In the first two rounds, the contestants faced a game board of five categories each with four questions that talk about each of the four decades. The player in control chose a category followed by the decade, then host Sternberg asked a question from that decade. The first player to ring-in had a chance an answer. A correct answer added points to their score, plus the right to choose another category & decade, but an incorrect answer subtracted points & gave the other players a chance to answer. These two rounds are identical toJeopardy!.
Also in the first two rounds, one decade in one category hid a special question called the "Time Capsule". The first player to choose that got a chance to answer the question unopposed for double value. A correct answer on that question added those points to his/her score, with no penalization if the player missed. A right answer also won a special memorabilia-type prize like a replica of KITT from Knight Rider, The Brady Bunch lunch box, or a Charlie's Angels board game. This was similar to the Daily Double on Jeopardy!.
Decades Round
In the Decades Round, the contestants were given a set number of answers according to their score. The player in first place needed to answer 4 questions. The contestant in second place needed five correct answers and the contestant in third needed six, identical to the Countdown Round on Split Second. Sternberg would read an event and contestants would attempt to guess which decade it occurred in. Each correct answer reduced the player's counter by one. The first player to clear their counter won the game and $500 in cash.
Notable contestants
During the show's first season in 1991, Daniel Swartz appeared as a contestant, after a stint as champion on the short-lived 1990 version of Tic Tac Dough, and would later compete on Jeopardy! in May 1992. TV personalityRalph Garman, later host of The Joe Schmo Show and Family Guyvoice-over artist, was a contestant during the show's second season in 1992. One of his opponents on that episode was veteran game show contestant John Gose, who had previously appeared on Password, Liar's Club, Split Second, Now You See It, Jeopardy!, The $25,000 Pyramid and Sale of the Century. Another veteran game show champion, Karen Levin, was a contestant during the second season; she had previously appeared on Name That Tune and Card Sharks, followed by a 1994 appearance on Shuffle: The Interactive Game, and more recently, she was the big winner on a special Oct. 2013 episode of The Price is Right which featured teachers playing.
