Lingo (American game show)
Encyclopedia
Lingo is an American television game show
with multiple international adaptations. The first American version aired from 1987–1988 in syndication, a second version of the show ran as an original series on GSN
for six seasons from 2002–2007, and a third version began airing on GSN on June 6, 2011.
The game features two teams of two contestants each who attempt to guess five-letter words and use colored balls to place markers on a 5×5 numbered Lingo card, attempting to cover five spaces in a row in a fashion similar to bingo.
The team in control (beginning with the challengers) is shown the first letter of a five-letter word randomly selected by the show's Amiga
computer. One team member attempts to guess the word and spells their guess. A red square is then placed around letters from their guess that are in the correct position and a yellow circle is placed around letters that are in the word but not in the correct position. If the team in control guesses the word on the first try, they win a $1,000 bonus. Otherwise, the other team member takes a guess, then the first team member takes the third guess, and so on.
If the team fails to identify the word within five guesses, fails to answer at any time within the five-second time limit, gives a misspelled or nonexistent word, gives a word that is not five letters in length, or gives a word that is only a proper name, control passes to the other team. If there is more than one letter unrevealed, one of those letters is revealed and the team is given five seconds to make a guess. If there is only one unrevealed letter in the word, it is not revealed, but during the five seconds of thinking time, the team is allowed to confer; this is the only time when conferring between teammates is permitted.
The team that correctly guesses the mystery word then pulls two Lingo balls out of a hopper in front of them. Eighteen of the balls are labeled with numbers corresponding to the numbers on their Lingo board; when a numbered ball is drawn, the corresponding space on the Lingo card is covered. Also in the hopper are three prize balls; when one of them is drawn, it is put aside and the contestant who drew it gets to pick again. Winning with one ball wins $250 in Traveler's cheque
s, winning with two also wins a trip and winning with all three is worth a jackpot which starts at $1,000 and increases by $500 every game the jackpot isn't claimed. Later in this version, there were only two prize balls. Winning with one got the trip and winning with both won the jackpot. Even later, the trip was phased out and the team had to draw both of the prize balls in order to win the jackpot. However, these prizes can only be claimed if the team wins the game.
Normally, the team keeps control after drawing their balls and may guess at the next mystery word. However, the hopper also contains three red balls; a team drawing one of these balls must immediately stop drawing and loses control. The opposing team then guesses at the next mystery word. Once balls are drawn, they are discarded (prize balls are placed in a stand on the team's podium as a reminder that the prize is in play), so the same ball cannot be drawn twice in one game.
The first team to cover numbers on their card that form a Lingo – five numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row – wins the game, $250 (along with the prizes from any prize balls they drew) and the right to play in the "No Lingo" bonus round. Later in this version the team won $500 for a vertical or horizontal Lingo, $1,000 for a diagonal Lingo and $2,000 for a Double Lingo (two lines completed with the same ball).
The team is shown another Lingo card filled with even numbers. Sixteen are covered before the start of the round, arranged in a star shape along the diagonals, middle row and middle column. The center space, where the free space is on a normal bingo card, is left uncovered. The hopper is loaded with 37 numbered balls plus one gold ball. Unlike the main game in which only the numbers that actually appear on the Lingo card are loaded into the hopper, all the even numbers from 2 to 74 are added even if they have already been marked off on the card.
The contestants are staked with $500 and can choose to simply take this money and stop, or risk it by continuing to play. If the team chooses to continue, a five-letter mystery word is shown with the first letter and one of the other four letters revealed. The team is given the usual five chances to guess the mystery word; for each guess they use, they must draw one Lingo ball. If they fail to guess the word in five tries, they must draw an extra two balls, for a total of seven balls. If the team draws a numbered ball that appears on the board, that board space is covered and the ball is discarded, just like it would be in the normal game. If this forms a Lingo, the team immediately loses the bonus round and the prize money. If the team draws a numbered ball that does not appear on the board, the ball is simply discarded. If the team draws the gold ball, they are immediately allowed to stop drawing, their prize money is doubled and the gold ball is returned into the hopper.
If they manage to draw the required number of balls (or draw the gold ball) without completing a Lingo, the team's money doubles. The team can continue guessing words and drawing balls until the team either chooses to stop playing, forms a Lingo (and loses the money) or plays a maximum of five words and increases their winnings to $16,000. Each time the team chooses to continue playing, the Lingo board remains as it was with any previously drawn numbered balls still out of play, so the risk of forming a Lingo increases as time goes on.
If the team wins the main game a second time, the initial stake in the No Lingo round increases to $1,000, for a maximum potential of $32,000. If the team wins the main game a third (and final) time, the stake begins at $2,000 and can increase it to $64,000 by surviving all five words.
Later, when the prize structure changed for the main game, the main game prize was the opening stake for the bonus round. Up to five words were played, which made the top prize $16,000 after making a horizontal or vertical Lingo in the main game, $32,000 after making a diagonal Lingo in the main game and $64,000 if the main game was won with a Double Lingo. Six balls (instead of seven) were drawn if a word was not guessed in five tries. Additionally, teams were not limited to three wins or eliminated by a single loss; they played until they were defeated twice in the main game.
Teams again have five chances to guess the mystery word and control passes to the other team and gives them a bonus letter in the word (unless there is one unrevealed letter remaining) if an illegal word is given or the team runs out of time. The team who correctly guesses the mystery word receives 25 points and draws two balls from the hopper in front of them. Red balls again forfeit control to the other team, and unlike the original version, there are no prize balls. The team receives 50 points if they are able to complete a Lingo; otherwise, play continues with the team in control and a new five-letter word is played. After completing a Lingo, the team receives a new card with ten new numbers marked off, the hopper is reloaded with the corresponding numbers available on the new card, and control passes to the other team.
Each team's Lingo card carries over to round two from the first round, with the same numbers marked off as before. The team with the lower score begins the round, but if the teams are tied, the team in the right podium plays first in round two since the team in the left podium started round one. Teams received 50 points for correctly guessing a mystery word and 100 points for completing a Lingo. Additionally, three balls with question marks on them are added to each team's hopper. Choosing a question mark-ball acts as a wild card and the contestant may choose which number to mark off.
The team with the higher score at the end of the second round wins the game and moves on to Bonus Lingo. If teams are tied at the end of the second round, a mystery seven-letter word is shown with the first and last letters displayed. To advance to the Bonus Lingo round, teams must ring-in and say the correct word. An incorrect guess locks out the team and gives a free letter to the opposing team. If that team does not know the word, their opponents are unlocked and anybody can guess. Letters are continually revealed until a team ultimately guesses the correct word and wins the game.
The winning team is given two minutes and tries to guess as many mystery words as possible within the time limit. In each mystery word, two letters are initially revealed: the first letter and one of the remaining four letters, similar to the original version's endgame. If the team fails to guess a word in five tries, the word is revealed and the team moves on to the next word. The team wins $100 for each correctly-guessed word.
A Lingo card is then revealed with thirteen numbers marked off. The hopper contains twelve balls, one for each uncovered space on the board, and the team draws a ball for each mystery word successfully guessed in the first half of Bonus Lingo. Forming a Lingo wins the team a $4,000 prize package consisting of an Argus digital camera, a Borders
gift card, a Croton watch and a Cassiopeia
EM-500 Pocket PC plus the money earned in the first half of Bonus Lingo.
The team received one bonus letter for winning the game and an additional bonus letter for each Lingo completed in the main game. During the two minute time limit, teams could shout "bonus letter" at any point to have an additional letter revealed in the current mystery word, even if there was only one unrevealed letter.
Additionally, the layout of the Bonus Lingo card changed so that a team could complete a Lingo with just one ball. Twelve spaces (instead of thirteen) were marked off the Lingo board, and the twelve pre-marked spaces were chosen so that there would always be exactly one row, column or diagonal with four spaces marked off. If the team successfully completed a Lingo, the team won $5,000; otherwise they received $100 for each word solved in the first half of the round.
If the team completed a Lingo on the first draw, the team received a trip in addition to $5,000. This was changed to a Jamaican vacation package worth over $10,000 in season two, a trip to Harrah's Entertainment
in Lake Tahoe
for season three, $10,000 in cash for season four, and a jackpot that began at $10,000 and grew by $1,000 each episode until won in seasons five and six.
A special episode that aired on April Fool's Day in 2003 had the entire roster of GSN's six original show hosts together playing for charity. While Woolery hosted, Mark Walberg
(Russian Roulette
) and Marc Summers
(WinTuition
) played against Kennedy
(Friend or Foe?
) and Graham Elwood
(Cram
), with Walberg and Summers shutting them out 500–0. The sixth host to take part was Todd Newton
(Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck
), who served as the show's announcer.
Lingo occasionally featured theme weeks where the set was decorated, the host, hostess, and contestants wore costumes, and the theme music redone in the theme's style.
The prize for winning Bonus Lingo varied for episodes in which celebrity contestants competed. In one episode teams received $25,000 for their charity for a first-draw Lingo, where in another the team received $30,000 for completing a Lingo even after the first draw. The prize ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 for celebrity teams who were unable to complete a Lingo in the bonus round. Beginning in the fourth season, celebrity teams received an additional bonus letter.
Teams receive a clue to the word and attempt to guess the five-letter word after being shown the first letter, as before. Correctly identifying the word also lets a team draw two Lingo balls. Number balls drawn are marked off on the team's card. Drawing a stopper ball cedes control to the opposing team. If a team draws a mystery prize ball, the team wins a bonus prize, theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome. In addition, certain episodes feature a sponsor and a wild-card ball on the teams' racks in place of, or in addition to, the prize ball. If a team draws a wild card ball, they can use it to cover any number on their card.
Correctly identifying words in round one earn $100, $200 in round two and $500 in round three. Completing a five-number Lingo awards the same payouts as correct words in each round. When a new board is issued to a team, nine numbers are pre-marked. Three words each are played in rounds one and three, while four words are played in round two. The team with the most money after round three keeps it and plays Bonus Lingo. If a team is mathematically unable to catch up, the game ends once the balls have been drawn for the last word.
In Bonus Lingo, the winning team has 90 seconds to correctly guess 5 five-letter words, receiving two letters in each word; however, no clues are given in Bonus Lingo. In certain sponsored episodes, the team may be issued a bonus letter on the first word. The team wins the identical amount earned in the main game for the first correct word and that amount is doubled for each additional correct word. The fifth correct word earns the team $100,000. The amount earned in Bonus Lingo is added to the team's total winnings.
, son of then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan
, as host and Dusty Martell as co-host. Beginning on February 22, 1988, executive producer Ralph Andrews took over as host, and Margaux MacKenzie replaced Martel as co-host. New episodes aired until March 25, 1988, with repeats airing until September of that year. The show was produced by Ralph Andrews
(in association with Bernstein/Hovis Productions) in Canada for syndication by ABR Entertainment in the United States.
On August 5, 2002, Game Show Network revived the program with Chuck Woolery
as host. Woolery's co-host was Stacey Hayes
in season three. Hayes later had another co-host of her own near the end of the season known only as Paula. Both were later replaced by Shandi Finnessey
for the remainder of the series. Randi Thomas, known for her work in Hooked on Phonics
ads, was the offstage announcer in the second season, with Hayes acting as announcer in the third season. For the remainder of the series, contestants introduced themselves in the show's open and Shandi offered the "welcome back" before the beginning of Round Two after the second commercial break.
The first 20 episodes were recorded in the Netherlands on the set of the program's Dutch counterpart; subsequent episodes were produced in the United States. Five more seasons, filmed in Los Angeles
and each consisting of 65 episodes, began in December 2002, December 2003, August 2005, April 2006 and April 2007. GSN held back five unaired Hawaiian-themed episodes from the fourth season, and these episodes later aired beginning January 1, 2007.
In 2011, GSN announced the show would restart production after a four-year hiatus, with Bill Engvall
as the new host. The first season of 40 episodes premiered on June 6, 2011.
episodes by special arrangement) since 2005.
Versions produced after 2002 remain owned by GSN, and reruns of earlier GSN-produced episodes of Lingo (except for season 1) air extensively on its current schedule.
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
with multiple international adaptations. The first American version aired from 1987–1988 in syndication, a second version of the show ran as an original series on GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
for six seasons from 2002–2007, and a third version began airing on GSN on June 6, 2011.
The game features two teams of two contestants each who attempt to guess five-letter words and use colored balls to place markers on a 5×5 numbered Lingo card, attempting to cover five spaces in a row in a fashion similar to bingo.
Main game
The game is played between two teams of two contestants each. At the start of the game, each team is given a Lingo card with 25 spaces on it, and seven spaces on each card are automatically covered. The champion team's card contains even numbers and blue markers, and the opponents' contains odd numbers and red markers.The team in control (beginning with the challengers) is shown the first letter of a five-letter word randomly selected by the show's Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computer. One team member attempts to guess the word and spells their guess. A red square is then placed around letters from their guess that are in the correct position and a yellow circle is placed around letters that are in the word but not in the correct position. If the team in control guesses the word on the first try, they win a $1,000 bonus. Otherwise, the other team member takes a guess, then the first team member takes the third guess, and so on.
If the team fails to identify the word within five guesses, fails to answer at any time within the five-second time limit, gives a misspelled or nonexistent word, gives a word that is not five letters in length, or gives a word that is only a proper name, control passes to the other team. If there is more than one letter unrevealed, one of those letters is revealed and the team is given five seconds to make a guess. If there is only one unrevealed letter in the word, it is not revealed, but during the five seconds of thinking time, the team is allowed to confer; this is the only time when conferring between teammates is permitted.
The team that correctly guesses the mystery word then pulls two Lingo balls out of a hopper in front of them. Eighteen of the balls are labeled with numbers corresponding to the numbers on their Lingo board; when a numbered ball is drawn, the corresponding space on the Lingo card is covered. Also in the hopper are three prize balls; when one of them is drawn, it is put aside and the contestant who drew it gets to pick again. Winning with one ball wins $250 in Traveler's cheque
Traveler's cheque
A traveler's cheque is a preprinted, fixed-amount cheque designed to allow the person signing it to make an unconditional payment to someone else as a result of having paid the issuer for that privilege.- Usage :As traveler's cheques can usually be replaced if lost or stolen A traveler's cheque...
s, winning with two also wins a trip and winning with all three is worth a jackpot which starts at $1,000 and increases by $500 every game the jackpot isn't claimed. Later in this version, there were only two prize balls. Winning with one got the trip and winning with both won the jackpot. Even later, the trip was phased out and the team had to draw both of the prize balls in order to win the jackpot. However, these prizes can only be claimed if the team wins the game.
Normally, the team keeps control after drawing their balls and may guess at the next mystery word. However, the hopper also contains three red balls; a team drawing one of these balls must immediately stop drawing and loses control. The opposing team then guesses at the next mystery word. Once balls are drawn, they are discarded (prize balls are placed in a stand on the team's podium as a reminder that the prize is in play), so the same ball cannot be drawn twice in one game.
The first team to cover numbers on their card that form a Lingo – five numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row – wins the game, $250 (along with the prizes from any prize balls they drew) and the right to play in the "No Lingo" bonus round. Later in this version the team won $500 for a vertical or horizontal Lingo, $1,000 for a diagonal Lingo and $2,000 for a Double Lingo (two lines completed with the same ball).
No Lingo bonus round
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The team is shown another Lingo card filled with even numbers. Sixteen are covered before the start of the round, arranged in a star shape along the diagonals, middle row and middle column. The center space, where the free space is on a normal bingo card, is left uncovered. The hopper is loaded with 37 numbered balls plus one gold ball. Unlike the main game in which only the numbers that actually appear on the Lingo card are loaded into the hopper, all the even numbers from 2 to 74 are added even if they have already been marked off on the card.
The contestants are staked with $500 and can choose to simply take this money and stop, or risk it by continuing to play. If the team chooses to continue, a five-letter mystery word is shown with the first letter and one of the other four letters revealed. The team is given the usual five chances to guess the mystery word; for each guess they use, they must draw one Lingo ball. If they fail to guess the word in five tries, they must draw an extra two balls, for a total of seven balls. If the team draws a numbered ball that appears on the board, that board space is covered and the ball is discarded, just like it would be in the normal game. If this forms a Lingo, the team immediately loses the bonus round and the prize money. If the team draws a numbered ball that does not appear on the board, the ball is simply discarded. If the team draws the gold ball, they are immediately allowed to stop drawing, their prize money is doubled and the gold ball is returned into the hopper.
If they manage to draw the required number of balls (or draw the gold ball) without completing a Lingo, the team's money doubles. The team can continue guessing words and drawing balls until the team either chooses to stop playing, forms a Lingo (and loses the money) or plays a maximum of five words and increases their winnings to $16,000. Each time the team chooses to continue playing, the Lingo board remains as it was with any previously drawn numbered balls still out of play, so the risk of forming a Lingo increases as time goes on.
If the team wins the main game a second time, the initial stake in the No Lingo round increases to $1,000, for a maximum potential of $32,000. If the team wins the main game a third (and final) time, the stake begins at $2,000 and can increase it to $64,000 by surviving all five words.
Later, when the prize structure changed for the main game, the main game prize was the opening stake for the bonus round. Up to five words were played, which made the top prize $16,000 after making a horizontal or vertical Lingo in the main game, $32,000 after making a diagonal Lingo in the main game and $64,000 if the main game was won with a Double Lingo. Six balls (instead of seven) were drawn if a word was not guessed in five tries. Additionally, teams were not limited to three wins or eliminated by a single loss; they played until they were defeated twice in the main game.
Main game
The main game is played nearly identical to the original version's, except that the object is to score the most points instead of being first to complete a Lingo. The team in the left podium begins the game. Each team is given a Lingo card showing twenty five numbers, after which ten numbers are marked off. The 10 pre-marked numbers are chosen in such a way that no more than three spaces are marked off on any row, column or diagonal.Teams again have five chances to guess the mystery word and control passes to the other team and gives them a bonus letter in the word (unless there is one unrevealed letter remaining) if an illegal word is given or the team runs out of time. The team who correctly guesses the mystery word receives 25 points and draws two balls from the hopper in front of them. Red balls again forfeit control to the other team, and unlike the original version, there are no prize balls. The team receives 50 points if they are able to complete a Lingo; otherwise, play continues with the team in control and a new five-letter word is played. After completing a Lingo, the team receives a new card with ten new numbers marked off, the hopper is reloaded with the corresponding numbers available on the new card, and control passes to the other team.
Each team's Lingo card carries over to round two from the first round, with the same numbers marked off as before. The team with the lower score begins the round, but if the teams are tied, the team in the right podium plays first in round two since the team in the left podium started round one. Teams received 50 points for correctly guessing a mystery word and 100 points for completing a Lingo. Additionally, three balls with question marks on them are added to each team's hopper. Choosing a question mark-ball acts as a wild card and the contestant may choose which number to mark off.
The team with the higher score at the end of the second round wins the game and moves on to Bonus Lingo. If teams are tied at the end of the second round, a mystery seven-letter word is shown with the first and last letters displayed. To advance to the Bonus Lingo round, teams must ring-in and say the correct word. An incorrect guess locks out the team and gives a free letter to the opposing team. If that team does not know the word, their opponents are unlocked and anybody can guess. Letters are continually revealed until a team ultimately guesses the correct word and wins the game.
Bonus Lingo
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The winning team is given two minutes and tries to guess as many mystery words as possible within the time limit. In each mystery word, two letters are initially revealed: the first letter and one of the remaining four letters, similar to the original version's endgame. If the team fails to guess a word in five tries, the word is revealed and the team moves on to the next word. The team wins $100 for each correctly-guessed word.
A Lingo card is then revealed with thirteen numbers marked off. The hopper contains twelve balls, one for each uncovered space on the board, and the team draws a ball for each mystery word successfully guessed in the first half of Bonus Lingo. Forming a Lingo wins the team a $4,000 prize package consisting of an Argus digital camera, a Borders
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....
gift card, a Croton watch and a Cassiopeia
Casio Cassiopeia
Casio Cassiopeia was the brand name of a PDA manufactured by Casio. It used Windows CE as the Operating system. Casio was one of the first manufacturers of PDAs, developing at the beginning small pocket-sized computers with keyboards and grayscale displays and subsequently moving to smaller units...
EM-500 Pocket PC plus the money earned in the first half of Bonus Lingo.
Season two changes
The team received one bonus letter for winning the game and an additional bonus letter for each Lingo completed in the main game. During the two minute time limit, teams could shout "bonus letter" at any point to have an additional letter revealed in the current mystery word, even if there was only one unrevealed letter.
Additionally, the layout of the Bonus Lingo card changed so that a team could complete a Lingo with just one ball. Twelve spaces (instead of thirteen) were marked off the Lingo board, and the twelve pre-marked spaces were chosen so that there would always be exactly one row, column or diagonal with four spaces marked off. If the team successfully completed a Lingo, the team won $5,000; otherwise they received $100 for each word solved in the first half of the round.
If the team completed a Lingo on the first draw, the team received a trip in addition to $5,000. This was changed to a Jamaican vacation package worth over $10,000 in season two, a trip to Harrah's Entertainment
Harrah's Entertainment
Caesars Entertainment Corporation is a private gaming corporation that owns and operates over 50 casinos, hotels, and seven golf courses under several brands. The company, based in Paradise, Nevada, is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues $8.9 billion...
in Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
for season three, $10,000 in cash for season four, and a jackpot that began at $10,000 and grew by $1,000 each episode until won in seasons five and six.
Tournaments and special episodes
GSN held a tournament of champions with particularly successful contestants from its second and third seasons. Instead of playing Bonus Lingo in the final tournament episode, a third round was played in which a correctly-guessed word was worth 75 points and a Lingo was worth 150 points. The question mark balls from the second round carried over to the third round. At the end of the show, the team with the most points won a Suzuki Verona for each teammate.A special episode that aired on April Fool's Day in 2003 had the entire roster of GSN's six original show hosts together playing for charity. While Woolery hosted, Mark Walberg
Mark L. Walberg
Mark Lewis Walberg is an American actor, television personality and game show host. His television credits include Antiques Roadshow , as well as the game shows Russian Roulette on GSN and The Moment of Truth on Fox....
(Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (game show)
Russian Roulette is an American game show created by executive producer Gunnar Wetterberg that ran for two seasons on Game Show Network from June 3, 2002 to June 13, 2003. It was hosted by Mark L. Walberg, with Burton Richardson announcing. Todd Newton hosted an April Fool's Day episode in 2003....
) and Marc Summers
Marc Summers
Marc Summers is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and a two-time talk show host. He is best known for hosting the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare and currently hosts Unwrapped on The Food Network.- Early career :Summers was born Marc Berkowitz in...
(WinTuition
WinTuition
WinTuition is an American game show created as an original series for Game Show Network, on which it ran from December 9, 2002 to April 1, 2003, with reruns airing until 2004. The game had a school-oriented theme in which three contestants competed to answer questions on general...
) played against Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy Montgomery
Lisa Kennedy Montgomery is an American political satirist, radio personality, and former MTV VJ...
(Friend or Foe?
Friend or Foe?
Friend or Foe? is an American game show based on knowledge and trust which aired on Game Show Network. Three teams of two strangers attempted to persuade their partner into sharing their accumulated winnings rather than stealing it for themselves....
) and Graham Elwood
Graham Elwood
Graham Elwood is an American comedian, actor and writer.Elwood hosted the Game Show Network original series Cram and the USA Network and syndicated game show Strip Poker. From October 2006, he appeared in a DirecTV testimonial commercial as "Graham - Customer since '01"...
(Cram
Cram (game show)
Cram is a game show that aired as an original series for GSN in 2003. The show featured two teams, each composed of two contestants. For 24 hours before taping, the contestants were sequestered in a warehouse, with the intent of staying awake and "cramming" various material such as trivia...
), with Walberg and Summers shutting them out 500–0. The sixth host to take part was Todd Newton
Todd Newton
Todd Newton is an entertainment personality and a three-time game show host.Newton has hosted Hollywood Showdown and Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, both on Game Show Network; and Coming Attractions on E!, as well as occasional episodes of Wild On... He is known for occasionally wearing a...
(Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck
Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck
Whammy! is an updated version of the American television game show Press Your Luck. Taped at Tribune Studios, the FremantleMedia production aired on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003 with repeats that continue to air...
), who served as the show's announcer.
Lingo occasionally featured theme weeks where the set was decorated, the host, hostess, and contestants wore costumes, and the theme music redone in the theme's style.
The prize for winning Bonus Lingo varied for episodes in which celebrity contestants competed. In one episode teams received $25,000 for their charity for a first-draw Lingo, where in another the team received $30,000 for completing a Lingo even after the first draw. The prize ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 for celebrity teams who were unable to complete a Lingo in the bonus round. Beginning in the fourth season, celebrity teams received an additional bonus letter.
2011–present
Each team begins the game with nine numbers marked off on their own board. At the start of the show, a member of each team draws a Lingo ball, and the team with the highest number gets to play first. If the ball is a number ball, it is also marked off as the tenth number on the team's board. If the ball is a stopper or a prize ball, no number is marked off.Teams receive a clue to the word and attempt to guess the five-letter word after being shown the first letter, as before. Correctly identifying the word also lets a team draw two Lingo balls. Number balls drawn are marked off on the team's card. Drawing a stopper ball cedes control to the opposing team. If a team draws a mystery prize ball, the team wins a bonus prize, theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome. In addition, certain episodes feature a sponsor and a wild-card ball on the teams' racks in place of, or in addition to, the prize ball. If a team draws a wild card ball, they can use it to cover any number on their card.
Correctly identifying words in round one earn $100, $200 in round two and $500 in round three. Completing a five-number Lingo awards the same payouts as correct words in each round. When a new board is issued to a team, nine numbers are pre-marked. Three words each are played in rounds one and three, while four words are played in round two. The team with the most money after round three keeps it and plays Bonus Lingo. If a team is mathematically unable to catch up, the game ends once the balls have been drawn for the last word.
In Bonus Lingo, the winning team has 90 seconds to correctly guess 5 five-letter words, receiving two letters in each word; however, no clues are given in Bonus Lingo. In certain sponsored episodes, the team may be issued a bonus letter on the first word. The team wins the identical amount earned in the main game for the first correct word and that amount is doubled for each additional correct word. The fifth correct word earns the team $100,000. The amount earned in Bonus Lingo is added to the team's total winnings.
Broadcast history
The first version premiered on September 28, 1987 with Michael ReaganMichael Reagan
Michael Edward Reagan is a former American radio host and Republican strategist. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Michael Reagan Talk Show, aired on stations throughout the United States on the Premiere Radio Networks before being dropped, after which it moved to Radio America...
, son of then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, as host and Dusty Martell as co-host. Beginning on February 22, 1988, executive producer Ralph Andrews took over as host, and Margaux MacKenzie replaced Martel as co-host. New episodes aired until March 25, 1988, with repeats airing until September of that year. The show was produced by Ralph Andrews
Ralph Andrews
Ralph Andrews is an American television producer best known for producing the hit 1960s game show You Don't Say!, the 1970s game show Celebrity Sweepstakes, and the original 1987 version of Lingo....
(in association with Bernstein/Hovis Productions) in Canada for syndication by ABR Entertainment in the United States.
On August 5, 2002, Game Show Network revived the program with Chuck Woolery
Chuck Woolery
Charles Herbert "Chuck" Woolery is an American game show host. He has had long-running tenures hosting several different game shows. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune from 1975–81, the original incarnation of Love Connection from 1983–94, and Scrabble from 1984–90...
as host. Woolery's co-host was Stacey Hayes
Stacey Hayes
Stacey Hayes is an English television infomercial spokesperson, comedienne, actress, model and one-time competitive ice-skater...
in season three. Hayes later had another co-host of her own near the end of the season known only as Paula. Both were later replaced by Shandi Finnessey
Shandi Finnessey
Shandi Ren Finnessey is an American beauty queen, model, television hostess, and actress. She is best known for winning the Miss USA title, as Miss Missouri USA. She previously held the title of Miss Missouri 2002 and competed in Miss America where she won a preliminary award...
for the remainder of the series. Randi Thomas, known for her work in Hooked on Phonics
Hooked on Phonics
Hooked on Phonics is a commercial brand of educational materials, originally designed for reading education through phonetics.Hooked on Phonics was developed in the 1980s by a father who wanted to help his son overcome his reading problems...
ads, was the offstage announcer in the second season, with Hayes acting as announcer in the third season. For the remainder of the series, contestants introduced themselves in the show's open and Shandi offered the "welcome back" before the beginning of Round Two after the second commercial break.
The first 20 episodes were recorded in the Netherlands on the set of the program's Dutch counterpart; subsequent episodes were produced in the United States. Five more seasons, filmed in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and each consisting of 65 episodes, began in December 2002, December 2003, August 2005, April 2006 and April 2007. GSN held back five unaired Hawaiian-themed episodes from the fourth season, and these episodes later aired beginning January 1, 2007.
In 2011, GSN announced the show would restart production after a four-year hiatus, with Bill Engvall
Bill Engvall
William Ray "Bill" Engvall, Jr. is an American comedian and actor best known for his work as a stand-up comic and as a member of the Blue Collar Comedy group.-Early life:Bill Engvall was born in Galveston, Texas...
as the new host. The first season of 40 episodes premiered on June 6, 2011.
Episode status
The rights to the 1980s version of the show are held by Ion Television. Ion included it in a February 2007 "viewers vote" on its website, with site visitors being able to vote for the show to be included in the network's schedule. Despite this, Ion has not aired this or any other game show (except the previous year's Family FeudFamily Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
episodes by special arrangement) since 2005.
Versions produced after 2002 remain owned by GSN, and reruns of earlier GSN-produced episodes of Lingo (except for season 1) air extensively on its current schedule.