The maximum grand total for a game was $1,600. The team with the most money won the game, kept their winnings, and advanced to the bonus round. The losing team received parting gifts, plus their previous winnings if they were returning champions. If the game ended in a tie, the captain of the champion team (or the captain of the team who lost the coin toss, if there were two new teams) was given one final word and opted to play or pass. The team that played the tie-breaker had to communicate the word down the line without faltering to win. If they were unable to do so, the other team won. The bonus round involved the members of the winning team trying to come up with words to describe certain people, places, or things. For each subject, Forsyth would show the team captain the subject while his/her teammates were placed in isolation with headphones so they could not hear. The captain then came up with four words that he/she thought best described the subject. Once the captain came up with those four words, the rest of the team came out of isolation and were told the subject. Each of the other four players was given five seconds to guess them (twenty seconds in all). Each time the team came up with a word, it was worth $200. After the twenty seconds was up, a second subject was played for $300 per correct guess. Finally, a third subject was played and if the team came up with all four words their winnings were multiplied by five, for a potential $10,000. If the team could not come up with all four words for the third subject, they kept what they had won in the first two parts of the round. The show originated as an unsold pilot in 1983 hosted by Gene Rayburn called "Party Line". The show was picked up by ABC with a few minor changes, mainly Forsyth replacing Rayburn as host (Rayburn had committed to "Break the Bank" by this time) and the show title changed from "Party Line" to "Hot Streak." The game play for the most part remained unchanged. A pilot hosted by Forsyth was produced in 1984 with Rod Roddy serving as the announcer. "Hot Streak" was placed in ABC's 11:00 am Eastern/10:00 am Central time slot that was already home to two hit daytime game shows, CBS's "The Price Is Right" and NBC's "Wheel of Fortune". Consequently, "Hot Streak" was routinely beaten in the ratings and came in a distant third to both shows and ABC decided not to renew the show when its thirteen-week order ended.