- Round 1: $1,000, counting up
- Round 2: $2,000, counting down
- Round 3: $3,000, counting up
- Round 4: $4,000, counting down
- Round 5: $5,000, counting up
While the Money Clock counted up or down, the four contestants stood with lock-in buttons held behind their backs. At any time, they could push their buttons to lock in their value, but the Money Clock would keep running until all four contestants buzzed in, at which point it would stop at a random value above or below the last locked-in value, depending on which way it was running. The contestant who locked in at the highest value (the greediest of the group) won nothing, while the remaining players had their locked-in value added to their total. All five rounds played the same way, but an added twist was added to Round 5: the player who locked in with the lowest value also got nothing.
After all five rounds were played, the two players with the lowest totals were eliminated, while the remaining two went to the Bonus Round, where their earnings were pooled together and put into one last Money Clock, which would count up from $0 to the players' combined total. The first player to lock in won however much money it was locked-in at, while the other player left with nothing.
As a look into human greed, it's an interesting experiment, employing the same thought processes that create the drama that made Deal or No Deal a hit. As a game show, however, it lacks most of the elements necessary to make it watchable, barring the far-better-than-it-deserved hosting of Bernsen.
This show provides examples of:
- All or Nothing: Only the player who locks in first in the final round gets anything, and more often than not, it's not even close to how much has been earned over the course of the game.
- Bonus Round: As noted above.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: The "perfect" in this case is the one that gets penalized.
- Golden Snitch: More often than not, winning any money at all in Round 5 (not being the greediest or the chicken) guaranteed you a place in the final round.
- Whammy: Being the "Greediest of the Group" means you banked nothing for that round. For Round 5, the "chicken" (the lowest-valued lock-in) also got nothing.
