Opening Spiels[]
CONTESTANTS OPENING SPIEL #1: "This is (returning champion's name). In just a few moments, he/she could win (over) $XX,XXX, today on Scrabble."
CONTESTANTS OPENING SPIEL #2: "(returning champion's name) is back to defend his/her crown against these three players. One of them will get to try for (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot amount), today on Scrabble."
CONTESTANTS OPENING SPIEL #3: "(returning champion's name) is back to try to make it again to the Bonus Sprint, and a chance at a Jackpot of (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot amount), today on Scrabble."
CONTESTANTS OPENING SPIEL #4: "(returning champion's name) has already won (insert total). He/She is back to try to make it again to the Bonus Sprint, today on Scrabble."
1984 PILOT SPIEL: ROD: "An eight-letter word. The clue is: A man who likes people." Audience: "CANNIBAL!"
1984 PREMIERE SPIEL: JAY: "A nine-letter word. The clue is: A man who needs glasses." Audience: "BARTENDER!"
1984 SERIES SPIEL SAMPLE: JAY/TUNA: "A six-letter word. The clue is: A speedy bird always ditches it." Audience: "COYOTE!"
1990 FINALE SPIEL: TUNA: "A nine-letter word. The clue is: They're tons of fun. Audience: "ELEPHANTS!"
1993 SERIES SPIEL SAMPLE: TUNA: "It's an eight-letter word. And the clue is: Oprah Winfrey's place. Audience: "BREWSTER!"
REST OF SPIEL (1984-1990 and 1993): TUNA: "It's the crossword game you've played all your life, but never quite like this!" Audience: "SCRABBLE!" TUNA: "And here's your host, Chuck Woolery!"
1990 PILOT SPIEL: GUY: "Hey, Madge, let's go for a walk." MADGE: "I hate to walk, my feet hurt." GUY: "Uh, then why don't I go rent a movie?" MADGE: "We rented a movie last night." GUY: "A friendly game of Checkers?" MADGE: "Checkers is for children." GUY: (mocking) "Checkers is for children." MADGE: "Mmm-hmm." GUY: "Okay, then, what do you want to do?" MADGE: "Oh, I don't know. Let's play SCRABBLE!" TUNA: "And now, here's the host of Scrabble, STEVE EDWARDS!"
Catchphrases[]
"Thank you, Jay Stewart/Charlie Tuna. Thanks/Thank you, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Scrabble, the television version of everyone/everybody's favorite game." - Chuck's opening line
"Home Viewer word was sent in by (insert name) from (city, state). We have a (Scrabble) T-shirt for you, (insert name)." - Chuck Woolery (to the Home Viewer word sent in after the introduction gets Scrabble T-shirt in later years)
"Today, the Jackpot in our Bonus Sprint stands at (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot amount). Today's winner is gonna get the chance to win the Jackpot later on." - Chuck Woolery (about the Bonus Sprint Jackpot)
"Who won the coin toss backstage?" - Chuck Woolery (to the contestant who won the coin toss before Scrabble began)
"(insert challenger's name), you're the challenger, and you're gonna start first." - Chuck Woolery (to the new challenger who starts Scrabble in later years)
"Let's play Scrabble. We're gonna play four words in all, and whoever has the most money when we're finished wins the game. The winner then gets a chance at the fabulous cash prize of $25,000. Good luck to both of you, there's a lot at stake. The champion goes first, let's take a look at the board." - Chuck Woolery, explaining the rules during the pilot
"Let's play Scrabble. We're going to play until someone gets three words right. That player goes on to Scrabble Sprint, and a chance at (more than) $40,000 in cash." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Crossword Round (early years)
"Let's play Scrabble. We're going to play until someone gets three words right. That player goes on to Scrabble Sprint, and have a chance at a Bonus Sprint worth (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot)." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Crossword Round (later years)
"We'll play Scrabble until someone gets three words right, and will have a chance at a Bonus Sprint worth (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot)." - Chuck Woolery on the shortened version of the start of the Crossword Round spiel (last years of the original run)
"We'll play Scrabble until someone gets three words right, and will have a chance at a Bonus Sprint, which will be building as we play." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Crossword Round (1993 revival)
"Take a look at the board, as we set up for our first game." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Crossword Round (all years)
"We're building on the letter (insert letter), (insert number) letters in the word. The clue is (insert clue)." - Chuck Woolery
"Building on the letter (insert letter) in (insert word), (insert number) letters in the word, and the clue is (insert clue)." - Chuck Woolery
"The rest of the letters in the word are controlled by the numbered tiles between you. When you put them in the slot, you'll see what the letters are. But be careful, we put three stoppers in there, and if you hit any of the stoppers(, meaning the letter is not in the word), this is what you're gonna hear, (stopper sounds) and you'll lose your turn." - Chuck Woolery explaining about the numbered tiles during the main game in the earlier weeks
"The remaining letters are controlled by the numbered tiles between you." - Chuck Woolery explaining about the numbered tiles during the main game in the later weeks
"I wanna remind you, we've added something new to this. If a letter drops in the pink or blue bonus square, you'll have a chance to make some money. If it drops into a blue square and guess the word correctly on the letter, you win a bonus of $500, and $1,000 if landed on pink. And the money is yours to keep, no matter how you finish in the game, win or lose." - Chuck Woolery (about the new Bonus Squares in earlier weeks)
"Now, when you think you know the word, hit your buzzer, and start filling in the missing letters, because those letters are worth a lot of money. That money goes into the bank, and the player who gets three words right wins all the money." - Chuck Woolery about the short-lived Spelling Format in 1985
"Now, when you think you know the word, hit your buzzer. Don't forget the pink and blue bonus squares, because they're worth money." - Chuck Woolery
"1, 2, 3, 4, $500!" - Counting up the money for blue square wins
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, $1,000!" - Counting up the money for pink square wins
"I wanna remind you, it takes three to win the game." - Chuck Woolery (during the Crossword Round in early years)
"Let's play Speedword. Put your hands on your buzzers. Don't answer until I say 'Go'. We'll put the letters in place one at a time, but we can't give you the last letter. It's up to you." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Speedword
"(insert one player)'s trying to tie it up/get back in. (insert the other player)'s going for the game."
"And now, back to Scrabble and Chuck Woolery." - Jay Stewart/Charlie Tuna (at the start of Scrabble Sprint after the show's commercial break has ended)
"I want to remind you to hit your plunger, because that stops the clock. There are no stoppers in any of these words. All the letters are good(, but don't do it out of nervousness, ‘cause it'll cost you ten seconds if you do)." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Scrabble Sprint
"The clock will start when we pop up the first two letters at the bottom of the screen. You pick one of the two letters we showed you; the other will go back into the shuffle." - Chuck Woolery about Scrabble Sprint in earlier weeks.
"We're gonna count the clock backward. You must get all three before the clock hits zero."
"We're gonna play the same three words. Best time wins." - Chuck Woolery (about Scrabble Sprint that plays the same three words in the second format)
"You're gonna establish the time. Winner of the next Crossword will come up here and try to beat that time." - Chuck Woolery (about the first Scrabble Sprint in the later years)
"Ready? GO!" - Chuck Woolery (when the timer begins during Speedword and Scrabble Sprint)
"And now, back to Chuck Woolery and today's winner." - Charlie Tuna (at the start of the Bonus Sprint after the show's commercial break has ended)
"All you have to do is solve two words in 10 seconds before the clock hits zero, and you'll win (Insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot Amount)." - Chuck Woolery at the start of the Bonus Sprint
"Two words, under ten seconds." - Shortened version of what he said
"If you live in Los Angeles or you're planning to visit the L.A. area and would like to become a contestant on Scrabble, call area code 213-284-8644." - Charlie Tuna (explaining to the viewers what they can do if they must be in the show before closing in the early years)
”If you like to win a Scrabble T-Shirt, send your clues along with your name and address to: Scrabble Clue, P.O Box 6759, Los Angeles, California, 90067. We’ll be drawing your clues at random. If we read your clue on the air, you’ll win a Scrabble T-Shirt. One size fits all!“ - Charlie Tuna or Chuck Woolery (explaining to viewers how they can send in Scrabble clues)
“And now back to Scrabble and Chuck Woolery.“ - Commercial outro (Usually used at the start of Scrabble Sprint)
Quotes[]
"Thank you very much. Thanks, and welcome to Scrabble, the brand new television version of the game you all know so well. Now, we're gonna play for money, lots of money. In fact, we've been playing all week. I can tell you, that today, one of our players is gonna win $25,000." - Chuck Woolery from the pilot of Scrabble taped in March of 1984.
"Thank you, Jay Stewart! Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. It's nice to be back here on NBC after 2½ years, and we're playing Scrabble, the brand new television version of the game that you all know so well. Now, we play Scrabble for money, lots of money. In fact, one of our players can win more than $40,000 in cash. Not too shabby, you can do that. Right now, let's meet the players for our first match. Jay Stewart, if you will." - Chuck Woolery on the first show from July 2, 1984
"Starting today, we're gonna do things just a little bit differently in Crossword. When we get to 2-2 ties (as we are right now), we're gonna be playing a tiebreaker as we do in Speedword." - Chuck Woolery (when the game ended in a 2-2 tie in 1985, the tiebreaker was a Speedword round)
"(cheers and applause) Well, thank you, Charlie, thanks, everybody. Appreciate that. This is... (laughter) Thank you. Thanks. (cheers and applause continues) Thank you, thanks very much. This is our last show of Scrabble here on NBC. And I was just thinking, as I walked in, there's one thing I'll never have to do again. If you look behind me here, you see this large 'SCRABBLE' sign. Can you see this? (camera shows the main set showing SCRABBLE sign on top of it) That is held by very thin wires. And every time they say 'Here's Chuck Woolery', I walk, and it comes down, and I thought for sure: I was gonna lose my neck for six years, but no, it hasn't happen." - Chuck Woolery giving his opening speech on the last show from March 23, 1990
Notable Gaffes[]
Chuck: Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?
Contestant Aaron: Uh, no, considering I'm Jewish.
Chuck: Oh! Did you get what you wanted for...? Ha! You know, I was ready to skip over that, but I gotta han- That was good, that was good, Jas- Aaron. Yeah. Well, what did you get for Hanukkah??
Contestant Aaron: Nothing yet, it's not that time of the year yet, Chuck.
Chuck: Uh, okay, well... (laughter)
- From Christmas 1984
"All right, we're going to continue today's game. Uh, "recrap" the scores, recap them, actually. (laughter) Did I really say that?" - The Recrap Blooper
"I think I'll have to take a 'P'." - Contestant, after both tiles he/she picked produced the letter "P."
"I'm going home, I don't know about you!" - From the Mosquitoes blooper episode
Woolery: There's no excuse for it.
Sang (contestant): (stops clock when board shows -UDENESS) Nudeness. (correct answer was "rudeness")
Woolery: A type of training.
Sang: (stops clock at --SIC) Music. (Sang correctly guessed "basic" at the end of the 87-second sprint round).
- From the infamous Sang episode
"I kept telling them, 'Look, find somebody else to do it; it'll be a huge hit. Look what happened to Wheel!'." - Chuck Woolery, on the finale of the original run in 1990
Taglines[]
"We'll be back with a brand new version of the game you've been playing all your life, Scrabble!" - Chuck's goodbye line from the pilot
"I like to invite all of you to come back and play the game that you've been playing all your life, and you can play it with us: Scrabble. Bye-bye, everybody." - Chuck's goodbye line from the first show
"I'm Chuck Woolery, thank you for joining us on Scrabble. Bernice will be back, too, in rare form. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye, everybody." - Chuck's goodbye line due to a zinger from a Scrabble Sprint champion
"All right, thank you, Charlie. For the last time, I'll say, 'Thank you, Charlie.'. This is the parting shot from the show. And of course, I don't want to be... well, perhaps sentimental, but I don't want to be maudlin. The only thing I like to share with you, is that this show is certainly a milestone in my life. My son was born while I was doing the show. I've made a lot of new friends. We've had a wonderful support from the television audience out there, in all the four times we've been on the air, in different timeslots and everything. And the show is really good. We've enjoyed doing it, and I certainly have no sour grapes about that, or anything else. NBC has been a wonderful place to work. I've been with them now for 14 years, and it's always been a great experience. However, it is sad when a show that is close to you and you like so much comes to an end, and of course, we're all really sad about it. The thing that I'll miss probably most, more than anything, are the relationships that I've made, and the people that have worked on it. And I can't name them all, but I like to name a few. Bob Noah, for instance; Bob is the one who created this show, and went to the trouble to get it on the air; and Bob Crystal, who also helped with Reg Grundy. And then, there's Gary Johnson who produces it; Pam Meerson, who's been fun, and she's wonderful to work with. I'll miss her. Jan Heininger, we've probably made more fun of Jan than he deserves; he's been a great guy, and we've had a great relationship. I can just go on, but I can't, but you'll see them at the end of the show, and I thought that it be a good time to say: Thank you to the viewing audience for supporting us. I hope you enjoyed it, it's been a pleasure working with you, as I have all these years. And, I'll be back, somewhere, (in a broken down Schwarzenegger accent) 'I'LL BE BACK!'." - Chuck Woolery, giving his goodbye speech on the last show, from March 23, 1990
Announcer Lines[]
"Chuck Woolery's wardrobe furnished by Pierre Cardin." - Scrabble Announcer Jay Stewart/Charlie Tuna on all episodes where Chuck wears Pierre Cardin wardrobe
"Scrabble, starring Chuck Woolery, is produced in association with Exposure Unlimited. This program is based on the Scrabble brand crossword game. This is Jay Stewart/Charlie Tuna speaking." - Scrabble Announcer
"Scrabble is a Reg Grundy Production!" - Scrabble Announcer