Match Game

60s Opening Spiel: ''From New York City, it's time to play THE MATCH GAME! With the star of Match Game, Gene Rayburn!''

70s/90s Opening Spiel: ''Get ready to match the stars... (insert celebrities' names) as we play the (all new) star-studded (big money) Match Game (7?/PM)! And now, here's the host/star of Match Game (7?/PM), GENE RAYBURN/BERT CONVY/ROSS SHAFER!!!''

1998-99 Opening Spiel (1): ''Wanna have the most fun you've ever had watching a game show? (Audience: "YEAH!") All you need is a set... Wonderful stars like... (insert celebrities) Two great contestants, like... (insert contestants) And the guy that makes it all happen, our host, MICHAEL BURGER! All here on MATCH GAME!''

1998-99 Opening Spiel (2): ''Looking for the most fun you've ever had watching a game show? (Audience: "YEAH!") Well COME ON IN! We've got five wonderful stars... (insert celebrities) And two great contestants... (insert contestants) And the guy that makes it all happen, our host, MICHAEL BURGER! All here on MATCH GAME!''

The long-running game show where celebrities match contestants and vice versa, simply by filling in the blanks. If the contestants do it very well, they win lots of money.

Rules for the NBC Versions
Two teams of three players (consisting of two civilian contestants & one celebrity team captain), competed in this early version which was a game of judgment. Host Rayburn read a question in which the possibilities are endless, plus they were not restricted to fill-in-the-blank types. All six players wrote down their answers on their cards and raised their hands to indicate that they were done. Each player revealed their answers one player at a time, and their objective was to match their teammates. For each match the team made, they scored $25. If no match was made whatsoever, Gene reread the question, and the players rewrote their answers (they can be the same or can be different). The first team to reach $100 (make four matches) won the game, and went on to play the Audience Match.

Audience Match
In the Audience Match, the winning team attempted to match members of the previous studio audience. Host Rayburn asked three questions, and on each question, the team gave individual verbal answers that they think was the number one answer (they can agree or disagree on each other's answers). The contestants divide $50 for each player on the team they did give the #1 answer for a maximum of $150, so with three questions, they can win up to $450.

Pilot
The pilot was exactly the same as the series except that the scoring format was different. In the main game, each match was worth 10 points with 50 needed to win. The contestants on the winning team split $100. Each match made in the Audience Match was worth $25 for maximum of $75 on each question. Four questions were asked, so the maximum total was $300.

Rules for the CBS & 70's Syndicated Versions
Gene Rayburn greets two contestants and several million Americans on Match Game '7?/PM. Two contestants, including a returning champion, competed. The champion was seated in the upstage ( red circle ) seat and the opponent was seated in the downstage ( green triangle ) seat. On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version, a coin toss was held backstage to determine the positions. The object was to match the answers of as many of the six celebrity panelists as possible on fill-in-the-blank statements.

The main game was played in two rounds. The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". Rayburn then read the statement. While the contestant pondered an answer, the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant was polled for an answer. Gene then asked each celebrity — one at a time, beginning with #1 in the upper left hand corner — to respond.

While early questions were similar to the NBC version (e.g., "Name a type of muffin" and "Every morning, John puts _________ on his cereal"), the questions quickly became more humorous. Comedy writer Dick DeBartolo, who had participated in the 1960s Match Game, now contributed broader and saucier questions for Gene. Frequently, the statements were written with bawdy, double entendre answers in mind. A classic example: "Did you catch a glimpse of that girl on the corner? She has the world's biggest _________."

Frequently, the audience responded appropriately as Gene critiqued the contestant's answer (for the "world's biggest" question, he might show disdain to an answer such as "fingers" or "bag", and compliment an answer such as "rear end" or "boobs", often also commenting on the audience's approving or disapproving response). The audience usually would groan or boo when a contestant gave a bad answer, whereas they would cheer and applaud in approval of a good answer. There were a handful of potential answers that were prohibited, the most notable being any synonym for genitalia.

The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonably similar as determined by the judges; for example, "rear end" could be matched by "bottom", "behind", "derrière", "fannie", "hiney", etc.) up to a maximum of six points for matching everyone. After play was completed on one contestant's question, Gene read the statement on the other card for the opponent and play was identical.

Popular questions featured "Dumb Dora" or her male counterpart, "Dumb Donald". These questions would often begin, "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was so dumb..." or "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was REALLY dumb." To this, the audience would respond en masse, "How dumb IS/WAS he/she?" Then Gene would finish the question. Other common subjects of questions were Superman/Lois Lane, King Kong/Fay Wray, panelists on the show (most commonly Brett Somers), politicians, and Howard Cosell. Gene always played the action for laughs, and he frequently tried to read certain questions in character; for example, he would recite questions involving a made-up character named "Old Man Periwinkle", or "102-year-old Mr. Periwinkle", in a weak, quavering voice (he also did Periwinkle's female counterpart, "Old Mrs. Pervis"). Charles Nelson Reilly, who admitted in '77 he was Brett Somers's rival (as they often argued), one of the regular panelists and one who was often involved with directing Broadway plays, would often make remarks regarding Gene's acting such as "I like when you act" and "That was mediocre" when Gene did a voice like this; this tended to draw a big laugh from the audiences. At times, questions would deal with the fictitious (and often sleazy) country of "Nerdo Crombezia".

On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version whichever player was ahead in points after Round 1 always began by choosing a question first in Round 2. This rule ensured that both players would be able to play two meaningful questions. (Without this rule, a player who had only answered one question could be ahead of another player who had played both his/her questions, rendering the final question moot.) Only celebrities that a contestant did not match could play this second round. On the CBS version, challengers always chose a question first in the next round.

The second round questions were generally easier and were usually puns that had a "definitive" answer (for instance, "Did you hear about the new religious group of dentists? They call themselves the Holy _____.", where the definitive answer would be "Molars"), whereas the first round usually had a number of possible answers. This was to help trailing contestants pick up points quickly.

On Match Game PM, a third round was added after Season One as the games proved to be too short to fill the half-hour. Again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds.

The player who matched more celebrities at the end of the game is declared the winner. If the players had the same score at the end of "regulation", the scores were reset to 0-0. On PM (or on the syndicated daytime show if time was running short), a time-saving variant of the tie-breaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants would write their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory; if there was still no match (which was rare), the round was replayed with a new question. On the CBS version, the tie-breaker went on until there was a clear winner. If it came to the sudden-death tie-breaker, only the final question (the one that ultimately broke the tie) was kept and aired.

The CBS daytime version had returning champions and the show "straddled" – that is, episodes often began and ended with games in progress.

On the CBS daytime show, champions could stay until defeated or reached the network's limit of $25,000. Originally, that was the maximum earning for any champion, but the rule was later changed so that while champions were still retired after exceeding the $25,000 limit, they got to keep everything up to $35,000. During the six-year run of Match Game on CBS, only one champion retired undefeated.

On the daily 1979-82 syndicated version, two contestants would play two games against each other, and then both were retired. The show was timed out so that two new contestants appeared each Monday; this was necessary as the tapes of the show were shipped between stations, and weeks could not be aired in any discernible order (a common syndication practice at the time, known as "bicycling"). If a Friday show ran short, audience members sometimes got to play the game; this occurred on only three occasions.

Episodes of Match Game PMwere self-contained, with two new contestants each week.

Super Match
The winner of the game went on to play the (Big Money) Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-To-Head Match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the game won $100.

The Super Match was referred to as the "Jackpot Match" in the 70s pilot.

Audience Match
A two to four word fill-in-the-blank phrase was given, and it was up to the contestant to choose the most common response based on a studio audience survey. After consulting with three celebrities on the panel for help, the contestant chose an answer they liked the best, or chose one of their own that they thought of themselves. The answers were then revealed; the most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250, and the third-most popular $100. If a contestant failed to match any of the three answers, the bonus round ended. Two Audience Matches were played on Match Game PM. On at least one occasion on Match Game PM, a contestant failed to win any money on either Audience Match; the contestant then got to play a fill-in-the-blank statement with the entire panel for $100 per match as a consolation prize, or a possible $200 per match when the Star Wheel was instituted. This has rarely occurred.

Head-To-Head Match
The contestant then had the opportunity to win an additional cash prize equal to 10 times what he or she won in the Audience Match (therefore, $5,000, $2,500 or $1,000) by matching another fill-in-the-blank response with a celebrity panelist of his or her choice. In order to win the money, the contestant had to match his or her chosen celebrity's response exactly; this meant that multiple forms of the same word, e.g. singular or plural, were usually accepted whereas synonyms were not. If successful, he/she won the extra money (the total prize being $1,100/$2,750/$5,500). Thus, a maximum of $5,600 ($100 won for winning the game) could be won on the daytime version per game & Super Match ($10,600 when the Star Wheel was instituted). On Match Game PM, a maximum of $11,000 could be won ($21,000 when the Star Wheel was instituted). The latter has occurred at least twice.

Richard Dawson was the most frequently-chosen celebrity in the 1970s version. His knack for matching contestants was so great that producers tried to discourage contestants from repeatedly choosing him, even before the introduction of the Star Wheel; in 1975 a rule was added, stipulating that a returning champion could not choose the same celebrity again for the Head-To-Head Match - this only lasted six weeks.

Star Wheel
The "Star Wheel" was introduced in 1978 and was used until the syndicated version ended in 1982. Contestants spun the wheel to determine which celebrity they played with in the Head-To-Head Match, and could double their potential winnings if the wheel landed on an area of gold stars under each celebrity's name (later changed to three individual stars per celebrity to increase the difficulty of obtaining a double).

The wheel was added to prevent people from constantly choosing Richard Dawson, although the first time it was used it landed on Richard nonetheless. This caused the rest of the panel to get up and leave, leading fellow star Charles Nelson Reilly to refer to it on that episode as "the famed and fixed Star Wheel". The Star Wheel was also used in the 1990 version of the show.

Ticket Plugs
Match Game was famous for its unusual ticket plugs just as the game itself. A typical ticket plug showed a headshot of a made-up person (in reality, the headshot was a combination of either two celebrities, two contestants, or one celebrity and one contestant) while Johnny Olson announced the ticket information. These type of mixed-face ticket plugs made their debut in June 1975 but became much more common during the daily syndicated version from 1979-1982 which every episode featured a ticket plug.

Wacky Moments
This show is also known for its whack job moments, and here are a few of them.

Gene Attacks
Several times throughout the course of the series, Gene would attack some members of the crew.

School Riot
In one episode from 1977, a real out-of-control moment occurred. First of all, one of the rules in the game was that specifics cannot match generics unless otherwise noted; what happened was that some answers were not accepted and it caused a real ruckus. The question in question: "Dumb Dora is so dumb ("HOW DUMB IS SHE?!") she sent her cultured pearls to BLANK." The answer given by the contestant, whose name was Craig, was "School". He managed to match the top tier despite a minor setback involving Charles Nelson Reilly, whose answer was "Scuba Diving School"; the judge buzzed Charles’ answer, but Charles protested and the judge was forced to give the contestant the match. The other answers given by the top tier (Ed Asner & Brett Somers) were the same, "College", but here's where everything went south: Debralee Scott & Richard Dawson each said "Finishing School", but again the judge said no, only this time he did not reverse his decision. This really riled up Debralee & Richard, who then started (you guessed it) a riot. Gene tried everything to regain control but to no avail. With the riot still active, Gene went to Patti Deutsch, the last in line; Patti was super nervous in showing her answer, but she eventually did. Her answer was "Night School"; as Patti feared, it got buzzed, making the riot and the booing larger. When the show came back from a break, Charles was lying on the steps just to reenact the aftermath of the now infamous "School Riot" with Brett showing multiple cards (like she occasionally does) to identify the action. Debralee & Richard never took their cards down. Luckily, even though he lost the game 4-3, Craig was invited back to play in a future game. Here are the pictures of the infamous activity:

Rotten Spelling
On the premiere of Match Game PM, Joyce Bulifant (even though she matched) mispelled a word; in this case it was the word "stethoscope". Any die-hard Match Game fan knows that spelling does not count whatsoever.

Slide it, Earl!
There are even hilarious moments during the Super Match, mostly involving Audience Match board operator Earl.

Other Moments
And here are some more crazy moments uncategorized.

Rules for the ABC Version
Gameplay was the same as the 70s version except that contestants now matched the stars for money in the main game as well. Also as before, the champion played red & the challenger played green.

Main Game
The game was played in two rounds just like the 70s version except that the six celebrities played both rounds regardless if they matched in the first round. As before the contestant going first had a choice of two fill-in-the-blank statements (either "A" or "B"). Ross read the statement, and the stars wrote answers on their cards. When they were finished, the contestant gave his/her answer and the panel showed their answers one at a time. Each match was worth $50 to the contestant for a maximum of $300. After one contestant played his/her question, the other contestant played with the question unchosen.

Match-Up
After each round of classic Match Game, the contestants played a new element to the show called "Match-Up". In the Match-Up round, each contestant chose which star to play with throughout the round. On a contestant's turn, he/she was shown a fill-in-the-blank phrase (ala The Super Match) with two choices on his/her secret screen, the contestant chose the answer he/she thought the star he/she chose will say. The idea for the contestants was to build up their score by matching the selected star as many times as they can within the limit. The first Match-Up lasted for 30 seconds for each contestant with each match being worth $50, and the second Match-Up lasted for 45 seconds with each match being worth $100.

The player with the most money at the end of the game, was the winner. If the game ended in a tie, one last fill-in-the-blank phrase was shown to both contestants but with three choices. The champion (the red player) chose an answer first while the challenger (the green player) chose one of the remaining answers. After the choices were made, the last celebrity who played the second Match-Up round made a choice of his/her own. The player with the answer said by that celebrity won the game. On the first show, the red player chose which contestant should play the final Match-Up question (either himself/herself or his/her opponent). The player chosen selected the answer, then chose which celebrity to match. A successful match won the game for the contestant, but an incorrect answer won the game for the opponent.

The winning player kept his/her money, and went on to play the Super Match for up to $10,000.

Super Match
The Super Match was the same as the 70s version. When the show started, the payoffs were the same as the 70s version ($500-$250-$100), later the bottom two amounts were changed ($500-$300-$200). The star wheel was reinstated too, except it had a green pointer which spun instead of the entire wheel, and it had two red dots above/below each celebrity's name for double spots. If the contestant bombed out in the Audience Match, the contestant can still win $500 (or $1,000 in case of a double) by playing the Head-to-Head Match (later changed to $1,000 ($2,000 if a double occurred)). Unlike the 70s version, the Head-to-Head prize was not an additional cash prize, but an augmentation to whatever top prize was at stake.

This version of Match Game died due to the fact that it aired at noon; that time slot was usually standard for newscasts.

Gameshow Marathon
Played exactly like the CBS/PM version during the pre-Star Wheel years, except that the grand prize was worth up to $50,000 for a home viewer. Again, the Head-to-Head prize not an additional cash prize, but an augmentation to whatever top prize was at stake.

1996 Pilot
Taped September 1996 for Syndication. Hosted by Charlene Tilton.

The front game was reversed; the panelists ("Downtown" Julie Brown, David Chokachi, Gil Gerard, Rondell Sheridan, Kathleen Kinmont) gave the answers, while the players wrote them down. As on the 1998 version, cutesy named categories were used, rather than "A" and "B". The scoring system was one point per match in the first round and two points per match in the second round.

The endgame was radically different than any other version. The first half featured the "Panel Poll", where each celebrity was told to pick an answer from a three possible answer multiple choice question about their personality. The contestant than picked one of the answers and received $100 per match. This happened twice. Finally, the usual "Audience Match" was played where the contestant tried to fill in a blank with suggestions from the celebrities. Their dollar amount was doubled from the "Panel Poll" if they matched the third most popular answer, trebled if they matched the second most popular answer and quintupled if they matched the most possible answer. Top prize was $5,000.

2004 Pilot (What The Blank!)
Taped in May 2004 for FOX to be aired during the Summer 2004 "off" season What the Blank! Hosted by Fred Willard.

The version of the game was an incorporation of 21st-Century elements into the classic game as well as an added feature that people from along the streets would be able to participate for matching with contestants and celebrities in Street Smarts-style.

FOX abruptly canceled the series before the show made it to air; the status of any episodes produced is unknown.

2008 Pilot
Taped July 22, 2008 for TBS. Hosted by Andy Daly. Panelists were Bob Einstein as Super Dave Osborne, Sarah Silverman, Scott Thompson, Rashida Jones, Norm McDonald, Niecy Nash.

While the front game retained the '73-'82 format, the endgame was revamped. Against a 30 second time limit, the player heard five statements with a blank (e.g.: "Hilary Clinton is a ______"). The contestant's job is to fill the blank with the most popular answer. After the clock stops, the contestant is allowed to change two of them with the help of the celebrities (they only call on one, but helping is encouraged). For each correct guess of the popular answer, $1,000 is awarded. Then comes the standard Head-to-Head, for double the money, up to $10,000.

Match Game in Popular Culture
Match Game was depicted in an episode of the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious called April Fools Blank. Here, it was called Match Play. The title character Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) ran onto the set of this parodied game show to which Sikowitz (Eric Lange) was the host and Tori's friends was the panel. Like Match Game the host read a statement with a blank at the end or near the end and the contestant must then fill in that blank with a word or phrase he/she though any of the celebrities would say. If the contestant's answer matched any of the panelists, he/she won $5,000. However, each time there was no match, The Dancing Lobster appeared and attacked the contestant down to the ground. On this playing, the question was: "Dumb Debbie (as opposed to Dumb Dora) was so dumb (HOW DUMB WAS SHE?!) she didn't realize April First was April Fools __________." Tori's answer was "Day" (the obvious one), but due to the crazy nature of that episode, none of the panelists said “Day”, causing Tori to be attacked by the lobster all six times minus two (explanation later) and losing $5,000 because of it. The answers the panel gave were as follows:
 * Andre (Leon Thomas III): "Lobster"
 * Jade (Elizabeth Gillies): "Berry"
 * Robbie (Matt Bennett): "Foot"
 * Cat (Ariana Grande): "Blank" (The Dancing Lobster was not brought out for that, because Cat misunderstood the question.)
 * Beck (Avan Jogia): "Onion Rings"
 * Trina (Daniella Monet): "Cut to the Next Scene" (Which [truth in advertising] sent Tori & Trina to their living room for the next scene and the remainder of the episode)

United Kingdom
In the UK, Match Game was known as Blankety Blank and was presented by Terry Wogan, Les Dawson, and Lily Savage.

Australia
Several versions were made in Australia. The original 1960s The Match Game was imitated, with the same name, and hosted by Michael McCarthy.

The second, more commonly-known version was Blankety Blanks and based upon the 1970s version, running from 1977–1978. It was presented by Graham Kennedy and became a ratings hit for Network Ten. Like many Australian game shows during the 1970s–1990s (mostly those done by Reg Grundy) this version was remarkably similar to the American show right down to the set, "spinning box" opening, and "Get ready to match the stars!" tagline. The signature music from the American version was not used, however, but was instead replaced by original tracks that were very similar.

A later version appeared on the Nine Network in 1985 hosted by Daryl Somers, and again in 1996 hosted by Shane Bourne.

(This show is not to be confused with an unrelated American show by the same name, which aired on ABC and was hosted by Bill Cullen in 1975.)

The Netherlands
The Netherlands also had its own version during the mid-1980s with the same title as the UK version.

Germany
Match Game had a 150-episode run as Punkt, Punkt, Punkt (Dot, Dot, Dot–an allusion to an ellipsis) in the early 1990s on satellite and cable network Sat.1. The show was hosted by Mike Krüger.

On the 1970s Match Game, Gene Rayburn occasionally mentioned another German version of the show titled "Schnick Schnack" (literally "Something, Anything" as there is no German word for blank.)

Brazil
The Brazilian version on SBT was called Hot! Hot! Hot! hosted by Silvio Santos in 1994.

Mexico
The game was called Espacio en Blanco (Blank Space) and was hosted by Mauricio Barcelata in Televisa. The show had a 40-episode run in 2006.

Canada
Montréal-based Zone3, in association with rights holder RTL, launched a Francophone version, Atomes Crochus. in 2010 on V. The host of the show is Alexandre Barrette, and the show features regular guests as did the original Match Game. Among the most regular of the guests are Alex Perron (formerly of the Quebec comedy troupe Les Mecs Comiques), and Tammy Verge.

The format of the program more closely matched the Ross Shafer version, including a round similar to the Match Up round. Scoring was different (in the main game, matches in round one were worth 25 points and worth 50 points in round two; the Match Up round matches were also worth 50 points). The Super Match and Star Wheel rounds were also played in similar fashion as on the American version, except instead of the Head-to-Head being played for ten times the money earned in the Audience Match, the Audience Match instead determines how much the Head-to-Head is worth, either $1,000, $1,500, or $2,000, with the player playing for $500 if he loses the Audience Match. As before, the Star Wheel possibly doubles the amount played for, thus making a top prize of $4,000.

On June 28, 2012, CTV's Comedy announced Zone3 and RTL would now produce 60 episodes of an English-language version, Match Game Canada, on the Atomes Crochus set in Montréal over the summer for broadcast. It premiered on October 15, 2012, with host Darrin Rose and regulars Debra DiGiovanni and Seán Cullen. All matches in the main game were worth 50 points and the winner received his/her winning score in dollars.

Turkey
The game was called Şansını Dene and aired in the early 1990s on Show TV. The show was hosted by Mehmet Ali Erbil.

Merchandise
Home versions of The Match Game were made by Milton Bradley from 1968-1978.

A DVD set featuring many episodes of the 1970's version was released.

A DVD game with clips & questions from the original shows was also released.

Music
1962 (pilot) - "A Swingin' Safari" by Billy Vaughn

1962-1967 - "A Swingin' Safari" by Bert Kaempfert

1967-1969 - Score Productions

1973-1982, 2006 - "The Midnight Four" by Ken Bichel, Ray Crisara, Herb Harris, Jay Leonhart, Mike Redding & Lou Volpe

1990-1991 - Ken Bichel for Score Productions, based on "The Midnight Four"

1998-1999 - Score Productions

Two unused think cues from the 1974 version of TattleTales were recycled into Match Game '73.

The main think cue from Match Game '7X was recycled for use as the main think cue during the first half of the 1998 revival. Halfway through this new song, it switched from the original melody to a new one based on the show's then-theme.

The Main from Match Game '73 is used as a showcase cue on The Price is Right during the Carey years, and again as the closing theme on the April Fools' Day show in 2009.

The think cue from Match Game '73 was used in the April Fools' Day 2009 show on The Price is Right for games that require thinking such as Push Over and Cover Up instead of their respective cues.

Inventors
Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

Spin-Offs
Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour - Combination show aired on NBC from 1983-1984

Gameshow Marathon - Match Game was one of the shows on this special in 2006

Links
The Match Game Website

The Match Game Homepage

Match Game @ Game Show '75

The Match Game Wallpaper Factory (Old)

The Match Game Wallpaper Factory (New)

Rules of the last two versions of Match Game

Josh Rebich's Match Game Rule Sheets part of his Match Game/Hollywood Squares Page

Game Show Utopia
Match Game (60s Version)

Match Game 70s
CBS Version

Match Game PM

Syndicated Version