When drawn, the corresponding space was marked on the team's Lingo card. Three red balls were also in the hopper; drawing one of these ended the team's turn and cost them control. Each hopper also contained three "prize balls", each corresponding with a prize. Drawing one ball won the team $250 in traveler's cheques. Drawing another ball added a trip. If the team managed to draw all three prize balls in their hopper, they also won a cash jackpot which started at $1,000 and increased by $500 for each game it went unclaimed. As long as a team did not draw a red ball, they retained control and received first guess at the next word. The match went on until one of the teams completed a line during their turn. The first team to do this won the game, $250, and a chance at thousands more in the bonus round. Partway through the series' short run, the main game payouts were adjusted. Instead of receiving $250 for winning a game, the winning team's total was determined by the line they made when completing a lingo. Horizontal and vertical lines paid off at $500, while diagonal lines paid $1,000. If the team was able to complete two lines with one draw—referred to as a "double Lingo"—the team won $2,000. Also, the number of prize balls in the team's hoppers was reduced from three to two. Later still, the cash jackpot became the only prize available; when this happened, the prize balls became known as "jackpot balls" and the team had to draw both of them and win the game to claim the pot. The bonus round had the exact opposite objective of the front game, with teams working to "avoid" completing a line. Before the round started, the team was shown a Lingo card with all even numbers on it. Sixteen of them were covered to start the round, with the pattern forming a star shape and the center space left open. The champions were staked with $500 to start. For each mystery word, the team was given five chances to guess and were shown the first letter and one additional letter to start. If the team guessed the word on the first try, they drew one Lingo ball from the hopper in front of them. Each subsequent chance added a ball to the total draws (for instance, if it took the team three tries to guess the word, three balls would be drawn).