Run for the Money

"Steve Desandes is one step closer to $50,000. Christie Garden, Doug Mertz and Nancy Macnealy are his challengers today on...Run for the Money! and here's your host, Bill Rafferty!"

Run for the Money was a pilot that would later become a popular British game show under the name of Going for Gold.

Round 1 (First Round Proper/Beat the Buzzer)
Host Rafferty read a series of questions to four players. The first player to buzz in with a correct answer earned points. Point values for each question changed throughout the round: they're either worth 1, 2 or 3 points. The first three players to reach nine points moved on to round two; the fourth place player was out of the game. After one player made it to the next round, the one point questions were eliminated.

Round 2 (Four in a Row)
The object in this round was to answer four questions in a row in under 40 seconds. The order of the three remaining players was determined by what position they finished in round one. Each player, one at a time, chose one of four categories, and then host Rafferty asked questions under that category during the next 40 seconds. For each correct answer the player in control scored a point, but an incorrect answer resets him/her to zero. If the player can get four in a row before time expired, he/she stopped and scored the necessary four points; if he/she can't do that when the time was up, the player in control still got points according to the longest streak of correct answers. Once a category was chosen & played, it was taken out of play.

The two players with the highest scores moved on to the final round. The losing player received $100 in addition to parting gifts. If there was a tie for second place or a three-way tie, a series of final round-typed questions (see below) were asked and the first player to buzz in with a correct answer scored a point. The first (two) player(s) to answer two questions correctly advanced.

Round 3 (Final Round)
In the final round, the two finalists faced off to see who becomes that day's winner. In this round, host Rafferty asked questions consisting of clues to a famous person, place or thing, and the player's job is to buzz in with the correct answer and score points. The catch is that both players get two assigned point zones, and each player can only answer if his/her point zone is active. There were four zones altogether worth 1-4 points: one player gets the odd numbered zones, 1 & 3, and the other gets the even numbered zones, 2 & 4. At the beginning of each question, Bill gave a category and the home viewers were shown a fun fact-typed hint; then one player (the one who made it to the round first, the trailing player thereafter) decided whether to play first or force his/her opponent to player first. While Bill read each question, the timer on the zones ran down, and if the timer was up on a player's controlling zone, he/she must sit out the question (for the moment), allowing the other player try and buzz in. If a player buzzed in with an incorrect answer, he/she forfeited what's left of his/her zone to his/her opponent. Whatever zone had time left whenever a correct answer was given, that's how many points the player with the correct answer received. The first player to reach nine points won the game and $5,000 while the losing player took home $500. Supposedly, players who won five days in a row won a grand total of $50,000.