Click

A game show based on computers and the internet where three teams of three kids competed in a game of questions & answers to win cash.

Broadcast
Syndication - September 6, 1997 – August 1999

Packagers
Merv Griffin Entertainment/Kelly News Group

Host
Ryan Seacreast

Hostesses
Amber Bonasso - 1st Season Amber Willenborg - 2nd Season

Inventor
Merv Griffin

Gameplay
Three teams (Green, Red, and Yellow) of two teenagers played three rounds, where the aim was to answer questions worth varying amounts of money.

In each round, the contestants stood at podiums facing a large video wall (which acts as a computer), each screen of that wall had an icon with a symbol representing a category on it. A flashing cursor bounces around the board and stops when someone "clicks the mouse" (pushing down a large red button in the center of the podium at the central station (aka "The Motherboard")) A question is then read, and teams earned cash for correct answers.

Two main categories (called "Stations") were featured in the first season (one was Website, the other Word Wizard"); regular knowledge categories would be answered at "The Motherboard", the station where teams would play the game.

Website
Possible topics included:
 * E-Mail - identifying a famous person who wrote a fictional e-mail. (for example, "From: Seuss.com All right, this time I'm positive. I definitely heard a "who"!")
 * Click Pix - A picture clue was given for a question.
 * Click Video - A video clue was given to the question.
 * Sound Bytes - Audio clues were used for questions.
 * Home Page - Identifying a topic from a series of clues, grouped into a "home page" format. Added during the second season.

Word Wizard/Chat Room
Topics included:
 * Spell Check - Searching for a misspelled word in a sentence.
 * Dictionary - Choosing the correct spelling, among a choice of three.
 * Funetics - Identifying license plate-type puzzles, or a word spelled phonetically.
 * Instant Message - Identifying who is online, via a fictional instant message. Also added during the second season.

Round One
Each team takes turns facing the computer. They each have 60 (originally 90) seconds to answer as many questions as possible. The value of the questions are $25, $50, $75 or $100. One icon on the board is called "Double Click" (which is the show's logo appearing twice (similar to the "Daily Double" on Jeopardy! which was also created by Merv Griffin)), where the team can double their current score with a correct answer. A team would win $100 if they had no money after a Double Click answer.

During the second season, regular questions were no longer at the motherboard; instead they were now at another station called "Hard Drive". One player stood at the motherboard clicking while his/her partner ran to one of the three stations. Also, the "Word Wizard" was renamed the "Chat Room". The "Web Site" stayed the same.

Round Two
Starting with the lowest-scoring team, each team keeps control of the mouse as long as they answer questions correctly. If at anytime they miss a question, the opposing teams at the main podiums can buzz in and steal control. Landing on a "Virus" ("Crash" in the second season) meant a question was asked to the teams at the podiums for control. If neither team got the question right, the first team kept control. Question values are still worth anywhere from $25-$100.

Round Three
Host Seacrest now did the clicking (he had his back to the board while he did it during season two), because all three teams had a chance to play every question. One member of each team stood at a different station while their partners remained at the podiums. After the station or category was chosen, the player at the appropriate place would hear the question and have a chance to answer for $100 to his/her team. A wrong answer meant that the players at the podiums would have a chance to buzz-in and take the money.

After several questions, an off-stage voice would then yell, "SWITCH! SWITCH! SWITCH!" Then the players would swap places with their teammates and more questions would be asked. Three switches took place during the round, and at the end of the round, the top scoring team won the game and played the bonus round.

In case of a tie for first place, or a three-way tie at the end, one final question was asked, and the team who buzzed in with a correct answer moved on to the bonus round.

Bonus Round
In the bonus round, the winning team attempted to answer three questions within the time limit to win a pair of computers. In the first season, the team had 45 seconds to answer any three questions correctly to win the grand prize. In season two, the team had 60 seconds, but the three answers had to be given in a row (consecutively) to win the computers. Each correct answer in the second season bonus round was worth $100 win or lose.

Trivia
The show originally taped in Los Angeles in the first season, but by the second season, production moved to Seattle, Washington.

Link
Rules for Click