Questions pour un Champion

This is chronicling the French version of Going for Gold called Questions pour un Champion.

Round 1: Neuf Points Gagnants (Nine Point Winners)
The host reads a series of questions to four players. The first player to buzz in with a correct answer earns points. Point values for each question change throughout the round: they're either worth one, two or three points. The first three players to reach nine points move on to round two; the fourth place player is out of the game. After one player advances to the next round, the one point questions are eliminated. And when a second player goes to the next round, only the three point questions are asked.

From 29 June 2009 to May 11, 2016 (and again from July 3 to August 4, 2017) the questions were worth one point when there were four players, two points when there were only three players and three points when there were only two players left.

Alternate Rules
Until 2009, this round could be played with five players instead of four and if this was the case, two players were eliminated at the end of the round. In certain programs, when this round was played with five contestants, an additional rule would also apply: Whenever one of them qualified by scoring 9 points, all the scores of the other participants were reset to zero.

Round 2: Quatre à la suite (Four in a Row)
The object in this round is to answer four questions in a row in under 40 seconds. The order of the three remaining players is determined by what position they finished in Round 1. Each player, one at a time, chooses one of four categories, and then the host asks questions under that category during the next 40 seconds (since August 30, 2010, candidates are offered three themes plus a "mystery theme" revealed only to viewers on Twitter).

For each correct answer, the player in control scores a point, but an incorrect answer resets him/her to zero. If the player can get four in a row before time expires, he/she stops and scores the necessary four points; if he/she can't do that when the time is up, the player in control still gets points according to the longest streak of correct answers. Once a category is chosen and played, it is taken out of play.

On October 31, 2014, for the first time in the history of the game, the three contestants managed to get the required Four in a Row.

The two players with the highest scores move on to the final round. If there is a tie for second place or a three-way tie, a series of final round-typed questions (see below) are asked and the first player to buzz in with a correct answer scores a point. The first (two) player(s) to answer two questions correctly advance.

Final Round: Face-à-Face (Face to Face)
The final round opposes the two finalist candidates who must guess each answer from a series of clues. After giving the category of the answer, and an additional clue appears on the screen (only seen by the viewers), the presenter gives in turn, to each candidate, the option to play the question first, or pass it to his opponent.

After giving the first clue, the host reads the clues over a period of 20 seconds; the question should allow the contestants to find the answer. The contestant in control can buzz in when he thinks he knows the answer.

The sooner the correct answer is given, the more points are scored. In the first seconds of the clock, a correct answer is worth four points, then three, two and a single point. In addition, when a contestant gives a wrong answer, the control goes back to the opponent. By default, the contestant who plays first can answer in the the four- and two-point zones; the contestant who plays second can answer in the three- and one-point zones. During the question, the contestants have only one light in front of them to see if they have control; they do not know how much time they have left to support, nor in what point zone they are in.

The first player to reach the point goal (first nine, then twelve, then fifteen, then twelve again) wins the game.

The End of the Game
At the end of each round, the loser receives consolation prizes such as books on various subjects. The winner receives a cash award; however, they could decide to give it back and try to increase their earnings:
 * First Win: €500
 * Second Win: €1,000
 * Third Win: €2,000
 * Fourth Win: €3,000
 * Fifth Win: €4,000.

There is also a jackpot that increases each show and can sometimes reach several tens of thousands of euros. There are usually between eight and fifteen jackpot winners within a year. After five successful wins, the champion also wins the jackpot. But after every win, he could choose to leave with his winnings, in which case the defeated finalist returns on the next show as a designated champion, and faces three new challengers.

Whenever the pot is won, it restarts €10,000. The jackpot increases by €300 each day. At the time of the franc, the jackpot was 50,000 F (~€7,500) and increased by 2,000 F (~€300) per day (In early series, it started at 30,000 F (€~4,500) minimum, it increased by 1,000 F (~€150) per day), the money for each of the five wins was as follows:


 * First win: 3,000 F
 * Second Win: 7,000 F
 * Third win: 12,000 F
 * Fourth Win: 18,000 F
 * Fifth Win: 25,000 F

It happened several times that the candidate defeated by a jackpot winner takes the pot itself thereafter (the last candidate defeated by a jackpot winner automatically returning the next day) and this is the minimum jackpot prize pool: €10,000 + (4 × €300) + €4,000 = €15,200.

At the time of the franc, the minimum jackpot prize pool was originally 30,000 FF + (4 × 1,000 FF) + 25,000 FF = 59,000 FF (~€9,000), before being changed to 50,000 FF + (4 × 2,000FF) + 25,000 FF = 83,000 FF (~€12,700).

Excluding Saturday broadcasts, the biggest jackpot ever was won 18 June 2015 by André with €75,500. Before him, the biggest prize pools were,: €47,900, won by Jean Philippe on June 18, 2014 to €46,400, won by Laurence in 2002 and €45,800, won by Christine in October 2005 and Laurent in December 2012.