The object of the game is to "capture" the celebrities by lighting up numbers positioned around triangle shapes, inside of which sat each panelist.

Similar to Hollywood Squares, which Heatter also co-created and produced, the celebrities are asked questions by the host, and the contestants judge the truth of their answers in order to light up the numbers.

The show premiered on October 26, 1981, with Alex Trebek hosting and Rod Roddy serving as the announcer.

The New Battlestars premiered on April 4, 1983, but ultimately met the same fate as its predecessor and was cancelled after thirteen weeks with the final episode airing on July 1, 1983.

To begin the game, the champion pushed a plunger to stop a flashing randomizer and highlight one number associated with a corner of a celebrity's triangle.

The contestant retained control by correctly agreeing or disagreeing with the response; otherwise, the turn ended and the opponent played.

The celebrity was "captured" once all three numbers around their triangle were lit with the background for that position changing to blue for the champion and red for the challenger.

NBC scheduled the first version of Battlestars at 11:30 a.m./10:30 Central, replacing Card Sharks (which had ended its run in October 1981) and switching places with Password Plus.

NBC decided not to renew Battlestars after two thirteen-week cycles of episodes and removed both it and Blockbusters from its lineup to accommodate another of its struggling daytime series, the soap opera Texas, which the network moved to the 11:00 hour.

Like many shows before it, The New Battlestars found ratings trouble due to the popularity of ABC's Family Feud, CBS's The Young and the Restless, and preemptions for newscasts and other programming on various affiliates.

Thus, NBC did not renew The New Battlestars when its thirteen-week contract expired and replaced the series with The Facts of Life reruns.