Tipping Point is ITV's contribution to the genre of game shows based on arcade games you've played all your life, but never quite like this. In this case, it's a quiz show whose centrepiece is a giant coin pusher; but instead of giving out pocket change, trinkets, or tickets, this machine is capable of giving out upwards of £20,000 or more if a winning contestant is lucky enough.
In the first round, the contestants (initially four, but three since series 12 in 2022) each receive three "counters", and answer toss-up questions for a chance to drop one into the machine (choosing one of the four "drop zones" it will be released from). In the Press Your Luck tradition, the contestant can either play one of their own counters, or force an opponent to play one of their own if they think the machine isn't going to be that hot; the contestant earns £50 for each counter that falls into the "win zone". Once a contestant runs out of counters, they are ineligible to answer the remaining questions. If the contestant answers incorrectly, the counter is placed into a "penalty pot", and one final question is asked at the end of the round for the right to play all of the counters in the pot. Prior to Series 12, the lowest-scoring contestant is also eliminated at this point, but since the switch to a three-player format there is no longer an elimination here.
The second round is a Speed Round where each contestant answers as many questions as they can in 45 seconds (or 30 prior to series 12) to earn more counters. The lowest-scoring contestant is eliminated, leaving two for the final round: here, each contestant is asked three questions each, once again earning a counter if they answer correctly. This time, they also have the option to pass a question to their opponent in the hope that they get it wrong; if the opponent answers a passed question correctly, they get the counter instead. Whoever has the most money after this round advances to the final for a chance at the top prize.
Tipping Point premiered in July 2012, as a summer replacement for The Chase in its 5 p.m. timeslot; proving popular, ITV began giving the show a full run in 2013 in a 4 p.m. timeslot. It has since become one of the long-running mainstays of ITV's daytime game show lineup, and has also received a run of primetime Celebrity Edition specials.
This series provides examples of
- All or Nothing: Only the day's winner has a chance to keep their winnings, while the losing contestants receive only the bonus prizes they win from mystery counters. Averted by charity episodes, where everyone is guaranteed to win something.
- Bonus Round: The "final", where the goal is to liberate a larger "jackpot counter" from the machine. The contestant chooses where it will be dropped, and then answers multiple-choice questions from six categories to earn counters. Each category has a choice between an easy, medium, or hard question, which reward 1, 2, or 3 counters respectively. If the jackpot counter lands into the win zone, the contestant wins £10,000; the contestant otherwise still earns cash and prizes from other counters dropped during the round. If the contestant runs out of categories and have not yet landed the jackpot counter, they can walk away with their current winnings, or take an All or Nothing gamble in exchange for three more counters (in this scenario, the contestant no longer earns money for landing other counters).
- Unlike the main game, once the jackpot counter is inserted into the machine, and until all the categories are exhausted, "ambient drops" (counters that fall into the win zone when the machine is not in play) do count towards the contestant's winnings rather than being considered void.
- Bonus Space: There are other special types of counters in the machine, including "mystery" counters that award a bonus prize to the contestant, and two "double" counters that double the value of whatever drops on that turn.
- The double counter even applies to the jackpot counter, so if a contestant lands the jackpot counter and a double counter, they win £20,000 — a feat that has only happened twice so far. Landing both double counters quadruples the value of the drop, so it is theoretically possible to win £40,000.
- Catchphrase: "...with (x) in the bank, we've found your tipping point."
- Celebrity Edition: Tipping Point: Lucky Stars features celebrities playing for charity; it is played identically to the daytime version, except all cash amounts are doubled out of the gate (hence the double counters are removed entirely), and contestants keep their cash winnings even if they are eliminated. Likewise, the final has a Consolation Prize of £1,000 if the contestant takes the trade and loses.
- Clip Show: Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals, a half-hour spin-off showcasing memorable moments from the final round. Often used by ITV as schedule filler in the event of a Sports Preemption.
- Game Show Host: Ben Shephard
- Luck-Based Mission: Given that the show is based on an arcade redemption game that is somewhat of a game of chance, it's no surprise that winning big on this show tends to require a lot of luck (in combination with knowledge of general trivia and the laws of physics).
