If it was, the high scorer then chose a number in an attempt to retake the lead and the contestant with the higher total advanced to the bonus round.

Again, picking the Stopper symbol (which was changed by this point to a matching exploding graphic like the cash prizes) lost all bonus round money but the contestant still kept whatever was earned in the regular game.

Version 3 (2000–2005): The contestant with the highest dollar amount advanced to a Bonus Round with sixteen squares.

That player would advance to the Hoosier Millionaire Hysteria episode at the end of the season, where a $1 million prize would be awarded.

To celebrate the show's 25th anniversary, a special episode featuring past winners and the original on-air team of Patrick, Hobbs and Lamont was filmed, but not aired on television, at the Indiana State Fair on August 16, 2014 and later uploaded to the Indiana Lottery's YouTube channel.

Other stations airing the show on a statewide network upon the program's debut included: With Marion-licensed WNDY (Channel 23) trying to establish itself in Indianapolis, and with the new ownership of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, WNDY won a bidding war to take over production from WTTV starting February 1, 1996.

Four years later, a new format called "The New Hoosier Millionaire" premiered in January 2000; production returned to WTTV,[4] with lottery management citing its increased cable carriage.

Cody Stark and Catt Sadler, who were part of WXIN's "Fox 59 Morning News", took over hosting duties, and the program immediately moved to the higher-rated station.

[7] Ratings declined for two more years until Hoosier Millionaire's cancellation early in its sixteenth season in the fall of 2005.