Ellen's Game of Games

Did You Know?

• International rights are distributed by Warner Bros. International Television Production.
• All international versions use longer formats (90 or 120 minutes) with 5 or 6 preliminary round games leading to two semifinals and a final.
• The Finnish version included two official hosts who present whole episodes and control games together.

Format

Each episode picks contestants to try one of four opening games. Whoever wins that game moves to a semifinal called "Know or Go." The final player left then goes to "Hot Hands/Hotter Hands" for a shot at up to $100,000. When a game uses teams of regular people, the winning team picks one member to play Know or Go. One opening game is Aw Snap! Two players stand back to back, each tied to one end of a bungee cord. They have to grab five apples in their own color—red or green—from stands in front of them, using only their teeth. The first to drop all five into a scoring basket wins. In the second season's twelfth episode, twin sisters played as teams, but only one sister actually played while the other watched. So far, every contestant in Aw Snap! has been a woman. Another game is Blindfolded Musical Chairs. Five players (or four in seasons three and four) wear blindfolds and dance around the stage while music plays. When the music stops, they have to find and sit on stools that pop up in random spots. Ellen DeGeneres hits a button to decide where the stools go. There is always one fewer stool than players, and whoever can't grab a seat is out. The last one left wins. In the Christmas special, this game is called Blindfolded Musical Packages. A third game is Buckin' Blasters. Two players climb onto giant cannons and try to shoot three portraits of their opponent. The players decide when to fire, but DeGeneres messes with their aim by controlling the cannons from her podium. Hitting a portrait makes the opponent's cannon spin wildly. The first to knock out all three portraits wins. If time runs out, the player who hit more portraits wins. A tie means a sudden death round where the portraits reset, and the first to hit one wins. So far, every Buckin' Blasters player has been a woman.