Season 1 Each player began a duel with ten
chips, each worth $5,000 (for a total of $50,000). Each question was a
multiple choice question with four choices. The question was read by the host while the contestants used their chips to cover choices, one chip per choice. They were allowed to cover any number of choices, provided they had enough chips; the contestant then locked their answers, after which the chips are sunk in place and no further changes may be made. A partition is raised at the start of each question, after which it is lowered once both players had locked in their answers, allowing the contestants to see each other's choices. Only one answer is correct. Contestants retained chips placed on correct answers, while chips placed on the wrong answers are removed from play and their value added towards the
progressive jackpot. Questions normally had no time limit, but after locking in, a contestant could "press" the opponent and impose a seven-second time limit, after which answers would be automatically locked in. Each contestant was given two presses per duel. The duel continued as long as both contestants covered a correct answer. If one contestant failed to do so, the duel ended and that contestant was eliminated, and the value of any unused chips do not accumulate towards the jackpot. The winning contestant receives the value of the chips they retained; those winnings were theirs to keep regardless of results of future duels. If neither contestant covered the correct answer, a
sudden death "shootout" is played. Contestants are given four new chips (with no monetary value), and no presses are allowed. The contestant who answered correctly (with fewer choices) wins the duel without any money; if both contestants correctly answered the question with the same number of chips, the question is then thrown out and a new question is given out until a winner is decided (which is unaired during broadcast). The champion then chose a new challenger from a randomly selected group of three from the remaining members of the "Players Gallery" (those in the contestant pool who had not yet participated), based on a small amount of information revealed about each potential contestant. After five nights, the four contestants who won the most duels (and if tied, based on the most accumulated winnings) were invited to the finale to vie for the jackpot. The top-seeded contestant compete in the first duel by selecting any one of the three finalists, while the unselected finalists competed in the second duel. Winners of each duel then compete in the third duel for the entire jackpot. Rules from the previous duels still applies, as well as their guaranteed winnings.
Season 2 The game format was changed in the second season to accommodate continuing weekly episodes. Under this new format, the number of presses per duel was reduced to one. The chips had no monetary value, and there was no progressive jackpot; instead, the prize for each duel increased with the length of the duel: If both contestants missed a question, the value of the duel was frozen at the previous value. The sudden death shootout rules otherwise remain the same. After the duel ended, the winner played a bonus "max question" with a single chip and seven seconds to answer. A correct answer doubled their winnings for the duel, with no penalty for an incorrect answer. Unlike season one, their winnings are not guaranteed payouts. After each match, they were given the chance to retire with their current winnings or risk them on another duel, against their choice of one of three contestants. A contestant defeated before winning three duels lost all their winnings; contestants who lost after winning three duels lost half their winnings. A contestant who won five consecutive duels retired undefeated and had their winnings augumented to $500,000. If a champion either retired or chose to leave the show, the two contestants who were not chosen in the previous duel played against each other.
Winners In the first season format, the winner of the $1,720,000 jackpot went to Ashlee Register, while Robert Elswick became the runner-up. Her winnings totalled to $1,795,000, including the $75,000 she had earned in previous duels, which made her the
highest-winning female American game show contestant to date. The final duel lasted only one question, and while Register covered every single answer, Elswick covered all the incorrect options, leaving the correct one uncovered. Under the returning champions format, only one contestant, Gabriel Reilich, a former film executive for Reason Pictures /
GOOD Magazine, won five consecutive duels for $500,000. Prior to the final duel he had $75,000 and had correctly answered every Max question he had been asked. The final duel against Jennifer lasted five questions. Reilich covered the correct answer with his only remaining chip, while Jennifer, with three chips, covered the other remaining answers. ==Broadcast history==