anyone. All questions in a particular category relate back to the film clip. Whomever was right gets the money and control. That player may continue to answer $50 questions until he or she misses, or the category of five is complete. When a player misses, the other two can jump in to steal the money. After four film clip rounds, the low scorer is eliminated.

In round two, three choices are presented, and the players buzz in to guess the right answer. Right answers win $200, but wrong answers lose $200. The person who is right can choose to play a $100 follow-up question, or not.

In round three, the two players play the same three choices for 45 seconds, at $100 per right or wrong answer. The lower scorer is out, and the winner advances to the History Timeline.

Bonus Round: If you've seen the Race Game on "The Price is Right" or the bonus round of "Wipeout," this will make more sense. The player is shown ten consecutive years, and ten headlines, corresponding to those years. The champ has 60 seconds to place those ten headlines in order. Five times during the round, the champ may push the "hot button" to see how many are right. He or she may do this even if all ten answers aren't locked in yet, and this can be of some help: if you've entered four headlines, and they're all right, it makes for less permutations of the remaining six headlines. Anyway, when the clock runs out, the round ends. The player is paid $500 for each headline in the right place, or $25,000 for all ten. On the second episode, the champion won $4500 (added to his main game winnings) because he didn't lock in the last headline (which obviously would have been right). Doh!

History IQ: Tournament Edition

Premise: Eighty-one contestants compete in an eight-week playoff to win $250,000, the most ever on a cable quiz or game show.

In round one, a newspaper headline is shown, and three statements accompany it. Three players race to come up with the false statement. A wrong answer deducts $100, a right answer awards $100 and a $50 follow-up question, with a penalty of $50 if incorrect. After four rounds of four headlines, the low scorer is eliminated.

Round two is played just like the Tri-Q from season one. The winner after the Speed Challenge plays the new Timeline. Losers after the first round keep whatever they win.

In the timeline, the player is shown headlines one at a time, and must place them in the appropriate year. After three tries, the next headline comes up, and the player can also pass before that. Getting all ten headlines wins $5,000.

The twenty-seven winners compete in the second round, the nine winners play in the semi-finals, and the three winners (John Davidson, Leszek Pawlowicz, and Robin Grover) competed for the $250,000. The Timeline round was replaced with a Double Speed Challenge. Four sets of Tri-Qs were shown, and the trailing player chose first, and those questions were for $100 per. Then the leader picked from the remaining three, and those were worth $200 a piece.