History Main / ProgressiveJackpot

* ''Series/{{Blockbusters}}'': The standard prize for winning the Gold Run on the Rafferty version (1987) was $5,000; partway through the run, another $5,000 was added to the jackpot for every failed attempt, but this was reset every time a new champion was crowned.
* ''Series/BreakTheBank1976'': On the ABC version, the Bank started at $5,000 and went up $500 (later $250) each game until won.

Trope appearing in {{Game Show}}s and other contests in which every time the game's grand prize isn't won, something is added to it until it is hit, at which point it resets to its original value. Its use on game shows is largely limited to programs with returning champions, although there are exceptions.

* ''Pinball/{{Monopoly}}'' has the Free Parking Jackpot, which starts at 100,000 points, grows by 75,000 each time the target is hit in normal gameplay, and is breakable during Free Parking Multiball, which is rarely obtained, so odds are that Jackpot will grow pretty high.

* ''[[Series/BreakTheBank1976 Break the Bank]]'': On the ABC version, the Bank started at $5,000 and went up $500 (later $250) each game until won.
** On [[Series/BreakTheBank1985 the 1985-86 series]], the Bank began at $20,000 and increased a bit each day until won. The highest it got was $53,323, won in 1986.

* ''Series/{{Eggheads}}'': The jackpot starts at £1,000. If the challengers lose, the jackpot increases by £1,000. If they win, it reverts to £1,000 for the next episode.

** Wrestling/SgtSlaughter and his "Cobra Clutch Challenge," which began in 1981 with a cash payout (initially an unstated amount, but later said to have increased to $5,000 and then later to $10,000). [[note]]One of the first wrestlers to attempt to collect was, incidentally, a young Wrestling/JimDuggan, at the time a Wrestling/{{Jobber}} and years before he became a main-event star challenging Slaughter for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.[[/note]] This was a set-up for a feud with Pat Patterson, then a color commentator on the WWF's syndicated programs. When the jackpot was at $10,000, Patterson was about to break out of the cobra clutch when Slaughter released the hold to initiate a brutal attack.

* Used in ((Kayfabe}}, to heighten interest in a feud or a possible feud (that would always come to pass):

* Wrestling/BigJohnStudd's "Bodyslam Challenge" in the WWF, which began in December 1982 at $500. Initially, fans were encouraged to try their luck, but as the weeks passed and nobody succeeded, the ante began to be increased ... first to $3,000 and later $5,000 as several of the face wrestlers attempted to collect. By February 1983 and there still was no winner, the payoff was $10,000 ... and then the real payoff: Wrestling/AndreTheGiant and the start of one of the WWF's longest-running feuds to that time. Incidentally, Andre didn't collect during his "Bodyslam Challenge" attempt (Studd's manager, Fred Blassie, foolishly attempted to attack Andre, allowing Studd to escape being slammed), but Andre would collect on multiple occasions over the next several years.

* ''Pinball/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' is one of the few games of TheNineties to feature a jackpot that carries over from game-to-game, which can be multiplied during multiball.

** NBC daytime: the jackpot (of merchandise prizes) started at $1,000 (later $2,000) and rose by somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 for each day that it wasn't won.
** Bergeron: started an accruing "Secret Square Stash" during Season 2, usually with a trip or gift card, and added a prize each day until claimed.

** The 1990 version brought back the Joker's Jackpot; not it came up during the bonus round if the contestant spun three Jokers; this got as high as $36,000 at one point,

* ''Series/AllStarBlitz'': The BonusRound jackpot started at $10,000, and increased by $2,500 every time it wasn't won.
* ''Series/{{Battlestars}}'': In the show's second run (''The New Battlestars''), the bonus round prize started at $5,000 plus two prizes, with two more prizes added each time it wasn't won.

** When ''Las Vegas'' (1980-81) began using the ''Series/HighRollers'' end game, the bonus prize package was the Gambit Galaxy; these packages typically began at $2,000 to $3,000 and increased until won.

** Bergeron: started an accruing "Secret Square" during Season 2, usually with a trip or gift card, and added a prize each day until claimed.

* ''Series/PlayThePercentages'': Different, depending on the week and sometimes the ''day'' the show was aired.

* ''[[BreakTheBank1976 Break the Bank]]'': On the ABC version, the Bank started at $5,000 and went up $500 (later $250) each game until won.
** On [[BreakTheBank1985 the 1985-86 series]], the Bank began at $20,000 and increased a bit each day until won. The highest it got was $53,323, won in 1986.

* ''{{Eggheads}}'': The jackpot starts at £1,000. If the challengers lose, the jackpot increases by £1,000. If they win, it reverts to £1,000 for the next episode.

** The American ''[[{{Temptation2007}} Temptation]]'' had its Instant Cash begin at $500 and increase by that amount every day it wasn't won until capping at $5,000.

* ''{{Talkabout}}'': Winning five games in a row also won a team the "Grand Game" jackpot.

* ''NowYouSeeIt'': During the Narz run (1974-75), a Solo Round win was worth $5,000 plus $1,000 for every game it wasn't won; the Henry version (1989) offered $5,000 plus another $5,000 for every day it wasn't won, eventually reaching '''$50,000''' before being won.

* ''PlayThePercentages'': Different, depending on the week and sometimes the ''day'' the show was aired.
* ''{{Pointless}}'': Adds £1,000 to the jackpot for every show it isn't won, and £250 for every answer worth zero.

* ''Sale of the Century'': The original format had a champion being able to buy one of the prizes on the floor, in which case s/he retired with the prize, or risk not getting a floor prize for a chance to get more money to buy a better prize tomorrow. A champion could buy any prizes they could afford, and if they were good enough to get enough money to cover every floor prize, they could buy them all.

* ''[[Series/{{Whammy}} Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck]]'' had The Big Bank, which started at $3,000 and went up by the positive money score of a contestant hitting a Whammy. A player hitting the Big Bank had that total credited to his/her score by correctly answering a question and won the money by winning the game, provided he/she didn't hit a Whammy along the way.

** From 1996 to 2013, the Jackpot wedge (currently in Round 1), which starts at $5,000 and has the value of each spin added to it. To claim it, the contestant must hit the Jackpot wedge, call a correct letter, and solve the puzzle right then.

* ''Series/TruthOrConsequences'': The "Mrs. Hush" contest, a March of Dimes fundraiser during the show's radio days, was possibly the trope originator. Basically, for every week a mysterious actress went unidentified (the clues or which were at first vague but later became more and more broad), more prizes were added until someone guessed the correct answer. Go to Trivia/TruthOrConsequences for the further lowdown.
* ''[[Series/{{Whammy}} Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck]]'' had The Big Bank which started at $3000 and went up by the positive money score of a contestant hitting a Whammy. A player hitting the Big Bank had that total credited to his/her score by correctly answering a question and won the money by winning the game, provided he/she didn't hit a Whammy along the way.

** The daytime version had a conventional Jackpot wedge from 1986-88, which started at $1,000 and increased by $1,000 each day until won; this one just had to be hit. The highest this seems to have gotten is $22,000 in November 1987, although a $21,000 win also happened earlier that year.

* ''Series/YouBetYourLife'': From 1947-56, the bonus question's value began at $1,000 and increased by $500 each time it wasn't won; the highest the jackpot ever got was $6,000. (Interestingly, the last jackpot was $1,500, which was lost. On the next show, which began the 1956-57 season, the format was overhauled and the bonus became a flat $2,000.)
* ''Series/SchlagDenRaab'': The jackpot starts at €500,000 and the first person (Be it the contestant or Stefan) to reach a total of 61 points or more will either win the jackpot and revert it back to €500,000 for the next episode (if the contestant wins) or roll it over by another €500,000 (if Stefan wins). The biggest jackpot won by far was €3,500,000, and there have been some occasions in which a contestant wins the starting value.

** From 2002-04 (the "9 Keys" era), one "bad" key was eliminated for each star captured (by agreeing/disagreeing correctly about a fact concerning that particular star) in the first half of the bonus game. In the first season with this format, one additional "bad" key was eliminated for each subsequent attempt (1 for the second attempt, 2 for the third attempt, 3 for the fourth attempt, 4 for the fifth {and final} attempt) at the same prize (Car, $25K, Trip Around the World, $50K).

* ''Series/HighRollers'': During the front game of the 1978-80 NBC version, each of the three columns began with one prize. Up to four more prizes per column, one per round, were added if a particular column of prizes went unclaimed in a round — that is, the contestant didn't clear a column and win the round. Once a column had five prizes, the prize package froze until claimed. This situation often led to the columns having different numbers of prizes — one column might have just one prize, while another may have two and the other four.

* ''TheMagnificentMarbleMachine'': The target score started at 15,000 points, and was reduced by 1,000 points for every day it wasn't reached.

* ''[[{{Concentration}} Classic Concentration]]'': Partway into the run, the second game of every show had a "Cashpot" on the rebus board, worth $500 + $100 each day it wasn't won. To claim it, a contestant had to solve the rebus with the Cashpot credited to him/her.

* ''CaesarsChallenge'': The "Lucky Slot", used in the main game; solving the puzzle immediately upon placing a letter into that slot added a jackpot to your score. This started at $500 each day, increasing by that amount for every word in which it wasn't won.