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 to 1975, 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 screens (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). Should the guesser on the team in control say a form of the password, the guesser got one last chance to say the exact word. 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. The decisions as to whether the clues were good or bad were made by a word authority. In the CBS version, the authorities were Professor David H. Greene, a professor from New York University, and World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary editor Dr. Reason A. Goodwin. While on ABC, the authorities were Dr. Robert Stockwell from UCLA and Carolyn Duncan. 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 CBS daytime version and $250 in the CBS nighttime version) and went on the play the Lightning Round. By the end of the ABC run, the game was played best of three.

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. Later in the ABC run, the value per word was upped to $100 for a possible total of $500.

Returning Champions
On the CBS daytime version, contestants played 2 games, win or lose, with each game worth $100. Originally on the nighttime version, 2 players stayed for the entire show. Starting that November, two new contestants played one game each, with winners receiving $250 and losers receiving $50. On the ABC version, champions can stay until either defeated or won 10 games. Later on, the limit was dropped.

CBS
In 1965, the show adopted an annual "Tournament of Champions" where contestants on the daytime version who won both their games were invited back to compete for more money.

ABC
Every three months, the four top winners during that period would return for a quarterly contest. The winner would earn $1,000 and the right to compete in the annual Tournament of Champions. The winner of the annual contest won $5,000 and faced the previous year's champion in a best-of-seven match for $10,000.

Password All-Stars/Password ('75)
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 Grandmaster 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 its 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 20 seconds to convey two passwords (one for each celebrity) to each other and score 20 points. The winning team's score was given to both celebrities who then became clue givers for the next elimination round.

Password All-Stars

Big Money Lightning Round
When the show reverted back to having contestants, a new and richer Lightning 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 per second leftover.
 * Level 2 - Each word was worth the total amount of money won on the first level. Getting all three earned an additional $10 per leftover second.
 * 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 arranged in alphabetical order.

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, and 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
The words literally appeared on the playing desk in the form of slides rather than being superimposed. When the word 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. Forms of the word were always accepted. 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. If he/she failed, the puzzle was discarded (but not before the audience was given a chance to solve it). In later episodes certain changes were made: both teams had two chances each for a total of four, the pass/play option went to the team that won the last password, and 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 puzzle was added, after which the contestants did what host Tom Kennedy called “the crossover”: they traded celebrity partners (a nod to the original Password); that's when the $200 puzzles started, and the first team to reach $500 won the game.

Password Portion

The France/French Fiasco
Late in 1980, after Tom Kennedy became the permanent replacement for Allen Ludden, the freakiest Password Plus moment of all time occurred. The first password, FRENCH, was given to both Betty White and Dick Martin. Betty was awarded the option; she chose to play. She said, in a French accent, “Language.” Sherry Sojo, Betty’s contestant, responds with “Italian.” The buzzer sounds, not surprisingly. Dick then gives his partner, Kathy Cortez, “France” as his clue. Kathy responds, “French.” Kathy gets it right, but the illegal clue siren sounds shortly thereafter. (Dick used “France”, from which we get “French”.) Tom admonishes Dick for the illegal clue. Tom was supposed to give Sherry the guess; however, he said, “Now we have another puzzle.” In fact, he repeatedly forgot that Sherry was supposed to guess! Tom quips, “Boy, Allen has no idea what trouble he’s in.” Sherry finally guesses “Hollandaise”. That is not correct, says the buzzer. After Dick gets Kathy to correctly guess the second password, REVOLUTION, it seems we’re back to normal. However, we get to the third password: LOST. When Betty fails again, Dick uses “lose”. Kathy gets it right, but you know what happens next: the illegal clue siren sounds late! (He used “lose”, from which we get “lost”.) This time, Tom does remember to give Sherry the guess. She answers, “The Battle of Waterloo.” The buzzer sounds again. For the fourth password, HEAD, Betty gave Sherry “pate” as a clue. Sherry responded, “Chopped liver.” No one got this hilarity-filled word right. The final password, QUEEN, comes up. Betty says, “Victoria.” Sherry responds, “Queen.” The bell sounds. Sherry has a chance to solve; she says, “Victoria?” The buzzer sounds, but Betty can save Sherry. She guesses that it is Marie Antoinette. (She pronounces it “Mary Antoinette”.) Marie Antoinette is the correct answer, the puzzle win bells ring, and this puzzle is over at last! Before it all begins, Tom explains that something of this nature is usually edited out. However, this lasted nearly nine minutes and was left in! Despite losing, Sherry was invited back for a future 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). It also revived the "last chance to guess" rule whenever a guesser gave a form of the word.

Each puzzle was worth $100 more than the previous, starting with $100, and ending with $400. After the second puzzle (the $200 puzzle) the team that solved that puzzle won the right to play the CA$HWORD game. This was where the celebrity gave up to three clues, trying to get the contestant to say the CA$HWORD. Correctly guessing the CA$HWORD won a cash jackpot which started at $1,000 and grew by that amount until won, with the highest being $12,000. If the celebrity gives an illegal clue, CA$HWORD automatically ends. The contestants then switched celebrity partners. The first team to reach $500 or more won the game.

Password Puzzle

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 Alphabetics, if the contestant got all ten in 60 seconds, he/she won $5,000 minus $1,000 for each illegal clue. In later shows, the jackpot was progressive: it started at $5,000 and grew by that much every time it was not won, with a maximum of $50,000 (which was never achieved). The biggest jackpot was $35,000; $30,000 was won twice. Illegal clues reduced the jackpot by 20% ($2,500 for a brief period). When the show started, the Alphabetics board was located at the entrance; it was later moved to a wall behind a set of doors, so that it wouldn't be in the way of the show's logo that closed the entrance. Allen Ludden called it "The Alphabetics Wall." After each Alphabetics, the champion played a new game with the other celebrity; later, the champion stayed with the current celebrity until the third $100 puzzle was played, after which he/she would do the crossover. Champions stayed on the show until they lost or until they won seven times, after which they retired undefeated.

Super Password End Game
In the Super Password End Game in the mid to late 80s version, getting all ten in 60 seconds won the jackpot which still started at $5,000 and grew by that amount every time it was not won, and illegal clues forfeited the chance at the jackpot. There was no max jackpot in this version, the highest of which was $55,000 (won twice; however, the latter winner did not receive his winnings after it was discovered he was wanted for insurance fraud); also won on three occasions was $50,000, the second highest jackpot. In all instances, the words were seen on a small TV monitor located near the contestant's head but was only visible to the celebrity. Winning players stayed on the show till they won five games in a row.

Bloopers
Rip Rips Off

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) and 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 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 fewer than the previous level. Running out of time or not having enough words to get to five ended the game.

Here's 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, he/she was 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. Only one contestant opted to play for $250,000; he lost, dropping back to $25,000.

Trivia
This is the first game show where Tom Kennedy and Gene Wood made their appearance from 1980-1982.

Super Password managed to last 4½ years despite being placed in the "death slot" of 12pm ET on NBC for its entire run, where it was prone to being preempted for local news.

In Popular Culture
In 2005, Comedy Central spoofed Password as Buzzword in a promo for their "Stand-Up Month". The commercial starts with the announcer saying, "The Buzzword is January." The woman on the right gives the clue, "It's the first month of the year." A clueless male contestant on the left shakes his head. Then she gives another clue by saying, "It begins with the letter J." The male contestant then answers, "Uhhh, July." (For obvious reasons it's wrong.) Then the female player says, "No. It rhymes with Manuary." Alas, no response. The female player then gives the clue, "It's stand-up month on Comedy Central." The male contestant finally says, "January." He stands up out of his chair and cheers while colorful balloons rain down on the set along with the words "January is Stand-Up Month!" flashing on the screen as it shows a montage of comedians who would appear during the month. The commercial ends with the male contestant saying, "Ride the manuary blue."

Music
1961: "Holiday Jaunt" by Kurt Rehfield

1963: "You Know the Password" by Bob Cobert

1971: "The Fun of It" by Edd Kalehoff

1974: "Bicentennial Funk" by Charles Fox for Score Productions

1979 (Plus): "Not Enough Disco Inferno" by Michel Camilo & Walt Levinsky for Score Productions

1984 (Super): "Stardust" by Score Productions

2008 (Million Dollar): Lewis Flinn

Inventors
Bob Stewart, Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

Additional Pages
Password/Quotes & Catchphrases

Password/Merchandise

Password/Gallery

Password/Video Gallery

Links
Password Rules @ Loogslair.net

ABC Password Fan Site

Password Plus Fan Site

Super Password Fan Site

The Super Password Page @ Bertconvy.net (archived)

A blog about "Super Password"

Videos
Video of the France/French Fiasco

Comedy Central - Buzzword (2005) :30 (USA)

YouTube
The Biggest Alphabetics Win of all ($35,000)

The Biggest Super Password End Game Win of all ($55,000)