Now You See It

***Now You See It*** is an American television game show created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. The object of *Now You See It* is to answer general knowledge trivia questions by finding the answers hidden in a grid, similar to a word search puzzle.

Two seasons were produced, both of which aired on CBS. The first series ran from April 1, 1974, until June 13, 1975, and was hosted by Jack Narz. Johnny Olson was the original announcer, with Gene Wood substituting on occasion. The second series ran from April 3 until July 14, 1989, and was emceed by veteran Los Angeles news anchor Chuck Henry. Los Angeles disc jockey Mark Driscoll announced for the first month of the 1989 season, with Don Morrow replacing him for the remainder of the run.

In 2017, Buena Vista announced plans of producing a revival of the series, with Rich Fields as the host of the current version, and Brad Sherwood as the announcer for the series. The series is produced by FreMantle Productions, in association with Buena Vista Television.

## Gameplay

### Current Version

The current version follows the 1989 edition of *Now You See It,* in which it pitted two competitors in a qualifying round to determine who would advance to the championship round to face the returning champion or a champion-designate if there was no returning champion. The game, however, was conducted in a different manner. The most notable change was that made to the scoring system, as the contestants no longer had to name the correct line and position to score. Instead, the contestants only had to name the line and then the word. There was also no physical game board as there had been on the previous series, with the producers opting instead for a computer generated game board.

The qualifying round was played in two parts. In the first part, a clue to the word was given. The point value for the word decreased by five points from a starting value of 100 for every third of a second no one rang in. If the value reached 25 points, the host would tell the contestants what line the word was on. In the second part of the round, a new board was played and the point values doubled. The first contestant to reach 1,000 points advanced to the championship round while the losing contestant went home with parting gifts.

In the championship round each board was worth money, beginning at $200 and increasing by $100 for each additional board until someone won the game. Each board had a specific category for it and six words fitting that category on it. The host read a clue for one of the words, and the first contestant to buzz in and correctly locate it was given twenty seconds to find the other five words. Doing so won the value of the board, but if the contestant could not do this the opposing contestant got a chance to steal by finding just one of the remaining words within five seconds. Doing so won the opponent the money attached to the board; otherwise, the money stayed with the first contestant.

The round continued until one of the contestants reached $1,000. The first contestant to get there became champion, kept the money, and advanced to the Solo Game.

### Solo Game

In the Solo Game, the champion was given sixty seconds to find ten words on a brand new board. The champion viewed the board on a telestrator screen. On the original *Now You See It*, the Solo Game board was the same one used in the Semi-final/Qualifying Round and the screen was embedded in Jack Narz's podium. On the revival series, a separate podium was used and, as in the rest of the show, the board was computer-generated.

After each clue was given, the contestant sought out the word and circled it with an electronic pencil on the screen once he/she found it. Passing was allowed if a contestant got stuck on a word, and if time permitted the champion could play those words again once all ten clues were given. Finding all ten words before time ran out won the contestant the jackpot. If not, $100 was given for each word that had been found before time expired.

The Solo Game's Jackpot starts at $5,000. Each unsuccessful Solo Game added $5,000 to the jackpot. Winning the jackpot did not automatically retire a champion on this series, but a contestant was limited to five consecutive match wins before retiring.