Spell Binders

Spell Binders was a non-broadcast pilot that focused around spelling.

Broadcast
Syndicated 1978 (Unaired)

Packager
Goodson-Todman Productions

Host
Bill Anderson

Announcer
Gene Wood

Gameplay
The main game was played in alternating stages. The odd stages were called "Free for All" and featured a clue plus the first letter of the answer, with additional letters in order if nobody buzzed in. Any player could buzz in when they thought they knew the answer. If the player who buzzed in was incorrect, the similar player on the other team (if a celebrity buzzed in, the other celebrity participated) would be given an additional letter and this would volley back and forth until a player answered correctly.

Once a team got three words, they moved on to the unnamed semi-bonus round. In this round, one of the players went into an isolation booth while the other player tried to come up with three words that fit a category, such as "things you lick." The isolation player was then brought out, and was given letters one at a time until one of three words was guessed or a fifth letter was given. If less than five letters were given, they could try for the other two. Each word is worth $50. On the fifth letter, the other team could gamble on whether the winning team could use that fifth word successfully. If the gamble worked, the gambling team got $50. Otherwise, the winning team got an extra $50.

After the unnamed semi-bonus round, another "Free for All"/unnamed semi-bonus round sequence was played, this time for $100 per word. If a team crossed $500 after the second sequence, they won the game and moved on to the "Lucky 7" round for a chance for $5,000 (or more, since the jackpot would increase $1,000 for each time not won). It is not known what a third sequence's values would be, since this pilot saw a team win in two sequences.

The "Lucky 7" round started with both celebrities on stage and the winner off stage. The celebrities each gave one response to a Family Feud style question such as "name a card game". They then alternated asking the audience for additional answers until they got seven. At that point, the contestant came back on stage. The player then had 60 seconds to try to guess the seven responses, one at a time. The player was shown the first letter to the first one, and was shown additional letters when requested up until there were two letters remaining. A maximum of one letter could be asked for per second. If the player won, he or she got $5,000, plus the audience members who helped out got $100 each. If the player didn't get all 7, he or she got $100 per and the audience got none.