Hosted by Ted Kennedy, NBC’s daytime gameshow Wordplay replaced Search for Tomorrow after a 35-year run. Essentially an update of Call My Bluff, the show lasted less than a year.
Two players took turns choosing one of nine words on a board. Three guest celebrities then each offered their own humorous dictionary definitions for the selected word, with only one being true.
A player identifying the correct definition won a hidden dollar amount attached to the word. After six words had been picked, the highest-scoring contestant played an end game where the object was to connect a 24-square board (six columns of four boxes) from one side to another in 45 seconds for $5,000.
This was done by guessing the word suggested by two definitions revealed in a box and thus claiming the box. An incorrect guess led to a block and forced a player to go to an adjacent box in order to continue.
A contestant could try up to two more days for a total prize of $10,000 following a successful defence of their post in the regular game.
Celebrity panellists included Jamie Farr (from M*A*S*H), Marsha Warfield, Norm Crosby, Betty White, Charles Nelson Reilly, Phyllis Diller, Charlie Callas, Leslie Nielsen, Vincent Price, Sally Struthers, Dick Van Patten, Richard Simmons and Roseanne Barr.
A player identifying the correct definition won a hidden dollar amount attached to the word. After six words had been picked, the highest-scoring contestant played an end game where the object was to connect a 24-square board (six columns of four boxes) from one side to another in 45 seconds for $5,000.
