| Three on a Match | |
|---|---|
 Logo for Three on a Match. |
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| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Bob Stewart |
| Presented by | Bill Cullen |
| Narrated by | Don Pardo Bob Clayton (substitute) Wayne Howell (substitute) Roger Tuttle (substitute) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Rockefeller Center, New York City |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | August 2, 1971 – June 28, 1974 |
Three on a Match was an American television game show created by Bob Stewart that ran on NBC from August 2, 1971 to June 28, 1974 on its daytime schedule. The host was Bill Cullen. Don Pardo served as announcer on most episodes of the show, with Bob Clayton and NBC staffers Wayne Howell and Roger Tuttle substituting at times.
The series was produced at NBC's Rockefeller Center in New York City. The program's title is wordplay on the superstition of the same name.
Contents |
Gameplay
In the game, three contestants competed to determine who could answer the most true-or-false questions in one of three categories. After Cullen announced the categories, each contestant bid a number between one and four based on how many questions he or she could answer on that turn.
The highest bidder got the first shot at the categories, but if two players tied, they canceled each other out. The third contestant, regardless of their bid, won the bid and chose a category. If all three tied, they bid again and kept bidding until the tie was broken. The pot for the round was calculated by totaling the number of questions bid by all three contestants and then multiplying by $10 (for example: 4, 3, and 2 totals 9, which becomes $90), making for a maximum possible pot of $110.
When a contestant won the right to answer questions they selected one of the categories. If a contestant failed to correctly answer as many questions as they bid, control passed to the next highest bidder, then the lowest bidder if the second player was unsuccessful. If the two contestants matched bids and canceled each other out, and the remaining contestant failed to fulfill their bid, the canceled players were given a chance to re-bid, with the highest bidder having a chance to answer questions from the two remaining categories. If they canceled each other out again, the game moved on to a new set of categories. When a contestant fulfilled the bid, the contestant won the pot.
Some categories had a special feature hidden behind them, which was revealed when it was selected. The most frequent was "Double Pot" which doubled the value of the pot the contestant was playing for (up to $220). Another was a set called "One Free Box", "Two Free Boxes", and "Three Free Boxes" which gave the contestant extra free selections on the game board. However, the contestant could only take the free boxes after buying as many boxes as possible with their money. Creator Bob Stewart devised these to help speed up the pace of the game by enabling a lucky contestant to win more easily.
After winning a pot, the contestant kept the money and continued playing, or could used the accumulated money to try to win the game at the bonus board. If the contestant won any free boxes in the previous round, they had to be used immediately after winning them, or the free boxes were forfeited. The minimum amount required in a contestant's bank to play the board was $90, unless the contestant had earned free boxes during that category.
Prize Board
The board consisted of three columns: the first worth $20 each, the second worth $30, and the third worth $40. Each column had four rows of boxes in colored rows (red, green, yellow, and blue). Originally, each box concealed a prize. Three prizes appeared in each column, and two (or three) others appeared in some columns but not others. One box on the board contained a "No Match" sign.
The contestant used their money to spend on the boxes, in an effort to reveal three like prizes, one in each column. A contestant selected a box by saying, for example, "I'll take $20 on the blue" and continued until revealing three identical prize cards, in which case the prize and the game were won, or ran out of money (and free boxes) before matching a prize. If a contestant did not match a prize, the game continued with more question rounds. Additionally, when selecting boxes, contestants could only select three out of the four boxes in any one column.
Instant Match
A contestant who made a match on their first three picks after winning a question series won the Instant Match, which entitled the contestant to more prizes, usually a new car. In the second format where contestants needed three matches to remain champion (see below), the Instant Match won the whole game automatically and that person faced two new challengers.
Format changes
On April 23, 1973 the format changed. Instead of prizes, the boxes contained images (e.g., slot machine symbols, celebrity faces, even humorously altered photos of host Cullen). A player who matched three symbols won that round. The first player to win three matches, or to get an instant match, won the game and a prize package worth at least $5,000.
Other bonuses and features were added and removed throughout the run. During the second format, home viewers were invited to send in postcard entries for theme-writing contests. The three funniest entries won prizes.[1]
Also during the second format, a symbol (such as a heart) would appear on the board for every game during certain special weeks regardless of whether it fit the category. Each contestant who matched the symbols would be entered into a drawing for a special prize at the end of that week.
Other notes
During the prize matching format, any contestant who won five games was awarded an additional $5,000 and retired. When the second format was instituted, this bonus was changed to $5,000 and a new car for any contestant who won seven consecutive matches.
Because Cullen suffered from polio as a boy, he had a fairly-pronounced limp. In order to conceal this from the viewing audience, the producers had him remain seated at his podium throughout each episode. Likewise, the contestants were not shown walking away from or toward their seats. Stewart and other packagers afforded Cullen this courtesy on most, if not all, the shows he hosted.
Broadcast history
Three on a Match had the unenviable position of being the sixth show NBC had aired in the 1:30 PM (12:30 Central) time slot since December 30, 1968, when the network lost Let's Make a Deal to rival ABC, which placed it in the same slot it had aired in on NBC. A soap opera (Hidden Faces), three game shows (
Three on a Match was not only the first show since the Deal defection to run for more than a year against the ABC version and CBS' top-rated As the World Turns (then a half-hour soap opera). It also brought several affiliates that had preempted the slot back to the network feed for that half-hour, which pleasantly surprised NBC executives.
Although finishing solidly in third place, Cullen's perennial popularity drove the appeal of Three on a Match which, typical for NBC games in that era (and especially those staged in New York), emphasized game play over large prizes and ostentatious sets. On April 23, 1973 the series became NBC's only game to be exempt from the network's five-game limit for returning champions.
However, by spring 1974 daytime head Lin Bolen, who had overseen the cancellation of several games started before her arrival a year and a half earlier, asked Stewart to overhaul Three on a Match. The two decided instead to start from scratch with a new game, titled Winning Streak.
The new show replaced Three on a Match and swapped time slots with Jeopardy!, a decision that would prove fatal to both programs – both ended on January 3, 1975.
Merchandise
Milton Bradley made only one edition in 1972, which followed the first Prize Board version.
International versions
Reg Grundy bought the rights to produce an Australian version hosted by Bob Moore. It was dubbed as "Australia's first colour game show", although Australian television was still in black and white during that time.
The game was played exactly the same on a similar-looking set (as was a habit of Grundy), except that all money amounts were divided by ten (the pot was $1 times the number of questions) and no cars were offered.
Episode status
The series is believed to have been wiped due to NBC's policy on daytime shows through 1980. Six episodes exist in the hands of private collectors, with another five held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[2]
References
External links
- "Three on a Match" description by Matt Ottinger
- TV.com "Three on a Match" page
- Three on a Match at the Internet Movie Database
- Three on a Match at TV.com
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
