Games - Scrabble

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	Games - Scrabble

Scrabble was an American television game show that was based on the Scrabble board game. The Reg Grundy production (co-produced in association with Exposure Unlimited) ran on NBC from July 2, 1984, to March 23, 1990, and again from January 18 to June 11, 1993. Chuck Woolery hosted both incarnations of the show.

Rules of the game

Crossword round

Two contestants played a crossword game on a computer-generated Scrabble board. They were given a letter to build on, the number of letters in that word, and a clue to help them figure out the word. The player going first had the option of guessing the word, or selecting two tiles from a rack of 11 (which included three stoppers--letters that were not in the word). The actual amount of numbers in the rack depends on how many letters were in the word (example: if there were 5 letters in the word, then the rack would have 7 letters to choose from). The letters from the tiles are thus revealed, and the player had to choose one of the two letters. If it was in the puzzle, he/she can guess the word or select the other letter. If the other letter appears in the word, he/she can again guess the word or select two more tiles. If a letter selected was a stopper, that player lost his/her turn.

When control of the board is passed to the second player, he/she can guess the word, or select two tiles. If that player had one unused letter when control changed hands, he/she can select only one tile to bring that player up to speed.

When the player knows the word, he/she hits a button and guesses the word. If correct, that player wins the word. If incorrect, play continues and that player loses their turn. Originally, players who knew the word simply guessed it without hitting his/her buzzer.

When a player picks the third and final stopper, his/her opponent can either guess the word or play "speedword", in which the remaining letters are put in place, one at a time, except for the final letter. The first player to buzz in with the right answer won the word. If guessed wrong, his/her opponent gets a chance to see the remaining letters. If neither answers correctly, the word is revealed and no one scores.

Once a word is guessed, another word is put into play, building on a letter from the previously guessed word. The player who did not guess the last word went first. The first player to guess three words correctly won the game and $500 cash. In the event of a 2-2 tie, the fifth and last word is played as a speedword (instituted in 1985), and whoever guessed the word wins.

In 1985, a new rule was added, in which if a player lands either on a pink or blue square, and guessed the word immediately, that player won bonus money. A $500 bonus was awarded for the blue square, and a $1,000 bonus on a pink square (players were given "Chuck Bucks" instead of real dollar bills when the bonus word is guessed). Originally the bonuses were not in play during speedword, but in 1986 the rule was changed to have the bonuses be available in every word, including speedword rounds. In the 1993 version, there were no bonuses; however, landing on a colored square and guessing the word added money to a bonus sprint jackpot which is explained later.

In the early days, a pot was used instead of $500 for winning the game and the $500 and $1,000 bonus squares. For every letter revealed, $25 was added to a pot, $50 if a letter landed on a blue square, and $100 on a pink square. The first to guess three words won the game and the money in the pot.

During a short time in 1985, not only the player had to guess the word when he/she wanted to solve the puzzle, the player had to spell the word, one letter at a time (like Lingo
). That rule proved to be very unpopular and was eventually abandoned. One episode in particular was in 1985, when two contestants couldn't spell "Mosquitos". That eventually became one of the funniest moments on Scrabble and has been replayed on game show retrospectives such as VH1's Game Show Moments Gone Bananas.

In 1987, when the "straddling" format was abandoned in favor of the "self-contained" format, two crossword games were played each day. The first game was played by one of three challengers and a returning champion (with the challenger going first to begin the game), and the second crossword game was played by the other two challengers, with a coin-toss determining which player goes first. When time is running short, five loud bells are sounded, and the rest of the crossword game is played in speedword format.

NOTE: A male player always faces a female player in the crossword games, and both have two different-sounding buzzers.

Scrabble Sprint

The Scrabble Sprint Round was originally played between the winner of the crossword game and the game's returning champion. The crossword winner selected one of two envelopes (pink or blue) and played three words from that envelope, establishing a time in which the champion had to beat, using the other packet with three different words.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Scrabble (game show) ]

Games - Scrabble

Rules of the game

Crossword round

Scrabble Sprint

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