On each episode, four teams of two players each compete to win up to $250,000 by removing one object at a time from a giant tower, leaving it unstable enough to topple when the opponents do the same.

Each episode is a self-contained competition with a three-round main game and a final round, the Mega Stack.

In each round, teams are presented with a tall stack of objects following a general theme, such as "1950s diner" or "kid's room."

Flat circular platforms are sandwiched between adjacent layers, and the diameter of the stack remains constant along its entire height.

Some objects are rigged to make them more difficult to remove ("stack traps"), such as a laundry basket with a hidden rope of socks threaded through a hole in the platform on which it sits.

The clock is initially set at two minutes, but each tall "time" capsule removed will extend it by that same amount.