Match Game

Logo used for the syndicated Match Game

**Match Game** is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and was revived several times over the course of the next few decades. The game featured contestants trying to come up with answers to fill-in-the-blank questions, with the object being to match answers given by celebrity panelists.

The original *Match Game* ran on NBC until 1969. The show returned with a significantly changed format in 1973 on CBS and became a hit due to the looser nature of the questions. The CBS series, which was referred to on air as *Match Game '73* to start and changed every new year, ran until 1979 and spawned two separate series for local syndication. The first, called *Match Game PM*, premiered in 1975 and ran weekly until 1981. The second, simply titled *Match Game*, premiered in 1979 and aired daily until 1982.

*Match Game* returned to NBC in 1983 as part of a sixty-minute hybrid series with *Hollywood Squares*, then saw a daytime run on ABC in 1990 and another for syndication in 1998.

The series was a production of Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Productions, along with its successor companies, ane has been franchised around the world often under the name *Blankety Blanks*.

Currently, there are two versions of Match Game: the ABC nighttime version with host Alec Baldwin and the daily syndicated version with Andrew Daly as host. While the nighttime version use the same format that has been used for the CBS versions, the syndicated version is a different format. The syndicated version is produced by Buena Vista Television in association with FreMantleMedia.

## Format (Syndicated Version)

Two contestants competed on each episode. One was seated in the upstage (red circle) seat and the other (opponent) was seated in the downstage (green triangle) seat. The main game was played in three rounds The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". The host read the statement and the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant verbally gave an answer. The host then asked each celebrity, one at a time beginning in the upper left hand corner of the panel, to respond with their answer. The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonably similar as determined by the judges) up to a maximum of six points for matching everyone on the celebrity panel. After one contestant played, the second contestant played the other question. If the contestants had the same score at the end of the game, the scores were reset to 0–0 and a time-saving variant of the tie-breaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants wrote their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers verbally. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory.

## Super Match

The contestant who matched the most celebrities at the end of the game won the game and went on to play the Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-To-Head Match segments, for additional money.

### Audience Match

A two-to-four-word phrase was given, with part of the phrase blank, and the contestant attempted to fill-in the most common response based on a prior studio audience survey. The contestant consulted three celebrities for suggestions, and chose their favorite of those answers or one of their own. The top three answers were then revealed in ascending order. The most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250, and the third most popular $100. The Audience Match is done twice. If a contestant failed to match any of the three answers during the two Audience Matches, the bonus round ended.

### Head-To-Head Match

A contestant who won money in the Audience Matches then had the opportunity to win ten times that amount (therefore, $10,000, $5,000, or $2,000) by exactly matching another fill-in-the-blank response with one celebrity panelist. Unlike the ABC version, the syndicated version uses the Star Wheel. The Star Wheel is used to determine which celebrity a contestant played with in the Head-To-Head Match. The wheel was divided into six equal sections, one for each celebrity. Each celebrity's section featured a bar with five gold stars in it, and if the wheel stopped in the starred area, the potential Head-To-Head Match payout was doubled. ($20,000, $10,000, or $4,000).