Kevin Standlee (kevin_standlee) wrote,
Kevin Standlee
kevin_standlee

  • Mood:

Match Game: Which One?

It has come to my attention that some people are confused as to which version of Match Game we will be playing at Westercon. There have been several different iterations of the show, some with substantially different rules.

For the record, we are playing the version of the show that originally aired from 1973 to 1982 under the names "Match Game," "Match Game '73" ('74, '75, etc.), and "Match Game PM." The specific rules are a hybrid of the "daytime" and "nighttime" games.

Chris Lambert's Match Game Homepage has a good overview of the version we will play, although we do not have the Match the Audience bonus round.

The Rules:

There are two contestants (chosen randomly from the audience) and six Panelists. We will play two rounds with two questions per round (one per contestant). In each question, we read a fill-in-the-blank statement, such as:

"Admiral Jones said, 'Captain Kirk has the biggest _____ in Starfleet!'"

Panelists then write how they would fill in the blank on cards. When they are finished, we ask the contestant to give the answer that s/he thinks will match the most panelists. Contestants get one point per panelist matched. Panelists who match in round 1 do not play in round 2.

Double entendres are encouraged. Round 1 questions are generally vaguer and more difficult to match. Because we do have children about, I ask people to keep the show to PG-13 if they can.

If after two rounds the contestants are tied, we wipe the scores and play a tie-breaker round using the same rules. If the score is still tied after that, we go to sudden death. In this, we ask the contestants a simple fill-in-the-blank, like "Star _____" and they write down their response. We then go to the panel one at a time and ask their response. When the panelist response matches a contestant, that contestant wins. If it matches both contestants, or if no panelists match the contestants, we repeat sudden death. (I've never gone past a second sudden-death round.)

As I mentioned, we will not play the Match the Audience bonus game, because conducting the necessary audience surveys is too difficult. We could play the Bonus Match, in which the contestant picks one panelist, we do a simple match (like the tie breaker), and the contestant gets one chance to match that panelist -- if s/he does, s/he wins the prize. However, at least at Westercon, we'll not do the Bonus Match. Instead, each panelist will hold up an envelope, and the contestant who won the main game will pick that one panelist. The panelist will open the envelope and the contestant will win that prize. (Obviously, you can only pick from among those panelists who still have a prize left.)

We will take two new contestants per game (to maximize number of contestants) like Match Game PM, but will only play two rounds per game like the daytime version.

We plan to play six games in two hours. I think this is reasonable given that we played five in 90 minutes at BayCon, and we rushed game 5 because we were running out of time.
Tags: match game, westercon
Subscribe

  • Family History: Kelli's Graduation Day

    As I mentioned a few days ago, Lisa has been slowly going through boxes that have been through multiple moves and has been finding photographs for me…

  • Photo Discoveries

    Lisa has been going through boxes stored in the garage and has been finding a number of old photographs of me, her, and family and friends from the…

  • Memory

    Today, November 25th, was my late maternal grandparents' wedding anniversary. I may be the last of their descendants who remembers this, and even I…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 0 comments