The challenges are games that require contestants to perform tasks with various household items (such as releasing a balloon's air to blow a certain number of plastic cups off of a table, or rolling marbles at an upright-standing pencil in order to knock it over).

Contestant(s) who lose all three of their lives have their game end and their winnings drop to the previous milestone they passed.

After successfully completing a game, contestants can leave with the amount of money already won before seeing the blueprint for their next level.

In addition, some games contained a "Holiday Bonus," in which a contestant won a gift if the level is passed.

About two years before the series premiered on NBC, Guy Fieri's agent, who had attended a meeting in France, contacted him, pitching to him the idea of hosting the show.

[15] Executive producers for the NBC versions included Craig Plestis, Tim Puntillo, Mattias Olsson, Jock Millgårdh and Estelle Bodén.

[17] Shortly after the NBC version's cancelation, reruns of Minute to Win It began airing on Game Show Network (GSN) July 24, 2012.

[1] Citing the NBC version's ratings success in reruns, the network announced plans to produce a revival of the series on February 4, 2013.

[2] The GSN version was hosted by American speed skating champion Apolo Ohno,[18][19] with Michael Binkow serving as executive producer.

[22] In a pre-broadcast review, CinemaBlend's Kelly West praised Fieri's "enthusiastic" performance and his ability to interact well with contestants.

[29] The first licensed merchandise for the series was a video game produced by Zoo Entertainment, which was released for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Kinect for Xbox 360, and iOS devices on November 2, 2010.

[30] In May 2011, NBCUniversal agreed to a deal with Wendy's allowing the restaurant to release kid's meal toys based on five challenges seen on the actual show.