This game show – originally broadcast on NBC – featured fifteen players sitting in three rows of seats (six on top, five in the middle, and four on the bottom) while another contestant on a podium called their individual placement numbers.
Each called player revealed a cash amount and a riddle the contestant on the podium had to answer to remain at the position. A correct response added the riddle’s cash amount to the pot for the podium contestant and let that player continue his or her questioning.
Podium players could win the money in the pot by calling the number of the player with the riddle whose money amount was “Jackpot.”
A correct answer to that riddle split the money in the pot between the questioner and the podium player. An incorrect answer at any point forced the podium player to switch positions with the questioner, with the latter continuing to build the current pot using the remaining uncalled players.
The only exception was if the question missed was the “Jackpot” one, in which case the pot was emptied, and the 15 seated players received a new round of riddles.
An extra feature was the “Super Jackpot,” which involved a target number which could be attained by answering
riddles with certain cash amounts whose total matched the target number. Once that match occurred, a player could
try to find the “Jackpot” riddle and answer it to win the “Super Jackpot,” which could be up to $50,000.
The level for just the “Jackpot” payoffs usually was no more than a few thousand dollars. Players competed for a full working week and received their week’s total winnings on Fridays.
After a so-so showing as a network offering, Jackpot reappeared on the USA Cable channel from September 1985 to December 1988 with Mike Darrow as host. This series was produced in Canada by Bob Stewart Productions.
In 1989, a new version aired in syndication with Geoff Edwards back as moderator.
Geoff Edwards died of complications of pneumonia in 2014. He was 83.
Each called player revealed a cash amount and a riddle the contestant on the podium had to answer to remain at the position. A correct response added the riddle’s cash amount to the pot for the podium contestant and let that player continue his or her questioning.
An extra feature was the “Super Jackpot,” which involved a target number which could be attained by answering
