Lingo

***Lingo*** is an American television game show with multiple international adaptations. Three *Lingo* series have aired in the United States. The first was aired in daily syndication from September 28, 1987 until March 25, 1988, and taped at BCTV in Burnaby, British Columbia. A revival/reboot of the series debuted on Game Show Network (GSN) on August 5, 2002 and ended in 2007 after running for a total of six seasons. A slightly reworked version of the 2002 series debuted on GSN on June 6, 2011 and ended its run on August 1 of the same year.

In 2014, Sony Pictures Television announced plans of bringing Lingo back for daily syndication, with Tribune Entertainment handling the distribution rights. Cristina Ferrare (from the Home & Family Show) was named the host.

The show's format combined the structure of the game of chance known as bingo with a word guessing game; contestants took turns guessing words and tried to guess enough of them to fill in enough spaces on a five-by-five card to form a line.

## Gameplay

Two teams of two contestants, one of them usually returning champions, competed. To start the game, each team received a computer generated Lingo card.

Ten numbers are marked off on both teams' Lingo cards to start. The team in the left podium begins the game. Teams again have five chances to guess the mystery word, but there are no rules against conferring and the team is not required to take turns guessing. As before, running out of time, exhausting the allotted five guesses, or giving an illegal or misspelled word costs the team control and a bonus unrevealed letter is shown for the other team provided that it is not the last letter in the word.

The team who correctly guesses the mystery word receives 25 points and draws two balls from the hopper in front of them. This time the hopper is loaded with the numbers corresponding to the unmarked spaces on the card, with no prize balls, and three red balls which cost the team control as before. If they failed to complete a Lingo, the team keeps control. Forming a Lingo was worth 50 points, after which the team received a new card with ten different numbers marked off and fifteen new balls in the hopper.

After the first commercial break, Cristina interviews each team starting with the team who began the first round.

Play in the first round continued until time was called.

In the second round, play continued from where the first round left off. The team with the lowest score begins the round. This time, point values were doubled, meaning a correct word was worth 50 points, and a Lingo was worth 100 points. In addition, three balls with question marks on them were added to each team's hopper. If drawn, the team could cover any open space on their Lingo card.

The team with the most points at the end of the second round wins the game and moves on to Bonus Lingo. If teams are tied at the end of the second round, a tiebreaking word with seven letters was played. The first and last letter of the word were revealed, and one at a time the remaining spaces were filled. In order to take a guess, the team had to press a buzzer on their podium. If a team guessed incorrectly, they were locked out and the other team was given a free letter. If that team did not guess correctly, play resumed as normal. The team that correctly guessed the word won the game.

### Bonus Lingo

The winning team is given two minutes and tries to guess as many mystery words as possible within the time limit. In each mystery word, two letters are initially revealed: the first letter and one of the remaining four letters, similar to the original version's endgame. If the team fails to guess a word in five tries, the word is revealed and the team moves on to the next word. The team wins $100 for each correctly guessed word.

A Lingo card is then revealed with thirteen numbers marked off. The hopper contains twelve balls, one for each uncovered space on the board, and the team draws a ball for each mystery word successfully guessed in the first half of Bonus Lingo. Forming a Lingo wins the team $5,000 plus the money earned in the first half of Bonus Lingo.