Network: NBC and syndication
What I Liked: Contestants got to keep their score money, as well as any prizes or cash bonuses, regardless of the outcome of the game.
What I Didn’t Like: Contestants didn’t have to wait to hear the whole question before buzzing in to answer. That third bonus round format was much too hard.
Network: ABC
What I Liked: It was a novel combination of a word-puzzle game and the Hollywood Squares Q&A format.
What I Didn’t Like: There was no dollar score, and no cash was awarded except in the bonus round. The bonus round wheel too often stopped on a window that had already been exposed.
Network: Syndication
What I Liked: Although I wasn’t then aware of it, Bullseye was just a variation on The Joker’s Wild. The design and mechanics of the game board, as well as the players sharing a pot, made Bullseye unique among Barry & Enright shows.
What I Didn’t Like: Only the player in control could bank money from the pot, and then only after answering all the questions in a contract, and that usually meant the challenger would leave with no money. I couldn’t stand the lightning in the bonus round (but then again, I like to see a bonus-round winner on any game show).
Network: Syndication
What I Liked: The show used animated picture puzzles, similar to those found in Games magazine, but in full color. It also had a robotic mascot named Herbie. Catch Phrase ran in 1985, the same year Small Wonder premiered. There are no Web sites for the TV show Catch Phrase, but this British site features the same kind of puzzles.
What I Didn’t Like: The challenger was at a disadvantage, being farther from the game screen and taking longer to ring in than the champion. In the bonus round, the contestant hardly ever got five in a row.
Network: Syndication
What I Liked: I wasn’t old enough to play in a casino when this show ran, so this sort of game show, with the variety of card and dice games, was the next best thing.
What I Didn’t Like: I don’t remember enough about this show to express any dislikes, except that the contestants played for chips instead of dollars.
Network: CBS
What I Liked: This was a novel word-puzzle concept: The answers are right in front of the contestants; they just have to find those answers hidden among other words.
What I Didn’t Like: The show should have run longer with Narz. In the bonus round, the contestant sometimes had to cope with a malfunctioning light pen (at least when Narz was host) trying to beat the timer.
Network: WTBS
What I Liked: Contestants played video games, another of my then-favorite activities. This was when video games did not demand that the player kill humanoid enemies, and long before Street Fighter II and its imitators became popular.
What I Didn’t Like: If the show had run just four years longer, Tetris might have been among the video games. Contestants played for points instead of dollars (which, I suppose, was better for the producers than for the contestants). I sent a postcard to the show when my family was planning a trip to San Francisco, but was told there would be no tapings in the summer.
Network: Syndication
What I Liked: It was an unusual format: no trivia, no puzzles, just draw cards and try to build a better poker hand than your opponent.
What I Didn’t Like: Art and Mary Lou were announcers as well as hosts on this show. (Maybe the producers couldn’t afford a special announcer? Or is that the norm with Canadian game shows?) The CBS affiliate in Sioux Falls aired Super Pay Cards! in the early morning, and never at a specific hour.
Network: CBS and syndication
What I Liked: It was a long-running adaptation of a classic juvenile game, upgraded for adults with a trivia format and a veteran host.
What I Didn’t Like: If a game ended in a tie, they just started a new game with nine new categories, meaning that two equally matched contestants could play against each other over two or three episodes — and this was daily syndication! When Martindale left, the show was not the same. I couldn’t stand the dragon in the bonus round.
Network: Nashville Network
What I Liked: Another variation of the blackjack format (Gambit came much earlier), this time with three contestants. Unlike other game shows on the Nashville Network, Top Card had more than country music trivia and could have worked on broadcast TV.
What I Didn’t Like: In the second bonus round, a contestant had to give a correct answer to a knowledge question in order to get a prize and a card. It was not enough just to stand on 17 — the round was not considered won unless the contestant got exactly 21 points.