Hollywood Squares

The long running game of celebrity tic-tac-toe.

Packagers
Merrill Heatter/Bob Quigley Productions (1966-1981) Filmways Television (1966-1981) Century Towers Productions/Orion Television Syndication (1986-1989) Moffitt-Lee Productions/One Ho Productions (1998-2002) Henry Winkler-Michael Levitt Productions (2002-2004) Columbia TriStar Television (1998-2003) Sony Pictures Television (2003-2004) KingWorld (1998-2004)

Hosts
Bert Parks 1965 (Pilot) Sandy Baron 1965 (Pilot) Peter Marshall 1966-1981 John Davidson 1986-1989 Tom Bergeron 1998-2004

Rules
Here's the Peter Marshall way of explaining Hollywood Squares:

"The object of the players is to get three stars in a row either across, up & down or diagonally. It is up to them to figure out if a star is giving a correct answer or making one up; that's how they get the squares."

Here's what it means:

The object of the game is to get tic-tac-toe, that's three Xs or Os in three star's squares (one for each square), either across, up & down or diagonally; or be the first contestants to capture five of the squares. Xs are almost always by the male contestant (dubbed Mr. X), while the Os are almost always by the female contestant (Miss Circle).

Here's how they do it:

The two contestants competing takes turns picking off each of the nine celebrities seated in a great big tic-tac-toe board. On each star, the host asked a question to that star afterwhich the star would usually give a crazy answer (classified as a zinger) followed by his/her real answer. After hearing the real answer, the contestant in control decided to either agree (meaning the star is correct), or disagree (meaning the star answered with a bluff). Sometimes a star would come up with no answer; when that happens, the host would ask the contestant to answer it himself/herself or pass it up. On a pass, the question would be thrown out, and a new question would be asked to the same celebrity. In any case, if the contestant's judgment/answer was correct, he/she gets the square (hence the phrase X or circle gets the square (Peter would say put an X or the circle there)); but if the contestant's judgment/answer was wrong, his/her opponent gets the square unless it would mean a win, when that happens nothing would be placed in that square because a win had to be earned by the contestant in control.

The first player to get three-in-a-row or gets five squares wins the game and money for that game.

Secret Square
In certain games, one of the squares would be dubbed the "Secret Square". The contestant who picked that square would usually have sounds going off to let the contestant, the star, and everybody else know. Then the star would be asked a special question (usually multiple choice). The star gave and answer but without a zinger and if the contestant can correctly agree or disagree with the star's answer, he/she won a bonus prize or prize package.

NBC Daytime Version
The daytime version uses the "rollover/straddling" format, that means the show can end with a game still in progress and had to be continued/finished on the next show. Two contestants (one a returning champion, the other the challenger) played a best 2-out-of-3 game match. Each game was worth $200 and the winner of the match received $400 total (when the show started, the payoff was different, winning the first game was worth $100 and winning the match was worth $400 more ($100 for the game & $300 for the match) for a total of $500). The first game of every show (unless it was an unfinished game in progress) was always a secret square game. The secret square was a progressive jackpot prize package in which a prize was added each day when not claimed. Starting in 1976, the winner of the match picked a star for a prize; each star had an envelope with a prize inside with the big prize being $5,000 in cash, whoever the winning player chose won the prize inside that envelope. Champions stayed on the show until defeated or if they won five matches at which point they won special prizes; from 1966-1977 the bonus prizes for winning five matches was $2,000 and a brand new car, but in the final years of the daytime version, the five match winning prize package was upped to $5,000 and two new cars (later $10,000 and one car). In the final episode of daytime series (which by that point had an altered contestant area and new theme music), the contestants playing that day were tied one game apiece, but there wasn't enough time to play a tiebreaker game. So to make up for it, both contestants won an additional $200 and played the prize game and each selected a star and won a prize for their troubles ($5,000 being one of them). Then after the final commercial break, the Hollywood Squares staff gathered around the contestant area for one last goodbye.

Nighttime Version
The nighttime version was much different, for it uses the self-contained format which became standard on future versions of the show. It aired on both NBC and in syndication. Two contestants played the game for the entire show and each completed game was worth $250 ($300 on NBC). In addition, the first three games were all secret square games (originally up to two with the second played if the secret square prize package went unclaimed). Should time run out in the middle of a game (signified by an annoying loud horn aka The Tacky Buzzer), the contestants were awarded $50 for every square captured to their score. The player with the most money at the end of the show won the match and a bonus prize (a car on the weekly syndicated version). If the match ended in a tie, one final question was played with the star of one contestant's choosing; if the contestant can agree or disagree correctly, he/she won the match otherwise the match went to the opponent. In the event a contestant should finish with nothing, that contestant still won $100.

Storybook Squares
During the third year of the show, a short-lived Saturday morning kid's version of Hollywood Squares was in effect. It was called Storybook Squares. In this version, the stars playing dressed up as fairy tale characters, historic people, etc. This version lasted for four months in 1969, but it came back for special weeks.

The New Hollywood Squares (1986-1989)
After five years off the air, a new version of Hollywood Squares was instituted. It was played with a new set of stars, and the original version's semi-regular John Davidson at the helm. Plus the show's new announcer was none than LA DJ Shadoe Stevens who was also one of the squares. In this version just like the original version's nighttime version, two contestants played for the entire show and for each game won the winning contestant won $500 and starting in season two, the third and all future games were worth double or $1,000. The second game of each show was a secret square game and it was usually played for a trip (which had John coin the phrase "Pack Your Bags" upon a secret square win). Time running out was now signified by a double car horn, by that time each square claimed was worth $200 ($100 in the first season). The player with the most money at the end of time became the champ. If the match ended in a tie, one final question was played with the star of one contestant's choosing; if the contestant can agree or disagree correctly, he/she won the match otherwise the match went to the opponent. The winner of the match went on to play for a brand new car.

The Car Game
To start, the new champion choose one of five keys by drawing out of a small bowl. Then he/she selected one of five cars at center stage under the show's logo that he/she thought the key chosen would start that car. Once the car was chosen, the champion went inside the chosen car alongside a good luck celebrity of his/her choosing (all nine on Friday shows or when a champ is retiring) and on the count of three turned that key. If that key started the car, the champion won the car and retired from the show, otherwise he/she returned to play the next day with the same key and one less car to choose from. If the champion won five days in row and not win the car after the first four, he/she won the car that was left. In the final season after choosing a car, the champion selected one of the nine stars holding a key that he/she thought would start the car. The star chosen became the good luck celebrity.

The All New Hollywood Squares
In 1998 after a nine year hiatus, syndication giant KingWorld acquired the rights to the show and produced yet a new version. The new show was hosted by Tom Bergeron, and comedienne/movie actress Whoop Goldberg became executive producer as well as the center square. Other regulars included award show writer/comedian Bruce Vilanch, Canadian born Caroline Rhea, and the always loud Gilbert Gottfried. Shadoe Stevens was once again the announcer on the show.

Payoffs
In the beginning for the first few months, the payoffs were the same as the 80s version. For the first two games were worth $500, the third game was worth $1,000, but the fourth and all future games were worth $2,000. Should time run out in the middle of a game, each square was worth $250.

Later the payoffs were doubled meaning that first two games were worth $1,000, the third game was worth $2,000, but the fourth and all future games were worth $4,000. Should time run out in the middle of a game, each square was worth $500. The highest anyone has ever won with this payoff structure was $12,000.

The player with the most money by the end of the show won the match and played the bonus game. The tiebreaker was the same as the previous version except the that the player who has won the most games or most squares overall (whichever came first) had the option to play the question or pass to his/her opponent.

Secret Square
For the first few months, there were two secret square games; the first in game two, and the second in game three. Later should the secret squares prize be not won in the second game, it carried over into the third game. By season two, only one secret square game was played each day, but it did revive the progressive prize filled jackpot featured in the daytime version of the original. This was now called the "Secret Square Stash".

Bonus Game #1
For the first three and a half years, the show revived the Peter Marshall bonus game in which the winning contestant picked a star and won a prize inside the chosen star's envelope, with the biggest prize being a new car. Later months had the contestant make a judgment on the star's answer to one final question in order to win the prize. Failure to do so in the first season won a $2,500 consolation prize.

Bonus Game #2
Midway through the fourth season, a new bonus game was instituted. In this bonus, the winning contestants picked a star to partner with in this round. As before each star had an envelope, only this time instead of prizes, they contained money amounts, the amount revealed by the selected star became the scoring amount for the round. Now the winning contestant had 60 seconds to answer as many questions himself/herself as he/she can for the value inside the envelope. The star partner can help by conferring but only the contestant can answer. When the time was up, host Bergeron gave a category to one final question, and the winning contestant decided whether or not to answer that question in a "Double or Nothing" fashion. This bonus was the more complicated and controversial of all bonuses, and was terminated after season four.

H2
In 2002 at the beginning of season five, Whoopi Goldberg left the show and former Happy Days star Henry Winkler took over as executive producer and sub announcer. The new announcer at that time was semi-regular Jeffery Tambor, and subbing during Game Show Week was Price is Right announcer Rod Roddy. Plus the set was completely overhauled for a new and literal golden look to the show. Also there were now rotating center squares with one of them being the original Master of the Hollywood Squares Peter Marshall during Game Show Week (he also hosted the main game portion on Thursday of that week).

In season six, the show revived the best 2-out-of-3 game match format with each game being worth $1,000 ($2,000 for the whole match). In addition the "Secret Square Stash" was discontinued, allowing different prizes to be played for each match. Also world's faster talker John Moschitta became the new announcer with first announcer Shadoe Stevens being the sub announcer during the second Game Show Week.

The Return of the Key Game
H2 also reinstituted the key bonus round from the John Davidson version but with a new twist. The bonus was split into two halves, in the first half, winning contestant had 30 seconds to capture as many stars as he/she can. On each star host Bergeron read a true/false statement about the celebrity chosen, and all the contestant had to do was to agree (true) or disagree (false) on that statement. For each star captured, an incorrect key from a set of nine was eliminated. When time ran out or if he/she went through all the stars, Tom and the contestant went over to the keys alongside the grand prize he/she is playing for. The number of bad keys according to the number of squares captured were blacked out (with one additional key blacked out for each new attempt at the same grand prize during season five), and the contestant had to choose from the ones still lit. Once the winning contestant chose a key, if that key worked, he/she won the grand prize; if not, then the winning contestant still picked up $500 (later $1,000) for each square captured. The winning contestant can also win the grand prize if he/she captured all nine stars or got enough right so that the winning key would be the only one left.

Prize Structures
Here are the grand prizes for season five:
 * 1st: Car
 * 2nd: $25,000 (in safe)
 * 3rd: Trip Around the World (in steamer trunk)
 * 4th: $50,000 (in safe)
 * 5th: $100,000 (in safe)

Nobody ever made it to the final prize though the highest somebody tried to win was $50,000.

Here are the grand prizes for season six:
 * 1st: Trip (steamer trunk)
 * 2nd: $10,000 (safe)
 * 3rd: Luxury Car
 * 4th: $25,000 (safe)
 * 5th: Trip Around the World (steamer trunk)

Only one person made it to the final prize, but that contestant managed to win four of the prizes.

Returning Champions
In the first season there were no returning champions; at that time two new players competed everyday. Starting in season two champions stayed on the show until they won five matches or defeated.

Spin-Offs
Storybook Squares - Kids' version ared in 1969

Links

 * A tribute to the original The Hollywood Squares
 * Curt Alliaume's history of the Hollywood Squares
 * Screencaps of The 80s Hollywood Squares
 * Information on the 1998-2004 incarnation
 * David's Hollywood Squares Page