Marc Summers hosted and Harvey announced, reuniting the two from the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare.

During the show's original run, home viewers could play along with the game online at the History IQ website.

If the opponents were unable to give a correct answer, the round continued with another toss-up question asked to all three players for $50.

The player with the lowest score after time was called (four video clips) was eliminated from the game.

In the Tri Q round, the two remaining contestants were presented with a list of three people or items, followed by a question from Summers.

Before the round began, the winning contestant was given a list of ten news headlines, one for each year in a ten-year span (e.g., 1914 to 1923).

In the first Eye Q round, contestants were presented with a toss-up question consisting of a headline and three related facts, one of which was incorrect.

Contestants who made it to the bonus round in season two later returned to compete in a tournament with a top prize of $250,000.

Tournament of Champions winner Leszek Pawlowicz, and his winning episode aired as the series finale on June 22, 2001.

In addition to Summers and Harvey, other fellow Double Dare alumni that worked on History IQ included creators/executive producers Dana Calderwood and Michael Klinghoffer (the former of which also served as director) as well as music composer Edd Kalehoff and set designer Jim Fenhagen.