and the remaining letters were put in place one at a time until someone buzzed-in and guessed the word, scoring $300 per unplaced letter. An incorrect guess locked the contestant out of the word. If time was called after a word was completed, one final word was played under these same rules. The high scorer became the day's champion and advanced to the bonus round. Originally, the champion bought prizes with his/her accumulated money; later, he/she received a prize package of equivalent value to the cash total. The other two contestants received parting gifts, including dinner at Caesars and tickets for one of its headlining acts at the time. In the event of a tie, one last speed-up word was played between the tied contestants to determine the winner. Bonus round In the bonus round, the champion was given an opportunity to win a new car. Two different formats were used. First format A giant rotating cage similar to a bingo calling machine was lowered from the ceiling. Inside were 200 plastic balls, each marked with a letter of the alphabet; one ball at a time was dispensed into a chute, and Rashad's assistant called out its letter. A backstage computer kept track of the letters and searched for any valid nine-letter words that could be formed from them. Once such a word was found, a gong sounded. The drawing ended at this point, and the letters in the word were displayed to the champion in the order that they were drawn. He/she was allowed to place one letter in its correct position for every main-game victory up to that point, then had 10 seconds to guess the word; successfully doing so won the car. Champions remained on the show until they either won the car or were defeated in the main game, whichever came first. When Caesars Challenge first premiered, letters were only drawn once the bonus round had started. Partway through the run, the drawing began during the commercial break before this round as a time-saving measure. The champion and home audience were shown the letters that were drawn during the break. Second format The second bonus format was introduced on November 22, 1993, and continued for the remainder of the run. The champion was shown five scrambled words, each a different length from five to nine letters, on a screen placed in front of the slot machine.