American Know-it-All
“Tonight, Neil Patrick Harris host television’s most intelligent game show… where knowing a little, about a lot can win you $1,000,000. Eight ordinary people, all with extraordinary knowledge compete to survive elimination after elimination. It’s a game of speed, strategy and smarts. We’ll begin with four players, three will be eliminated and one will move on to the final round against the winner of the second-half hour. In the end, only one will remain to play for $1,000,000. This is AMERICAN KNOW-IT-ALL!”
American Know-it-All was an unsold American game show pilot (and a second attempt) based on the popular British game show Going for Gold and the French game show Questions pour un Champion (Questions for a Champion). It was first tried out 21 years ago as Run for the Money in 1987.
Gameplay
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Eight contestants compete in this program. Two games were played, each with a set of four players. The winner of each set will face off against each other for the right to play for $1,000,000.
Round 1: Five Points
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Neil read a series of questions to the current set of four players. The first player to buzz in with a correct answer earned points. Point values for each question changed throughout the round: they’re either worth 1, 2 or 3 points. The first three players to reach five points moved on to round two; the fourth place player was out of the game. After one player made it to the next round, the one-point questions were eliminated.
Round 2: Four in a Row
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The object in this round was to correctly answer four questions in a row in under 40 seconds. The order of the three remaining players was determined by what position they finished in round one. Each player, one at a time, chose one of four categories, and then Neil asked questions under that category during the next 40 seconds. For each correct answer the player in control scored a point, but an incorrect answer resets him/her to zero. If the player can get four in a row before time expired, he/she stopped and scored the necessary four points; if he/she can’t do that when the time was up, the player in control still got points according to the longest streak of correct answers. Once a category was chosen & played, it was taken out of play.
Unlike Bill Rafferty, Neil would not announce if the contestant was either right or wrong, except when the contestant got four in a row. But he did go over the questions missed afterwards.
The two players with the highest scores moved on to the final round. If there was a tie for second place or a three-way tie, a tie breaker toss-up question was asked and the first player to buzz in with a correct answer advanced to the final round.
Round 3: Head-to-Head
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In the final round, the two finalists faced off to see who becomes that game’s winner. In this round, Neil asked “Who am I”-typed questions consisting of clues to a famous person, place or thing, and the player’s job was to buzz in with the correct answer and score points. The catch is that both players get two assigned point zones, and each player can only answer if his/her point zone is active. There were four zones altogether numbered 4-3-2-1, each worth the given number of points. Each Zone was active for a certain number of seconds: Zone 4 was active for 10 seconds, Zone 3 for 8 seconds, Zone 2 for 6 seconds, and Zone 1 for 4 seconds, for a total of 28 seconds in which the question was read.
At the beginning of each question, Neil gave a category. Then one player decided whether to play first or force their opponent to player first (for the first question, the player who qualified first chose; the player take turns choosing thereafter). The player with initial control of the question got control of the even numbered zones (4 & 2), and the other got the odd numbered zones (3 & 1). While Neil read each question, the timer on the Zones ran down. If the timer was out of a player’s controlling Zone, they had to sit out the question (for the moment), allowing the other player try and buzz in. If a player buzzed in with an incorrect answer, they forfeited what’s left of their zone to their opponent. Whatever Zone in which the timer had stopped whenever a correct answer was given was how many points that player received.
The first player to reach nine or more points won the game and $10,000.
The process was repeated for the next four players and the winner from this set would face the game one winner for the right to play for $1,000,000.
Final Round: Super Know-it-All Question
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The two winners from each of their games would hear one final question in the same style as the Head-to-Head rounds. The first player to buzz-in got first shot at answering. An incorrect answer gave the opposing player a chance to steal by hearing the entire question. The first player to come up with the right answer, went on to play for $1,000,000. The losing player kept his/her $10,000.
Bonus Round
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The grand winning contestant was asked up to six more “Who am I”-typed questions (similar to the style asked on Sale of the Century’s “Fame Game” round but without buzzing in) each with a different number of clues. Answering the questions correctly increased his/her winnings and here’s how the money grows:
Quest. No.
No. of Clues
Amount
1
6
$25,000
2
5
$50,000
3
4
$75,000
4
3
$100,000
5
2
$250,000
6
1
$1,000,000
The winning contestant can decide to stop and keep the cash in between levels. Missing a question at any point dropped back to $10,000.
Trivia
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All music cues was previously used on Identity.
International Versions
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Countries that have previously aired their versions of American Know-it-All includes:
Austria
France (country that started the show as Questions pour un Champion/Questions for a Champion)
Indonesia
Philippines
Serbia
Turkey
United Kingdom (country that started the show as Going for Gold)
See Also
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Run for the Money – the original 1987 pilot hosted by the late Bill Rafferty that became Going for Gold & Questions pour un Champion.
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Full Pilot – YouTube
Full Pilot – XOTV
