First round

One contestant is randomly chosen as the first challenger and asked a question, then must choose one opponent to answer it. That opponent is then given three answer choices and has 10 seconds to respond. A right answer awards $150 and makes them the challenger for the next question. However, a wrong answer or failure to respond in time forfeits all their money to the challenger and forces them to play Russian Roulette to determine whether they stay in the game. The opponent pulls the handle at their position to spin the arrangement of safe/drop zones around the six trapdoors. If a safe zone lands at the opponent's position, they become the challenger for the next question; if a drop zone lands at their position, they are eliminated and the trapdoor opens, allowing them to fall through the stage and out of sight.

The round ends when one contestant has been eliminated or time runs out, whichever occurs first. In the latter case, if one contestant is in the lead alone, they step off their zone and pull a handle at center stage to spin one drop zone among the other three contestants. If there is a tie for the lead, all four contestants are in danger and the host would pull the handle. The eliminated contestant's money (if any) is evenly divided among the other three.

Second and third rounds

The second round is played similarly to the first, with the three remaining contestants answering questions that have four answer choices and are worth $200 each. The high scorer from the first round becomes the first challenger; in case of a tie, a random draw decides who will start.

The third round follows the same rules as the second, with questions now worth $300 (season 1) or $250 (season 2). Now, however, the challenger may either pass a question to the opponent or try to answer it directly. The last contestant standing keeps their money and advances to the bonus round; if time runs out, the low scorer forfeits their money to the high scorer and is automatically eliminated. Ties are broken as in the first two rounds.

Bonus round

The champion has 60 seconds to answer a set of questions, with one drop zone opening at the end of every 10 seconds, starting with the one to the champion's left and moving clockwise. They may pass a question and return to it after playing through all others if time permits, but drop immediately on an wrong answer or if time runs out. Money is awarded for each correct answer given before the champion drops.

The number, type, and value of questions are as follows.

• Season 1: Five brain-teasers are asked, involving challenges such as math problems, unscrambling or anagramming words, and general-knowledge questions. The clock begins to run as soon as Mark began to ask the first question, and the champion may think aloud but must say "My answer is..." before responding. Each right answer awards $500.
• Season 2: Ten multiple-choice questions are asked, each with three similar-sounding choices. The clock begins to run after Mark finishes asking the first question. The contestant is no longer required to say "My Answer Is" in this part of the round. Each right answer awards $300.

Correctly answering all questions before time runs out increases the champion's total for this round to $10,000. They may either stop playing at this point and keep all winnings, or give up the $10,000 and play one final round of Russian Roulette, using the number of drop zones that opened during the question round. If a drop zone lands at the champion's position, they drop with no further winnings; if a safe zone lands at their position, they win $100,000. Three contestants won this top prize over the entire run of the series.

The champion's main-game winnings are not at risk, and any money won in the bonus round is in addition to this total.