Bonus round

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A bonus round or bonus game, known in the industry an end game, is a special round in a game show or similar contest. The bonus round usually follows a main game (also called a front game in the industry) as a bonus to the winner of that game. In the bonus round, the stakes are higher and the game is considered to be tougher.^[1]

The game play of a bonus round usually varies from the standard game play of the front game, although there are often borrowed or related elements of the main game in the bonus round in order to ensure the entire show has a unified premise. Though some end games are referred to as "bonus rounds", many are not specifically referred to as such in games, though they fit the same general role.

Format

There is no one formula for the format of a bonus round. There are differences in almost every bonus round, though there are many recurring elements from show to show. The bonus round is often played for the show's top prize, which may or may not be announced in advance, and is generally a cash amount or prize package which may or may or may not vary in value from episode to episode. The prize may also be progressive, as on Super Password, increasing in value each time the bonus round is played until the prize is won. The game may be played all-or-nothing or the contestant may be able to win a portion of the bonus prize depending on their progress in the round. There also may be a consolation prize for losing the round which may be tied to whether the main game offers the contestant any prize on its own.

Depending on the show, the bonus round may affect a contestant's future on the show. On some shows, the contestant may or may not return as champion, regardless of their performance in the bonus round. However, a bonus round sometimes affects the contestant's future appearances on the show. For example, if two contestants both won a game in an episode of The $100,000 Pyramid, their performance (that is, their cash score) in the Winner's Circle bonus round determined who would return for the next episode.

On some game shows, there is no prize for winning the main game; in these cases, the bonus round is not truly a "bonus" round. Though often referred to as such, this type of main game/end game setup is more appropriately classified as an elimination round and a prize round.

Origin

Until the 1960s, most game shows did not offer a bonus round. In traditional two-player formats, the winner — if a game show's rules provided for this — became the champion and simply played a new challenger either on the next show or after the commercial break.^[1]

One of the earliest forms of bonus rounds was the Jackpot Round of the original series Beat the Clock. After two rounds of performing stunts, the wife of the contestant couple would perform at a jackpot board for a jackpot prize. Here, the contestant was shown a famous quotation or common phrase, and the words were scrambled. To win the announced bonus, the contestant had to unscramble the words within a time limit (20 seconds). The contestant received a consolation gift if she was unsuccessful.

Another early example was the Lightning Round on the word game Password, starting in 1961. Here, the contestant who had met the objective of the front game played a quick-fire series of passwords within 60 seconds, netting $50 per correctly guessed word (for a maximum bonus prize of $250).^[1][2]

The bonus round came about after game show producer Mark Goodson was first presented Password, contending that it was not enough to merely guess passwords during the show. "We needed something more, and that's how the Lightning Round was invited," said Howard Felsher, who produced Password and Family Feud. "From that point on every game show had to have an end round. You'd bring a show to a network and they'd say, 'What's the endgame?' as if they had thought of it themselves."^[3]

At least one bonus round — the end game of Match Game — has served as the impetus for a completely new game show. The first part of Match Game's bonus round, called Audience Match, asked contestants to guess how a studio audience responded to a question. In 1975, Goodson decided that this line of questioning would make a good game show of its own. The concept eventually became Family Feud.^[4]

References