"ELEPHANTS!"
"It's the crossword game you played all your life, but NEVER quite like this!"
"And, here's your host..."
CHUCK WOOLERY!
"ELEPHANTS!"
"It's the crossword game you played all your life, but NEVER quite like this!"
"And, here's your host..."
CHUCK WOOLERY!
Everybody's favorite crossword board game from Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) turned into one of Chuck Woolery's best-ever game shows of the 1980s. Scrabble hit the hearts of many people around the world, and the TV version would always be remembered. Here was how the game was laid out:
The main game underwent many changes. Here were its layouts:
BANK: An amount was determined. $25 was given for a gray tile, $50 for a blue tile, and $100 for a pink tile. The contestant to win 3 words would win the amount, but not the $500 bonus. This format was used in the very early episodes of the show.
SPRINT 1: The winner of the match, and the Sprint champion competed, each with 3 words. The challenger would choose either a pink or blue envelope, with the unchosen envelope given to the champion. The challenger set the time, and the champion would try to beat it. Best time wins 3 times the amount won in the main game.
If a champion could win 5 Sprints in a row in these 2 formats, they'd win $20,000. Another 5 times (making it 10), they'd win another $20,000, making the entire Sprint win $40,000 in cash (in addition to their Sprint and only main game winnings)!
SPRINT 3: Now, there would be an interesting way. Two board rounds were played, with the champion playing in the first. The one to win the first game would set the Sprint time. 2 new challengers played a second board round, with the winner of that round to try and beat the time. Whichever scored the best time would move on to the Bonus Sprint
FACTS:
Click HERE to go to the 1993 era
THE MAIN GAME
Two contestants competed
, watching a screen of the copy of the Scrabble board, with those familiar spaces of pink, blue and gray squares
. Chuck would give the contestants a letter to build on, and show the number of letters in the word, starting at the star in the center of the board
. A clue was also given. The corresponding contestant would then choose 2 tiles in-between them, and put them in the slot
infront of them. The rest of the letters were electronically controlled by the numbered tiles in-between the players, and the letters would show accordingly as the producers had chosen. The contestant could choose a letter and it would slide across the word
, looking for its place. If it was spotted, the contestant could choose the next letter or try to guess the word. Hidden among 3 of the tiles were known as "Stoppers,"
otherwise letters not in the word. If a "Stopper" was found, control was lost to the opponent. If all 3 "Stoppers" were found before the word was guessed, the game would go into "Speedword," where letters were randomly placed one at a time, but the last letter was never given, not even in the main game. Contestant to guess the word would
win it. The first contestant to win 3 words would pocket $500 and then go on to the Scrabble Sprint round.
GENERIC: Just an original play of the game with no bonuses attached to the pink and blue tiles, with the $500 bonus initiated
THE BONUS GAME: Now, bonus were re-introduced to the pink and blue tiles. If a contestant could guess the word right when they pt a letter in a blue tile, they'd win a $500 bonus
. If they could guess it upon putting a letter in the pink tile, they'd win $1,000
in bonus money. Of course, $500 was added upon winning the match. At first, Chuck used original $100 bills as the bonus money, but then later used colored money with his face on it.
SCRABBLE SPRINT
A really fun endgame, though it underwent many changes. The contenders would be timed the entire endgame on a specific number of words. The challenger set the time
, and the champion would try to beat it. The plunger infront of the contenders would stop the clock, and no "Stoppers" were in any of the words. Two letters would be shown to the corresponding contestant, and he/she'd choose one of them as the other would go back into the shuffle (it originally didn't). If a contender wanted to guess the word, they'd stop the clock with their plunger and guess
. Incorrect guesses would be a 10-second penalty. Whichever contender has the best time wins. Here was how it was all laid out:
SPRINT 2: Now, the contenders played 3 words together, with the champion secluded offstage so they couldn't see or hear a thing. This is where the letters began going back into the shuffle. Contender set the time, and the champion would try to beat it with the same 3 words.
THE BONUS SPRINT
The champion would now play against 10 seconds
, and try to score 2 words. An incorrect guess forfeited the game. If they could win the 2 words in under 10 seconds, they'd win the Bonus Sprint jackpot
which started at $5,000 and grew by $1,000 until hit. Win or lose, the champion would return to play again.
THE FINALE EPISODE
It all came to a stop on March 23rd, 1990. Chuck Woolery came out, mentioning he wouldn't have to walk under the Scrabble sign again (as it was hung by very thin wires). George Sealy
won the entire game and scored the final Sprint jackpot worth $6,000, therefore leaving the show with $9,500 (with $2,000 in bonus money from his game). He would appear on the premiere of the 1993 era.
-The tiles were originally white with stars. They would eventually turn blue with numbers.
-In late 1984, the main game would have you to spell the word if you knew it by buzzing in. The memorable "Mosquitos" episode had it scrapped.
-The pilot had a slightly different set, with a computerized logo of Scrabble, and Rod Roddy at the announcer's helm. Game show fanatic, Laura Chambers appeared on the pilot and had won $25,000 in the Sprint, as the pilot had $25,000 to the winner at the end of every week, until it was scrapped at the end. Chambers was also a champion on Scrabble's sister show, Sale of the Century, and became a contestant coordinator on the 1993 era of Scrabble. She would also go on to be an on-air personality for Game Show Network from 1994 to 1997.
-One of the most memorable Scrabble moments from the early episodes was Mark Dauberman. His last episode, he was a 9-time Sprint champion, and his challenger was named Genny. She set the time at 17.2 seconds. Mark had a good challenge, and had around 8 seconds left on the clock after his first word
. His second word, he got it using NO seconds! He won his final word with 2 seconds left, and left Scrabble with $55,500
. His total tied with Annie McCormack, who previously had won $55,500 herself.