Contestants must answer a series of 15 questions in order of increasing difficulty, to win the $1 million dollar grand prize. With the help of three (or four) lifelines, a contestant gets a chance at the big money.

The Hosts:
Regis Philbin: original host of the show from 1999-2002 and again in 2004 for a special "Who Wants to be a Super Millionaire" version. He also co-hosts Live with Regis and Kelly
Meredith Vieira: Current host of the syndicated show from 2002 to present day. She also co-hosts The Today Show and is former co-host of The View

The Cash Prize Questions Ladder
$1,000,000**
$500,000
$250,000
$100,000* 125,000
$50,000* 64,000
$25,000* $32,000**
$16,000
$8000
$4000
$2,000
$1000 **
$500
$300
$200
$100

*In italics is the value of the question from the Prime Time version with Regis Philbin
** In bold, once you get that value question correct you cannot leave the show with less than that dollar amount. It is often called a Milestone question

The Life Lines (4)
Phone-a-Friend: The contestant may phone anyone in the United States from a list of five preselected friends. The Contestant has 30 seconds to read the question, provide the answer choices and attempt to get an answer from their phone-a-friend. After completion of the call, the Contestant then has the choice of selecting an answer, quitting the Game or using another lifeline, if available.

Ask the Audience: The Contestant asks the studio audience which answer they believe is correct. Members of the studio audience indicate their choices by pressing the key on their keypad corresponding to the correct answer. The choices the audience selected are expressed in a bar graph of percentage of how many in the audience said each A, B, C, or D. The Contestant then has the choice of selecting an answer, quitting the Game or using another lifeline, if available

50:50: The Contestant asks to have the computer randomly eliminate two 2 of the possible answer choices, leaving the Contestant a choice of two 2 answers (1 of which is the correct answer) from which to select. The Contestant then has the choice of selecting an answer, quitting the Game or using another lifeline, if available.

Switch the Question: This life line was added in the syndicated version of the show after the prime time version with Regis Philbin was canceled. This lifeline becomes available only after the Contestant has correctly answered the $25,000 question. If the Contestant has not indicated final answer on the revealed question, this lifeline entitles the Contestant to switch out the original question revealed at either the $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, $500,000 or $1,000,000 value level for another randomly selected question of the same value. Once the Contestant elects to use this lifeline the Contestant is locked into the replacement question and cannot return to the original revealed question. Any lifelines used by the Contestant while attempting to answer the original question prior to the question switch will not be reinstated. The Contestant then has the choice of selecting an answer, quitting the Game or using another lifeline, if available.