Relaunched as "New Popmaster" in 2002(?) with a new "specialist subjects" twist whereby three of the questions are on a subject selected from a choice of two (originally three) and worth double points. In the early days there were often quite specific subjects (on a particular artist or genre) in the selection; nowadays these are rarer and the subjects tend to be pretty wide-ranging, like songs with colours in the title, "female singers" (so that'll be about half of all solo artists ever, then) and the much-hated "Name the Year". Darvill, Josh (20 June 2023). "Ken Bruce to bring PopMaster TV series to More4". TellyMix . Retrieved 28 June 2023. Ken announced on 17 January 2023 that he was leaving BBC Radio 2 at the end of March. His new show on Greatest Hits Radio began at the start of April, and Popmaster went with him. The same week that the quiz made its GHR debut, 12Yard announced it was making a television version for More4, which duly appeared for what might be characterised as a pilot series less than thee months later. Two contestants face ten questions each, highest score on the day wins. The scoring was originally 3 points for a correct answer and 1 for a partially-correct answer, with a "bonus" question whereby the contestant chose a number from 1 to 10 and when that question came up it was worth double points.

When you reach a bonus round, players ask the player to their left the corresponding bonus question, and if a correct answer is given, players move up the board. During a period from July 2007 to January 2008 when all BBC phone-in quizzes were suspended due to mismanagement and defrauding the public, Popmaster was played using celebrity contestants. The first (and indeed, only) celeb to score maximum points was Richard Drummie from the aforementioned Go West - and what made this particularly impressive is that he did it without the outrageous giveaway clues Ken usually dished out to the celebrity players. For some obscure reason, people on the BBC staff were not allowed to appear but those who worked for the corporation as freelancers could - so Charles Nove was roped in as a contestant, but fellow R2 newsreader Fran Godfrey was barred. Each player is dealt 2 bonus question cards and asks the player to their left to choose which of the two categories they want as their bonus round questions.

Games

Players will continue taking turns until one player is forced to POP the last bubble. That player loses the round, but don't worry! Flip the board and start over. The first player to win three rounds is the winner.

The next player will choose any one row that has any unpopped bubbles and POP as many as they want in that row only. The formats are the same as the radio show. It consists of two rounds. For round 1, players start with a series of 10 questions, alternating between bonus questions. Players take turns to read out the bonus question from their card to the player on their right. After the 10 questions, the 2 players closest to the top of the board go through to the next round. For round 2, the 3-in-10 head-to-head final round is hosted by Ken Bruce! Setting up is simple. The board should be placed in the middle of the table within reach of all the players. Each player chooses a playing piece and a set of A, B, C answer tokens. I do find the colours on the playing pieces confusing, especially the light and dark purple. I wish that they had chosen a different colour palette rather than trying to match the game’s colour theme. The light and dark purple playing pieces are too similar. It will be hard for players with colour blindness or other visual impairments to distinguish between them. Ten to the Top will test our listeners’ music knowledge as they battle for pop supremacy,” it added. Long-running Ken Bruce pop music quiz on Radio 2, and easily the best thing on in daytime on that station.A "One Year Out" T-shirt is given to the losing contestant, so named because when answering "Name the Year" type questions, contestants are very often just one year out, causing Bruce to exclaim "One year out!". "One Year Out" T-shirts are often heard to be accepted by contestants as a desirable consolation. On 28 May 2021, in the lead-up to the broadcast of a documentary about the quiz called One Year Out: The PopMaster Story, the first ever contestants from February 1998 returned to play a rematch. BBC Radio 2 replaced PopMaster with a new daily quiz called Ten To The Top launched at the start of Gary Davies's interim period covering the morning show and continuing with Vernon Kay as its permanent host. While the winner gets the same top prize as in PopMaster, the runner up gets a Radio 2 mug rather than a t-shirt. Wilkes, Emma (2 April 2023). "Ken Bruce to reportedly turn PopMaster into a TV show". NME . Retrieved 3 April 2023. The quiz will see each player asked 10 questions about pop music, with the first question worth one point, the second question worth two points, all the way up to 10.

On 29 January 2021, winning contestant Shar Doherty used her "shout outs" to propose to her boyfriend. She later said that she'd been inspired to do it after hearing the "interval" song in Popmaster that day: as part of a musicals theme day, Ken had played Stanley Holloway singing "Get Me to the Church on Time" from My Fair Lady. PopMaster - All Day PopMaster 2021 – The Grand Final - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. All players answer standard questions and move up the board one space for every correct answer given. Answer incorrectly, and you must stay where you are!

BBC Radio 2, 16 February 1998 to 3 March 2023 (as part of The Ken Bruce Show; approx. 6350 episodes) Two contestants play against each other for the chance to win, until May 2022, a DAB digital radio. Since June 2022 the prizes were changed to either Bluetooth headphones or a smart speaker. Each contestant is asked ten questions based on popular music from the 1950s through to the present day. Correct answers to the questions are worth three points, other than for the third, sixth and ninth "bonus" questions on a topic chosen by the contestant, from two options offered by the host prior to the start of the quiz. The bonus questions involve listening to a brief piece of music and, if answered correctly, are worth six points. There is, therefore, a maximum total of 39 points on offer. If a contestant has scored no points prior to their final three-point question, Bruce will sometimes "help" them with the question if required. However, during one December 2021 edition when Scott Mills was sitting in for Bruce, a contestant failed to answer a single question correctly and scored no points. Also, in a June 2021 edition, the first contestant answered only one question correctly leaving Bruce unable to help the second contestant score as they also failed to answer any questions correctly. The incredibly cheesy jingle that for a while was played when players successfully completed Three In Ten. We miss that.

PopMaster will be replaced with a new game called “Ten to the Top”, as the BBC tries to move on from Ken Bruce. PopMaster concludes with “Three-in-Ten“, in which contestants have 10 seconds to name three UK Singles Chart hits for one particular artist or group. In the radio show, two contestants are asked ten questions based on popular music. The third, sixth and ninth “bonus” questions are on a topic chosen by the contestant, from two options offered by the host prior to the start of the quiz. The winning contestant will take part in the 3 in 10. Ken Bruce to bring iconic PopMaster quiz to TV in exclusive new series for More4 | Channel 4". www.channel4.com . Retrieved 28 June 2023. Despite never having been implicated, PopMaster was suspended for one day on 19 July 2007 in line with the BBC's blanket ban on television and radio competitions following several phone-in scandals. [2] The following day, PopMaster returned without prizes or public entry, with the contestants consisting of celebrities and BBC staff. Between 20 July 2007 and 18 January 2008, when the quiz was played with celebrity contestants, no prizes were awarded and Three-in-Ten was not held.

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Get your family and friends together and put them (and yourself) in the hot seat to see who will become the champion of the official Popmaster Board Game. Just like the radio show, simply answer multiple questions and hope you’re not “one year out”!