A formal rules sheet is forthcoming -- but we're basing this on the format seen during the second through fourth seasons on the former TNN but with the following differences...

\ Questions are not necessarily music-focused.  There will be a lot of pop-culture and entertainment-related questions and categories, a nod to the first season.  Some academic-style questions.

\ ROUND 1: If there is no returning champion per se, the round will start with a toss-up question from a wild card category just for control of the game only (no card will be at stake).  The question will have three possible answers.  If two players give wrong answers, the only player who can rebound will "win the question" by default and gain control of the board.  The winner of this round will receive $2500 cash or $5000 for hitting 21.  

At this round's completion, a slot machine will be spun.  The amount that the digits on the slot machine will "spell out will be seeded into a jackpot (more about this later).  The amount will be between $5000 to $9975, inclusive, in increments of $25.  In the event top dollar -- 9975 -- is spun, we'll add $25 more to the jackpot for a total add of $10,000.

\ ROUND 2: The round will start with a toss-up question from a wild card category just for control of the game only (no card will be at stake).  The question will have two possible answers.  If one player gives a wrong answer, the only player who can rebound will "win the question" by default and gain control of the board.  The winner of this round will receive $2500 cash or $5000 for hitting 21.

At this round's completion, the slot machine will be spun again.  By then, the jackpot's total value will be between $10,000 to $20,000 inclusive.

\ ROUND 3: The winner of this round will receive $5000.  Hitting 21 will award the money in the jackpot.  Hitting 21 in Round 3 as well as Round 1 or 2 doubles the amount in the jackpot.  Regardless of results, the jackpot starts fresh in Round 1 of the next main game.

\ CONSOLATION GAME: A runner-up in Round 2 and/or Round 3 will be asked to stick around and play a consolation game for cash or a prize.

\ TOP CARD PLUS: Before this bonus round begins, the host allows the winner of Round 3 a cut of the bonus round deck.   Seven cash cards and a joker will randomly be hidden behind the categories.  Behind the cash cards are playing cards from a regulation 52-card deck.

Should the winner of Round 3, known from this moment forward as the champion, find a cash card after picking a category, the host will ask the champion a question.

A correct answer awards the cash.  Then, the champion may take the playing card behind the chosen category or the top card of a newly-shuffled deck with as many as 56 cards.  (To clarify, two decks will be in play -- one for the board, and the other to draw the top card from.)  Once the champion collects a card, its value in thousands of dollars is added to the player's money score in that round of Top Card Plus.

Hitting 21 at any time ends the bonus round and awards an extra $1,000,000.  The champion then retires from the show and stays retired until a tournament of champions.

Busting (going over 21) forfeits all monies won in Top Card Plus. 

After a correct answer is given and then a non-joker card is collected, the player may stop the game or continue.  When an incorrect answer is given, the player's cash winning in that round of Top Card Plus are cut in half -- and the player must choose another category provided there are chances remaining in the bonus round.

The champion is allowed up to four chances and may select as many as four categories, to hit 21.

To give the house an edge, the deck has the ace through king of each of the four suits plus four jokers.  Anytime the player draws a joker, whether from the board or the deck, it counts as an instant bust -- resulting in a loss of Top Card Plus and all monies lost.  However, for each return trip the champion makes to Top Card Plus, there will be one less joker in the deck (example, if a champion is on a three-game winning streak, there will be two jokers in the deck).  A winner of at least six consecutive games would face no jokers.


\ MISC. RULES AND CLARIFICATIONS:  The deadline to make any move is 24 hours after the host updates the progress of the game.

If the player misses a deadline...
\ responding to a toss-up question, it counts as a wrong answer.
\ selecting a category, one will be randomly chosen.
\ choosing between the card on the board or the top card, the card on the board will chosen by default and then another category will randomly chosen (even if this puts the player's total between 12-20 inclusive, said player won't be given a chance to freeze due to missed deadline).

When the answer to a question is a person's name, the person's last name is most likely acceptable -- unless the question or category directs otherwise.  When the answer to a question is a title, or at least one component thereof, the exact title/component(s) must be given.

In the event of excessive absences by the player in the main game, the host reserves the right to search for a replacement player -- possibly based on the next closest player in qualifying.

In Top Card Plus, a "double" and/or "triple" card maybe be shuffled among the cash cards.  A correct answer will double or triple the player's cash winnings accordingly.  However, if the player finds "double" or "triple" and has yet to win any cash, "double" will be worth a flat $10,000 or "triple" will be worth a flat "$15,000".

For further details, please message the host at dougmorrisontheair at Net Game Central.