It's Your Chance of a Lifetime

A solo player (chosen randomly from the audience) competed for a chance to win over $1,000,000 by answering a series of 10 open-ended questions. The first of these was a "Credit Card Question"; if the player answered correctly, their entire credit card bills were paid off, to a maximum of $10,000. They were also invited to run the billing statement through an onstage paper shredder, and kept the payoff regardless of the outcome of the game. An incorrect answer ended the game immediately and sent the player home with no winnings. An eligible credit card statement had to be issued at most a full year before the month of taping.^[1]

A list of 10 categories was displayed, with each of the nine remaining questions drawn from a different category. The second question awarded $5,000 if answered correctly or ended the game for a miss. After giving a correct answer on any question, the player was told the category for the next question and had to decide whether to continue the game, or end it and keep all winnings. If the player chose to continue, they had to risk at least half of their total (exclusive of the credit card payoff), and had two minutes^[1] to give an answer and lock it in by pressing a button on their podium. Failing to respond within the time limit was counted as an automatic miss. If the player answered correctly, the amount of the wager was added to their bank; if they missed, it was deducted and the game ended, with the player keeping whatever was left of their bank.

The category list was always visible to the player and consisted of the following: Pop Culture, Famous Events, Movies, Famous Places, TV, Pop Music, Toys and Games, People, In the News, and Animal Kingdom. Categories were chosen at random before each turn and were removed from play after being used once.

The player was given two forms of assistance referred to as "Second Chances", each of which could be used once at any time. One Second Chance gave the player three multiple-choice options (one of which was the right answer), while the other discarded the current question and replaced it with one from the player's favorite category, which was chosen out of the category list before the show. Reaching the final three questions awarded a "Last Chance", which allowed them an extra use of either Second Chance. Using a Second Chance reset the timer for the question.^[1]

If the player answered all 10 questions correctly, they won all money accumulated during the game, for a potential prize of $1,290,000 including the credit card payoff. The show's biggest winner was Dr. Tim Hsieh, who collected $1,042,309.16 in his game.

All winnings totals over $200,000 were paid as an annuity.

• It's Your Chance of a Lifetime at IMDb