Tipping Point (game show)

For other uses, see Tipping point (disambiguation).

Tipping Point
Genre	Quiz Show
Created by	Hugh Rycroft Matthew Boulby
Presented by	Ben Shephard
Theme music composer	Marc Sylvan
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	13 (Regular) 8 (Lucky Stars) 4 (Best Ever Finals)
No. of episodes	1,456 (Regular; as of 9 June 2023) 75 (Lucky Stars; as of 24 July 2022) 10 (Specials; as of 8 June 2023) 29 (Best Ever Finals; as of 17 March 2023)
Production
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company	RDF Television (2012–2014) Fizz (2015–present)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	2 July 2012 (2012-07-02) – present

Tipping Point is a British game show that is broadcast on ITV, although repeats are shown on W and Really which is part of BBC Studios. Currently in Australia, it is broadcast at around 3:00pm on Channel 9. First airing on 2 July 2012, the programme is presented by Ben Shephard and features three contestants (four contestants in Series 1 to 11) answering questions on the subject of general knowledge to win counters which they use on a large coin pusher arcade-style machine. Only the winner at the end has a chance to take home any money; the others leave with nothing except any non-cash prizes they may have won during the game.

Gameplay

The machine consists of two shelves filled with flat circular counters; the upper shelf slowly extends and retracts, whilst the lower one is stationary. The rear face of the machine is divided into four drop zones, each of which contains a pegboard similar to those found in pachinko machines. Contestants answer questions to win counters, then choose a drop zone and press their buzzer to release one counter at a time into that zone. The goal is to have the counters land flat on the upper shelf so that its retraction will cause them to push other counters over its front edge, leading them in turn to push still others off the lower shelf and into a collection trough referred to as the "win zone". Contestants win £50 for each counter that drops into the win zone during their turn. Any counters that bounce out of the machine and land on either the floor or the lip of the win zone during a turn are still credited toward that contestant's score.

Three "mystery counters" were introduced in Series 2, each labelled with a question mark. If one mystery counter enters the win zone, the contestant in control of the machine wins one prize (e.g. monthly flower bouquets, weekend holiday) which is theirs to keep regardless of the game's final outcome; if more than one mystery counter falls on the same drop, the contestant wins a prize for each of them (two prizes if two of them drop or three prizes if all three of them drop). Two "double counters" were introduced in Series 5, each labelled "x2". If one double counter enters the win zone, all counters falling on that same drop are scored for double value (£100 each); if both double counters fall on the same drop, the total is quadrupled (£200 each). As of Series 9, the mystery and double counters are respectively coloured green and yellow to more easily distinguish them from the others in the machine. Typically, the game begins with one counter of each type on the lower shelf and the other ones on the upper shelf.

Counters that enter the win zone when the machine is not in play are "ambient drops" and are removed from the machine with no effect on scoring (except in the Final). If such a drop occurs after a contestant has chosen a drop zone but before they have pressed the buzzer to release a counter, they are given the option to play from that zone or select a different one. Any mystery or double counters that fall into the win zone as an ambient drop are put back in the machine as near as possible to the position they occupied before falling.

A "ghost drop" occurs when a counter drifts forward as it falls through a drop zone and its face makes contact with the clear plastic sheet covering the front of the zone. The resulting friction can greatly slow the counter or even stop its descent altogether for a very short period of time. Ghost drops, mistimed drops and unexpected bounces can lead to a counter landing on the upper shelf so that it partially overlaps or "rides" on others; such plays rarely trigger falls into the win zone and can adversely affect a contestant's turn.

In Series 1 to 11, with four contestants per episode, the lowest-scoring contestant at the end of each round is eliminated from the game and forfeits all their money. In the event of a tie for low score, a sudden-death toss-up is used to break the tie. A correct buzz-in answer allows the contestant to advance while a wrong answer eliminates them. If more than two contestants are tied for low score, the toss-ups continue until either one has been eliminated or all but one have advanced. As of Series 12, with three contestants per episode, eliminations occur only at the end of Rounds 2 and 3.

Contestants who are blind or visually-impaired are allowed to have a helper stationed backstage, who can see the machine on a monitor and give advice through an audio earpiece as to where and when to play each counter. However, the helper may not assist in answering the questions.

Round 1

Each contestant is given three counters at the outset. The host asks a series of toss-up general knowledge questions and the first contestant to buzz-in may answer. A correct answer allows the contestant to either play one of their own counters or force an opponent to play one instead, based on their judgement of how likely the machine is to pay out on that particular turn. Once a contestant has used all of their counters, they may not answer any more questions. When only one contestant has any counters remaining, they need not buzz-in, but must continue answering questions correctly in order to use their counters.

A contestant who gives a wrong answer or no answer at any time loses one counter, which is placed into a penalty pot. If this pot contains any counters by the end of the round, they are put at stake on one final toss-up open to all contestants. A correct answer awards all the counters, while a miss freezes the contestant out for a new question asked to the others. If no contestants miss any questions, the round ends once they have all used the three counters they were given.

Round 2

Each contestant answers 45 seconds (30 seconds in Series 1 to 11) of rapid-fire general knowledge questions and receives a counter for each correct answer. Once the time is up, the contestant uses the counters they earned in an attempt to win more money. The contestant in the lead after Round 1 decides who will play first and then after the chosen contestant has finished their turn, the higher-scoring of the two remaining contestants decides who will play next. In case of a tie before their turn, the contestant who gave a correct answer in Round 1 first has priority.

Round 3

The two remaining contestants are asked six questions; three directed to each contestant alternately. After hearing the question, the contestant in control may either answer or pass to their opponent. The contestant who answered receives a counter for a correct answer, while their opponent receives one for a wrong answer. Each counter is used as soon as it is earned. The contestant in the lead after Round 2 decides who will have the first question. If the contestants are tied going into this round, the contestant leading at the beginning of Round 2 has priority.

Final

The contestant is given a jackpot counter (larger than the others used in the game and coloured gold with a red star) and chooses a zone from which to drop it into the machine. The goal of this round is to win a £10,000 jackpot by getting the counter into the win zone. In order to do so, the contestant must earn counters by answering one multiple-choice question from each of six categories, in any order desired. Questions have three answer options and may be played for one, two or three counters, with higher-value questions being more difficult. The correct answer awards the chosen number of counters, which the contestant immediately plays into the machine.

Counters that enter the win zone during this round are worth £50 apiece, including any that fall during the initial playing of the jackpot counter. The mystery and double counters are still in effect. Once the jackpot counter is in the machine, ambient drops are not voided, but are added to the contestant's winnings; however, they are voided before the jackpot counter goes in and after the last category has been used. If the jackpot counter enters the win zone, the contestant's cash total is augmented to £10,000; as of Series 8, the jackpot is doubled to £20,000 or quadrupled to £40,000 if one or both double counters fall with the jackpot respectively.

If the contestant fails to win the jackpot after using up all six categories, they may either trade the accumulated money for three more counters or end the game at this point and keep all winnings. If the contestant trades, all the counters except the jackpot award no money and they forfeit all their winnings if it remains in the machine; however, the double and mystery counters remain in effect only if they fall with the jackpot. If the contestant ends the game and the jackpot counter is on the bottom shelf, they play the three additional counters to see if they would have been able to win the jackpot by trading.

Tipping Point: Lucky Stars and Specials

Title-card for Lucky Stars.

A celebrity version under the title Tipping Point: Lucky Stars airing on ITV where celebrities are playing on behalf of a selected charity. The programme is broadcast in a primetime slot.

The celebrity episodes feature some changes to the ordinary format:

1. All cash values are doubled (normal and mystery counters are worth £100 and the jackpot is £20,000) (except for the Soccer Aid Specials).
2. There are no double counters in the machine (except for the Soccer Aid Specials).
3. Mystery counters award either a joke prize (e.g. a Tipping Point themed T-shirt, a Tipping Point themed backpack), a cash bonus or a question relevant to the contestant in control that allows them to play a bonus counter by giving the correct answer. In the Soccer Aid Specials, the prizes are donations to help people in need and the counters have the Soccer Aid logo on them instead of the question mark.
4. The time limit in Round 2 is 30 seconds (except for the Soccer Aid Specials).
5. The contestants who don’t make it to the Final still take home the money they have accumulated for their chosen charities and even if a contestant is eliminated with a total of £0, a donation is still made to their charity.
6. In the Final, if the contestant takes the trade at the end but fails, their charity still receives £1,000.
7. All episodes (except ones filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic) have a live audience.

Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals

Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals is a half hour spin-off that is shown at times when the Regular or Lucky Stars episodes are neither first broadcast nor repeated (e.g. during ITV Horse Racing coverage). The programme showcases the best and most dramatic finales from previous episodes of Regular Tipping Point and as of Series 2, they also included some dramatic finales from previous episodes of the primetime celebrity spin-off Tipping Point: Lucky Stars.

Transmissions

Regular

Series	Start Date	End Date	Episodes	Notes
1	2 July 2012	27 July 2012	20	Debuted as one of the summer replacements of The Chase with the other being Don't Blow the Inheritance. Series 1 did not take any breaks.
2	2 January 2013	26 February 2013	40	The mystery counters were introduced. Series 2 did not take any breaks.
3	20 May 2013	8 November 2013	70	Series 3 took breaks on: 1 July–6 September and 28 October–1 November 2013.
4	17 February 2014	29 August 2014	70	Series 4 took breaks on: 28 April–1 August 2014.
5	5 January 2015	4 December 2015	125	The double counters were introduced. Series 5 took breaks on: 16–27 March, 4 May–4 September, 23–24 September, 1 October, 7 October, 16 October and 9–20 November 2015.
6	7 December 2015	21 October 2016	150	Series 6 took breaks on: 21 December 2015–1 January and 23 May–26 August 2016.
7	2 January 2017	10 November 2017	150	Series 7 took breaks on: 20 January, 14–17 March, 22 March, 6–7 April and 1 June–1 September 2017.
8	8 January 2018	17 May 2019	165	The double counters started doubling the jackpot. Series 8 took breaks on: 12–16 March, 9–13 April, 23 April due to the birth of Prince Louis of Cambridge, 28 May–30 August and 10 December 2018–10 May 2019.
9	1 January 2019	9 December 2020	165	The mystery and double counters were given the new standout green and yellow colours. Series 9 took breaks on: 12–15 March, 1–5 April, 13 May–30 August, 9 December 2019–31 August and 14 September–8 December 2020.
10	1 January 2020	12 March 2021	165	Series 10 took breaks on: 9–13 March, 23 March–11 September, 9–31 December 2020 and 20 January 2021 due to Joe Biden becoming US President.
11	19 April 2021	1 June 2022	165	This series had 18 episodes filmed shortly before the first COVID-19 lockdown regulations took place. After lockdown, the filming production resumed with COVID-19 safety measures in place (including social for the host and contestants), which involved the other 147 episodes using a new setup (10 May 2021 was the start date for the “new setup” episodes). This series started a week later than originally planned due to the death of Prince Philip. Series 11 took breaks on: 4 June–27 August, 2 September, 13–27 December 2021 and 14 March–27 May 2022.
12	11 April 2022	2023	165	There started being three contestants per episode. The time limit in Round 2 started being 45 seconds. This series still uses COVID-19 safety measures. Series 12 took breaks on: 30 May–2 September, 6 September due to Liz Truss becoming UK Prime Minister, 9–19 September due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, 21 November–27 December 2022, 13 March–12 May, 2–5 June, 7–8 June and 12 June 2023–present.
13	17 April 2023	TBA	100	This series still has the contestants spaced out. Series 13 took breaks on: 15 May 2023–present.

Lucky Stars

Series	Start Date	End Date	Episodes	Notes
1	9 June 2013	25 August 2013	12	Series 1 did not take any breaks.
2	5 July 2014	23 August 2014	8	Series 2 did not take any breaks.
3	15 October 2016	3 December 2016	8	Series 3 did not take any breaks.
4	3 September 2017	29 October 2017	8	Series 4 took breaks on: 8 October 2017.
5	7 July 2019	22 September 2019	11	The mystery counters were given the new standout green colour. Series 5 took breaks on: 1 September 2019.
6	13 September 2020	29 November 2020	12	Series 6 did not take any breaks.
7	4 April 2021	16 May 2021	7	This series was filmed with COVID-19 safety measures in place (including social distancing for the host and contestants and no audience). Series 7 did not take any breaks.
8	3 April 2022	24 July 2022	9	This series still uses COVID-19 safety measures. Series 8 took breaks on: 17 April, 29 May–3 July and 17 July 2022 due to Britain looking for a new prime minister.
9	2023	TBA	9

Specials

Title	Date	Notes
2014 Text Santa Special	19 December 2014
2015 Text Santa Special	25 December 2015
2018 Christmas Special	29 December 2018
2019 Christmas Special	25 December 2019
2020 Christmas Special	24 December 2020	This episode was filmed with COVID-19 safety measures in place (including social distancing for the host and contestants and no audience).
2021 Soccer Aid Special	2 September 2021	This episode still uses COVID-19 safety measures.
2021 Christmas Special	24 December 2021	This episode still uses COVID-19 safety measures.
2022 Soccer Aid Special	9 June 2022	This episode still has the contestants spaced out.
2022 Christmas Special	17 December 2022	This episode still has the contestants spaced out.
2023 Soccer Aid Special	8 June 2023	This episode still has the contestants spaced out.

Best Ever Finals

Series	Start Date	End Date	Episodes	Notes
1	12 March 2019	17 November 2019	5	Series 1 took breaks on: 16 March–16 November 2019.
2	10 March 2020	14 June 2021	12	Finals from Lucky Stars started being shown. Series 2 took breaks on: 14 March 2020–19 January, 21 January–15 March, 20–27 March, 29 March–5 June and 7–13 June 2021.
3	15 March 2022	29 August 2022	8	Series 3 took breaks on: 19 March–16 August and 20–28 August 2022.
4	14 March 2023	TBA	8	Series 4 took breaks on: 18 March 2023–present.

International Transmissions

• Australia – the Nine Network first broadcast the regular series on 2 December 2019. Episodes air at 3:00 pm weekdays (except in Western Australia where it airs at 4:00 pm weekdays) in direct competition with rival ITV-produced game show The Chase on the Seven Network. A repeat of the same day's episode is shown sometime after midnight the following day. For a brief period in January 2021, episodes also aired in prime time, at 7:30 pm Saturdays. In April 2023, it was announced that a localised Australian version, produced by Endemol Shine Australia was in the early planning stages, and would be filmed on the UK set.
• Ireland – Virgin Media Two airs episodes Monday to Friday at 4:00pm and 5:00pm.
• New Zealand – TVNZ airs episodes of the original British version as well as its celebrity Lucky Stars counterpart Monday to Saturday at 10:00am and Monday to Friday at 3:00pm.

Merchandise

The official Tipping Point app for iOS was released by Barnstorm Games on 30 March 2014. The Android version was later released on 3 April 2014. An electronic board game based on the show was released in 2015 by John Adams under its Ideal Games brand. Another Tipping Point app was released in 2020 called Tipping Point Blast!

External Links

• Tipping Point at IMDb
• Tipping Point on Twitter
• Tipping Point at UKGameshows.com