| Hosts | |
| Gene Rayburn (1962–1982) Bert Convy (1989) Ross Shafer (1990–1991) Charlene Tilton (1996) Michael Burger (1998–1999) Ricki Lake (2006) Andy Daly (2008) Alec Baldwin (2016–2021) | |
| Announcers | |
| Johnny Olson (1962–1982) Gene Wood (1989–1991) Unknown (1996) Paul Boland (1998–1999) Rich Fields (2006) Scott Reside (2008) Steve French (2016–2021) | |
| Sub-Announcers | |
| Wayne Howell (1963) Don Pardo (1964–1965) Mel Brandt (1966–1967) Roger Tuttle (1968–1969) Howard Reig (1969) Bill Hallaran (1969) Bern Bennett (1975) Bob Hilton (1991) | |
| Broadcast | |
                 | |
| Packagers | |
| Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (1962–1982) Mark Goodson Productions (1989–1991) All American Television (1996) Pearson Television (1998-1999) (Fremantle)Media North America (2006, 2008, 2016-2021) Granada (2006) Entertain the Brutes (2016–2021) El Dorado Pictures (2016–2021) | |
| Distributors | |
| Jim Victory Television (1975–1982) Tribune Entertainment (1996) Pearson Television (1998–1999) | |
Match Game is the long-running comedy game show where six celebrities try to match two contestants and vice versa, simply just by filling in the blanks. If the contestants do it very well, they win lots of money.
The series was also known by these titles as:
- The Match Game (1962-1969)
- Match Game 7x (1973-1979)
- Match Game PM (1975-1981)
- MG2 [The Match Game] (1996 pilot)
Rules for the NBC Version[]
Two teams of three players (consisting of two civilian contestants & one celebrity team captain), competed in this early version which was a game of judgment. Host Rayburn read a question in which the possibilities are endless; plus, they weren't restricted to fill-in-the-blank types. All six players wrote down their answers on their cards and raised their hands to indicate that they were done. Each player revealed their answers one player at a time, and their objective was to match their teammates. For each match the team made, they scored 25 points (10 points early in the run). If no match was made whatsoever, Gene reread the question, and the players rewrote their answers (they can be the same or can be different). The first team to reach 100 points (make four matches (10 early in the run)) won $100 and went on to play the Audience Match.
Audience Match[]
In the Audience Match, the winning team attempted to match members of the previous studio audience. Host Rayburn asked three questions, and on each question, the team gave individual verbal answers that they think was the number one answer (they can agree or disagree on each other's answers). The contestants divide $50 for each player on the team they did give the #1 answer for a maximum of $150, so with three questions, they can win up to $450.
The Telephone Match[]
On February 27, 1967, the show added a "Telephone Match" game, in which a home viewer and a studio audience member attempted to match a simple fill-in-the-blank question, similar to the 1970s' "Head-To-Head Match". A successful match won a jackpot, which started at $500 and increased by $100 per day until won.
Pilot[]
The pilot was exactly the same as the series except that the scoring format was different. In the main game, each match was worth 10 points with 50 points (five matches) needed to win. The contestants on the winning team split $100. Each match made in the Audience Match was worth $25 for maximum of $75 on each question. Four questions were asked, so the maximum total was $300.
Rules for the CBS & 1970's Syndicated Versions[]
Two contestants, one of them being a returning champion, competed. The champion was seated in the upstage (red circle) seat and the challenger was seated in the downstage (green triangle [in the pilot, it was a blue triangle]) seat. On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version, a coin toss was held backstage to determine the positions. The object was to match the answers of as many of the six celebrity panelists as possible on fill-in-the-blank statements.
The main game was played in two rounds that labeled "1" & "2". The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". Rayburn then read the statement. While the contestant pondered an answer, the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant was polled for an answer. Gene then asked each celebrity — one at a time, beginning with #1 in the upper left-hand corner — to respond.
While early questions were similar to the original NBC version (e.g., "Name a type of muffin" and "Every morning, John puts _________ on his cereal"), the questions quickly became more humorous. Comedy writer Dick DeBartolo, who had participated in the 1960s Match Game, now contributed broader and saucier questions for Gene. Frequently, the statements were written with bawdy, double entendre answers in mind. A classic example: "Did you catch a glimpse of that girl on the corner? She has the world's biggest _________."
Frequently, the audience responded appropriately as Gene critiqued the contestant's answer (for the "world's biggest" question, he might show disdain to an answer such as "fingers" or "bag" and compliment an answer such as "rear end" or "boobs", often also commenting on the audience's approving or disapproving response). The audience usually would groan or boo when a contestant gave a bad answer, whereas they would cheer and applaud in approval of a good answer. There were a handful of potential answers that were prohibited, the most notable being any synonym for genitalia.
The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonably similar as determined by the judges; for example, "rear end" could be matched by "bottom", "behind", "derrière", "fannie", "hiney", etc.) up to a maximum of six points for matching everyone. After play was completed on one contestant's question, Gene read the statement on the other card for the opponent and play was identical.
Popular questions featured "Dumb Dora" or her male counterpart, "Dumb Donald". These questions would often begin, "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was so dumb..." or "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was REALLY dumb." To this, the audience would respond en masse, "How dumb IS/WAS he/she?" Then Gene would finish the question. Other common subjects of questions were Superman/Lois Lane, King Kong/Fay Wray, panelists on the show (most commonly Brett Somers), politicians, and Howard Cosell. Gene always played the action for laughs, and he frequently tried to read certain questions in character; for example, he would recite questions involving a made-up character named "Old Man Periwinkle", or "102-year-old Mr. Periwinkle", in a weak, quavering voice (he also did Periwinkle's female counterpart, "Old Mrs. Pervis"). Charles Nelson Reilly, who admitted in '77 he was Brett Somers' rival (as they often argued), one of the regular panelists and one who was often involved with directing Broadway plays, would often make remarks regarding Gene's acting such as "I like when you act" and "That was mediocre" when Gene did a voice like this; this tended to draw a big laugh from the audiences. At times, questions would deal with the fictitious (and often sleazy) country of "Nerdo Crombezia".
On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version whichever player was ahead in points after Round 1 always began by choosing a question first in Round 2. This rule ensured that both players would be able to play two meaningful questions. (Without this rule, a player who had only answered one question could be ahead of another player who had played both his/her questions, rendering the final question moot). Only celebrities that a contestant did not match could play this second round. On the CBS version, challengers always chose a question first in the next round.
The second round questions were generally easier and were usually puns that had a "definitive" answer (for instance, "Did you hear about the new religious group of dentists? They call themselves the Holy _____.", where the definitive answer would be "Molars"), whereas the first round usually had a number of possible answers. This was to help trailing contestants pick up points quickly.
On Match Game PM, a third round was added after Season One as the games proved to be too short to fill the half-hour. Again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds.
The player who matched more celebrities at the end of the game was declared the winner. If the players had the same score at the end of "regulation", the scores were reset to 0-0. On PM (or on the syndicated daytime show if time was running short), a time-saving variant of the tiebreaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants would write their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers. Originally, the regulars (Brett, Charles, and Richard) would give their answers, later it was changed to having all six celebrities play. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory; if there was still no match (which was rare), the round was replayed with a new question. On the CBS version, the tiebreaker went on until there was a clear winner. If it came to the sudden-death tiebreaker, only the final question (the one that ultimately broke the tie) was kept and aired.
The CBS daytime version had returning champions and the show "straddled" – that is, episodes often began and ended with games in progress.
Sign Changes[]
At the end of the New Year's Eve episodes from 1973-1979, they'll change the sign of the Match Game. They'll bring down the old sign (changed by Charles Nelson Reilly) and then it will be brought up. They'll bring down the new sign with a lot of balloons and the Auld Lang Syne song. On the December 31, 1975 episode, Charles Nelson Reilly brought two balloons on the show, pops the balloon that says Match Game '75 and Rayburn showed to the audience the second balloon that says Match Game '76. He popped the second balloon, which did not work, then he showed to the audience a blue card where it had a balloon with the word "seventy-seven" written on it, which did not work, then he showed to the audience his thumb having the year "seventy-eight" written in black marker on it. On the December 31, 1976 episode, Mark Goodson shown up, he made a speech and Rayburn read a Old Man Periwinkle (replaced by Old Man Goodson) styled question: "Old Man Goodson said, "By the time it gets to be Match Game '99, I'll need a new _____" and thanked the people and the producers who've been with the show. On January 2, 1978, Charles Nelson Reilly came to Rayburn to tell him a mistake and he told him it's the wrong one. On December 31, 1978, he and Brett Somers came to change the sign of Match Game '78 to Match Game '79. Charles unscrewed the old one and it's all unhooked and Rayburn said it did not work, so Charles got a plug.
On the CBS daytime show, champions could stay until defeated or reached the network's limit of $25,000. Originally, that was the maximum earning for any champion, but the rule was later changed so that while champions were still retired after exceeding the $25,000 limit, they got to keep everything up to $35,000. During the six-year run of Match Game on CBS, only one champion retired undefeated (unfortunately, 1 of the 10 shows off-air did that after the last on-air broadcast of Match Game '79 on Friday April 20, 1979 on CBS-TV).
On the daily 1979-82 syndicated version, two contestants would play two games against each other, and then both were retired. The show was timed out so that two new contestants appeared each Monday; this was necessary as the tapes of the show were shipped between stations and the weeks couldn't be aired in any discernible order (a common syndication practice at the time, known as "bicycling"). If a Friday show ran short, audience members sometimes got to play a game where one panelist was asked a "Super Match"-style fill-in question, to which they wrote their answer. Gene then went into the audience and asked random people who indicated that they wanted to play to match the panelist. If correct, they won a $50 from Gene; if not, Gene continued on to other audience members until the $50 was won. If enough time was left, a second panelist would be asked a new question and play continued as before. From observations, this Audience Game was only played on only three occasions during the show's three seasons in syndication.
Episodes of Match Game PM were self-contained, with two new contestants each week.
(Contestant Area #1)
(Contestant Area #2)
Super Match[]
The winner of the game went on to play the (Big Money) Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-To-Head Match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the game won $100.
The Super Match was referred to as the "Jackpot Match" in the 1973 pilot.
Audience Match[]
A two to four word fill-in-the-blank phrase was given, and it was up to the contestant to choose the most common response based on a studio audience survey. After consulting with three celebrities on the panel for help, the contestant chose an answer they liked the best, or chose one of their own that they thought of themselves. The answers were then revealed; the most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250 and the third-most popular $100. If a contestant failed to match any of the three answers, the bonus round ended. Two Audience Matches were played on Match Game PM. On at least one occasion on Match Game PM, a contestant failed to win any money on either Audience Match; the contestant then got to play a fill-in-the-blank statement with the entire panel for $100 per match ($600 in total) as a consolation prize, or a possible $200 per match ($1,200 in total) when the Star Wheel was instituted. This rarely occurred.
NOTE: The format from this round was later spun-off as a format for Family Feud hosted by former panelist Richard Dawson on ABC Daytime from 1976 until 1985 and in syndication from 1977 until 1985 and from 1994 until 1995 respectively.
Head-To-Head Match[]
The contestant then had the opportunity to win an additional cash prize equal to 10 times what he or she won in the Audience Match (therefore, $5,000, $2,500, or $1,000) by matching another fill-in-the-blank response with a celebrity panelist of his or her choice. In order to win the money, the contestant had to match his or her chosen celebrity's response exactly; this meant that multiple forms of the same word, e.g. singular or plural, were usually accepted, whereas synonyms were not. If successful, he/she won the extra money (the total prize being $1,100/$2,750/$5,500). Thus, a maximum of $5,600 ($100 was won for winning the game) could be won on the daytime version per game and Super Match ($10,600 when the Star Wheel was instituted). On Match Game PM, a maximum of $11,000 could be won ($21,000 when the Star Wheel was instituted; this occurred several times).
Richard Dawson was the most frequently chosen celebrity in the 1970s version. His knack for matching contestants was so great that producers tried to discourage contestants from repeatedly choosing him, even before the introduction of the Star Wheel. In 1975, a rule change was made, stipulating that a returning champion could not choose the same celebrity as they did in their last Head-To-Head Match; they had to choose one of the other 5 panelists. This rule change only lasted six weeks.
Star Wheel[]
The "Star Wheel" was introduced in 1978 and was used until the syndicated version ended in 1982. Contestants spun the wheel to determine which celebrity they played with in the Head-To-Head Match and could double their potential winnings if the wheel landed on an area of 5 gold stars under each celebrity's first name (later changed to three individual stars per celebrity to increase the difficulty of obtaining a double later on both). Should there be more than one panelist with the same name, their last names were also displayed on the wheel to prevent confusion with 1 initial letter (this only occurred when Richard Paul and Richard Dawson appeared together as Richard P. and Richard D.). Later, only their initial of their last names were shown on the wheel. For example, Bill D. and Bill C. for Bill Daily and Bill Cullen.
The wheel was added to prevent people from constantly choosing Richard Dawson, although the first time it was used it landed on Richard nonetheless. This caused the rest of the panel to get up and leave, leading fellow star Charles Nelson Reilly to refer to it on that episode as "the famed and fixed Star Wheel". Also, Mary Wickes blurted out, "Do you know what that wheel cost us? And it's right back to Richard!"
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The Set[]
Wacky Moments[]
This show is also known for its whack job moments, and here are a few of them.
Carol Burnett & Friends Visits Match Game[]
The series The Carol Burnett Show was recorded at the studio next door to the one where Match Game took place. Totally unannounced, Carol, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Jim Nabors walked over to the Match Game set and interrupted the game taking place. Gene had them sit on the stairs between the panelists and the players and play along with a question, using pens & cards donated by some of the panelists. Their responses did not count toward the score of the player, even though some of them DID match the given player.
Gene Attacks[]
Several times throughout the course of the series, Gene would playfully attack some members of the crew. One time, when he was attacking the camera, it hit him on the head!
Friendly Riot[]
In one episode from 1974, a real out-of-control moment occurred. First of all, one of the rules in the game was that specifics cannot match generics unless otherwise noted; what happened was that some answers were not accepted, and it caused a real ruckus. The question in question: "Jack said last year I went on the garlic diet boy did I lose BLANK." The answer given by the contestant, whose name is Gloria, was "Girlfriend". She managed to match the top tier despite a minor setback involving Nipsey Russell, whose answer was "Friends", the judge buzzed Nipseys’ answer, but Richard protested, and the judge was forced to give the contestant the match. The other answers given by the top and bottom tier (Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jackie Joseph, Richard Dawson, & Jo Anne Worley) were the same, "Friends", but again the judge said no, only this time he did not reverse his decision (Jackie's answer was originally accepted but was quickly buzzed). With the riot still active, Gene went to Jo Anne Worley, the last in line; Jo was excited in showing her answer, but she eventually did. Her answer was "Friends"; as Jo feared and it got buzzed, making the riot and the booing larger.
School Riot[]
In one episode from 1977 (ep. 1005), a real out-of-control moment occurred. First of all, one of the rules in the game was that specifics cannot match generics unless otherwise noted; what happened was that some answers were not accepted, and it caused a real ruckus. The question in question: "Dumb Dora is so dumb ("HOW DUMB IS SHE?!") she sent her cultured pearls to BLANK." The answer given by the contestant, whose name was Craig, was "School". He managed to match to first two panelists Ed Asner & Brett Somers who both answered "College". Then, there was a minor setback when Charles Nelson Reilly, answered "Scuba Diving School"; the judge buzzed Charles’ answer for being too specific, but Charles protested that his answer was "school", as on his card, it was boxed apart from "Scuba Diving", so the words "Scuba Diving" weren't part of his answer, and the judge was forced to give the contestant the match. But then everything went south: Debralee Scott & Richard Dawson both answered, "Finishing School", but again the judge said no to them both, again for being too specific, only this time he did not reverse his decision (Debralee's answer was originally accepted, but was quickly buzzed, so no one noticed until after Richard's answer was also buzzed). Debralee & Richard both got really riled up, and then started (you guessed it) a riot. Gene tried everything to regain control but to no avail. With the riot still active, Gene went to Patti Deutsch, the last in line; Patti was super nervous in showing her answer, but she eventually did. Her answer was "Night School"; as Patti feared, it too got buzzed for being too specific, making the riot and the booing larger. Richard exclaimed that if the judge wanted to rule this way, he might as well take away the accepted "College" answers as well, then there'd really be a riot! Debralee and Richard refused to discard their cards until after the commercial break. When the show came back, Charles was lying on the steps, using cards (read by Brett) to declare himself the first victim of the "School Riot". Luckily, even though he lost the game 4-3, because the producers felt his loss was unfair, Craig was invited back to play another game the next week against a new contestant, which he won. (The "school riot" had been foreshadowed at the end of earlier episode 1000, during the announcing of the following week's panel, with Richard Dawson holding a card that said, "Never finished school".) Here are the pictures of the infamous activity:
Bag Riot[]
In another episode of 1977, a real out-of-control moment occurred. First of all, one of the rules in the game was that specifics cannot match generics unless otherwise noted; what happened was that some answers were not accepted, and it caused a real ruckus. The question in question: "The Undertaker said, here at Heavenly Acres, we have a special no-frills funeral, instead of a casket, we buried the deceased in a BLANK." The answer given by the contestant, whose name was Marcie, was "Bag.". She managed to match the bottom tier despite a minor setback involving Richard Dawson, whose answer was "6 ft. Plastic Baggie", but the judge said no, he did not reverse his decision (Richard Dawson was originally accepted but was quickly buzzed). This really riled up Richard, who then started another riot. Gene tried everything to regain control but to no avail. With the riot still active, Gene went to Fannie Flagg, the last in line; Fannie was shocked in showing her answer, but she eventually did. Her answer was "Paper Sack"; as Fannie feared, it did not get buzzed. Charles was yelling "Riot" multiple times.
Rotten Spelling[]
On episode #3 of Match Game PM, Joyce Bulifant (even though she matched) misspelled a word; in this case it was the word "stethoscope". Any die-hard Match Game fan knows that spelling does not count whatsoever.
More Rotten Spelling[]
Not only Bulifant had a case of bad spelling mistakes, but other celebrities also had a few words slips as well, even Betty White.
It's interesting to note that one star who often offered misspelled answers--Fannie Flagg--had a teacher write into the show and suggest that she be tested for having dyslexia, something she had never heard of before. This turned out to be an accurate diagnosis. Yet, since the 70s MATCH GAME has ended, Fannie has overcome this disability to become a prolific writer and novelist.[1]
Slide it, Earl![]
There were even hilarious moments during the Super Match, mostly involving Audience Match board operator Earl.
Star Wheel Premiere, Not too Glorious[]
On the day of the premiere of the then-new Star Wheel, the winning contestant just picked up $250 from the Audience Match and became the first person to spin this new wheel. Supposedly it would give the contestant a chance to match anybody else but Richard Dawson, but guess who the wheel landed on?
NOTE: Richard made a Wheel of Fortune reference prior to the spin by saying, "Chuck Woolery comes out and punches you in the mouth."
Roller-Rayburn[]
In the opening of episode 1431 of Match Game '79, Gene came out from the side instead of the big doors roller skating across the entire studio.
Cuckoo (BLANK)![]
On an episode in 1979, after the contestant's Star Wheel landed on Robert Walden, a contestant was given "Cuckoo (BLANK)" and after Robert Walden wrote down his answer, she answered "Cuckoo, Friend and Ollie" and everyone went hysterical, including Gene losing his cool where he spun the wheel and hit the Super Match board as he yelled "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" (and Brett said, "I QUIT!"), and then corrected himself and said, "It's not Cuckoo, Fran and Ollie. It's Kukla, Sam and Irving!" Soon after mentioning that Kukla, Fran and Ollie were on the show, Robert Walden showed his joke answer, "Accordion", but then threw it in the slot before showing his actual answer, "Clock".
Ticket Plugs[]
Match Game was famous for its unusual ticket plugs just as the game itself. A typical ticket plug showed a headshot of a made-up person (in reality, the headshot was a combination of either two celebrities, two contestants, or one celebrity and one contestant) while Johnny Olson announced the ticket information. These type of mixed-face ticket plugs made their debut in June 1975 but became much more common during the daily syndicated version from 1979 to 1982, during which every episode featured a ticket plug.
Other Moments[]
And here are some more crazy moments uncategorized.
Rules for the 1990–1991 ABC Daytime Version[]
Gameplay was the same as the 1970s version except that contestants now matched the stars for money in the main game as well. Also as before, the champion played red & the challenger played green.
Main Game[]
The game was played in two rounds ("1" & "2") just like the 1970s version except that the six celebrities played both rounds regardless if they matched in the first round. As before the contestant going first had a choice of two fill-in-the-blank statements (either "A" or "B"). Ross read the statement, and the stars wrote answers on their cards. When they were finished, the contestant gave his/her answer and the panel showed their answers one at a time. Each match was worth $50 to the contestant for a maximum of $300. After one contestant played his/her question, the other contestant played with the question not chosen.
Match-Up[]
After each round of classic Match Game, the contestants played a new element to the show called "Match-Up". In the Match-Up round, each contestant chose which star to play with throughout the round. On a contestant's turn, he/she was shown a fill-in-the-blank phrase (ala The Super Match) with two choices on his/her secret screen, the contestant chose the answer he/she thought the star he/she chose will say. The idea for the contestants was to build up their score by matching the selected star as many times as they can within the time limit. The first Match-Up lasted for 30 seconds for each contestant with each match being worth $50 and the second Match-Up (known as Final Match-Up) lasted for 45 seconds with each match being worth $100.
The player with the most money at the end of Final Match-Up was the winner. In the event that the first player playing Final Match-Up did not make it to tie or beat the other contestant, the other player automatically won. If the game ended in a tie, one last Match-Up phrase was shown to both contestants but with three choices. The champion (the red player) chose an answer first while the challenger (the green player) chose one of the remaining answers. After the choices were made, the last celebrity who played Final Match-Up made a choice of his/her own. Originally the star had a choice of all three, later he/she had a choice of the chosen two without any knowledge of who chose what. The player with the answer said by that celebrity won an additional $100 and the game. During the period when the star had a choice of all three answers, if both contestants did not have a successful match, the tiebreaker phrase was thrown out and replaced with another one. On the first show, the red player chose which contestant should play the final Match-Up question (either himself/herself or his/her opponent). The player chosen selected the answer, then chose which celebrity to match. A successful match won the game for the contestant, but an incorrect answer won the game for the opponent.
Which answer do you think she'll choose?
The winning player kept his/her money and went on to play the Super Match for up to $10,000.
Super Match[]
The Super Match was the same as the 1970s version. When the show started, the payoffs were the same as the 1970s version ($500-$250-$100). Four weeks into the run, the bottom two amounts were increased ($500-$300-$200). The star wheel was reinstated, too, except it had a green pointer which spun instead of the entire wheel, and it had two red dots above/below each celebrity's name for double spots. If the contestant bombed out in the Audience Match, the contestant could still play for $500 (or $1,000 in case of a double) by playing the Head-to-Head Match (later changed to $1,000 [$2,000 if a double occurred]). Unlike the 1970s version, the Head-to-Head prize was not an additional cash prize, but an augmentation to whatever top prize was at stake. The rules for the Head-to-Head were still the same: the contestant and the celebrity must match exactly to win the Super Match. Otherwise, the contestant would only win the money from the Audience Match. If the contestant bombed out of the Audience Match, and missed on the Head-to-Head match, the contestant wins nothing in the Super Match. Contestants stay on until defeated or played the Super Match 5 times.
This version of Match Game died due to the fact that it aired at noon; this time slot was usually standard for newscasts.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The cue for when the "Star Wheel" came down on stage was reused later for the 1992 unsold pilot of The Family Feud Challenge when the "Bullseye" set with three built-in monitors came down on stage.
This version was going to be moved to CBS for its second season and quite possibly replace Family Feud (Combs). Although this was indicated by Shafer on the series' finale, it ultimately never came to pass.
This version is to date, the last daytime network game show to ever air on ABC.
Brad Garrett, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Khrystyne Haje appeared on the Match Game 90 pilots with Bert Convy. All three would be panelists in the ABC version when Ross Shafer took the helm when Bert couldn't host.
Brett Somers did three weeks of Match Game 90/91, sitting in the second chair. Gene Wood often introduced her as Match Game's favorite on the weeks she appeared.
21 contestants made it to their fifth and final day of their championship. Only 11 contestants during the Match Game 90/91 run retired undefeated. The highest top winner was Tracey Fife who retired undefeated with $34,100.
Seven contestants during this run of shows completely struck out in the Super Match (both bombing out of the Audience Match and missing an exact match in the Head To Head)
Semi-Regulars on Match Game 90/91: Bill Kirchenbauer, Brad Garrett, Ronn Lucas, Vicki Lawrence, Sally Struthers, Edie McClurg, Marcia Wallace
ABC Sitcom Star Regulars on Match Game 90/91: Pam Stone from "Coach" 8 weeks. Khrystyne Haje from "Head of the Class;;" 6 weeks.
Celebrities that appeared on the 70s version of Match Game that appeared on Match Game 90/91: Jimmie Walker, Betty White, Dolly Martin, Dick Martin, Arte Johnson among others.
Match Game 90/91 did at least 5 weeks of at least 2 to 3 ABC Soap Opera stars on the Panel. Stuart Damon did 3 weeks total, Walt Wiley did 2 weeks total. But ABC Soap Star Jacklyn Zeman did 4 weeks.
Fitness guru Richard Simmons was on the panel for two weeks.
Four contestants during this run of shows managed to win the full $10,000 twice in the Super Match.
Some contestants on Match Game 90 once appeared on previous versions of Match Game. Sam Yuskovich once appeared on Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour and didn't make it past the Match Game segment. On this version, he won $1,400 total before losing his next game. John Clarke once appeared on Match Game in the late 1970s. On this version, he retired undefeated as the second highest money total winner with $31,500.
Pilot Rules[]
The rules were basically the same, except the game was played in three rounds with no Match Up Rounds (similar to Match Game PM); plus, the contestants played for points: 1 point per match in the first two rounds, and 2 points per match in Round 3. Also, like the 1970's version, the Super Match prize was cumulative (a maximum of $10,500 possible).[2][3]
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Future model of The Price is Right (1994-95 version only) and Cash Tornado and host of (The Florida Lottery's/$MILLION$) Flamingo Fortune, Lisa Stahl was one of the contestants in the pilot.
The Head-To-Head Match "Think Music" was a condensed version of the music used for the pricing games: "Check Game", "Make Your Move" and "Cover Up" on The Price is Right, it was also used as a cue for the unsold 1986 pilot called Oddball hosted by fellow Match Game panelist Jamie Farr, a remake of the short-lived 1964 game show Get the Message.
Pics[]
NOTE: The red contestant as well as the green player from an above picture were both contestants on Super Password.
