The top cash prize in "Big Money" during the first series (1980) was £1,000. From the second series (1981), the prize started at £1,000, then rose by £500 weekly if no one won, to a limit of £3,000 (£2,500 from 1981 to 1982) which it could stay at for more than one week if it still was not won. Once the prize was won, it reverted to £1,000 for the next edition. In the 1987 series, it started at £1,000, and if not won, rose by £1,000 per week to a maximum of £3,000. From the 1988 series, the prize was fixed at £3,000. After the abolition of the IBA's prize limits, the top prize rose to £5,000 from 1996. The money had to be shared out between contestants.