History Series / WinningLines

** British: In "Looking After Number One", the last eliminated player wins a holiday to the Countryside.
** American: Each eliminated player in "Sudden Death" receives $1,000.

* BonusRound: The Wonderwall, which is essentially a trivia version of ''Where's [=Wally?/Waldo?=]''. The player begins with 15 seconds to study a large video wall with 49 possible answers on it. Then, they got three minutes to answer 20 questions by responding with both the answer and number from the board. Each prize level is a vacation of increasing prestige, ranging from a trip to a bed and breakfast at Spaghetti Junction to a trip around the world. Two "Pit Stops" are issued to stop the clock for fifteen seconds each (although the player may not answer during a pit stop). No penalties were issued for incorrect answers, except on the American version.

* HomeParticipationSweepstakes: Both versions had one.
** British: if your phone number contained the ones digits of the final six contestants' numbers, you were eligible to become a contestant.
** American: if your phone number contained the ones digits of the final six contestants' numbers ''and'' the ones digit from the number of the last correct answer given in the Wonderwall round, you could enter a drawing to win $50,000.

** British: In "Looking After Number One", the last player to be eliminated wins a holiday to the Countryside.

** The American version is almost identical, but with some additional changes. The trips were replaced by a money ladder ranging from $2,500 to $1,000,000, and the contestant could pass up to two questions. However, the biggest addition of all was a way to ''lose'': each incorrect guess earned a strike. Getting three strikes or running out of time dropped the player right back down to the $2,500 level. Additionally, every question had a 15-second time limit in addition to the main 3 minutes; running out of time on that ''also'' cost a strike. If two strikes are amassed or 15 seconds remain overall (whichever comes first), the player can press a button to [[PressXToNotDie stop the clock and bail out with their current prize]]. The Italian version of the show also used this variation, but without any passes or bail out opportunities available.
* HomeParticipationSweepstakes: Both versions had one; if your phone number contained the last digits of the final 6 contestants' numbers, you were eligible to enter to be a contestant on the British version, or on the U.S. version, enter a contest for a chance to win $50,000.

* BonusRound: The Wonderwall, which is essentially a trivia version of ''Where's [=Wally?/Waldo?=]''. The player begins with 15 seconds to study a large video wall with 49 possible answers on it. Then, they got three minutes to answer 20 questions by responding with both the answer and number from the board. Each prize level is a vacation of increasing prestige, ranging from a trip to a bed and breakfast at Spaghetti Junction to a trip around the world. Two "Pit Stops" are issued to stop the clock for fifteen seconds each. No penalties were issued for incorrect answers, except on the American version.

** In "Looking After Number One" (known as "Sudden Death" in the American version), the theme shifts a pitch higher after every question.

* {{Zonk}}: The British version offered a stay at a bed and breakfast overlooking the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravelly_Hill_Interchange Gravelly Hill Interchange]] in Birmingham (popularly known as "Spaghetti Junction") as a prize for getting only one question right on the Wonderwall. They weren't kidding, and actually had a prize spiel and everything planned just in case.

To cash in on a recent [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire fixation with primetime, high-stakes game shows]] triggered by ''Millionaire'' in the United States, ''Winning Lines'' came stateside in 2000, produced by [[Series/FunHouse Stone]]-[[Series/ShopTilYouDrop Stanley]] [[Series/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple Entertainment]] for Creator/{{CBS}}, with the hosting role filled by veteran television personality (and [[Series/{{Pyramid}} game show]] [[Series/TheChallengers host]]) Creator/DickClark. The show was a faithful adaptation nonetheless, sans Lottery cross-promotion, but with a lottery-sized grand prize of $1,000,000.

* BonusRound: The Wonderwall, which is essentially a trivia version of Where's Wally. The player begins with 15 seconds to study a large video wall with 49 possible answers on it. Then, they got three minutes to answer 20 questions by responding with both the answer and number from the board. Each prize level is a vacation of increasing prestige, ranging from a trip to a bed and breakfast at Spaghetti Junction to a trip around the world. Two "Pit Stops" are issued to stop the clock for fifteen seconds each. No penalties were issued for incorrect answers, except on the American version.

** In "Looking After Number One" (known as "Sudden Death" in the American version), the theme shifs a pitch higher after every question.

* WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire: The original British run zig-zagged it: both ''Millionaire'' and ''Winning Lines'' were produced by Celador, and premiered only a year apart. ''Winning Lines'' does share some stylistic similarities with ''Millionaire'' (the dark and futuristic look, and even the same composer). At the same time, it subverts the cliches by not being a single player game (only the Wonderwall was, but that's a typical characteristic of a bonus round), and the aforementioned Wonderwall is actually designed to be a SpeedRound, averting padding (but the main game, is another story). Also, unlike most ''Millionaire''-inspired shows, it was a [=BBC/National Lottery=] game show, so giving away a million pounds was out of the question. They save that for the lottery.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Part of the format has its origins in Celador's 1994 series ''Talking Telephone Numbers'' -- a variety show whose acts generated a series of numbers. If the last 5 numbers in your phone number matched them, you could call in live and potentially win up to £25,000.

''Winning Lines'' ran for six series on BBC One, hosted by Simon Mayo from 1999-2000, and Phillip Schofield from 2001-04. During Schofield's time as host, the winner was given a chance to play a second round of Wonderwall to win up to £4,000 in spending money for their trip.

** In "Looking After Number One" / "Sudden Death", the theme shifs a pitch higher after every question.

** In "Looking After Number One"/"Sudden Death", the theme shifted a pitch higher after every question.

* TruckDriversGearChange: The Wonderwall theme does this after each Pit Stop used to mark the game's progress, the theme shifting a pitch higher when gameplay is resumed.

** The American version is almost identical, but with some additional changes. The trips were replaced by a money ladder ranging from $2,500 to $1,000,000, and the contestant could pass up to two questions. However, the biggest addition of all was a way to ''lose'': each incorrect guess earned a strike. Getting three strikes or running out of time dropped the player right back down to the $2,500 level. Additionally, every question had a 15 second time limit in addition to the main 3 minutes; running out of time on that ''also'' cost a strike. If two strikes are amassed or 15 seconds remain overall (whichever comes first), the player can press a button to [[PressXToNotDie stop the clock and bail out with their current prize]]. The Italian version of the show also used this variation, but without any passes or bail out opportunities available.

A [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] game show from the creators of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', produced as a tie-in with the British National Lottery. The game started with 49 numbered players (the ''Lotto'' draw which aired during the show had 49 balls), who played an elimination game based on questions with numerical answers. If a contestant thought their number was the answer to the question asked, they could buzz in. The player with the correct answer advanced to the next round, but ''only'' if they buzzed in. Those who guessed incorrectly were eliminated. (Starting from the second series, each player had a keypad to answer general numerical questions; the fastest player to answer correctly would advance.) This process continued until 6 players remained. Viewers whose telephone numbers contained all 6 of the "ones" digits of the advancing players could register to become a contestant on a future episode too.

A [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] game show from the creators of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', produced as a tie-in with the British National Lottery. The game started with 49 numbered players (the ''Lotto'' draw which aired during the show had 49 balls), who played an elimination game based on questions with numerical answers. If a contestant thought their number was the answer to the question asked, they could buzz in. The player with the correct answer advanced to the next round, but ''only'' if they buzzed in. Those who guessed incorrectly were eliminated. This process continued until 6 players remained. Viewers whose telephone numbers contained all 6 of the "ones" digits of the advancing players could register to become a contestant on a future episode too.

Then came the next round, "Looking After Number 1", where the field would be reduced to one player. A question was asked on the buzzer whose answer was one of the numbers of the remaining players. If a contestant answered correctly, the contestant with that number would be eliminated. If the player with the matching number guesses correctly, they're saved. Wrong answers eliminated the person who guessed. This was repeated until one remained.

** The American version is almost identical, but with some additional changes. The trips were replaced by a money ladder ranging from $2,500 to $1,000,000, and two Passes were also issued, which could be used to switch out the current question. However, the biggest addition of all was a way to ''lose'': each incorrect guess earned a strike. Getting three strikes or running out of time dropped the player right back down to the $2,500 level. Additionally, every question had a 15 second time limit in addition to the main 3 minutes; running out of time on that ''also'' cost a strike. If two strikes are amassed or 15 seconds remain overall (whichever comes first), the player can press a button to [[PressXToNotDie stop the clock and bail out with their current prize]]. The Italian version of the show also used this variation, but without any passes or bail out opportunities available.

* {{Zonk}}: The British version offered a stay at a bed and breakfast overlooking the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravelly_Hill_Interchange Gravelly Hill Interchange]] in Birmingham (popularly known as Spaghetti Junction) as a prize for getting only one question right on the Wonderwall. They weren't kidding, and actually had a prize spiel and everything planned just in case.

* SpiritualSuccessor: This wasn't the first Celador show involving telephone numbers for a home game. Their 1994 show ''Talking Telephone Numbers'' was a variety show whose acts generated a series of numbers. If the last 5 numbers in your phone number matched them, you could call in live and potentially win up to £25,000.