On each show 3 contestants played against each other with the winner playing for the chance to win a holiday.
Passport Round
Two of the contestants had to guess the year that the third contestant was born by some clues including the front page of the newspaper from the day the contestant was born. Both contestants need to guess different years. The contestant with the correct answer, or the closest guess, receives 2 points. After the year of birth is identified, the contestant is asked a set of 3 questions on that year, for 2 points each; any missed or passed questions are tossed up to the other two players, again for 2 points.
Departure Board
In round 2, each contestant, starting with the leader, is presented with 9 answers on a videowall, and is asked questions. If they give a correct answer they score 2 points, and that answer is removed from the board. If they were wrong, the incorrect guess is removed from the board, and the contestant is given as many additional guesses as are necessary to find the correct answer. If there is one answer left on the board as a result of a correct answer, the contestant answers a question to do with that answer. If they get it right, they score 2 points; a 2-point bonus is awarded for a perfect board, thus 20 points are possible.
The final round was called the 'Dirty Tricks' round where the contestants answered questions on the buzzer. if they got the question right, they were given a choice either add 4 points to their score or deduct 4 points from one of their opponents. In early series, an incorrect answer would result in a 4-point deduction from the contestant, which later changed to 2 points being given to the other 2 contestants. In the first 2 series the contestants won prizes if they passed targets of 40, 50, and 60 points. A contestant about to reach a spot prize score was indicated on the front of the contestant's podiums by a flashing light around their score. At the end of the round the contestant with the most points won through to the 'Holiday Runway' round of the show. In the first series, the losers left with a set of matching luggage. From series 2 onwards they left with a copy of a newspaper from the day they were born, the book 'Chronicles of the 20th Century' and the prizes won on the Dirty Tricks round.
Holiday Runway
The day's winner had 75 seconds to answer 9 questions correctly to win the major holiday. Each correct answer lit a blue light on the outermost edge on the runway path, along with four yellow lights on the inside of the path; every third correct answer is represented with a red light. The time is counted down both numerically and by the white lights on either side of the runway progressively lighting up. After the player gave 3 correct answers the clock was stopped, and the contestant had a choice: stop the game and take a weekend break within the country, or continue the game and answer 3 more questions correctly within the remaining time to win a European holiday. If the time expires, the contestant loses the weekend break. If the contestant won the European holiday, they had one more choice: leave with the European holiday, or answer one last set of 3 questions for the star prize of a major holiday in a worldwide destination. If they ran out of time, they would lose the European holiday, however, they would receive the weekend break as a consolation prize. Any contestant who lost in the Holiday Runway round would receive a set of matched luggage. In the original series with Serle, the bonus round was played at the beginning of the show instead of the end. This led to a humorous outtake in which Serle was shown wearing two different colored sweaters.
Transmissions
Series 4 was meant to run for 8 weeks but it was pulled from the schedules after 8 days due to news coverage of the Gulf War. It returned on 29 August.
