Smush

The unfortunately short-lived fun word game show about merging words/phrases/names together to make one.

Premise
Four contestants compete against each other in a contest of smushing items together by virtue of clues given by host Ken Ober, for the right to play for $8,000.

Rounds 1 & 2
Ken read rapid-fire clues in which the answers smush together. The first player to buzz in with the correct smush answer scored points, but an incorrect answer gave the opposing players a chance to take a guess. Round one saw two-part clues which caused two answers to be smushed together; and each correct answer was worth one point. Later in that round, the remaining clues were visual clues. Round two had three-part clues which had three answers smushed together; those were called "Smush Tris", with each correct answer worth two points. The final smush in the second round was called the "Smush Quad", so-called because it was a four-part clue meaning four answers were smushed together; that clue was worth three points.

The player with the lowest score at the end of each of the first two rounds was eliminated from the game.

Hostess Lisa was the show's scorekeeper. She placed numbers above the player's names.

Round Three (Smush Chain)
In the third and final round of the game called "Smush Chain". Ken read seven clues in which the answers form the "Smush Chain". Ken read each clue one at a time, and on the first clue the contestant who buzzed in first will say just the answer to the clue; on the remaining clues, the contestant who buzzed in first must say the entire chain starting with the first word, ending with the answer to the current clue. The longer the chain, the bigger the points. The first clue was worth one point, and increases by one all the way up to seven points. The player with the most points at the end of this round won the game and went on to play for up to $8,000.

Money Round
In the bonus round, hostess Lisa wrote a word or phrase on a mirror in lipstick; that served as the root word for the next five smushes. Ken read five clues one at a time, the answers to which smush to either the left or right side of the root word. The winning contestant had 45 seconds to answer those clues. For each correct smush given, the winning contestant was awarded $1,000. One mistake and the clue & smush was thrown out; however, to prevent this from happening, the winning contestant can pass on a clue and return to it should time be left on the clock. If the winning contestant can answer all five clues correctly in 45 seconds or less, the contestant won a total of $8,000.

Trivia
The sound signifying a correct answer in the bonus round was the famous Final Jeopardy! "blong" on Jeopardy!.

The ring-in sound would later be used on Distraction.

Inventor
Harry Gottlieb & Jellyvision