Page "The Joker's Wild" Paragraph 63

Different rules applied to Tournament of Champions play: the contestants played for points instead of dollars, with 500 points the target number to win ; and in the championship game, winning two games out of three were needed to win the top prize ( 3 out of 5 for both the $ 250, 000 and $ 1, 000, 000 tournaments ).

No special categories were used, but the scoring system for each game remained: 50 points for a single category, 100 points for a pair and 200 points for a triple.

In the event a natural triple was spun, a $ 500 bonus was awarded to that contestant ( later, it was a $ 500 donation to the contestant's favorite charity ).

Contestants drew numbers to determine who spun the wheels first — and, in the $ 1, 000, 000 tournament, also which game of each round the contestant would play ( odd numbers spin first, even second ).

If the contestant who spun first ( in the challenger's podium ) spun three jokers and answered a question correctly, that contestant's score was increased to 500 points.

The contestant who spun second got one final turn to tie the game in that case, or win the game if trailing by less than 200 points.

The contestant who was ahead after each completed round once the target score of 500 points was reached was declared the winner, but as in non-tournament episodes, both contestants received an equal number of turns.

Also, no bonus game was played throughout the tournament ; after one game was completed, another game began.