Match Game

***Match Game*** was an American television game show that ran from 1962 to 1999. Hosted by Gene Rayburn from on 1973 to 1982 on CBS.  Like Pyramid. The revival the show is currently on ABC, hosted by Martin Short.

## Contestant Competition

First the challenging contestant would pick a question, A or B. Host Gene Rayburn would read it to the contestant. Then the contestant and the six celebrities would write their answer to the question on a piece of paper. Then after the contestant and the celebrities got done with their answer, Gene would ask for the contestant's answer. They would tell it to him. Then he would ask the celebrities for their answers. If the contestant's and a celebrity's answer are the same the contestant would get a point, and a green triangle would light up.

Then the defending contestant would take the remaining question. Then the process was the same as above, except red circles lit up.
Whoever had the most points at after two rounds of the above procedures would win $100 and go on to the Big Money Super Match.

### Audience Match

Before the game show, the audience would be surveyed. Their top 3 answers to the question (e.g. Road ___) would be worth (3rd most popular) $100, (2nd most popular) $250, and (most popular) $500. The contestant would pick 3 celebrities to give them answers they thought would be under the $500 slot. Then the contestant would choose one of those answers or make up their own. The answers were revealed one at a time.

### Head-to-Head Match

If the contestant won the Audience Match, they would get a chance to win 10 times that money. They had to match a celebrity's answer exactly to questions like ____ Bee. At first, the contestant chose the celebrity they wanted to play with. In 1978, the Star Wheel was introduced. The contestant spun a wheel to determine which celebrity they would be playing with. If the wheel stopped on a gold star section, the money the contestant would be playing for was doubled.

## Other versions

The first _Match Game_ had different rules from this one and was shown on the NBC network starting in 1962 and ending in 1969. Then, this _Match Game_ was introduced on the CBS network in 1973. That version ended in 1979. In 1975, a syndicated version titled _Match Game PM_ started. It had three rounds of gameplay, and two Audience Matches in the Big Money Super Match. It ended in 1981. A second syndicated version with the same gameplay as _Match Game PM_ started in 1979, and ended in 1982. In 1983, it was combined with another game show, _Hollywood Squares_, to form the _Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour_, which was on television for one year. Six years later, in 1990, it was brought back for the ABC network with a new host, Ross Shafer. In this version, contestants played for cash. It also featured a new round called the "Match Up" round. It was played at the end of both rounds. To start, a contestant chose one of the celebrities. The contestant had 30 seconds (45 in the second round) to match the celebrity in Super Match-style questions. Each question had two choices. Matches were worth $50 in the first round and $100 in the second. This version ended in 1991, but in 1998 it returned with Michael Burger as host. It featured five celebrities instead of six. This version was not very famous, however, and ended in 1999.