Cha$e was intended to be a "real life video game", in which contestants, or "runners", are supposed to run around inside a set area, while "hunters", which are the paid actors, chase them. If the hunters tag a runner, that runner is removed from the game and loses all their earned money. The hunters are supposed to be the video game enemies, and can only chase people when they are in line of sight, and breaking line of sight for a while will make them give up the chase. The runners are also equipped with video-game-like weapons, such as the "Sonic Stunner" which makes hunters freeze in place, or the "Deflector", which makes them stop, turn around, and walk the other direction.
The runners are given two optional objectives during the course of each game, which may give them a nice bonus (such as a weapon as listed above), or be something that is almost necessary (like turning off a homing beacon that is attached to them).
The goal is to survive for 60 minutes, then be the first to reach the exit. The first person to reach the exit wins $25,000, while everyone else receives nothing.
If you came looking for a crime drama about US Marshals, that's Chase (NBC). Also has nothing to do with the British daytime quiz show, The Chase.
For a recap of all episodes of this show, see The Other Wiki's episode list article.
This show provides examples of:
- All or Nothing: You win no money unless you last the entire 60 minutes and escape for $25,000, or take the bailout for significantly less.
- Bonus Space: 25 "money flags" were distributed throughout the play area; getting to the exit with any resulted in an additional $1,000 per flag, making the possible payout $50,000. No one even got close to winning it, though.
- Downer Ending: "The Theme Park 1.0" was the only episode that ended without any runners making it to the exit point in time, and even then, there was only one runner left and he was much too far away to make it in time.
- Game Show Host: Trey Farley.
- Graceful Loser: Many of the players who don't win count as this. It's most evident in episode 2, as Tyler, who was a Jerkass throughout the episode, recognized why he lost and Dianne won, while Paul pointed out how the smallest player ended up winning and this showed how much fun the game could be.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The entire premise.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All episode titles ended with "1.0" (with the intention that there would be a "2.0" if a second season was ever made and they decided to return to a previous format) and all episodes except the last one followed the naming format of "The [Location]". (The last one was titled "Twins in the City 1.0".)
- Lifelines: The weapons.
- Lucky Charms Title: Cha$e, spelled with the dollar sign.
- Midseason Replacement: The show served as this for Battlestar Galactica.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Some of the "optional" side missions are like this. What's that, you don't want to go to this location and swipe a card? Okay, then we'll turn on a homing beacon that will make every single Hunter on the field of play chase you AND ONLY YOU down.
- Opt Out: Used as a gameplay mechanic. Once per game, runners are given the option to opt out of the game, receiving a much smaller but guaranteed bonus ($2,000 or $3,000 as opposed to $25,000 for winning), but only one runner per game is allowed. Notably, the runner who opted out in "The Theme Park 1.0" was the only runner of that episode to walk home with any winnings.
- Permanently Missable Content: Runners only have a limited amount of time to complete the optional side missions, and once that time has passed, any reward that went unclaimed is gone forever. In addition, if no one makes it to the Goal before the 60 minutes is up (the goal opens with only a few minutes remaining), then no one wins, which happened in episode five.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Hunter Amazon was the shortest hunter at only 5'5" but she managed to capture the most runners overall at seven, notably capturing half of the runners herself in episode five.
- Race Against the Clock: The runners have only one hour of game time, and they have to not only avoid the hunters but also make it to the exit point before time runs out to be able to win.
- Real Life: The show's theme is a video game that takes place in real life, where the runners are the players and the hunters are the computer-controlled enemies.
- Robo Cam: The Hunters.
- Short-Runners: Six episodes came and went in November and December 2008 and that was it.
- Special Guest: Professional wrestler Ricky Ortiz was a guest Hunter in the Universal Studios Backlot episode. He managed to get one contestant out.
- The Stoic: With the exception of guest hunter Ricky Ortiz, all hunters were always serious. They also showed no emotion, with the exception of Hunter Icey, who showed anger at contestant Haben for blowing a kiss at her before being released from her cage.
- Too Awesome to Use: Some of the bonus items are hoarded by the players. A good example is the Invisibility Glasses, which last for two minutes; even with only two minutes left in the game, players keep them just in case.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Several players throughout the series will taunt the Hunters after using one of their defensive weapons on them.
- The Voiceless: The hunters never spoke a word. Guest hunter Ricky Ortiz, though, was quite talkative.
