Supermarket Sweep

Three teams competed. Each team began with a base time of 1:30. In the first round of the game, one contestant from each team was shown a grocery item and were asked to guess its retail price. The team who came the closest won the item and an additional 15 seconds to their time. Four items were played.

In the second round of the game, the contestant from each team who did not play the first round went on a shopping spree through the market, using the time accumulated. Bonus items worth $10–$100 were also spread throughout the store. All teams kept every item they picked up, with the team with the highest total in groceries, bonus prizes and other items winning the right to return to the show and play in the next game. Teams remained on the show until they were defeated or until they reached the winnings cap of $20,000.

The gameplay of the Lifetime/PAX version of Supermarket Sweep consisted of three segments: the question round, the Big Sweep, and the Bonus Sweep. The game was played between three teams of two related individuals, such as a parent and child, spouses, siblings, or best friends, initially called to play by an object they were holding (in the studio audience for the Lifetime version, backstage for the PAX version). Beginning with the Big Sweep, the team members would put on sweatshirts of the same color, with each team ranked depending on how much time they earned in the question rounds. In the first season, the sweatshirt colors for teams 1, 2, and 3 were light blue, red, and yellow, respectively; the sweatshirt colors of teams 1 and 2 were swapped in subsequent seasons.

Three new pairs of contestants appeared in each episode, with no running "returning champions;" select winners could make a second appearance in the show's recurring tournaments.

Similar to the original version, all three teams started with a base time of 1:30. Through a series of three rounds, contestants were asked a series of questions, usually centered around knowledge of products found in a grocery store. Each correct answer added 10 seconds to a team's time bank. The first two question rounds were played by one team member, with team members swapping positions after the first round. Questions included identifying a product that was missing letters, determining the brand of a product via an edited picture, and identifying a product based on a series of facts. Occasionally, questions centered around pop culture, movies, or stories found in checkstand tabloids.

Other questions centered around identifying the price of an item. This was accomplished in several different ways; two popular methods included determining which item in a set of three did not fit the designated criteria (e.g. +/- $3.00), or which item was incorrectly priced. A mainstay in the second round gave contestants the opportunity to add 30 seconds to their time banks if all three contestants gave the correct answer.

Occasionally, the second question round was replaced with one of the following games:

• "30-Second Shootout" – Each team played this round individually. One member was given a list of words and had 30 seconds to get their partner to say as many of them as possible. The first letters of these words spelled out a brand or product name; if the partner could guess it, the team received 30 seconds of Sweep time. If the clue-giver said one of the target words, the team forfeited their turn. A variant of this game required one member to describe three particular brand names for their partner to guess, with 10 seconds awarded for each correct solution.
• "Snack Attack Movie Game" – Three questions about movies worth 10 seconds each were asked. The contestant who answered the last of the three questions correctly earned the right to take a taste test of a food item in the market; correctly identifying the item earned that team a $50 bonus for the Big Sweep. If the contestant guessed right on a second chance (multiple choice at that point, and consisting of a maximum three choices), that team earned $25. Originally, the question related to the item only had two choices and only the correct choice earned the $50 bonus.

The final round was the "round robin" game, in which the members of each team alternated turns buzzing in to answer questions (typically six altogether) that awarded 10 seconds apiece. The most common format featured a brand name that had its letters scrambled. The emcee would then offer a maximum of three clues to help contestants zero in on the correct answer. Occasionally, an alternate format was used that omitted the word scramble; instead, the host would offer five clues.

Beginning in the show's second season in 1991, a Mini-Sweep was played at the beginning of the first round. A toss-up question (usually a rhyming couplet) was asked with a particular product as the answer. The team that correctly answered the question earned 10 seconds, as well as a chance for one team member to run into the market to retrieve a package of that product marked with the show's logo. If the product was returned within 30 seconds, the team won $50 towards their Sweep total. Failing to find the marked package, returning it after time ran out, or bringing back an unmarked package or one of an incorrect product, awarded no bonus. Originally, players were just asked to bring back any one package of the item in question.

A year after its debut, the bonus was doubled to $100 if the product was brought back within 20 seconds. Starting with the fifth season, a second Mini-Sweep was added at the beginning of the second round; while this was later discontinued as a regular feature, it would be used during special weeks on the PAX version.

The "Big Sweep" was the chance for the teams to run throughout the supermarket and take products from the shelves with the seconds they had earned in the front game. One player for each team was designated as the "runner," with the job of collecting items in a shopping cart, and the teams were assigned numbers based on their accumulated time: 1 for the most, 2 for the second-most, 3 for the least.

The clock for the Big Sweep was set to the leading time, and it started when Team 1 was sent into the market. Teams 2 and 3 were sent in when the clock displayed their respective times. If any of the teams were tied, they were sent into the market at the same time.

A camera operator would follow each shopper throughout the Big Sweep. In each finished episode, the footage was spliced together to create one near-real-time highlight reel, and the announcer would add a play-by-play commentary to the reel, describing the items being placed in each contestant's cart.

At any time, runners could bring full carts back to their partners' checkout counters and exchange them for empty ones. With the exception of certain bonuses, items had to be in a team's cart (either the runner's current one, or a full one already delivered to the checkout) when time ran out in order to count toward their total.

The main rules for the Big Sweep were:

• Each runner could take no more than five of any one item.
• If an item was knocked off a shelf or otherwise upset or damaged, the runner who did so either had to replace the item on the shelf or put it in his/her cart, or take a $25 penalty for each item. Teams were also penalized for running into supermarket displays, cameramen or any other personnel.
• Only the runners could be in the market; their partners were required to remain at the checkout counter behind a red restraining line and unload the groceries. The partners could cross the line only with permission from the producers, typically to pick up a dropped item or bonus or to take part in a bonus activity that required their participation.

The five-item limit was absent in the original ABC version of the show, but was added to prevent a team from overloading their carts with expensive items, such as poultry, laundry detergent or over-the-counter drugs. The store was stocked with at least 15 items of each product, ensuring anyone could have as many of a given item as they were allowed if they chose it.

In most episodes early in the show's first season on Lifetime, costumed characters such as Frankenstein's monster, a gorilla, or a creature named Mr. Yuck ran through the aisles during the Sweep. If the character came near a contestant or vice versa, the contestant had to turn around and go in the other direction; if the contestant's cart hit the character, a penalty was also imposed. The characters were dropped later in the season.

A variety of opportunities to earn additional cash were available during the Big Sweep. The one constant throughout the entire run of the second series was a group of giant "bonus" items (stuffed animals, advertising signs, inflatable displays, etc.) placed throughout the market in plain sight. Attached to each of these items was a peel-off sticker that concealed a value between $50 and $250 (originally $200). Each runner could take only one bonus, and its value was added to the team's total only if it was returned to the checkout counter before time ran out.

Later in the Lifetime series, Supermarket Sweep began employing more ways for the teams to build up their sweep totals. The first such method employed was called the Shopping List, where teams could earn an extra $250 for bringing three specific grocery items back during the course of the Big Sweep. Over the years, more variations on that theme would be used; for instance, the team's might be asked to fulfill a bread order or retrieve magazines.

Other ways for teams to earn money included:

• Searching through a bin of canned goods to find a marked can of a specific brand, announced by Ruprecht during the Big Sweep
• Finding a mystery product with the help of clues given by Ruprecht or a set of monitors in the aisles
• Retrieving a sack of empty cans for the partner to stack or crush
• Grinding a bag of coffee beans
• Weighing out a specified amount of candy
• Making a sandwich using every ingredient on a table
• Finding a token by popping balloons or emptying bags of popcorn

Teams received money for these tasks only if they were completed in the manner specified by Ruprecht before time ran out.

Once time expired, the runners had to stop whatever they were doing and return to the checkout counters. All of the products were scanned while the show took a final commercial break, and the grand totals of each team's takes were revealed when the show returned, beginning with Team 3, and ending with Team 1. Each team's groceries were tallied and any bonuses/penalties were applied to determine the final totals. The team with the highest score won their Big Sweep total in cash and advanced to the Bonus Sweep for a chance to win an additional $5,000. The other teams received parting gifts. Sweep totals included cents in the first season, but were subsequently rounded to the nearest dollar.

In the Bonus Sweep, the winning team had 60 seconds to win $5,000 by finding three particular items in succession. Ruprecht read a clue to lead the team to the identity of the first item, and the clock started immediately afterward as the team ran into the market. The correct item was tagged with a large circular token bearing the show's logo and a clue for a second item to be found. This item in turn had a clue for a third item, which had a bundle of $5,000 in cash hidden behind it. In order to win, the team had to find all three items and have their hands on the money before time ran out. If they fell short, they received $200 for each item they had found.

Originally, if the team found the final product and the $5,000 before either of the other two, they automatically forfeited the bonus round. However, after the first two seasons, this was changed so that an overhead announcement was made reminding the team to find the first two products, then return to the third product and claim the cash.

During both runs of the show, special tournaments were held periodically, as well as other individual shows in which former teams were invited back for a chance to win more money, a trip aboard a cruise, or a pair of automobiles. In some of the special tournaments, the bonus round was not played; instead, the show's conclusion came after Ruprecht announced the winner. The Friday show always acted as the final.