Match Game

Did You Know?

• Only 11 episodes of the 1962–69 series are known to survive, archived at the Paley Center for Media.
• On November 26, 2006, GSN aired an hour-long documentary titled The Real Match Game Story: Behind The Blank, narrated by Jamie Farr.
• The 1973–82 incarnations are shown in reruns daily on Buzzr and GSN.

1962–69, NBC

The Match Game premiered on December 31, 1962, with Gene Rayburn as host and Johnny Olson as announcer. The first celebrity panelists were Arlene Francis and Skitch Henderson. Taped in Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, the show originally aired in black and white; it switched to color on April 5, 1965, though the studio had moved to color on June 24, 1963. Two teams answered questions by writing responses privately, then revealing them. A team scored 25 points for two matching answers or 50 points for three matching. The first team to 100 points won $100 and played an audience match with three survey questions, earning $50 per contestant who matched the most popular answer, for a possible total of $450. Early questions were pedestrian, such as "Name a kind of muffin." In 1963, NBC canceled the series with six weeks left to record. Question writer Dick DeBartolo devised funnier questions like "Mary likes to pour gravy all over John's _," which Mark Goodson approved, leading to a ratings boost and the show's un-cancellation.

Match Game 73–79 (1973–79, CBS)

In the early 1970s, CBS vice president Fred Silverman overhauled the network's programming, reintroducing game shows after the success of The New Price Is Right. In summer 1973, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman reworked The Match Game, moving it to Los Angeles, adding more celebrities, and increasing prize money. This version, along with several other game shows, reintroduced five-figure payouts for the first time since the quiz show scandals of the late 1950s. Gene Rayburn returned as host and Johnny Olson as announcer. Two solo contestants attempted to match answers from a six-celebrity panel. Richard Dawson was the first regular panelist. CBS News coverage of the Watergate hearings delayed the premiere from June 25 to July 2. The first week's panelists included Dawson, Michael Landon, Vicki Lawrence, Jack Klugman, Jo Ann Pflug, and Anita Gillette. Early episodes featured blander questions and panelists from the 1960s version, such as Klugman, Arlene Francis, and Bert Convy.

Later revivals

After the cancellation of Match Game 79, interest remained for a daily syndicated series, which debuted on September 10, 1979, often referred to on-air as The Match Game. The rules and gameplay were the same as before, including the star wheel bonus, but each contestant played a two-game match against another contestant, with the Super Match played after each game. Contestants did not win money for winning the game, and there were no returning champions. The star wheel reduced the golden star sections to three. The maximum payout was $21,000, the same as Match Game PM. For the first two seasons, Bill Daily, Dick Martin, Richard Paul, and Bob Barker were among the male semi-regulars filling Richard Dawson's old spot. McLean Stevenson appeared in nearly all of the third season (1981–82) and became a regular from the eleventh taped week through the end of the season.

Merchandise

Milton Bradley published several home game versions based on the 1960s and 1970s American television version from 1963 through 1978. Starting in 1963, six editions of the NBC version were made, each containing crayons, wipe-off papers, 100 perforated cards with six questions per card, a plastic scoreboard tray with colored pegs and chips, and six scribble boards. Later editions replaced the scribble boards with magic slates and wooden styli. The object was for contestants to write answers matching their partner's, with scoring similar to the TV show. No bonus game was included. Milton Bradley also created a Fine Edition and a Collector's Edition with more questions; the Collector's Edition came in a leatherette case with buttons. Starting in 1974, three editions based on the CBS version were produced, each containing a game board with a plastic stand, two game booklets for 92 complete games, two magic slates and styli, and play money. Two contestants tried to match as many of six celebrities as possible, with celebrity answers printed in the booklets. The contestant with the most matches played a Super Match round for up to $5,000.