Let's Play Post Office

Host

Don Morrow

Announcers

Bill Wendell Wayne Howell

Broadcast

NBC Daytime: 9/27/1965 – 7/1/1966

Packager

Merv Griffin Productions

Let's Play Post Office was a short-lived daytime game show where three contestants guessed the identity of a celebrity letter writer as the letter was read one line at a time. The set resembled a post office, with the contestants' podiums resembling stamp window, and the game board was shaped like a giant envelope.

Gameplay

Three contestants competed, one usually a returning champion, to identify celebrities from fictitious letters they might have written. Each letter had a predetermined value of $5–$100.

In each round, the letter's value would appear on the stamp, afterwhich the cancellation mark provided a clue showing the where the letter might have been written, and when it might have been composed. Morrow would then began to read the letter one line at a time; the value of the letter decreased as Morrow continued to read. Contestants could buzz in at any time to make a guess; however, they were not told if they were right or wrong. Multiple contestants could give the same answer. Once all three players made their guesses, the player(s) with the correct answer were awarded the value of the letter when they buzzed in. Clues were often puns; for example: "The temperature outside is zero. I mostel you." (Answer: Zero Mostel)

Zip Round

The final round had five telegram-like messages, with the contestants trying to identify the name of each "sender". Correct answers added $25, while wrong answers deducted $25.

The high scorer after this round became champion and returned on the following episode.

Studio

NBC Studio 6A, New York City, NY

Rating

Gallery

Trivia

The set was later used on NBC's long-running sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live.

The object of identifying who sent a fictional letter was later used as the E-Mail element of Merv Griffin's later series Click.