In the first round of gameplay, there were three contestants in play. A board with 16 possible answers was given to them, in which then, Peter Tomarken would then state the question in hand, which always had more than one possible answer. Such questions would be, "Which of these television sitcoms featured lyrics in it's main theme song?" On the board, there were eleven correct answers to the question, as well as five incorrect answers. Incorrect answers were known as "Wipeouts" on the show, hence the programs title.

Starting with the contestant to the left-most position, they would choose an answer off the board. The first correct answer was valued at $25. Each additional correct answer was worth an additional $25. Any player could pass at any time. In the event they picked a "wipeout", s/he lost all their accumulated money, and control passed to the next contestant. Also, one of the correct answers held the "Hot Spot", which was a chance to win special prizes if you won the game to the end. If you wiped-out at any time, you lost the prize, however, the "Hot Spot" would be returned into gameplay. The player in last place at the end of the round, was elimiated from future rounds.

The second round (or "Challenge Round"), was when the remaining 2 players would pick answers from the board, this time, with 8 correct, and 4 incorrect. The winner of the first round would start by stating how many correct answers they could give without hitting a Wipeout. The players would beat out each other in their total until they were challenged to do so, or until someone bid 8, the total number of right answers. If they did so correctly without answering wrong, they won the round. If they answered incorrectly, the opponent would have to state one correct answer to win the round. Two winning rounds won the game, a prize, and went on to the bonus round.

The bonus round was played on a board that contained 12 possible answers. Half were right, the other half were wrong. Peter would give a topic that pertained to the right answers. The object was to find all 6 correct answers within a 60 second time limit. The board had touch-screens around the frame of the monitor, and the player would run to the screen, touch 6 answers, run back and hit a plunger. When they hit it, the total number of correct answers selected was given to the player, and then s/he could change the answers by deselecting wrong ones first. If they made it to the end, they won a new car.

Interesting side note: The player that made it to the bonus round was also given a pair of sneakers to wear, provided by the Kalpa Shoe Company. I guess this was done in case a lady was the winner and was wearing heels.