Bullseye, billed as the game in which daring determined the fate of the players, was the title of an American game show that aired in syndication from September 29, 1980 to September 24, 1982. Jim Lange was the host, and the show was produced by Jack Barry and Dan Enright. Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first season, and Charlie O'Donnell announced for the second and final season.

Gameplay

Main Game

Two contestants, one a returning champion, competed. The game begins with the champion going first, stopping a gameboard of three spinning windows (one at a time) by hitting a plunger. The first two windows contained different categories (four in each window) and dollar amounts ranging from $50 to $200, representing the value of each question. The third window (below the two category windows) is a "contract" window, meaning a player had to answer anywhere from 1 to 5 questions to claim the money in a pot. The window also had a Bullseye, which if revealed, gave that player the option of answering as many questions as he/she wished, and stopping at any time.

When the windows stopped spinning, the player chose either of the displayed categories, and had to fulfill the contract by correctly answering that number of questions from that category. Each correct response added money to a pot. A miscue gave the opponent a chance to steal control of the contract with a correct answer.

After the contract had been completed, the player who completed the contract could elect to bank the money in the pot (passing control of the board to the opponent), or keep control of the board for another contract (leaving the money in the pot).

The first player to bank $1,000 or more won; after a few months, this was increased to $2,000 or more, with questions also increasing to values of $100 to $400. Whatever money that was banked in this game was his/hers to keep, regardless of the game's outcome; one of the few Barry & Enright game shows in which both contestants can keep his/her money win or lose. The maximum amount a player can win in one game is $1,950; later $3,900.

In the event a champion, who went first, answered all questions correctly and won the game without the challenger given a chance to answer or given control of the board; the challenger would play another game after the bonus round.

Endgame

In the bonus round (known to fans as "Bonus Island"), the champion again stops the spinning wheels by hitting the plunger on the bonus island. This time, the windows contained dollar amounts of $100, $200, or $300, or Bullseyes. One and only one window also contained a lightning bolt.

If money came up in a window, it was added to a bank. If a Bullseye appeared, the player had the option to "freeze" that window, which was then out of play for the remainder of the game. Later, that rule was changed to when a bullseye appeared, that window was automatically frozen. Lightning, if it came up, bankrupted the player and ended the game. The player had the option to stop after every spin and keep the money banked.

The object was to either get Bullseyes in all three windows, or to survive ten (later reduced to seven) spins without getting "struck by lightning." Doing either of these won a bonus prize package usually worth $2,000 to $3,000 in value; getting three Bullseyes also doubled the current value of the bank, while going the maximum amount of spins augmented the bank to a flat $5,000. If a player was fortunate enough to spin three bullseyes on one spin, that player won a cash bonus of $10,000 plus the prize package.

Celebrity Bullseye (1982)

In January 1982, the show changed its name to Celebrity Bullseye (like many other struggling game shows have done in the past) and featured celebrity contestants playing for their favorite charities. At this point, the game became a two-out-of-three affair, but few if any other rules were changed, other than categories no longer announced by host Jim Lange before the game began. It was as Celebrity Bullseye that this series left the air in September of that year.

Notes

• The original pilot, made in 1979, featured a somewhat different bonus round. To begin, the player stopped a "Number Jumbler," which contained numbers from 3-5, or a Bullseye. The windows on the gameboard all contained either Bullseyes or lightning bolts. Starting with the $1,000 (or more) won during the main game, the contestant stopped the windows, and if all three of them contained Bullseyes, it doubled his or her money. This process continued until reaching the number in the contract set by the "Number Jumbler," or a lightning bolt appeared (which bankrupted the player). If the "Number Jumbler" was stopped on a Bullseye, the contestant could continue to spin, up until breaking the $1,000,000 barrier (which, starting at $1,000, would take ten spins). For obvious reasons, this ambitious game was considerably scaled back for the show as aired.
• The "Bonus Island" was a stage prop that would travel from one end of the stage (stage right) to the area between the host's podium and the game board. It was a circular prop, about 6 feet in diameter with a tall four-foot plunger in the center, used to stop the spinning windows. Below the island was flashing blue and pink neon.
• Bullseye was among the earliest game shows to use plungers as buzzers (half-shaped oval oversize buttons which can be pushed down by two to three inches), which are used in this show to stop the spinning wheels. The phrase plunger was never used, instead identified as buttons.
• Bullseye was well-known in its day for having one of the most expensive and stylish sets of any game show. It featured lots of neon and chaser lights, giant slide-projector windows, a large moving "bonus island" with a plunger for the endgame, and a bombastic music package (including a main theme strongly reminiscent of the Santa Esmerelda disco hit "Don't Let Me Be misunderstood", which had been used itself on the pilot) to round out the show's "look and feel." A popular story among genre fans is that, during the period Bullseye originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, no less an authority than Johnny Carson (whose Tonight Show taped just across the hall from where Bullseye was recorded) gave a personal thumbs-up to the set design.
• By the end of its run, Bullseye had moved to Studio 33 of CBS Television City in Hollywood, a venue perhaps best known as the home of The Price is Right (Studio 33 is officially known as "The Bob Barker Studio") and The Carol Burnett Show, plus countless other television programs (the set was too big to fit into the Chris Craft Studios, home of The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough). The switch from NBC Studios in Burbank to CBS Television City in Hollywood occurred sometime around the start of 1981. The Bullseye logo behind the studio audience was placed in the same spot as the logo for The Price Is Right.
• Bullseye was one of three Barry & Enright-produced quiz shows of the time; its "sister" series were The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough. Among students of game show history, these three series are considered to be the core of B&E's "comeback" following the disastrous quiz show scandals of the late 1950s. After the cancellation of Bullseye, Jim Lange was to return with a new B&E game show, Twenty-One in its place. That game show never made it to the air. Lange did host a San Francisco-based game show, Take My Word For It instead following Bullseye's demise.
• Not to be confused with an entirely different British game show, also called Bullseye.