Password (game)

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Image:Password game.jpg Password is a popular spoken guessing game that encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. The TV version was produced by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions and invented by Bob Stewart, who also created The Price is Right and To Tell the Truth for Goodson before striking out on his own with shows such as The $10,000 Pyramid.

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Rules

To begin, one player is chosen to be "it". That player thinks of a target word, which can be any word. Then "it" gives all other players a one-word hint. The hint must not include, or be a variant of, the target word. (For instance, if the target word was "doghouse", hints such as "houses" or "doggy" would be illegal, but "puppy" would be legal.) Incriminating hand gestures, clues which consist of two or more words, and hyphenated words were also considered off-limits.

Each other player in turn attempts to guess the target word. If no player guesses correctly, "it" continues giving one-word hints until a player says the target word. That player becomes "it" for the next round.

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Television versions

Image:Password gameshow.jpg The game of Password was adapted into a successful television game show of the same name. Password, hosted by Allen Ludden, ran for 1555 telecasts from October 2, 1961 to September 15, 1967 on CBS and for 1099 shows from April 5, 1971 to June 27, 1975 on ABC. The show's regular announcers were Jack Clark and (later) Lee Vines on CBS and John Harlan on ABC.

2 teams — each consisting of one celebrity player and one contestant — competed on the show. One player gave the single-word clues; the other player attempted to guess the password. If the contestant made an incorrect guess, the other team had a chance to guess the word. This continued until one of the two teams guessed the word correctly or until ten clues were given. Scoring was based on how many clues were given when the correct word was guessed, with the team earning 10 points for guessing on the first try, 9 points on the second try, 8 points on the third and so on to 1 point on the 10th & Last Try.

The first team to reach 25 points won $250 ($100 on the daytime show) and a chance to win that much more in the "Lightning Round" where the contestant tried to guess five passwords within 60 seconds for $50 per word ($100 from 1973-1974). It was among the first bonus rounds on TV (along with the phrase game on the original Beat the Clock). On the ABC version from 1971–1974, the player wagered any amount of the "Lightning Round" winnings on trying to get his or her celebrity partner to guess a "Betting Word" within 15 seconds.

From 1973-1974, the first contestant to win a 2-out-of-3 match played the Lightning Round.

From November 18, 1974 to February 21, 1975, Password became Password All-Stars, where teams of celebrities played for charity in a tournament-style format with Richard Dawson winning that tournament and $25,000 for his charity. Afterwards, Password All-Stars became Password again, but using an elimination round in which four contestants competed with the help of the two celebrities in the first round. One of the celebrities would give a clue and the first to ring in with the correct password earned one point with the first two players to guess two passwords playing the regular game with the celebrities. An addition to the rules was the "double" option, the first clue giver could call for it and increase the word value to 20 points by giving only one clue. If missed, the other team could score the 20 points with another clue. The first team that 50 points could win thousands of dollars in the Big Money Lightning Round, based on a three-part structure in which the winning team attempted to guess three passwords in 30 seconds.

In each part of the Big Money Lightning Round, the celebrity had to convey 3 passwords to the contestant within a 30 second timeframe. The contestant was paid as follows:

  • Part one: Each password was worth $25. All three in 30 seconds added $5 for each second left.
  • Part two: The money earned in part one would be multiplied by the number of passwords guessed in part two. Naming all three passwords this time added $10 for each second left.
  • Part three: Naming all three passwords in 30 seconds multiplied the contestant's part-two winnings tenfold.

The theme song used on Password from 1961 to 1963 is called "Holiday Jaunt" by Kurt Rehfeld. That was followed the same year by a catchy swing theme by Bob Cobert called "You Know The Password" from 1963 to 1967, which was used until the CBS version's cancellation. (Viewers would often see emcee Ludden snapping his fingers to the Cobert swing tune as the closing credits flashed.) When Password returned as an ABC program, Score Productions provided a theme with a synth-heavy arrangement, similar to the cues heard on The Price Is Right when it returned to television from 1971 to 1974. The theme used in the later years of the ABC 1970s version (beginning with Password All-Stars) was composed by Bob Cobert from 1974 to 1975 called "Bicentennial Funk."

Password won the first-ever Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 1974.

The ABC Password was the first of the Goodson shows to be taped regularly on the West Coast. The original CBS version made a couple of trips to CBS Television City during the 1960s, including once when the CBS New York studios were readjusted for color TV. (Otherwise, it was most often taped in New York at CBS-TV Studio 52, now Studio 54 and CBS-TV Studio 50 (aka the Ed Sullivan Theater.) Password moved permanently to Hollywood, California at ABC Studio TV-10 "The Vine Street Theater" & ABC Television Center when ABC brought it back in 1971.

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Password Plus

NBC brought Password back as Password Plus on January 8, 1979 with Allen Ludden returning as host. It was originally announced in Variety magazine as Password '79, but the name was changed when, during a run-through, Carol Burnett commented "this is more than Password, it's Password Plus." Burnett's phrase would eventually become the opening speil of each episode as announced by Gene Wood.

The new format involved two teams, each consisting of a celebrity and a contestant, solving puzzles which consisted of five related passwords. Each team was given two chances (reduced from three chances after the first five months) to solve the password. If the password was solved correctly, the team was given a chance to identify the subject of the "Password Puzzle". The first two puzzles in each game were worth $100; each puzzle thereafter was worth $200 until 1 team raised $300 or $400 (as possible) wins. On November 3, 1981, coinciding with the show's move to a new time slot to replace Card Sharks, changes were made to the game. The first three puzzles were worth $100 each, with those remaining worth $200, until one team reached $500 or more. After the $100 rounds ended, players switched celebrity partners.

The first team to reach $300 or more (later $500 or more) played a bonus round known as "Alphabetics", a modified version of the Lightning Round, where the team attempted to solve ten passwords beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet (A-Z) within 60 seconds. If they were successful, the contestant won $5000; otherwise, the contestant won $100 for each correct answer. Later on, when the maingame rules were changed, the bonus round featured a jackpot that started at $5000 and went up that much for each time it was not won, up to $50,000. In both versions, any illegal clues reduced the jackpot by 20% (for example, if the jackpot at stake was $15,000, illegal clues incurred a $3,000 penalty, or if the jackpot was $25,000 & a $5000 penalty would be administered for an illegal clue). From November to December 1981 each illegal clue deducted $2500 from the jackpot.

The endgame blended the original Password 's Lightning Round with the intensity of Pyramid 's Winner's Circle. Like the Winner's Circle game, Alphabetics became one of TV's most exciting bonus rounds (famous for Allen Ludden shouting the letter in play after each password was guessed), especially when the escalating-jackpot rule was added.

On the first episode of Password Plus, Ludden walked on stage, clenching his fist back and forth, shouting "Password's back! Password's back!" A year later, Ludden began experiencing stomach pains that would eventually lead to stomach cancer. After his diagnosis in the spring of 1980, Bill Cullen substituted for 4 weeks. Ludden returned to the show (with Cullen as a celebrity guest the week he came back), but suffered a stroke in October 1980 which would eventually force him off for good. Ludden did make progress in recovering from the stroke, and there was speculation that he may return, but he ultimately lost his battle to stomach cancer, dying from the disease on June 9, 1981.

Tom Kennedy emceed the show from October 27, 1980 to the series' cancellation on March 26, 1982 after 800 shows. Cullen was originally considered to become permanent host at that time, but he had already began hosting Blockbusters and referred Kennedy (who was Cullen's brother-in-law) as a candidate to replace Ludden. Betty White, who also wanted Kennedy to host would later state that Kennedy took good care of Password in her late husband's absence.

Gene Wood was the show's regular announcer with Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, Rich Jeffries and John Harlan substituting on occasion.

Password Plus won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show in 1982, shortly after the show was cancelled.

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Super Password

On September 24, 1984 NBC brought the series back as Super Password with Bert Convy hosting and Gene Wood announcing. Rich Jeffries was the announcer for the first ten weeks and filled in for Wood sporadically thereafter. Halfway through its run, the password would be revealed by Wood in a whisper voice for the home audience; this was the only version of the show to feature a voiceover after the end of the ABC Password.

Gameplay was similar to Password Plus, except that the first puzzle was worth $100 and each puzzle was worth $100 more than the previous one; the first team to reach $500 won. The team that had the lead after the second puzzle played a "Ca$hword" game, where the celebrity player was given a relatively difficult password and the contestant was given three chances to guess that word. The celebrity and the contestant each had five seconds to give a clue or respond, respectively. If the word was guessed correctly, the contestant won a cash jackpot that started at $1000 and increased by that amount until somebody won. Contestants switched celebrity partners after the Ca$hword. (The "Ca$hword" was separate from the gameplay and did not affect the scores of the game).

The bonus round featured the Alphabetics game, but it was now simply referred to as "Super Password". It was played the same way, except that any illegal clues put the word out of play and forfeited the contestant's chance at the jackpot, a la Pyramid. The jackpot started at $5000 and increased by that amount until somebody won it; there was no limit as to how high it could grow. The largest jackpot was $55,000, which was won once in 1986 and again in 1988. However, in 1988, the winner was an insurance fraud fugitive, who was later arrested and wound up using his winnings to pay for his legal defense.

Super Password ran until March 24, 1989.

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Celebrities

Among the more famous Password celebrity players over the years include Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Montgomery, Bill Bixby, Richard Dawson, Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Betty White and Nipsey Russell. Burnett played every Password version except for Super Password and was one of the first celebrity players on the nighttime premiere in 1962; the other was her mentor, Garry Moore on whose primetime-TV show she was also a regular.

Game show hosts Monty Hall, Tom Kennedy (who would eventually host Password Plus), Bill Cullen (who would sub for Allen Ludden on Password Plus) and Bert Convy (later the host of Super Password) were also invited to play as celebrities. Tom Kennedy's brother, Jack Narz and Jim Perry were also Password Plus panelists. Pat Sajak played on both Password Plus and Super Password, although he was still a weatherman until late 1981 when he began hosting Wheel of Fortune.

White, Cullen Markie Post and Russell were also frequent panelists on the show considered ‘‘Password’’’s cousin — Pyramid, another Bob Stewart creation. Peter Lawford also did both shows, although he was considered much better at ‘‘Password’’.

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Episode status

All versions of Password except the ABC version are known to exist, and have been seen on GSN. ABC probably destroyed the episodes of its version and only three episodes are known to exist on the videotape trading circuit.

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Versions outside the USA

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Commercial versions

The Milton Bradley Company introduced the first commercial version of Password in 1962 and subsequently released 24 editions of the game until 1986. (Owing to common superstition, these releases were numbered 1-12 and 14-25, skipping 13.) It was tied with Concentration as the most prolific of Milton Bradley's home versions of popular game shows, and was produced well into the Super Password era of the television show. Milton Bradley also published three editions of a Password Plus home game between 1979 and 1981. More recently, Endless Games has released four versions of Password since 1997. Some boxed sets attempted to simulate a particular television version.

A computer version of Super Password was released by GameTek for MS-DOS systems, as well as the Apple II and Commodore 64, shortly before the show was canceled; a Nintendo Entertainment System version was also planned but never released.

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External links

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