Each week starts with seven players, one of which is in charge of the "Box Office", which starts at $10,000. The others make up the "Gallery" and are randomly assigned an envelope. Five of them have cash amounts ranging from $300 to $1,000 (in $10 increments), the other has the Box Office card. The player in charge chooses a member of the Gallery, and that player reveals what is in his/her envelope. If it is a dollar value, that amount is added to the Box Office, and the two player engage in a showdown. The first player to answer three multiple-choice questions correctly picks another player. When the Box Office card is found, the winner of the ensuing showdown goes on to play the all the money in the Box Office.
BOX OFFICE ROUND: The contestant picks one of two categories and is asked an open-ended question worth $500. If he/she can answer five questions correctly, he/she wins all the money in the Box Office. A wrong answer at any time ends the game and loses all the money, so he/she can choose to keep their money and stop after the categories for the next question are revealed.
THE BIG FRIDAY PAYOFF: All weeks are self-contained, meaning a game started on Friday cannot continue into Monday. When a game is in progress at the end of a Friday show, all the remaining members of the Gallery open their envelopes, and the player with the Box Office card plays the last showdown of the week against the player in charge. In a regular week, the winner chooses whether to take $1,000 for his/her trouble or come back and play the next week. If he/she chooses to return, he/she will be put in charge of a $10,000 Box Office to begin Monday's show. On special weeks, the winner of the playoff goes away with $2,000.
NOTES:
- A player may only one Box Office. When he/she does, they retire from the show, and a new player from the reserve pool is selected to start a new game with a new Box Office of $10,000.
- According a one-time contestant, players who don't win money on the show do receive a consolation prize of $50.
- This fall, Todd Newton will co-host the entertainment magazine Hot Ticket with film critic Leonard Maltin.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS: In February 2001, Hollywood Showdown did a special week called "Full Monty Week". All the contestants were given the false name Monty and a fake last initial. At the start of the week, however, Todd took "Full Monty" the wrong way and stripped down to his black undershirt and bright red boxers when Randy told him what Full Monty Week really was all about. At the end of the week, Todd let all the Montys on stage go the Full Monty.
In March 2001, all of the players were members of the United States Air Force.