Hopp oder Top

This is article about the German version of Sale of the Century better known as Hopp oder Top (Hopp or Top).

Rules
Three players are given 20 points to start off. Each correct answer is worth 5 points, which also can be deducted from a player's score if any of them answer a question incorrectly. The points earned by the contestant who was in the lead during the show could be spent in several "gift shops" on prizes. Prices usually start at 6 points for the first round, 9 for the second, and 16 for the third. The host also tries to convince the player who was in the lead to buy the merchandise item by dropping the price and/or offering money to go with it. On occasion, additional money could also be won if a player bought (a contestant who played for the super price, refused in an early 1991 episode, and missed out on an additional 20.000 DM (~€10,000)).

A€nother special were the three "Fame Game" questions. The contestant who answers correctly chooses a number from 1-9 off the "Fame Game" wall. Behind each number is either prizes or a 10-point, 15-point (starting with the 2nd question) "Hid" or a 25-point bonus (starting with the 3rd question).

The winner is also able to either choose a prize by going shopping or accumulate more points for a higher prize by playing on the next episode. The first prize requires no minimum number of points, as they had the right to that just for winning. The second-level prize costs an even total of 160 points. Prices went up 90 points per prize level. Upon reaching 520 points (initially 610), the winner won a then current BMW of three series (E36 Sedan or Coupe, E30 Convertible or Touring) or the E34 5 Series, worth over 60,000 DM (~€30,000). 610 points won a cash jackpot starting at 80.000 DM (~€40,000) and going up by 1,000 DM (~€500) a day until won. A total of 700 points (in which the player would be called a Super Champion) won the Lot (all previous prizes plus the Cash Jackpot). Overall, over 300,000 DM (~€150,000) can be won (depending on the level of the jackpot and value of the prizes). The highest total was won on July 1, 1992, marking the highest achievement to date in any German game show in history.

Up to 500 episodes were produced for this version alone on November 5, 1992, as there were five Super Champions.

The two losing contestants both received a silver "Money Clip" and all the prizes they bought in previous gift shops and won in the "Fame Game" rounds as their consolation prize.

Repeats
Some of the episodes were shown on tm3 from 1996 until 1999 for a grand total of over 1,000 repeated episodes in broadcast.

Trivia
Originally in the pilot, the show was called Angebot des Jahrhunderts (Offer of the Century) before changing it to Hopp oder Top (Hopp or Top).

Link
Hopp oder Top @ Wikipedia