I’ve been reading the comments, emails, and IMs I’ve gotten, and I’ve noticed a bit of confusion about the rules of the show. In particular, people seem to not get the money situation. I figured this was a good time to explain how the rules of the show go again, since that part didn’t pick up in the archive. The rules are located after the page break. “1 vs. 100″ debuts October 13th at 9PM ET on NBC.
A single player, known as The One for our purpose, battles a group of 100 people known as The Mob. A question with three choices is given. The Mob has roughly 15 seconds to answer while the One has unlimited time. If The One gives a correct answer, each Mob member incorrect is eliminated from play. Also, each Mob member eliminated gives The One money which is based off of what question it is. Here is the money flow.

Episodes 1 and 2:
Question 1- $100 per eliminated
Question 2- $250 per eliminated
Question 3- $500 per eliminated
Question 4- $750 per eliminated
Question 5- $1,000 per eliminated
Question 6- $1,500 per eliminated
Question 7- $2,000 per eliminated
Question 8- $3,000 per eliminated
Question 9- $4,000 per eliminated
Question 10- $5,000 per eliminated
Question 11- $6,000 per eliminated
Question 12- $7,500 per eliminated
Question 13+- $10,000 per eliminated

Episode 3, 4, and 5:
Question 1- $100 per eliminated
Question 2- $250 per eliminated
Question 3- $500 per eliminated
Question 4- $1,000 per eliminated
Question 5- $2,000 per eliminated
Question 6- $3,000 per eliminated
Question 7- $4,000 per eliminated
Question 8- $5,000 per eliminated
Question 9- $6,000 per eliminated
Question 10- $7,000 per eliminated
Question 11- $8,000 per eliminated
Question 12- $9,000 per eliminated
Question 13+- $10,000 per eliminated

If The One eliminates all 100 Mob members, the One’s bank is augmented to $1,000,000. As far as we know, you can go beyond question 13, but $10,000 per mob member eliminated is the glass ceiling money wise. Money is cumulative, so if The One eliminates 20 Mob member on question one, that is $2,000. If The One eliminates another 20 on question two, that is $5,000 more for a total of $7,000. If The One answers incorrectly at any time, The One is eliminated from the game and loses his/her bank, which is divided among the remaining Mob members.

If The One gets stuck, there are two panic buttons which can be used. The first time it is used, the One selects an answer, and the Mob members who also said that are lit up. The One is permitted to ask one Mob member why they selected that.

The second time the panic button is used, one Mob member who answered correctly and one Mob member who answered incorrectly are lit up, thus eliminating one of the choices. They talk about why they feel that is the answer, which basically makes this a 50:50 decision.

The One has the decision to walk away with his or her bank before the question is read. However, if the One plays on and does not know it, after using all panic buttons, the One may leave with 25% of his or her bank. Again, a wrong answer means the One loses everything to the Mob. It may sound a bit complicated typed out, but it is very easy once you see it live.