Core rules
Screenshot illustrating how question
text and answer choices appear on-
screen
At its core, the game is a quiz competition in
which the goal is to correctly answer a series of
fourteen (originally fifteen) consecutive multiple-
choice questions. The questions are of
increasing difficulty, [4] except in the 2010–15
format overhaul, where the contestants were
faced with fourteen questions of random
difficulty, distributed into two rounds. [5] Each
question is worth a specified amount of money;
the amounts are cumulative in the first round, but
not in the second. If the contestant gives a
wrong answer to any question, their game is
over and their winnings are reduced to $1,000 for
tier-one questions, $5,000 for tier-two questions,
and $50,000 for tier-three questions. However,
the contestant has the option of "walking away"
without giving an answer after being presented
with a question, in which case the game ends
and the contestant is guaranteed to walk away
with all the money they have previously received.
[5] With the exception of the shuffle format, upon
correctly answering questions five and ten,
contestants are guaranteed at least the amount
of prize money associated with that level. If the
contestant gives an incorrect answer, their
winnings drop down to the last milestone
achieved. Since 2015, if the contestant answers
a question incorrectly before reaching question
five, he or she leaves with $1,000. Prior to the
shuffle format, a contestant left with nothing if
he or she answered a question incorrectly before
reaching the first milestone. In the shuffle format
era, contestants who incorrectly answered a
question had their winnings reduced to $1,000 in
round one and $25,000 in round two. [we are here to help those that have some thing up their to make money out of it%%%%%%%%%% if you are interested drop your comments