Speed Round

The speed round is that part of a Game Show which is often played at the end of the main game to determine a winner, typically a series of rapid-fire questions asked within a given time limit. Not to be confused with Bonus Round, which is exclusively for the show's winner.

Also referred to as the "Lightning Round", although Password used this term for its Bonus Round.


 * Downfall is essentially an entire game of speed rounds. Unlike most, there isn't a definitive fixed length for the timer, except for "you lose if the case of money at the end goes over the edge of this here conveyor belt." The belt does speed up every time a clue is passed on by the contestant, however.
 * Sale of the Century, 60 seconds at $5 per question.
 * The One Million Chance of a Lifetime - if time ran out during the last round, the letters in the main puzzle were revealed one at a time until someone buzzed in with the correct answer.
 * Child's Play: "Fast Play", the entire second round at 2 points per question.
 * College Mad House: "Finals", 1:30 at 25 points per question (and the right to pie one's opponent).
 * Idiot Savants: The "Brainstorm Round", 60 (later 45) seconds at 200 points per question.
 * Match Game: "Match-Up", played at the end of each round during the 1990 version; 30 seconds at $50 per match after round one, and 45 seconds at $100 per match after round two.
 * Remote Control: "Think Real Fast", 30 seconds at 10 points per question. Changed in the final season to "This, that or the other thing" and played for 20 seconds.
 * Scrabble had "Speedword", played at three different times:
 * 1) When all three stoppers had been drawn for a word
 * 2) After a 2-2 tie
 * 3) Whenever time ran short
 * Shop 'Til You Drop: The "Shopper's Challenge Round", 1:30 at 50 points per question.
 * Trashed: The "Survival Round", 39 seconds at 150 points per question. Could be considered a Golden Snitch as the questions were worth quite a bit more than the ones in the main game.
 * Wheel of Fortune: The "Final Spin"; although not timed, the wheel is spun once to determine a value (and later add $1,000 to it), with all consonants worth this amount and all vowels worth nothing. Lasts until someone solves the puzzle.
 * While Who's Still Standing? is also one of those shows where the whole game consists of speed rounds, its Sudden Death consolation round better is even speedier: the remaining contestants answer questions like the main game with a short time limit. Correct answers increase a plot, last person standing wins it.
 * Wait Wait Don't Tell Me ends with "Lightning Fill In The Blank". Most of the questions are normal news questions, but the last one for each round is a sillier story which gets elaborated on.