And for 3,000 points, here's the next question: Do stock brokers have the right to close out margin contracts at a loss without notifying their clients?
It's Hong Kong's answer to quiz shows like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" or "Jeopardy," but trade the history and world trivia for technical questions about complicated investment products and financial regulations.
Following an outcry over the global economic crisis burning tens of thousands of local investors, the city's securities watchdog has co-produced a TV game show that aims to beef up the public's financial know-how. The strategy is to mix this Asian finance capital's two obsessions: money and celebrities.
In Monday's debut of the star-laden "Outsmart," popular Hong Kong actors navigated questions about everything from margin contracts to transaction fees and structured products before a studio audience that weighed in with help.
The show reflects a greater need for sophistication around the world as the credit crisis roils financial markets from London to Tokyo and causes a painful destruction of wealth among investors big and small.
In Hong Kong, the turmoil has thrown into doubt the savings of thousands of pensioners, retirees and other investors who sank billions of dollars into securities backed by Lehman Brothers.
Since the New York's firm's collapse in September, Hong Kong has convulsed with street protests, government probes, lawsuits and call for tougher regulations. The fiasco also has exposed gaps in the public's understanding and raised questions about Hong Kong's vaunted regulatory regime and stature as a global financial center.
"Anything that you can do to educate people about investing is good," investment guru James Rogers, chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings and author of "A Bull in China" and other investment books, said in an interview in Hong Kong. "In Hong Kong people are very financially oriented for many many reasons, so it doesn't surprise me that they have a show here."
It's still unclear how the program will fare; ratings from Monday's premiere weren't yet available.
Home to Asia's second-biggest stock market, Hong Kong has one of the world's most vibrant investment cultures. Financial stories routinely dominate newspaper front pages, and everyone from bankers to housewives buzz with stock tips. Local tycoons like property magnate Li Ka-shing rival Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee in popularity and fame.
"Outsmart" may be unique for its game-show format and technical subject matter.
Dodo Cheng, a veteran Hong Kong actress and TV personality who hosted the Hong Kong edition of the game show "The Weakest Link," kicked off the inaugural episode with highly technical questions of the sort rarely in mainstream media:
"Under normal circumstances, buying or selling CBBCs are exempt from which of the following fees? Stamp duties or transactional fees?" asked Cheng, referring to a local stock derivative product known as "callable bull or bear contracts."
Guest contestant Tse Tin-wah, a popular Hong Kong television actor, pondered his answer.
"You can't treat CBBCs as stocks. You only have to pay stamp duty on stocks." He then turned to his partner, former Miss Hong Kong beauty queen Kate Tsui, for reassurance. "Is that right?" he asked.
"I guess so," Tsui, now an actress, stammered, eventually saying, "Yes. My partner says yes. I believe in him."
A judge confirmed the answer was correct, the two actors high-fived and the audience erupted in applause.
The co-producer, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, says the show was planned before the Lehman Brothers fiasco.
The program was prompted by a survey showing retail investors weren't familiar with the products they invested in and "did not have realistic expectations on returns and risks," the commission said. The poll also showed the public preferred to get investor education through television.
Ten half-hour shows will air weekday nights at 10:30 p.m. over two weeks on leading Hong Kong broadcaster TVB.
Tse and Tsui won Monday's debut, beating fellow TV actors Raymond Tso and Nancy Sit. Instead of cash, they won vouchers for skin care products, clothes and luxury watches.
The amount, the two contestants were informed, would be equivalent to the day's closing price of a company included in Hong Kong's Hang Seng stock index. The two spun an electronic roulette wheel that stopped on Chinese telecom company China Unicom, and their winnings totaled about $2,000.
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