Two teams of four members competed, each consisting of three contestants and a celebrity captain; one team consisted only of men, the other only of women. All questions used on the show were of the yes/no type.
The host read a question to the three contestants on one team, and each of them locked in an answer. The captain predicted how each of his/her teammates answered, one at a time. Each correct prediction kept the team in control, but a miss allowed the captain of the opposing team to predict the responses given by any remaining members of the controlling team. Each correct response awarded $50 to the team of the captain who gave it, while each miss gave the money to their opponents. Control alternated between teams on each new question. The first team to reach $300 won the game and advanced to the bonus round; both teams kept any money earned in the game.[1]
The bonus round was played in two parts.
A "jury" of 10 randomly selected audience members participated in this round. Martin read a question, for which the jury members secretly locked in their answers, and one contestant on the winning team had to predict how many of them had given a specified response. The team won $500 for an exact guess, and $200 for being within two persons either way. Each contestant had one turn in this round; if none of them won any money on their turn, the bonus game ended immediately.
Each of the three contestants separately predicted how their captain answered one last question. If at least two of them guessed correctly, the team's "Judge the Jury" winnings were multiplied by 10, for a potential maximum of $15,000.
Unlike most game shows of that time, Mindreaders did not use the typical "returning champions" carry-over; instead, the same two teams competed against each other for three consecutive games, after which all six contestants retired. Each team's total winnings were divided equally among its three contestants.
A pilot episode, recorded in 1975 and hosted by Jack Clark, featured a panel of six celebrities and pitted two civilian contestants (a returning champion and a challenger) against each other. On each turn, the host asked a yes/no question to the studio audience of 100 people, who secretly locked in their answers on keypads. Two panelists were chosen to guess the number of "yes" responses, and the contestant in control for that turn chose the number he/she thought was closer to the actual total. The other number was given to the opponent by default. The actual total was revealed, and the contestant with the closer guess won $100 and could score up to $300 more on a second question that had been previously asked to the panelists. Three of them were chosen, and the winner of the audience question tried to predict how they had responded, one at a time. Each correct guess awarded $100, but a miss gave the money to the opponent and turned control of any remaining prediction(s) over to him/her. Contestants alternated control for every new audience question, starting with the challenger.
The first to reach $500 won the game, kept the money, and advanced to the "Mindreaders Sweep" bonus round. One of the six panelists was secretly designated as the day's "Lucky Star." They were all asked one final question; once they had all locked in their responses, the champion tried to guess how they had answered, one at a time. Each correct prediction awarded $500, and doing so for the Lucky Star (revealed only after the round was over) awarded a further $5,000, for a potential total of $8,000.
