Run for Money Tousouchuu

Run For Money Tousouchuu is a Japanese Game Show that has been airing as a series of specials on Fuji TV since 2004. It usually airs one new episode every couple months. As of this writing, the most recent new episode aired on April 4, 2021, bringing the total to 53 episodes. It spun off a short-lived US version by the name of Chase on the Sy Fy network. A Spin-Off has been announced, titled Battle For Money Sentouchuu and scheduled to premiere on May 19, 2012.

At the start of each game, contestants are set loose to roam in a set playing area, and must remain inside the area for the duration of the game. The show then releases "Hunters" into the area, paid agents whose sole goal is to chase down and tag the contestants. If a player is tagged by a Hunter, they are eliminated from the game. The Hunters walk around the play area and will only start to run if they spot a player, and breaking line of sight for a couple seconds will cause them to give up the chase. Should there be multiple targets available, the Hunters always chase down the closest player. This also means that if a player A, being chasing down by the Hunter, overruns another player B, then the Hunter will change its target and chase down B instead.

Each episode gives players various "Missions" to complete during the game, each of which carries a reward for successfully completing it in time and/or a penalty for failing to do so. Missions vary widely by episode, although two types of missions are fairly common:

• A section of the play area is set to be closed off. Players are given several minutes advance notice, and must vacate the section before it is closed. Players who fail to do so are automatically eliminated (or occasionally, locked in while they release 100 Hunters into it).
• Several Hunter Boxes are placed around the play area. Players who get to a Hunter Box before it opens have some way to lock it from the outside. At some specified time, all unlocked Hunter Boxes open, each one releasing an additional Hunter into the game.

Rewards for success often include an item which helps the player(s) evade Hunters or increased money amounts for the rest of the game, while penalties for failure often include the addition of more Hunters to the game, handicaps that make it easier to be spotted by Hunters, or outright immediate elimination.

Players earn money for every second they evade the Hunters, but lose it all if they are eliminated from the game. Unlike the American spin-off, this ticker is actually meaningful - whenever Tousouchuu offers players a chance to leave the game, the offer is to take the money they have accumulated up to the exact second they accept the offer, as opposed to a small fixed amount. The amount of money earned per second and the total time limit differs from episode to episode. In some episode, however, bailing out could mean betrayal, as by doing so, one additional Hunter will be released into the game. In addition, in some cases there are Revival Missions, those who bailed out will not be qualified to participate.

Also different from Cha$e is the lack of the exit. Instead, the goal is to simply avoid elimination until the timer reaches 0:00, at which point all remaining contestants in the game win the maximum amount.

Over time, the show has developed its own plotlines and mythology through cutscenes and occasional materials planted in the game, often simultaneously using them to explain missions. Initially, these plotlines were self-contained in each episode and simply connected together the missions in the episode, but they have since started developing into multi-episode Story Arcs and an overall Myth Arc. The Myth Arc gradually reveals a Backstory of the game, which is supposedly being run from hundreds of years in the future by a mysterious man named Satoshi Tsukimura, with the title of "Game Master" in a company named Chronos; the Hunters are said to be androids built by Chronos and sent back in time by Satoshi for the sake of the game.

The current story arc revolves around a mysterious secret plan by Chronos named "Hunter X", devised by the president of Chronos to use the Hunters for a much more nefarious purpose. A poster found by one of the players in Episode 26, previewing the next episode ("Last Mission") implies that that the upcoming Episode 27 will be the climax and resolution of this arc.

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Game Show Tropes in use:

• All or Nothing: Unless you take the bailout option.
• Bonus Round: In some episodes, winners who lasted until the clock ran out can either take the money and quit or opt into an extra round, risking all their winnings for the chance at a significantly larger sum if they win.
• Home Game: Bandai has made a board game version.
• Whammy: Being caught by a Hunter.
• Personnel: Only The Announcer. In an unusual move for a game show, there's no traditional Game Show Host onscreen; the closest the show gets is Game Master Satoshi Tsukimura, who is only occasionally seen and generally does not interact directly with the players.

Tropes used in Run for Money Tousouchuu include:

• Chekhov's Gun: In episode 26 (January 2012), one NPC met early on was a fortune-teller who told players to "beware of blue things". A few minutes later, players had to face a Wire Dilemma, where the blue wire was the one that would release an additional Hunter into the game.
• Difficulty Spike: Many games start out very easy, then sometime after the halfway point comes a Nintendo Hard mission which causes players drop like flies.
• Exact Time to Failure: Mission time limits are enforced to the exact second. Even when the mission is something like "figure out the password to lock the gate before the additional Hunters arrive", players will be told the exact time at which the Hunters will reach the gate, and they will arrive at that exact time down to the second.
• Genre Blindness: In Episode 27 (April 2012), the runners were faced with a mission of inflating one of 2 balloons to bursting - one in a red box, the other blue - one balloon contained a switch that would open up an additional area, the other had a Hunter inside. They picked blue.
• Hold the Line: See Instant Win Condition.
• Instant Win Condition: The moment the clock hits 0:00, everybody left in the game wins, even if they're running from a Hunter three meters behind them.
• The Men in Black: The Hunters. Black suit over a white shirt and a black tie with black pants? Check. Sunglasses? Check. No indication of a personality or emotions? Check. They never even say a word, and are only referred to by code names of 2 numbers followed by 2 letters, such as "01KR" and "02NN".
• Non-Player Character: Later episodes frequently had hired actors involved in the missions.
• Stalked by the Bell: Failure to vacate an area that's about to be closed off doesn't always eliminate a player immediately; they're sometimes locked in while 100 Hunters are released into it.
• Turncoat: In episode 27, after considerable confusion is sown about if one of the players is a traitor, they're instructed to send someone up to the top of a nearby tower to learn their identity. The player who gets there discovers there was no traitor to begin with, but is offered to become the traitor for 300,000 yen per player he helps eliminate. He can't bring himself to do it.
• Timed Mission: Nearly every mission has a time limit which is enforced to the exact second, some of which automatically and immediately eliminate players who don't complete it in time.
• Wire Dilemma: The locking mechanism on the Hunter Boxes in Episode 26. Cut the correct wire and Hunter Box is locked, cut the wrong wire and the box immediately opens to release an additional Hunter into the game, who would almost certainly tag you right away.

Winners of the game

in episode 1, Naoki Bosaka running successfully for 50 miuntes, and won 39 mintons(1 minton equals 10 thousand).

in episode 2, Yoshinori Okada and Kenshi Hirahata running successfully for 60 minutes, and both won 60 mintons.

in episode 3, TIM Gorugo(Masahiko Matsumoto) and Tomonori Jinnai running successfully for 50 minutes and both won 30 mintons.

in episode 4, ShinakawaShouji Yu Shinakawa running successfully for 60 minutes, and won 60 mintons.

in episode 5, Bibiru Oki(Jun Oki) running successfully for 60 minutes, and won 108 mintons.

in episode 6 ISSA running successfully for 80 minutes, and won 96 mintons.

in episode 7, Mari Yaguchi running successfully for 70 minutes(plus 30 minutes), and won 200 mintons.

in episode 8, Daisuke Miyakawa and Hitomi Yoshizawa running successfully for 60 minutes, and both won 54 mintons.

in episode 9,  Nobuo Kyo, Yoshio Kojima and Takada running successfully for 70 minutes, and all won 84 mintons.

in episode 10, Daisuke Miyazaki been caughted at last 24 seconds, no one win money.

in episode 11, Kokushu running running successfully for 70 minutes, and won 54 mintons.

in episode 12, LOTTI Soichi Nakaoka running successfully for 80 minutes, and won 96 mintons.

in episode 13, Mika Ba running successfully for 90 minutes, and won 84 mintons.

in episode 14, Misako Yasuda running successfully for 90 minutes, and won 108 mintons.

in episode 15, Banwaka Satoshi Kanada and Garage Sale Hiroki Kawata running successfully for 90 minutes, and both won 108 mintons.

in episode 16, Takahiko Kozuka running successfully for 90 minutes, and won 108 mintons.

in episode 17, Daiki Kameda been caughted at last 25 seconds, no one win money.

in episode 18, Riko Higashio running successfully for 120 minutes, and won 216 mintons.

in episode 19, AKB48 Sayaka Akimoto and Shinji Shinohara running successfully for 80 minutes, and both won 96 mintons.

in episode 20, Mari Okamoto running successfully for 90 minutes and won 108 mintons.

in episode 21, Suzanne(Sayi Yamamoto) running successfully for 90 minutes and won 108 mintons.

in episode 22, Garage Sale Gori(Teruya Toshiyuki) been caughted at last 42 seconds, no one win money.

in episode 23, AMO been caughted at last 1 minute, no one win money.

in episode 24, Ungirls Takushi Tanaka running successfully for 80 minutes and won 132 mintons.

in episode 25, Oriental Radio Shingo Fujimori running successfully for 90 minutes and won 108 mintons, also, EXILE NAOKI（Naoki Kobayashi）get 108 mintons for pairs(because missions).

in episode 26, Mitsu Mangrove running successfully for 120 minutes and won 144 mintons.

in episode 27, Shizuka Arukawa caughted at last 27 seconds, but Keiji Taketo surrender success and get 72.55 mintons.

in episode 28, Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Aiko Kaito running successfully for 120 minutes and both won 150 mintons.

in episode 29, Koji Matoba caughted at last 15 seconds, no one win money.

in episode 30, Dai Nagai running successfully for 120 minutes and won 144 mintons.

in episode 32, Yusuke Kameji become Ultimate player and won 276 mintons.

in episode 33, Cecil Kishimoto running successfully for 120 minutes and won 144 mintons.

in episode 34, Sugichan(Eiji Sugiyama) running successfully for 120 minutes and won 144 mintons.

in episode 35, Koji Matoba and Kaori Manabe pair running successfully for 130 minutes and both won 156 mintons.

in episode 36, EXILE Mandy（Sekiguchi）running successfully for 120 minutes and won 144 mintons.

in episode 37, NMB48 Sayaka Yamamoto been caughted at 1 minute 37 seconds, but Drunk Dragon Taku Suzuki and Kazunori Kubota surrender success.

in episode 38, Kazuki Enari running successfully for 90 minutes and won 108 mintons.

in episode 39, Eiji Kotouge running successfully for 90 minutes and get chance to slide 200 mintons for Edo team.

in episode 40, Kenta Maeda won but cut down half money, he just get 72 mintons.

in episode 41, Onononoka running successfully for 130 minutes and won 156 mintons.

in episode 42, Taizou Sugimura running successfully for 140 minutes and won 168 mintons.

in episode 43, Yui Okada running successfully for 100 minutes and won 60 mintons. Pee also won money because of reason for pairs.

in episode 44, 超特急 Yusuke(Yusuke Fukuda) and Nicole Fujita running successfully for 90 minutes, and both won 108 mintons.

in episode 45, Sunshine Ikesaki been caughted at last 28 seconds, no one win money.

in episode 46, Golden Bomber drummer, Kenji Darvish(Davibishi) running successfully for 100 minutes and won 90 mintons.

in episode 47, King&Prince Kaito Takahashi running successfully for 100 minutes and won 60 mintons.

in episode 48, An ordinary person Norio Furuhashi running successfully for 90 minutes and won 156 mintons.

in episode 49, Miki Kousei running successfully for 90 minutes and won 108 mintons.

in episode 50, EXIT Daiki Kanechika running successfully for 140 minutes and won 117 mintons.

in episode 51, Tsuyoshi Shinjo running successfully for 130 minutes and won 78 mintons. PS: a revive person only get the start amount of money.

in episode 52, Untouchable Shibata had been caughted at last 55 seconds, no one win money.