Jackpot was a game show seen on NBC in the 70s and the USA Network in the 80s. The NBC version aired fron January 1974 until September 1975, and was hosted by Geoff Edwards. A new version, produced in Canada, aired beginning in 1985 on the USA Network and was hosted by Mike Darrow. That version ended in 1989, and a new syndicated version debuted the following September, again hosted by Edwards and produced in Glendale, CA. That version lasted one year, having been cancelled when its distributor went bankrupt.

Jackpot! was a Bob Stewart production and was originally produced at the NBC Studios in New York City with Don Pardo as the announcer.

Sixteen contestants competed for one whole week, with one being the King Of The Hill (for ladies it's the Queen of the Hill), while the other 15 were seated in bleachers numbered 1-15 with riddles inside wallets. The King of the Hill selects a number, and the contestant with that number asks a riddle to the King. If answered correctly, the King continued picking numbers; if answered incorrectly, players switched and the contestant who stumped that King became the new King Of The Hill.

Money is added to the Jackpot based on the value of the riddle, and is won when the King selects a contestant that has the Jackpot Riddle and answers the Jackpot Riddle correctly (split between the two contestants). If the last three digits of the Jackpot amount matched a pre-selected target number, then the King Of The Hill can go for a Super Jackpot by correctly solving the Super Jackpot Riddle.

The theme music to the 1974-75 show was "Jet Set" by Mike Vickers. This is stock music from KPM records.

The Three Versions
Although played the same way, each version is different in its own right.


The 70s Version
In this version the King of the Hill is called the "Expert". 
The Target number can go no higher than $995. There's also multiplier from 5-50 which multiplies with the target number to make the Super Jackpot (Ex: $500 X 30 = $15,000); if the target number hits $995 and the multiplier reads "50", then the Super Jackpot automatically goes to $50,000. 
The Super Jackpot can be played for one of two ways: 
1. Hitting the target number as usual.
2. Choosing the player that has the Super Jackpot Riddle.
3. Choosing the player that has the Super Jackpot Wildcard.



Notes about format #2
For the last 13 weeks, the format was altered with these changes:

The Target number was dropped, and the Super Jackpot was established at random, it could be worth anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000. 
Also riddles were dropped in favor of straight general-knowledge questions. 
When the Jackpot question was found, the Expert could either try to answer it, or go for the Super Jackpot by answering all remaining questions in the game, including the Jackpot question. If the player missed the Super Jackpot question, the Jackpot was wiped out, so it was hard to build a Jackpot. If, however, the Jackpot question was the last one found, the Super Jackpot was discarded. 

The 80s Version
Along with the riddles, the Target number returned, but there was no multiplier; the Super Jackpot is created at random. The target number is notified by the last three digits of the Jackpot. 
The Jackpot starts at $100. 
Riddles are valued anywhere from $50 to $300. 
The King of the Hill & the person with the Jackpot riddle has to trade places no matter what (they didn't have to do that in the 70s version). 
If the Jackpot riddle was not found until the last, an extra $1,000 gets added to the Jackpot. 
In the 2nd season, there was a "$10,000 Riddler Contest" in which the player (during a period of 10 weeks) whom answered the most riddles wins a bonus of $10,000. 
In the final season of the USA version, there was a special riddle called "The $50,000 Riddle". These riddles were MUCH harder than the ones usually asked, and all players who correctly answered them split $50,000. In Canada, three players shared the $50,000 prize. 
Starting in season two, any player whom ran the table (answer all fifteen riddles without a miss) wins a brand new car. 

The 1989 Version
In this version the value of the riddle can only be added to the Jackpot if the riddle was answered correctly. 
If the King of the Hill ran the table (answer all fifteen riddles without a miss), $1,000 gets added to the Jackpot. 

Special Riddles
One special riddle is a "Double Dollars" riddle as the name implies, a correct answer to one of these riddles doubled the amount in the Jackpot at that time. 
There was also an "Instant Target Match" riddle in which if this riddle was answered correctly, the Jackpot would be automatically increased to match the Target amount, thus giving the King/Queen of the Hill a chance to answer the Super Jackpot Riddle. 

More Special Riddles
These appear in more than one version:

Bonus Prize Riddles (all three versions) - A correct answer won the King/Queen of the Hill a prize. 
Return Trip (USA & Syndicated versions) - If the King/Queen answered that riddle correctly, he/she comes back next week to play again after the current week is over. 

The 1984 Pilot
In 1984, an unsold pilot was produced for CBS, with the late Nipsey Russell as host. In this version, the Jackpot starts at $150, that amount was added to the Jackpot for every correct answer to each riddle. There was no Super Jackpot in this version. If the King of the Hill found the Jackpot riddle last, an additional $5,000 was added to the Jackpot. The winning players (the King of the Hill & the player who posed the Jackpot riddle) played a bonus round called "Riddle-Grams", which was played like Bob Stewart's short-lived 1977 game show Shoot For the Stars (both the show & pilot bonus would later become the 1986 short-lived Bob Stewart produced game show Double Talk). The winning players had 60 seconds to solve seven word puzzles known as "riddle-grams" (ex.: "Freezing Dollars", which would be a "riddle-gram" for "Cold Cash"). Each correct answer was worth $100, however successfully solving all seven splits $5,000 between the two winners ($2,500 per player). This is the only version to date, to have a bonus round.

The theme music used on the pilot is "Spring Rain" by Silvetti Ripple.