Password

A game show where one player teams up with one celebrity to try to guess a secret password using one-word clues.

60s - 70s Game Format
In the original from 1961-1974, two teams of two (consisting of one celebrity & one contestant) played Password for points. One player from each team (both celebrities or both contestants) was given the password while the home viewers saw the word on their screen (accompanied by the announcer saying, "The Password is..."). Then the clue givers gave a one-word clue to get their partners to say the password. In the ABC version, the first team got the option to pass or play. Teams alternated turns until one guesser said the password which gave the team points according to how many clues given, starting at 10 and ending with 1 (5 in the ABC run). Whenever an illegal clue was given, a buzzer sounded, and the guesser lost a chance to guess the password, and giving away the password by the clue givers ended the word. Partners on both teams alternated between giving & receiving, starting with the stars, then to the contestants; plus the team that trailed or lost the last password in case of a tie started a new password. The first team to reach 25 points won the game, $100 to the contestant in the daytime version ($250 in the nighttime version) and went on the play the Lightning Round.

Lightning Round
In the Lightning Round, the celebrity on the winning team had 60 seconds (one minute) to get his/her partner to say five more passwords. If the contestant can't guess the password, the celebrity can pass. Each password guessed was worth $50 meaning that the contestant can win up to $250. In the ABC version, after the main Lighting Round, the winning contestant can bet any or all of his/her winnings on one more password called the "betting word" in which the contestant now gave clues to the celebrity partner for the next 15 seconds. Also, the value was upped to $100 for a possible total of $500.

Password All-Stars/Regular Password
On November 18, 1974, the format changed to have celebrities play the game but without contestants. Six celebrities played for one whole week, all playing for charity. In this version, celebrities earned points scored by the winning team they were on. The top four celebrities returned to play Friday's game with the winning celebrity getting $5,000 plus a chance to play the Grand Masters Tournament for $25,000 more. This format was hated by fans of the show, so it was discontinued on February 21, 1975. Then the following Monday, the show reverted back to it's original form, contestants and all, but the new format remained. The show was cancelled on June 27, 1975 to make room for a new charades game called Showoffs.

Main Game
The main game began with an elimination round with four contestants/celebrities seated across from two celebrities. The celebrities took turns giving one word clues to the players, and the first player to buzz-in with the correct password scored one point. An incorrect answer from the buzz-in player caused that player to sit out the rest of the word, and questioning about the clue after buzzing in ended the word right away. The first two players to score three passwords (two for the celebrities) won the right to play Classic Password.

Classic Password was played the same as before, except that the clue giver on the first team was also given the option to double in addition to the pass/play option. Going for the double meant that the word would then be worth 20 points instead of 10; plus both clue givers got one chance to get their partners to say the word. Not only that, the game was played to 50 points.

20/20 Password
In the All-Stars version, both celebrities on the winning team got 40 seconds (20 for each celebrity) to convey two passwords (one for each celebrity) and score 20 points each. The winning team's score was given to both celebrities who then became clue givers for the next elimination round.

Big Money Lightning Round
When the show reverted back to having contestants, a new and more richer Lighting Round was played. The Big Money Lightning Round was now a three-level game. On each level, the celebrity had 30 seconds to get his/her partner to say three passwords. On the first two levels, each password guessed was worth money, and getting all three won extra money for every second leftover. The contestant must guess at least one password to go to the next level, and not getting any passwords right ended the round automatically.
 * Level 1 - Each word was worth $25. Getting all three earned $75 plus an additional $5 for the time leftover.
 * Level 2 - Each word was worth the total amount of money won on the first level. Getting all three earned an additional $10 for the time leftover.
 * Level 3 - The celebrity had another 30 seconds to get his/her partner to say the final three passwords. If the contestant did get all three he/she won ten times the cash won from both levels, but not getting all three still kept the money won from both levels.

After the Big Money Lightning Round, the winning contestant along with the contestant he/she defeated in the main game played another elimination round with two new challengers.

Password Plus/Super Password
From 1979 to 1989, NBC aired two new password series in which teams not only tried to guess passwords, but also tried solve puzzles for money. Winning teams had a chance to win even more money by guessing ten more passwords.

Main Game
In the main game, contestants & celebrities solved puzzles with five clues each. They earned a chance to solve the puzzle by playing Password, the passwords were the clues to the puzzles.

A password was given to the clue givers, and had a limited number of chances to get their partners to say the word. Each time the guesser said the password, the password became a clue and it appeared on a puzzle board; plus the guesser had a chance to solve the puzzle. If the password was given away by the clue giver, the right to solve the puzzle automatically went to the opposing guesser. Failure to solve the puzzle meant that another password/clue was played. If the guesser failed to solve the puzzle after five clues, the clue givers helped out by guessing the puzzle themselves. If the puzzle was missed entirely, another puzzle was played for the same amount. The first team to solve the puzzle won money, and meeting a certain goal won the game and a chance to win more money.

Password Plus
When the clue was given to the clue givers, the first clue giver had the same pass/play option from the ABC version. Not making the decision in time gave the opposing clue giver two clues instead of one. The teams had six chances (three clues for each giver) to get their partners to say the clue. The first guesser to get the password won a chance to solve the puzzle; solving the puzzle won the round and the money attached to the puzzle, but not solving the puzzle meant another clue was played in the same manner with the team who lost the last password getting the option. If the guesser who won the last password did not solve the puzzle after the fifth clue, the clue giver was given a chance to solve the puzzle. In later episodes certain changes were made: both teams had two chances each for a total of four, in subsequent clues, the pass/play option went to the team that won the last password, opposites were now considered illegal clues.

When the show started, the first two rounds were worth $100, and the next two were worth $200, with $300 needed to win the game. Later, a third $100 round was added, and after that round, the contestants traded celebrity partners by walking in front of the playing area (a common feature from the original); that's when the $200 puzzle rounds started, and the first team to reach $500 won the game.

Super Password
Gameplay was the same as Password Plus, except the pass/play option was dropped, and the "no opposites" rule was lifted. Plus, if the team that won the last password couldn't solve the puzzle, the opposing team had a chance to solve it. Also (starting in 1986), the famous phrase "The password is..." was reinstated (it was lifted at the start of the All-Stars version).

Each puzzle was worth $100 more than the previous, starting with $100, and ending with $400. After the second puzzle (the $200 puzzle) the team that solved that puzzle won the right to play the Cashword game. This was where the celebrity gave up to three clues, to get the contestant to say the Cashword. Guessing the right Cashword won a jackpot which started at $1,000 and grew by that amount until won, with the highest being $12,000. After the Cashword, the contestants traded celebrity partners by walking in front of the playing area. The first team to reach $500 or more won the game.

In either version, the winning team got to play a bonus round for more money.

Bonus Round
In the bonus round (called Alphabetics in Password Plus, and The Super Password End Game in Super Password), the winning contestant was shown 10 letters which were all initials to 10 passwords and in alphabetical order. The celebrity's job was to give a series of one word clues to the contestant, and if the contestant guessed the word, he/she won $100 and advanced to the next word beginning with the next letter. If the contestant can't guess the word, the celebrity can pass that word and may return to it with time left. Getting all ten words in 60 seconds or less won a cash jackpot.

Alphabetics
In the Alphabetics round during the Password Plus years, if the contestant got all ten in 60 seconds, he/she won $5,000 minus $1,000 for each illegal clue given. In later shows, the jackpot was now progressive; it started at $5,000 and grew by that amount for every Alphabetics game not won with a maximum of $50,000, and illegal clues diminished the jackpot by 20% ($2,500 for a brief period). When the show started, the board in which Alphabetics was played on was located at the entrance come through by the celebrities and the host; later the board was moved to a wall on the side of the entrance so it wouldn't be in the way of the show's logo that closed the entrance. After each Alphabetics game, the winning contestant played a new game with the other celebrity, later the winning contestant had to stay with the current celebrity until the third $100 round. Winning players stayed on the show till they won seven times in a row.

Super Password End Game
In the The Super Password End Game in the Super Password era, getting all ten in 60 seconds won the jackpot which still started at $5,000 and grew by that amount for every bonus round not won, and illegal clues surrendered the chance at the jackpot. There was no max jackpot in this version, the highest jackpot won was $55,000, which was won on several occasions; also won on several occasions was $50,000 the second highest jackpot. Winning players stayed on the show till they won five games in a row.

Million Dollar Password
On June 1, 2008, CBS brought back Password in a new million dollar format. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host Regis Philbin (who was a celebrity player in Password Plus) emceed the new version.

Main Game (Elimination Game)
Two teams of two (consisting of one contestant & one celebrity), played the game which was now in a Pyramid-like format.

Each team had 30 seconds to get five passwords correctly with each one scoring one point. On each word, the clue giver can give as many one word clues as they can, but they must wait for the guesser to answer or the word is disqualified. As soon as the guesser gets the right word or if the giver passes, the team moved on to the next word (upon passing, the team can come back to the passed word(s) if & when time permits, but giving an illegal clue in addition the rule above disqualified that word). The celebrities gave clues in the first round, and the contestants gave clues in the second round.

The game was played in two halves, and after the first half, the contestants switched partners for the final half. After the second half, the team with the most points went on to play the Million Dollar Password round. If there was a tie at the end of the fourth round, the teams played a tie-breaker in Classic Password mode. In the Classic Password tie-breaker, the teams alternated turns with the contestants giving and the celebrities receiving until one team got the password and winning the game.

Million Dollar Password
In the Million Dollar round, the winning contestant partnered with the celebrity who scored the most points with that contestant (or the last celebrity partnered in case of a tie) faced a six-level money ladder. To start, the contestant opted to either give or receive (more contestants wanted to give) throughout the round. Then on each level, the giver had 90 seconds to get his/her partner to say five out of a set number of words. On each word, the giver must give no more than three clues to his/her partner; using up all three clues, passing, or giving an illegal clues threw out the word, and of course guessing the right word won that word. Getting five passwords in 90 seconds won money attached to that level and moved up to the next level with one word less than the previous level. But running out of time or not having enough words to get to five with ended the game.

Here how the money ladder went:

Losing on the first or second level won nothing for the contestant. Winning the second and/or fifth levels (in season 2) not only won the money, but also guaranteed the contestant that amount of money. After each completed level, the contestant can either stop and take the money or continue playing for the million.

If the contestant did make it to top two levels, they were shown the passwords at the start before making a decision. In the first season on the fifth ($250,000) level, the giver was shown the first five passwords, and in the second season, he/she was shown all six.

Inventors
Bob Stewart, Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

Links
Josh Rebich's Password Page

Password Rules @ Loogslair.net

ABC Password Fan Site

Password Plus Fan Site

Official Site for Million Dollar Password

YouTube Videos
The Biggest Alphbetics Win of all ($35,000) The Biggest Super Password End Game Win of all ($55,000)