<P> In the United States, a game show is a type of radio, television, or internet program in which contestants, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering trivia questions and / or solving puzzles, usually for money and / or prizes . Game shows are usually distinguishable from reality television competition shows, in which the competition consumes an entire season of episodes; in a game show, prizes can typically be won in a single match (in some cases, particularly in the ones that offer record - setting prizes, contestants can play multiple matches and accumulate a larger total). </P> <P> Since the genre began, many shows have offered prizes of large sums of money to contestants; Teddy Nadler set the original monetary winnings record of $264,000 during his appearance on The $64,000 Challenge in 1957 . Nadler was not surpassed until 1980, when Thom McKee won $312,700 on Tic - Tac - Dough . In 1999, John Carpenter won $1,000,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, becoming the first person to win a seven - figure prize on an American game show . Since then, many players have gone on to win that amount and even surpassed it . As of 2015, Brad Rutter is the highest - earning American game show contestant of all time, having accumulated a total of $4,555,102 . He succeeded Ken Jennings as the highest - earning contestant by virtue of his victory on May 16, 2014, in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades tournament . </P> <P> Most daytime game show top prizes were limited to $25,000 during the 1960s and 1970s, a restriction made for both budgetary concerns and to assuage criticism from scandals that arose surrounding prime - time game shows in the 1950s . The single day record for shows in daytime television was set by Michael Larson in 1984, who won $110,237 (equivalent to $254,000 in 2016) on Press Your Luck . Larson achieved his record by memorizing the show's board patterns . He repeatedly hit the board's squares that awarded contestants money and an additional spin . That spin would in turn replace the spin he had just used, effectively allowing him to spin the board in the second round as long as wanted . Because of this, his game had to be split into two episodes (which aired June 8 and June 11, 1984), as his turn caused the game to go well over the show's half - hour allotted time . In 2003, Game Show Network produced a documentary about the event . </P>

Who won the most money on a game show