| BUMPER STUMPERS BONUS ROUND! |
During the three and a half years that Bumper Stumpers was on the air, the bonus round went through a few changes as the time went on. While the main concept of deciphering plates never changed, and while some of the changes were very minor, some of them were somewhat major. Let me explain.
When the game show first started, the first object of the bonus round was to solve as many as seven vanity plates in 30 seconds time. For each plate they identified, the team won $100. They could pass any plate and come back to it if time allowed, in the event that they were stuck. After this passed, the team could try to double their winnings. This was done by earning $500 in the second part, by finding the money amounts on the big board in various increments. If however they revealed a Stop Sign, the bonus round was over. Because of the risk, they could stop at any time. About 3 weeks into the series, this was slightly changed. First off, if they got all 7 plates answered in 30 seconds, they won a total of $2000 to start. Also, there was now an instant "WIN" sign added to the second part of the bonus game.
In early 1988, the bonus round did two simple, but major changes. First off, now, you had to answer 5 plates in 30 seconds instead of trying for a maximum of seven. After doing this, the team won $200 total. Then they had the chance to double their money three times. But if they messed up, the bonus round stopped and they went back to $200. This means that they could go from $200, to $400, to $800, to the maximum of a $1600 win this time around. (Yes, most certainly did got a lot cheaper!)
In early 1989, the bonus round was changed one final time. Again, the winning team had 30 second to interpret 5 plates. Each one this time around was worth $100. All of the answers to these plates, were actually clues leading to the identity of a person, place or thing. If the team was able to figure out the connection between all of the plates, they tripled what they won up to that point. (So if they got all 5 plates right, and got the puzzle right, they won the maximum amount that was possible: $1500.)
