 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 from July 2, 1984, to March 23, 1990, and again from January 18 to June 11, 1993, both times on NBC. 1,335 installments were produced from both editions; Chuck Woolery hosted both versions of the series (which he always referred to as "The Television Version of Everybody's Favorite Game"). Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first two years and was replaced by Charlie Tuna in the fall of 1986. It was also seen on USA Network's game show block in the early 90s. Musicians Ray and Marc Ellis did the theme songs for both versions, as well as other Grundy shows of the era Time Machine, Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak, and Sale of the Century. Image File history File links Scrabble. ...
“Quiz show†redirects here. ...
The verb to scrabble also means to scratch, scramble or scrape about: see Wiktionary:scrabble. ...
A board game is a game played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a board (a premarked surface, usually specific to that game). ...
Reg Grundy (born 1923) is one of the most successful Australian media and television moguls of his generation. ...
is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the year. ...
is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...
This article is about the television network. ...
Charles Herbert Chuck Woolery (born on March 16, 1941) is a popular game show host, best known for hosting the dating game show Love Connection, from its debut in 1983 to the conclusion of its first version in 1994. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Charlie Tuna is a well known radio personality from Los Angeles, and is currently based on station KBIG 104. ...
Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...
It has been suggested that The Time Machine (game show) be merged into this article or section. ...
Bruce Forsyths Hot Streak was a short-lived ABC game aired from January 6, 1986 to April 4, 1986. ...
Countries which have their own version Sale of the Century is an international television game show format that has screened in several countries in various incarnations since 1969. ...
Scrabble Host, Chuck Woolery Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Gameplay
Crossword round
Two contestants battling out in the first Crossword round of the Scrabble finale. Two contestants played a crossword game on a computer-generated Scrabble board. To start off, a placeholder for a mystery word was outlined on the board. The contestants were given one letter in the word 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 up to 11 (which included three stoppers, letters not in the word). The number of letters in a word can range from five letters, all the way to nine letters. The number of tiles between both players can range from seven tiles, all the way to eleven tiles. The player stuck the tiles into a slot in front of him/her, letters from the tiles were thus revealed, and the player had to choose one of the two letters. If the chosen letter were present in the puzzle, it appeared in its correct position in the word, and then the contestant could guess the word or select the other letter. If the other letter appeared in the word, the contestant could again guess the word or select two more tiles. If a letter selected was a stopper, that player lost his/her turn. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
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A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square grid of black and white squares. ...
When control of the board was passed to the second player, he/she could guess the word or select two tiles. If that player had one unused letter when control changed hands, he/she could select only one tile, as the unused letter carried over to the second contestant.
If a contestant thought he knew the word, he/she hit their buzzer and guessed it. If correct, that player won the word. If incorrect, play continued and that player lost his or her turn. Originally, a player who knew the word simply guessed it without hitting his/her buzzer.
Once a word was completely revealed, another word was put into play, building on a letter from the previously guessed word. The player who was trailing (lost the last word if it was a tie) went first. The first player to guess three words correctly won the game and $500 cash.
Later in the 80s run, as was the case when viewers sent in poems on Card Sharks, words and clues were sent in from viewers on Scrabble, and if a clue and word was read, the viewer who sent the word in won a Scrabble T-Shirt. Card Sharks was an American television game show in which contestants guessed whether a playing card was higher or lower than the card that preceded it. ...
Scrabble referred to the wrong answer buzzer as the "klaxon", commonly used on NBC game shows in the 1980s.
Speedword If a player picked the third and final stopper, his/her opponent could either guess the word or play "Speedword". In Speedword, all but one of the remaining letters were put in place, one at a time. The first player to buzz in with the right answer won the word. If guessed wrong, that player is out and his/her opponent received a chance to see the remaining letters. If neither answered correctly, the word would be revealed, and no one scored. In the event of a 2-2 tie, or if time runs out in the Crossword game, the subsequent words were played as speedwords (instituted in 1985).
Bonus Squares When the "pot" format (see below) was dropped after the first week, a new rule was added in which a player won bonus money if he/she revealed a letter on either a pink or blue square and correctly guessed the word immediately after. A $500 bonus was awarded for a blue square, and a $1,000 bonus was awarded for a pink square. Beginning in 1986, the bonuses were also included if the game went into Speedword mode. After a correct bonus letter guess, Woolery would come over to the contestant and pay them the bonus money.
The money that Woolery gave to the contestants when they solved a puzzle after getting a letter on the blue or pink squares was not real money. In fact, if one looks closely, the money was the color of the square that the contestant had hit (i.e. pink for $1000 spaces and blue for $500 spaces). These were dubbed "Chuck Bucks."
Originally, when a letter landed in a Bonus Square, Chuck had real $100 bills which he handed to any player who guessed the word correctly when the letter was placed in that square.
For the 1993 version, the pink and blue squares served as pot builders for the Bonus Sprint jackpot, with their value added to the pot if the word was solved correctly.
Pot During the first week, a pot was used instead of $500 for winning the game. For every letter revealed, $25 was added to a pot; $50 was added if a letter landed on a blue square, and $100 was added for a pink square. The first to guess three words won the game and the money in the pot, and played the Sprint Round for three times the pot's value.
Spelling For three months in 1985, not only did the player have to guess the word when he/she wanted to solve the puzzle, he/she also had to spell the word, one letter at a time; similar to the short-lived first-week format, each letter correctly placed added money to a pot, with payoffs as follows: - Regular squares - $50
- Blue squares - $100
- Pink squares - $200 (soon raised to $500)
This rule proved to be very unpopular and was eventually abandoned by the fall of 1985. One episode that may have led to the demise of this format featured two contestants who both knew the answer of "Mosquitos", but repeatedly misspelled it.
Scrabble Sprint
 Player #2 is trying to beat player #1's time in Scrabble Sprint Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
General Rules The sprint began with a five or six-letter word and a clue. After host Woolery said "go", two letters were revealed in a selector and the clock started. The player chose a letter from the selector, and that letter was placed. Originally when a letter was chosen, a new one replaced it. Later on, once a letter was chosen, the other went back into the shuffle to save time. There were no Stoppers in this round; all the letters were in the word.
When the contestant knew the word, they hit their plunger to stop the clock and gave an answer. If correct, the player moved on to the next word. If the player was incorrect, or did not give an answer immediately after hitting the plunger, a ten-second penalty was imposed, and the word continued unless all but one letter was revealed. If all letters except the last letter were revealed and the player did not know the word, he/she could allow five seconds to run off the clock without hitting the plunger to avoid the ten-second penalty, but he/she was then required to play a make-up word.
Format One The Scrabble Sprint round was originally played between the winner of the crossword game and the show’s returning champion. The crossword winner selected one of two envelopes (pink or blue), containing three words each. The challenger established a time in which the champion had to beat, using the packet of words not selected. the champion would head off stage where he/she was unable to see and hear the challenger, and then brought back onstage to play after the first player established a time to beat.
If the champion guessed all three words before time ran out, then they won $1,500 (or three times the value of the pot during the first week of shows). Otherwise, the crossword winner won the money and became the new champion.
If a champion won five Scrabble Sprints in a row, that player won a $20,000 bonus; a ten-time champion won a second $20,000 bonus and retired undefeated. five-time champions won a minimum of $28,000, and ten-time champions would win a minimum of $55,500.
Format Two Beginning in early 1985, both contestants played the same set of three words. Like in the first format, the champion would head off stage.
Also beginning in mid-1985, a champion simply had their winnings augmented to a flat $20,000 for winning five games, and then a flat $40,000 for winning ten games.
Format Three Beginning on December 29, 1986, the champion played in the first crossword game, and the winner from the first half would play Scrabble Sprint to establish a time using four words. The winner of the second crossword game would attempt to beat the time set during the first half of the show using the same four words. The winner of this format received $1,000 and the right to play the Bonus Sprint.
One very infamous contestant was a man named Sang, who set a time of 87 seconds flat (1:27) during his Sprint Round back in 1986, mainly because he hit his plunger too early, and forgot to hit his plunger when he gave a correct answer, in addition to giving some very bad answers (i.e., "Nudeness" for the clue "There's no excuse for it"). As one might expect, his opponent beat him easily in the next Sprint Round. The record for longest sprint round time, however, was over 100 seconds (1:40).
Notes
The fastest sprint round time was 11.1 seconds, and the longest was over 100 seconds. Charles Chip Esten (born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, September 9, 1965) is an American actor and singer best known for his appearances on the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Educated at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, Esten moved to the United Kingdom to make his...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Bonus Sprint
George Sealy won the $6,000 Bonus Sprint jackpot. The Bonus Sprint was played similar to Scrabble Sprint round, with two words of six and seven letters each. The contestant must correctly guess a six-letter word within 10 seconds and, if successful, use the time remaining to guess a seven-letter word correctly in order to win the jackpot, which began at $5,000 and increased $1,000 every day until it was won. Since the ten-second penalty rule was still in effect, an incorrect guess resulted in an automatic loss. Win or lose, the champion returned the next day (up to five days maximum). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
When the series returned in 1993, the bonus sprint jackpot began at $1,000. Additional money would only be added to the jackpot if a contestant landed on a pink or blue square in the crossword round and solved the word immediately, adding either $1,000 or $500, respectively (no cash bonuses were given directly to contestants for correctly guessing a word on a bonus square in this format; all bonuses went into the Bonus Sprint jackpot). The highest pot under this format was $20,500. Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...
Scrabble Pilot The pilot episode was taped in March 1984 at NBC Studios in Burbank, hosted by Chuck Woolery with Rod Roddy announcing. The studio set was the same for the most part with a faster chase-light sequence, a super-imposed logo (instead of the on-stage logo in the series) and the game play was the same, except for a few differences. Originally, two players, one a returning champion played the crossword games, with four words being played, and whomever accumulated the highest money amount after four words won the game. Each letter in the word revealed was worth $25, colored squares added extra money in addition to the $25 meaning that blue squares $125 ($100 + $25) and pink squares $225 ($200 + $25). On the fourth and final word of the game, the dollar values doubled ($50 for white squares, $250 for the blue squares and $450 for the pink squares). The player who guessed the word won the money in the pot accumulated for each correct letter revealed. The player who won the most money faced the player with the fastest Scrabble Sprint time of the week, and whoever guessed four words in the fastest time possible at the end of the Friday episode won $25,000 in cash. Eventually, those rules were scrapped and with a few alterations would revert to the best-known rules two years after its premiere. Most of the sounds effects are the same as the regular series except the right answer bell was the NBC "C-Note" bell (the regular series used the "E-Note" bell). March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ...
Robert Ray Rod Roddy (September 28, 1937 – October 27, 2003) was an American radio and television announcer[1], best known as the announcer for the popular game show The Price is Right from 1986 until his death. ...
Future game show contestant coordinator Laura Chambers played as a contestant on the pilot, and "won" the $25,000 bonus in the Scrabble Sprint. Chambers was also a champion on Scrabble's sister show Sale of the Century and later became an on-air personality for Game Show Network from its launch in 1994 until 1997. “GSN†redirects here. ...
Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...
For the band, see 1997 (band). ...
Theme Weeks - Scrabble held various themed-weeks over the years, including Teen Week, College Week, Battle of the Soaps Week, and Game Show Hosts Week, which featured Jim Lange, Peter Tomarken, Marc Summers, Bill Rafferty, John Davidson, and Wink Martindale, among others. Jamie Farr also participated, although he was not a game show host, but he did sub for Tom Kennedy on Wordplay and was in fact working on a game show project for Reg Grundy and NBC at the time but the show never made it to air. Marc Summers acted as the substitute host when Chuck Woolery played the game and earned $12,000 for a home viewer.
Jim Lange was born on August 15, 1933 in St. ...
Peter David Tomarken (December 7, 1942 – March 13, 2006) was an American television personality known primarily as host of Press Your Luck. ...
Marc Summers (born Marc Berkowitz November 11, 1951 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American television personality, popular game show host, producer, and a two-time talk show host, perhaps best known for hosting the childrens game show Double Dare on Nickelodeon. ...
Rafferty on an episode of Card Sharks Bill Rafferty (born June 7, 1944 in Queens, New York) is a comedian and impressionist who hosted the game shows Every Second Counts (1984, syndicated), Card Sharks (1986-87, syndication), and Blockbusters (1987, NBC). ...
John Davidson in 1990. ...
Wink Martindale entering on Tic Tac Dough Wink Martindale (born Winston Conrad Martindale on December 4, 1933 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA) is a disc jockey and television game show host. ...
Jamie Farr (born Jameel Joseph Farah on July 1, 1934) is an American television and film actor and popular game show panelist. ...
Tom Kennedy (born James Narz February 16, 1927, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a television game show host who had his greatest fame in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
Wordplay was a game show which ran on NBC from December 29, 1986-September 4, 1987, replacing the long-running soap opera Search for Tomorrow. ...
Episode status All episodes are believed to exist. FremantleMedia currently owns the rights to the series as well as any future revivals. FremantleMedia (formerly All-American Television and Pearson Television) is a division of RTL Group which holds the rights to the Goodson/Todman game show library which includes such classic game shows as The Price is Right, Match Game, Ive Got a Secret, and Family Feud, as well as non...
Another version of Scrabble was in the works in between the 1984-90 and 1993 runs, hosted by Los Angeles personality Steve Edwards. That version never made it to the air. Another version of Scrabble, entitled Scrabble Challenge was planned exclusively for the Game Show Network hosted by John O'Hurley, but with rules more towards the board game rather than the 1980s version. However, that show did not make it to air either. Steve Edwards (born Steven Edward Schwartz in New York City, New York) is an Los Angeles-based broadcast personality, who is currently the lead anchor/host of Good Day L.A., a morning news and infotainment program that airs on Fox-owned KTTV in Los Angeles. ...
“GSN†redirects here. ...
John Gerald OHurley (born October 9, 1954, in Kittery, Maine) is an American actor best known for his recurring role as J. Peterman on Seinfeld. ...
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