Family Feud

A spin off of Match Game, this show is where two families battle it out by answering surveys to win points. The first to reach a set number of points (mostly 300) gets a chance to play Fast Money for a grand cash prize.

Face-Off
At the beginning of each round, two members of each family come up to the main podium and play a mini-round for control of the question called "Face-Off". The host announced how many answers are on the board, and then read a survey question and the first player to buzz-in gets to answer. The player to give the number one answer or have his/her answer be higher than the other player's answer won control. In case of a tie (both answers with the same number of people who gave it) the player who answered first won control. If neither player gave an answer on the board, the players at the main podiums get a chance to answer for control.

During Dawson's first version & current version, the player that won the Face-Off has a decision to either let his/her family play the question or pass the question to their opponents.

Main Question
The family that won the face-off earns control of the question. The controlling family's job is to reveal the remaining answers hidden on the board with each correct answer adding points to the bank above the board. The answer's value is determined by how many people gave it. Each player on the controlling team in turn gave an answer and if the answer he/she gave is correct, it is flipped over and revealed. Revealing all the answers on the board won the round (this is classified as a "Clean Sweep"). But giving a wrong answer earned a strike, getting three strikes (one in the final round from 1999-2003) caused the team to lose control of the question and giving the opposing family to steal by giving one correct answer. A successful steal won the round, but an unsuccessful steal gave the round to the first family. The winners of the round took all the points in the bank.

Question Values
The first few questions had its values be worth the number showing. Later on in the game, the values of all the questions would be doubled (the double value round wasn't available from 1999 to 2003); and still later, all the point values would be tripled (in the Dawson era and the first four years of the current version, the triple valued question would be the last question of the game).

Winning
The first family to reach a set number of points won the game. For most versions, the goal is 300 points. In the first season of the Dawson run and pilot episode, the goal was 200 points; but in the final season of the Dawson run, the goal was set to 400 points. From 1999 to 2003 there was no goal, the team with the most points won the game. Until 1992, dollars were used instead of points.

Bullseye/Bankroll Round & Sudden Death Question
Starting in 1992, Family Feud instituted a new Bullseye round. This was the round that affected the grand prize for either family if and when they make it to Fast Money. In this round, both families started with a bankroll of $5,000 ($2,500 in the first half of the Family Feud Challenge). Five questions were asked to each pair of family members in a Face-Off fashion, and only number one answers counted. The first player to buzz-in with the number one answer added money to their own Fast Money bank.

Scoring
Here how they scored for each question:

In 1994 when original host Richard Dawson returned, "Bullseye" was renamed "Bankroll". Plus the number of questions was reduced to three (worth $1,000, $3,000 & $5,000 respectively ($500, $1,500 & $2,500 in the first half)), and only one member of each family played throughout the entire round.

The Bullseye round made its return starting in the 11th season of the current version. In the current Bullseye rounds, both families started at $15,000.

Starting in 2003, a new Sudden Death tiebreaker was added. Each time neither family reached 300 after four questions, the fifth and final question was played as Sudden Death. It is played the same as the Bullseye/Bankroll questions. The final two players (later the fourth players) played one final Face-off and the first player to buzz-in with the number one answer earned triple value and the game. When the Bullseye round was reinstituted, the Sudden Death question was played after three questions.

Fast Money
The winning family went on to play Fast Money for a grand cash prize. The winning family chose which two players will play the game. The first family member stood at center stage while the second family member went off stage to a soundproof area. The first player has 15 seconds (later 20) to answer five Family Feud questions. He/she has to give the most popular answer to each question. When he/she was done, the answers were reveled on a different board followed by the number of people who gave them. After all the answers were revealed and scored, the second player came out and took his/her turn. The second player had 20 seconds (later 25) to answer the same five questions but with one exception, he/she must not repeat any of the answers previously given by the first player or he/she will hear this sound (buzz-buzz), at which point the host says "try again" and then he/she must give a different answer (the second player will also be charged for similar answers or an answer which fits into the same category as the first player's answer). When the second player was done, his/her answers were revealed and scored. The family wins $5 for each point made in the round, but if the two playing players reached 200 points or more, the family wins the grand cash prize.

Grand Cash Prizes
The grand cash prizes were different depending on the series, and here they are:


 * Daytime Versions (ABC & CBS) - 1976-1992 - $5,000
 * Nighttime & Current Versions - 1976-2002 - $10,000
 * Current Version - 2002-2009 - $20,000
 * Gameshow Marathon - 2006 - $50,000 for a home viewer, $500,000 for the player's charity
 * NBC Celebrity Version - 2008 - $50,000 for charity

Bullseye/Bankroll
Here are the max values in terms of Bullseye money:


 * Combs Version - 1992-1994 - 1st Half $10,000, 2nd Half/Nighttime $20,000
 * Dawson Version - 1994-1995 - 1st Half $7,000, 2nd Half $14,000
 * Current Version - 2009-Present - $30,000

Inventors
Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

Music
Main 1976 - "The Feud" Robert A. Israel & Ken Bichel

1988, 2003, 2008 - Score Productions

1994 - Edd Kalehoff & Score Productions

1999, 2004 - John Lewis Parker

2003 (Unused) - John Lewis Parker

The 1976 main was originally a prize cue on The Price is Right and when Mark Goodson heard it, it inspired him to create this show.

The last few notes of the theme were used on The Price is Right for the Grand Game as well as on Trivia Trap for getting all the wrong answers eliminated.

The 1994 opening vamps as well the unused main themes from the 1994 version were recycled into the daytime and 1994 versions of The Price is Right.

Although the 2003 main is unused, replaced with the 1988 main, the face off cue was still used on the show.

Merchandise
A board game based on the 1976 version was released in 1977 by Milton Bradley.

A PC and NES game based on the 1988 version was released by GameTek.

Board games based on the 1988 version were made in two versions released in 1990 and 1993 by Pressman.

Games based on the 1988 version for the Super Nintendo, 3DO, Genesis and PC were released in 1993 by GameTek.

Games based on the 1999 version were released for the PC and PlayStation by Hasbro.

A DVD game based on the Karn version was released in 2006.

Games were released for the PC, PS2 and Game Boy Advance in 2006 by Global Star Software.

A board game was released in 2007 by Endless Games.

A DVD game based on the O'Hurley version was released in 2007.

A DVD set featuring All-Star episodes of the 1976 version was released in 2008.

A DVD game with a special "Movie Edition" theme was released in 2008.

Games for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PC were released in 2009.

Spin-Offs
Gameshow Marathon - Family Feud was the finale of the 7 games.

¿Que Dice la Gente? - A Spanish language version aired on Telefutura from 2006 to 2008.

Celebrity Family Feud - A nighttime summer special aired on NBC in 2008 with teams of celebrities playing for charity. All but one episode was aired. The new graphics and music this show had were implemented into the current daytime version.

Taglines
"We love ya, see ya here on the Family Feud. Bye-Bye." - Richard Dawson (1976-1985)

"For the Feud, I'm Ray Combs saying thank you for watching and see you next time. Bye-Bye" - Ray Combs (1988-1994)

"Be good to your family, come back and see our families on the Feud." - Louie Anderson (1988-1994)

"I'm Al Roker saying, "Love your family, don't feud." - Al Roker (2008)

Links
Official Site

Official Site (Celebrity Version)

YouTube Profile