Catchword (game show)

Format

In odd-numbered rounds, contestants earned one point per valid word, with a three-point bonus for the longest word; if multiple contestants tied for longest, each received the bonus. Words had to appear in the Chambers Dictionary, excluding proper nouns and hyphenated words. Even-numbered rounds were played on the buzzer, awarding one point per correct answer; if no one buzzed in after a time, Coia gave a clue. Each contestant was shown ten sets of three consonants, one every four seconds, and had to give a word starting with the first consonant and including the other two in order.

Ten anagrams or scrambled letter sets were generated; contestants buzzed in to rearrange each into a name fitting a specified category. One at a time, each contestant received three consonants and had 30 seconds to list words starting with the first and containing the other two in order; each valid word scored one point, but if multiple words shared the same root, only the longest counted. During the first three series, a set of three letters appeared; from series 4 onward, the centre consonant was replaced by a joker, and the contestant chose which consonant it represented before forming words.

Eight poems were generated, each with one incomplete word that contestants had to finish. From series 5 onward, this round was replaced by 'Hidden Word in a Sentence': contestants saw a sentence where a word was hidden, typically spanning the end of one word and the start of the next, with a clue embedded; they buzzed in to state the hidden word. Seven such sentences were played.