How to Play — The Chase

How to Play The Chase

The Chase is a thrilling quiz show that combines individual trivia competition with high-stakes team dynamics. Contestants face off against a professional quizzer—The Chaser—in a battle of wits where strategy, knowledge, and nerve determine whether you walk away with a cash prize or leave empty-handed.

The Cash Builder Round

Every contestant starts with a 60-second Cash Builder round. During this rapid-fire segment, a contestant faces a series of multiple-choice trivia questions and must answer as many as possible within the time limit. Each correct answer adds $1,000 to their personal cash bank (or £1,000 in the UK version). There's no time to overthink—contestants must answer quickly and decisively to build their starting stake for the next round. The Cash Builder tests pure trivia knowledge under pressure and sets the financial stakes for the remainder of the game. A strong Cash Builder can yield $8,000-$15,000 depending on answering speed and accuracy, while a weak performance might result in only $1,000-$3,000.

The Offer and the Decision

After building their cash in the Cash Builder, each contestant faces the most crucial decision in The Chase: what offer to accept when facing The Chaser. Players are presented with three options. The first is a low offer—often half or less of their Cash Builder amount, but with a significant advantage: they start further away from The Chaser on the board, giving them more room for error. The second option is their earned Cash Builder amount—a middle ground with moderate risk and reward. The third is a high offer—sometimes double or triple the Cash Builder amount, but with a dangerous cost: they start closer to The Chaser, needing to answer more questions correctly to escape.

This decision reflects a fundamental aspect of The Chase: risk versus reward. Do you play it safe and accept less money to secure a safer position on the board? Or do you chase the bigger prize, knowing that The Chaser will be closer and harder to avoid? Team dynamics amplify this tension—if you take the low offer and survive, your teammates who took higher risks may resent your conservative approach. Conversely, if you take the high offer and get caught immediately, you've cost your team a potential team member in the Final Chase.

The Individual Chase

Once a contestant selects their offer and starting position, the head-to-head match begins. Both the contestant and The Chaser are asked the same multiple-choice questions with three possible answers. They press buttons simultaneously to lock in their answers—if one player answers first, the other gets five seconds to respond or they're locked out. The contestant wins their individual chase if they correctly answer more questions than The Chaser before being caught on the board. If they survive, their cash is locked in and they advance to the Final Chase with the rest of the team. This round is brutally simple: answer more questions correctly than a professional trivia expert, or lose your cash and your team loses a member.

Meet The Chasers

The Chaser is an elite trivia expert hired specifically to challenge contestants. On the UK version, six Chasers rotate through the show, each bringing unique expertise and personality:

• Mark "The Beast" Labbett – An original Chaser known for broad general knowledge and commanding presence
• Shaun "The Dark Destroyer" Wallace – Legendary for calm precision and extensive knowledge across categories
• Anne "The Governess" Hegerty – Brings formidable expertise and engaging competitive spirit
• Paul "The Sinnerman" Sinha – Master of specialist knowledge and strategic answering
• Jenny "The Vixen" Ryan – One of the show's most popular Chasers with broad trivia mastery
• Darragh "The Menace" Ennis – The newest addition, already setting records for difficulty

On the US version (ABC, 2021-present), The Chasers include Mark Labbett, Brandon "The Buzzsaw" Blackwell, Victoria "The Queen" Groce, and Brad Rutter—a legendary five-time Jeopardy! champion. Each Chaser brings their own style and expertise to the game. Some Chasers are known for speed, others for accuracy, and still others for their ability to exploit contestant weaknesses in specific categories.

The Final Chase

All contestants who survived their individual chases play together as a unified team in the Final Chase. The team faces The Chaser with two minutes to answer as many questions as possible. Every correct answer adds to their team total. Then The Chaser faces the same two minutes to match or exceed that score. If the team's total is higher, they win the combined prize fund and split it equally among survivors. If The Chaser ties or wins, the team takes home nothing—all the tension and strategy come down to those final two minutes. The Final Chase is particularly dramatic because teams that have worked hard across three rounds can lose everything in the final stretch.

The Strategy Layer

Unlike many quiz shows, The Chase isn't purely about trivia knowledge. Strategy matters enormously at every turn. Should you take the high offer and risk being caught quickly? Should you take the low offer and play conservatively? How hard should you push in the Final Chase if your team is far ahead—aim for a massive total to be safe, or settle for a decent lead and avoid mistakes? The show rewards smart decision-making alongside sharp trivia skills. Teams that coordinate well and make strategic choices about when to push and when to hold back often outperform more knowledgeable teams that make poor strategic decisions.

Why The Chase Captivates Audiences

The Chase works because it balances individual and team competition, combines trivia with high-stakes decision-making, and features charismatic Chasers who aren't distant machines—they're engaging personalities who banter with hosts and contestants. The format is easy to follow yet complex enough to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The mathematical beauty of the format—where one correct or incorrect answer can shift outcomes dramatically—creates genuine tension. This is why The Chase has been running successfully in the UK since 2009 and continues to attract audiences worldwide, spawning successful versions in dozens of countries.

Frequently Asked Questions