When the show first started, each panelist had 15 seconds of questioning of a guest. Then this would repeat once. Each 15 seconds that passed without the secret being correctly guessed won the contestant $10. However, a guest could not win more than $80. In mid-1954, they changed to only one question period for each panelist. They changed the money to $20 so that the top prize would stay at $80. Also, the time limit for questions was no longer exact. Instead, a buzzer went off to end the questioning, and production staff decided when to use the buzzer. This was partly because the program was shown live (not taped), and this sometimes required the show to be longer or shorter to keep the show running on time. In later times, the panelists were sometimes buzzed when they were too close to the secret, or at a point that would get a laugh.