Word for Word (1)

Word for Word (Not to be confused with the later pilot of the same name) was a short-lived daytime game show based on the word game anagrams.

Broadcast
NBC Daytime September 30, 1963-October 23, 1964

Host
Merv Griffin

Sub-Host
Bill Wendell

Announcers
Frank Simms

Bill Wendell

Bill McCord

Assistant
Maureen Reynolds

Word Authority
Dr. Frank Connolly

Master Word Portion
created by Bill Derman

Packager
Milbarn Productions (Merv Griffin)

Gameplay
Two contestants competed for cash and merchandise by making as many short words as they could out of one big word. Words could be three or more letters, but no proper names or foreign words were accepted. The round continued until one player could not come up with a new word. The other player continued to add words for as long as he or she could.

Players received two seconds worth of time for each word they created, plus and additional ten seconds If their lists contained a pre-determined bonus word. After two rounds, the player with the most words won the game and $100.

Bonus Round
In the bonus round, the winning player used the time to accumulate in the main game and was shown five prizes. In order to win that prize, the player tried to unscramble letters that made up a word.

Merchandise
A board game was released by Mattel as Merv Griffin's Word for Word Game in 1963.