Round 1

This round was broken down into three parts: a "Speed Round", an "Instant Bargain", and a "Fame Game":

• Speed Round: Morreale asked a series of rapid-fire pop culture questions over 30 seconds (instead of 60 as in the '80s series); correct answers were worth $5 while incorrect responses lost $5.
• Instant Bargain: The leader after the initial speed round was offered a chance to spend some of his/her "Temptation dollars" to purchase a prize at a discount. Played just like the original Sale of the Century Instant Bargains, the host often offered extra incentives (e.g., reducing the price, offering extra cash, or offering additional tickets if the offer includes a trip) to entice the contestant. However, if two or all three contestants were tied, a Dutch auction was frequently conducted. The only stylistic difference was that instead of the host saying "Going once... going twice...", the player was placed on a five-second "Shop Clock".
• Fame Game: The host read clues pertaining to a famous person, place, thing, etc. from a first-person perspective. Unlike the 1980s version, letters filled in a puzzle one at a time on the monitor behind the host. The contestant who answered correctly won $15.

Round 2

After the first commercial break, the second round consisted of "Knock-Off", a second Instant Bargain, a second speed round, "Instant Cash", and one final speed round.

• Knock-Off: A category was announced and 12 possible answers were shown; nine answers were correct while three were wrong. Each contestant, in turn, selected one of the answers. A correct answer turned gold and was worth cash (four $2 answers, three $5 answers, a $10 answer, and a $15 answer; Some boards had two $3 answers replacing two worth $2). An incorrect answer turned red and eliminated that contestant for the remainder of that round. Play continued until the last correct answer was found or all three players had been eliminated. In general, the less obvious an answer was, the more it was worth.
• Instant Bargain: Played as before but for a slightly more expensive prize.
• Speed Round #2: Two answers were given before the start of the round, both usually with a similar theme (e.g., "Winger or Gunslinger" and contestants had to identify films as starring Debra Winger or Westerns, which were sometimes called Gunslingers). Once again, the speed round lasted for 30 seconds, and questions were worth $5 up or down.
• Instant Cash: Based on the Sale of the Century round of the same name. The leader at that point was offered a chance at a cash jackpot which began at $500 and rose by that amount until it was claimed or reached $5,000, at which point the pot was frozen until someone won it. To play, the contestant had to give up his/her entire lead over the second-place opponent. If two or more contestants were tied, a Dutch auction was conducted (it usually started at the difference between the tied players and third place). If a contestant opted to play, they were shown three wallets (one white, one brown, one red) and asked to choose one and open it. Inside two of the wallets was a slip that said "$100" on it, with the other having a slip with the amount of money in the Instant Cash jackpot inside. Regardless of whether or not the leader chose to play, Morreale revealed the location of the jackpot.
• Speed Round #3: After a second commercial break, a final 30-second round of questions was played, however each answer was worth +/- $10.

The contestant with the highest score was the champion and advanced to Shopper's Paradise for the "Shopping Spree of a Lifetime". If two or more contestants were tied, a tiebreaker question was played. The contestant who had the right answer earned $10 and became the champion. If not, the opponent won $10 and became the champion.

The losers kept any cash and prizes won during the main game; unlike earlier incarnations of Sale of the Century, no contestants received their score in cash. Any player who had not won anything up to the end of the game received unacknowledged parting gifts.

First taped week

The first taped week of the series did not air until March 3–7, 2008 and featured a slightly different game structure. The show began with Speed Round #1 followed by Instant Bargain #1, the Fame Game, and Speed Round #2.

After the first commercial break, Knock-Off was played followed by Instant Bargain #2, a second Fame Game worth $25, Instant Cash, and Speed Round #3.

In addition, the price tags at Shopper's Paradise were white instead of orange, and Morreale showed the winning contestant around while Watts described the prizes.

Cancellation

With the exception of the preview episodes, which rated 0.8,^[2] Temptation never rose above 0.5 in the Nielsen rating system, making it the least-watched game show on broadcast television that year; the next lowest-rated game, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, maintained a 0.8–1.0 share.

Although the final first-run episode of Temptation aired on May 23, 2008, the show's official cancellation was not announced until July 29. The final episode was later broadcast as the last repeat on September 5, making it one of only a handful of programs to do so. The series was replaced with Trivial Pursuit: America Plays on most stations that carried it; however, the program experienced similar low ratings as its predecessor and was canceled in April 2009.