| Hosts | |
| Bob Eubanks | |
| Announcer | |
| Don Morrow | |
| Taped | |
 | |
| Packager | |
| Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions | |
"This is an article for the 1990 pilot, for the 1989 pilot, see The Name Game (1)"
EUBANKS: "Here's our first famous name!'
_ _ M E _
B R O _ _
(Marcia buzzes in)
EUBANKS: "Champions are in. Marcia, you have 10 seconds. Go!"
MARCIA: "He's in jail... (impersonates James Brown and scats)"
MARLA: "James Brown!"
EUBANKS: "James Brown is right!"
MORROW: "And that's how we play America's exciting new game show... The Name Game! And now, here's your host, Bob Eubanks!"
This version of The Name Game was an unsold pilot that was a cross between Wheel of Fortune and Pyramid.
Gameplay[]
Main Game[]
Two teams of two contestants competed in this challenging word game.
In each round of gameplay, one player was the captain/giver and the his/her partner was the guesser. The givers were shown a word puzzle, to which the answer was always a famous name. The name was revealed one letter at a time. As soon as they know what the name is, (s)he must buzz-in; but they can't solve the puzzle, instead (s)he must convey the name to his/her partner by giving clues to it; and they must do it in 10 seconds or less. If the partner can identify the name, the team won $200. But if they can't, the opposing giver will try to convey the same name to his/her partner for $150. The first team to score $500 or more wins the round and kept the cash and the first team to win two rounds wins the game. If the tiebreaker round was needed, the first team to win two names in a row won the game. The winning team went on to the play the bonus round for a new car or bonus cash.
Bonus Round[]
The bonus was played in two halves. To start, the winning team decided amongst themselves who's giving and who's receiving.
In the first half, the receiving player went off to a soundproof room offstage. Then the giver called upon different audience members to give names that fit a certain category; the process went on for 45 seconds. At the end of the time, the giver saw a list of the given names and chose seven of them to convey to his/her partner.
In the second half after the receiver returned, the giver had to convey the seven chosen names to his/her partner within the time limit. Prior to this, (s)he had a choice to make; (s)he could either play for up to 45 seconds for $5,000 cash or take 35 seconds and play for a new car.
Trivia[]
Marla Law, the champion on the pilot, was previously a champion on Classic Concentration.