Each game consisted of five rounds in the following order: Team Challenge, Spotlight, In a Spin, Spotlight, Team Challenge. Two teams of three members each competed.
Team Challenge
Each Team Challenge consisted of 60 seconds' worth of quick-fire questions on the buzzer, open to all players. A correct answer awarded two points, while a miss gave one point to the opponents and allowed them a chance to answer for another point.
In a Spin
For the In a Spin round, three letters of the alphabet were chosen at random and the teams had 30 seconds to form the longest single word they could, starting with the first letter and containing the other two in the given order. The team with the longer valid word scored five points. This round would later be the main feature of the popular BBCgame showCatchword.
Spotlight
In each Spotlight round, one team chose an opponent, who selected a category from a list of six and had 60 seconds to answer as many questions as possible. Each correct answer was worth two points. Both teams were given a chance to play this round separately; the same list of categories was used throughout the game, with categories being removed as they were chosen. The team in the lead after the first Team Challenge chose an opponent to start the first Spotlight round, while the trailing team after In a Spin had this choice for the second one. No individual contestant could play more than one Spotlight round per game.
Winners and losers
The team with the higher score after five rounds won the game and remained on the show to face a new challenger. Teams were awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold Medal status for winning two, three, or four games, respectively, and any team with four wins retired from the show. At the end of each series, the eight best-performing teams, returned for a single-elimination tournament. These games included an additional round format, It's All Yours, in which each team had 60 seconds to answer as many questions as possible for two points each. Team members were allowed to confer with each other on these questions, with the captain answering for the team. The trailing team before each It's All Yours round played first. The sequence of rounds in each tournament game was as follows: Team Challenge, It's All Yours, Spotlight, In a Spin, Spotlight, In a Spin, It's All Yours, Team Challenge.
Teams
The three series of Masterteam were won by the following teams;
Many of the teams were named after the occupations of their members or had some link to their local area. The Honourable Members team consisted of three MP's including Austin Mitchell. The Quidnuncs team from Avon was notable as it contained serial quizzer Daphne Fowler.
