Child's Play

*Not to be confused with the horror movie series*

Child's Play is a syndicated American game show in which grown-ups try to guess words based on definitions given by children. The Mark Goodson-produced series debuted on CBS from September 20, 1982 at 10:30 am EST (immediately following *The New $25,000 Pyramid*, which debuted the same day). That time slot was held by *Alice* for a little over two years. Despite running for almost a year, *Child's Play* was never able to make ratings headway against either *Wheel of Fortune* or *Sale of the Century*, two hit game shows that NBC aired opposite it; CBS ended the series on September 16, 1983 and replaced it with *Press Your Luck*, which performed much better for CBS.

In 2016, FreMantleMedia, in working with Tribune Entertainment, announced plans of relaunching the series with Jeff Sutphen as host of the series.

## Main Game

Two contestants compete. The object of the game was to correctly identify words based on videotaped definitions given by elementary school-age children (ages 5–9). The game is played in two rounds.

### Round 1

In the first round, a word was given to the home audience, and a video clip of a child defining that word was played. (e.g., a child stating "It's something you use to unlock a door to a house or a car." to describe a "key.") Any incriminating words (including the word itself) were censored.

Once the clip ended, the contestant had a chance to guess the word; a correct response earned one point. If the contestant was incorrect, his/her opponent viewed a clip of another child defining the same word. If the opponent was wrong, control passed back to the first contestant, who saw one final clip. If the contestant was still wrong, the host would announce the correct answer and no points were awarded.

The first round continued, with the players alternating control on words (originally the winner of the previous word played first on each new word), until the first commercial break.

### Round 2: Fast Play

Both contestants were given the opportunity to guess what word the child was defining by hitting a buzzer to interrupt the video clip and guess the word. Two points were given for a correct answer, and if the player buzzed in with an incorrect guess the rest of the clip was played for the opponent before he/she got to guess. Play continued until a school bell rang to end the game, and whoever was ahead won $500 and advanced to the bonus round. If the game ended in a tie, one additional word was played.

## Bonus Round

### Turnabout

The winner was joined by five of the children who were appearing in the film clips and had to describe seven words to them. Each time the champion got a correct answer from a child, they won $100 for themselves and the children won $100 to be split among them. The champion was able to pass and return to a word if time permitted. If the champion was able to get the children to guess all seven words within the time limit, he/she won $10,000 for him/herself and the five children shared $2,500.

If the player gave an illegal clue (such as saying the word or any form of it), the word was thrown out and the player and children lost their chance at their respective top prizes. However, the round continued until time ran out or all of the remaining words had been played.

Champions returned until they were defeated or won five consecutive games.