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Letters round

Letter tiles are arranged face-down into two piles, consonants and vowels. One player chooses a pile and the top tile from that pile is revealed. A selection of nine tiles is generated in this way, and must contain at least three vowels and four consonants. The clock is started and both contestants have a fixed amount of time (typically 30 seconds) to come up with the longest word from the available letters. Each letter may be used only as often as it appears in the selection.

After the thirty seconds is up, the players reveal their words. The contestant with the longer word scores points (both contestants score if the words are equally long). One point is scored per letter, except for nine-lettered words, which score eighteen points. If a contestant offers an invalid word then they score no points.

Numbers round

Contestants compete to reach a random three-digit target by combining the six other numbers in the "selection" with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Numbers can be used as many times as they appear in the selection, and it is not necessary to use all the numbers. Decimals and fractions are not allowed - only whole numbers may be used at any stage of the calculation. One player chooses how many "large numbers" appear in the selection, which are then drawn at random from 25, 50, 75 and 100; the remaining spaces are taken by "small numbers", drawn at random from 1 to 10 (small numbers can be duplicated but not more).

Points are awarded for the closest solution, and again both contestants score if the solutions are equally close. 10 points are given for an exact answer, 7 points for a non-exact solution up to 5 from the target, and 5 points for a solution between 6 and 10 from the target. If neither contestant can get within 10, no points are awarded.

Conundrum

This round is a simple race to solve a nine-lettered anagram. The first contestant to buzz with the correct answer is awarded 10 points, but each contestant may guess only once.