The game was played in rounds, with Barry announcing the category for each round as it was dispensed from a machine on his podium; there were over 100 possible categories. The challenger played first in each round, with his or her booth open and the champion's closed, and selected the point value (1 to 11) that they wanted to attempt. Higher-value questions were more difficult, and questions often had several parts. If the challenger answered correctly, the points were added to his or her score; a miss subtracted the points, but the score could never go below zero. The challenger's booth was then closed and the champion's opened so that the champion could take a turn. Barry would not tell either contestant about the other's score or performance.