Free 4 All

Free 4 All is an American game show that aired on USA Network from June 27, 1994 to November 4, 1994.^[1][2] The show was hosted by Mark L. Walberg, who to that point had been better known as an announcer, and was a production of Stone Stanley Entertainment.

Free 4 All and Quicksilver, a fellow Stone-Stanley production, premiered on the same day as part of USA's afternoon lineup that consisted of reruns of game shows from years past. These were the first two games to air in first-run on the network since the 1990-91 season, when USA aired the final season of Bumper Stumpers and The New Chain Reaction. The two programs were in fact paired on the schedule, but Free 4 All failed after nineteen weeks while Quicksilver ran for sixteen months.

Gameplay

Free 4 All was a basic question-and-answer game consisted between two teams of three contestants. The reason to why it was called Free 4 All was that all of the six contestants could buzz-in if they thought they knew the correct answer.

Round 1

The first round followed a slight variation of the "toss-up / bonus" format common in scholastic quiz bowl team competition: If a contestant answered a toss-up question correctly, that contestant's team received the opportunity to answer a bonus question; however, unlike in most quiz bowl tournaments,

1. the team could choose the subject-matter category of the bonus question from among four alternatives, with game administrators then removing the team's choice from the list of alternatives and adding a different category in its place;
2. the contestant who correctly answered the toss-up (rather than the captain as in usual practice) was charged with answering the bonus question; and
3. that contestant could not confer with his or her teammates about the bonus question.

A contestant's incorrectly answering the toss-up question gave the other team a chance to answer it ("bounce back").

Each correct answer in Round One was worth 25 points; toss-up/bonus cycles continued until time expired for round one.

Round 2

The trailing team or the team that won the coin-toss if round one ended in a tie was given their choice of four categories to begin the round. All questions in round two were worth 50 points, and were always toss-up questions. New categories replaced selected ones, and the choice went to the team with the last right answer.

Round 3

Round 3 was the speed round. Host Walberg read a series of rapid-fire questions from a specific category (e.g., "Bodies of Water" might be actual bodies of water, or people or places with water names) for a time limit of 90 seconds. Correct answers scored 75 points for the team, and the team with the most points at the end of the round won the game and a prize package. If there was a tie, the next question in the packet broke the tie in favor of the team that answered correctly.

Free 4 All Bonus

The bonus round gave the winning team the chance to win a trip. The team lined up in whatever order they wished, and was presented ten categories. The team had 60 seconds for the contestant at the front of the line to choose a category and answer a question. Each right answer won $100 for the team. Regardless of the answer, that category was taken out of play. After time ran out or all the categories were chosen, the bonus prize was revealed from behind one of the categories. If the team answered that question correctly, or if they answered all ten questions correctly before time expired, they won the trip. Whether or not they won the grand prize, they divided any money won by the team.

References