Million Dollar Password's new season premiere is set to invade our living rooms once again. With reality shows and reality-based game shows becoming the hits of the season, Million Dollar Password will try to get a bite of that audience share with an exciting game that promises great rewards for its players. Hosted by Regis Philbin, it is an updated version of the game show Password a season ago. The premiere will be shown on December 18, 2008 with guests William Shatner and Aisha Tyler. Starting December 21, however, the show will move to
its regular Sunday time slot.

The full episode premiere video of Million Dollar Password is not yet available online. rest assured, however, that a copy of it will be posted here as soon as the video becomes available online. Please check this page regularly for it. in the meantime, here are the mechanics of the game as well as the preview video of the Million Dollar Password premiere.

The Million Dollar Password round has a six-step prize ladder with a top prize of $1,000,000. The contestant's partner in this round is the celebrity with whom they earned more points in the elimination game; if they earned the same number with both celebrities, their partner is the last celebrity they played with. The contestant may choose to give or receive the clues for the entire round. For each step of the ladder, the clue giver must get their partner to say five given passwords within 90 seconds. For each word, the clue giver may give a maximum of three clues (similar to Cashword from Super Password); they may pass, but can not return to a word, like the original "Lightning Round" of the classic Password of the 60s.

Successful contestants may take their winnings and leave, or may attempt the next prize level. At each subsequent level the game play remains the same, but the number of available passwords is reduced by one. Failure to complete a level ends the game. A contestant who fails on the first two levels leaves with nothing, while completing the second level guarantees contestants $25,000, even if they fail at a subsequent stage. Contestants who complete the $100,000 level are shown the first five of the six passwords for the $250,000 level before being asked for a decision.

Press releases state that starting with season 2, $250,000 will also become a safe haven, encouraging contestants a free shot at the $1,000,000 prize. Also for that season, should a contestant miss on the $10,000 or $25,000 level, they can replay the level once. Throughout the game, the giver must wait for a guess before giving a new clue, and only one guess may be given per clue. Breaking either rule forfeits the word. In this Password revival, antonyms are acceptable clues, but hyphenated words are not. Each hour-long episode contains two full games (each with an elimination round and a million-dollar round).

Preview: Million Dollar Password Season 2 Premiere