If you love Scrabble, you might already be familiar with the TV game show based on the board game. Whether it was the ever-witted Chuck Woolery hosting, the Speedword or Scrabble Sprint, or the use of digital visualizations, this show is something most fans will remember. If you're not already a fan of the game show version from when it aired, you can still become a fan now.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 2:
Watching Show
-
Recognize how each episode began.
- The introduction started with a home viewer sample puzzle. Generally, the announcer would begin, "An x-letter word. The clue is:" and give the clue after the word's puzzle pieces began filling (the clue would sometimes be a distraction). The audience would burst out the answer from that day's puzzle, as the theme song kicked in and so would the announcement; "It's the crossword game you've played all your life, but never quite like this," as the visuals brought more tiles filling randomly across the board - forming the words "Scrabble", and you'd hear "And here's your host, (name)."
- Generally, the word would be anywhere from 5-8 letters long and could be found in any official Scrabble Dictionary.
- By 1986, the introductory sequence would introduce the current champion, who is trying to retain his/her championship and return to the Bonus Sprint. The narration would be one of these three variants.
- "(returning champion's name) is back to defend his/her crown against these three players. One of them will get to try for (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot amount), today on Scrabble."
- "(returning champion's name) is back to try to make it again to the Bonus Sprint, and a chance at a Jackpot of (insert Bonus Sprint Jackpot amount), today on Scrabble."
- "(returning champion's name) has already won (insert total). He/she is back to try to make it again to the Bonus Sprint, today on Scrabble."
- By 1993, the narration was followed up with the on-screen text of what was being said in the narration. Instead of the tiles randomly moving around the board, they were placed with better computer animations and graphics.
- On top of having the host talk to the players about themselves, the narrator would help describe their player names in single sentences and what they did when they weren't playing on the TV game show.
- The introduction started with a home viewer sample puzzle. Generally, the announcer would begin, "An x-letter word. The clue is:" and give the clue after the word's puzzle pieces began filling (the clue would sometimes be a distraction). The audience would burst out the answer from that day's puzzle, as the theme song kicked in and so would the announcement; "It's the crossword game you've played all your life, but never quite like this," as the visuals brought more tiles filling randomly across the board - forming the words "Scrabble", and you'd hear "And here's your host, (name)."
-
Recognize how the game was played. From 1984-1986, most episodes never started initially, but with players with one or two puzzles already solved. This information will be described below.Advertisement
-
3Be able to understand the Crossword Round.
- After a brief visual transition, the camera focused on a board to the host's left. The board looked like a gigantic Scrabble board set up with tiles.
- Computer animations would make a pink-bordered ring around the board to introduce the first match. Generally, the first puzzle would begin as a horizontally-placed word with one pre-filled letter, with at least one of these letters starting at the star at the center of the board. The host would say, "Building on the letter [x], [x] letters, the clue is:".
- The clue would often give away what the word would be, but sometimes it would be somewhat tougher.
- Players would pick from several tiles on the contestant's desk. The tiles formed letters once picked and placed into the tray in front of the player.
- After the player picked one of the letters of their choice, each of these letters slid around the board one end to the other, and if it was in the word - into the spot the letter was at.
- Some of the letters were not found in the word, and if tried to be placed once mentioned, would indicate accordingly, and play would be passed to the other player automatically.
- Also included were Stoppers. These were "strikes" that when picked, prevented the player from picking any further and passing the play to the other player. Stoppers were denoted by an octagonal, red flasher symbol.
- If the contestant finished with both tiles in the turn, they could draw more tiles.
- Players would try to guess the word either before drawing the tiles or after the letters were dropped into place on the board.
- This round had two bonus-colored tiles: blue and pink.
- In the show's first week, a cumulative money pot was used in the Crossword round. Each letter placed in a normal square was worth $25, with blue squares adding $50 and pink squares $100. The winner of the round collected all the money in the pot.
- After that week, the crossword winner received a flat $500. The bonus squares were worth $500 for a blue space and $1,000 for a pink space. However, the contestant must solve the word immediately once the bonus space became filled.
- The first player to win any three words is the winner and moves on to the Scrabble Sprint.
- For about three months in 1985: when contestants guessed the word, players had to spell the word. Regular squares added $50 to the bank, blue with $100, and pink squares at $200.
- Most episodes were unproblematic, however when contestants started to spell MOSQUITOS, they both incorrectly spelled it, and both were told it was wrong, though it was the right word. This rule was later abandoned after three months.
- If the word was built on a letter from a bonus square word, the player was given a choice to solve the brand new word (given the clue beforehand). If not, the word was played in the classic style.
- Both players kept any bonus money they won by guessing the words from bonus letters and additional money was given throughout other rounds to double or triple their daily money.
- When players were awarded cash bonuses for solves after pulling a bonus letter, the host would get away from the Podium and walk over to the contestant's desk and hand them the money - counting out the $100s individually.
- In 1993, the Crossword Round's bonus squares no longer awarded instant cash bonuses to the contestants; they now added money to the Bonus Sprint jackpot, which started at $1,000.
- When players were awarded cash bonuses for solves after pulling a bonus letter, the host would get away from the Podium and walk over to the contestant's desk and hand them the money - counting out the $100s individually.
- Following a format change in 1986, two games of this would be played: The first puzzle was between the player and challenger from the previous day to head-to-head in the Sprint, where the winner would then face the Bonus Spring and two new players would come out to play it all over again, facing two new contestants.
-
4Deal with Speedwords. If all three stoppers were found, players had to take a wild guess at the word. If they could not solve it, Speedword was played. All remaining letters minus one would be revealed in random order, and players would try to guess the word.
- If no one solved the word, the word was discarded, and a makeup word was attempted. However, rarely was this extra word ever needed.
-
5Watch the Scrabble Sprint rounds.
- This round generally consisted of two segments. The Crossword winner played first and selected one of two envelopes, leaving the other for the champion.
- The champion was placed in isolation while the Crossword winner played, then tried to beat the time set.
- A row of blanks would be shown, and the host would read a clue. Once the contestant indicated that they were ready, a count-up timer began and two letters were displayed - for the player to call. After a contestant called one of the two displayed letters, the other one disappeared, and two new letters were presented as long as there were at least three blanks left in the word. The contestant was shown only one letter when there were two blanks.
- There were no Stoppers, and even the last letter would be given. Once ready to solve, players would press their player plunger and guess.
- If the player solved correctly, their Scrabble Sprint was over. However, if the player solved incorrectly, a 10-second penalty was added or a penalty of immediate response and had to continue to play the word.
- If they did not hit the plunger for five seconds after the next-to-last letter was placed, the word was revealed and thrown out, and a make-up word was played. The round continued until the contestant solved three words.
- When the champion took their turn, the clock was set to his/her opponent's total time and began to count down and any penalties they incurred were deducted.
- If the champion completed the words before time ran out, they won the Scrabble Sprint; if not, the opponent became the new champion.
- The prize for winning was originally three times the pot from the preceding Crossword round but was changed to a flat $1,500 after the first week.
- A contestant received a $20,000 bonus if they won five Sprint rounds in a row.
- If they reached ten consecutive Sprint victories, the contestant was awarded an additional $20,000 and retired as champion.
- Later, this was changed, so that five consecutive wins augmented the champion's total to $20,000, and 10 consecutive wins augmented the champion's total to a flat $40,000.
- Sprint originally started with three words. However, that was increased to four words in the 1985 season.
- During the first two years of the show, 1984 and 1985, two separate envelopes were drawn with different words players had to solve. However, this was changed so that a one-word set was used for both players to solve.
- This round generally consisted of two segments. The Crossword winner played first and selected one of two envelopes, leaving the other for the champion.
-
6Recognize the Bonus Sprint Round. This was an additional round that began in 1986 following The $100,000 All-American Scrabble Tournament's completion. The champion was the only one who competed in this version.
- Using the same set as the Scrabble Sprint, players were given two final words. All of the Sprint rules were in effect, meaning that any incorrect answer resulted in an automatic loss as the penalty wiped out the remaining seconds. Champions competed until either winning five Sprint rounds or being defeated.
- Upon the return of regular Scrabble in 1993, the Bonus Sprint jackpot began at $1,000. Additional money was only added to the jackpot if a contestant landed on a blue or pink square in the Crossword game and solved the word immediately, adding either $500 or $1,000, respectively.
- No cash bonuses were given directly to contestants in this version; all bonuses went into the Bonus Sprint jackpot.
Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 2:
Other Facts
-
Notice how the puzzles would be presented to the player.
- The Crossword game was played with two contestants looking at a computer-generated image of the world-famous Scrabble board.
-
Look for information about the host of the show. Throughout the entire run, Chuck Woolery was the host. Although he had hosted other game shows, he impacted the way this game show was handled.
- During the 1987 Game Show Hosts Week, Chuck got to play. Marc Summers (of Double Dare fame) hosted instead, as he later advanced to the week's final round, and did fairly well. [ citation needed ]
-
Check out some of the special episodes. There were several weeks over each season where celebrities were featured instead of regular contestants.
- In 1987 and 1988, the series aired "Game Show Hosts Week." Participants for the first such week were Peter Tomarken, Marc Summers (who hosted while Chuck played), John Davidson, Tom Kennedy, Bill Rafferty, and Jamie Farr (who was the host's pilot from Dick Clark Productions and MCA TV called Double Up wasn't picked up). Joined by Vicki Lawrence, Jim Lange, Wink Martindale and Jeff MacGregor, these two returned.
-
Research how the show aired, on what channel, and when.
- This version of the game was hosted by NBC affiliates nationwide, during a half-hour block between 11:30 EST (between the 7/2/84 premier and 9/4/87) but was changed to 12:30 to 1 pm (between 9/7/87 and 3/24/89), to 10:00 am (between 3/27/89 and 3/23/90), and finally airing at noon (between 1/18/93 and 6/11/93) - all totally 1,335 episodes, [ citation needed ] - 1,230 of those shown between 1984 and 1990, and the remaining 105 were shown in 1993.
- Reruns of the USA Networks episodes were shown between September 16, 1991, and October 13, 1995. However, no 1993 series reruns since the cancellations after the show ended on June 11, 1993. [1] X Research source
-
Get to know the game show set.
- Both contestants were seated at an extended desk. The viewer would see a rectangle on which two star-like icons would be seen when no letters had been revealed in front of them. This block would fill in with the letters as tiles were drawn. In front of the player was a slot where the tiles were inserted after use.
- In between the two players would be several tiles standing up. Although the number of tiles here differed depending on how many letters the word had, there would be one tile for each letter and three stopper tiles to be drawn.
- In 1984, these tiles were a pinkish-red color with a yellow number, but by 1985 this changed to a blue with whitish-aqua numbers.
- The set differed by a slightly different desk by 1993, but still showed these same traits to the viewer and contestant.
- During the Scrabble Sprint and Bonus Sprint Rounds, desks were only two separate podiums that contained only a microphone and a red stopper (stop the clock) button the player could press. The lettered titles and desk disappeared and weren't used for this portion of the game.
- Generally, the host stood between the two contestants without using a podium while facing the contestant.
-
Get to know the announcer for the show.
- For the first year, Jay Stewart was the announcer.
- But he was replaced in the summer of 1985 with Charlie Tuna - a Los Angeles radio personality, who'd continue announcing for the entirety of the rest of the run and 1993 revival.
-
Watch the spin-offs, too.
- Scrabble has had several different spin-offs from this show, including "Scrabble Showdown," airing on the Hub (now Discovery Family) from 9/3/11 to 4/15/12).
- Two aired in the United Kingdom including Television Scrabble (1/84-8/2/85) and a 2001 TV Scrabble running until 2003 on Challenge.
- Each of these shows had differences to the predecessor show, while some of the premises did stay the same.
Advertisement
Community Q&A
Search
-
QuestionAre you still taking contestants, and if so, how do we become players?ChristopherTop AnswererThe show is no longer airing new episodes. However, you can watch old episodes on YouTube, where there is a wide selection available.
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
Advertisement
About this article
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 5,714 times.
Advertisement
