air dates: 10/2/61-9/15/67 on CBS daytime, 1/2/62-9/9/65, 12/25/66-5/22/67 & 6/1/08-present (Million Dollar Password), ABC daytime 4/5/71-6/27/75, NBC daytime 1/8/79-3/26/82 (Password Plus) & 9/24/84-3/24/89 (Super Password)
hosts: Allen Ludden ('61-'80), Tom Kennedy (11/27/80-'82), Bert Convy (Super Password), Regis Philbin (Million Dollar Password)
sub-hosts: Jack Clark ('60s), Betty White, Monty Hall (ABC), Bill Cullen (4/14-5/12/80)
announcers: Jack Clark ('61-'65), Lee Vines ('65-'67), Gene Wood ('79-'89), John Harlan (ABC & subbed in '80), Rich Jeffries ('84)
CBS version ("Yes, it's Password!"): Two teams, each composed of a celeb and a regular contestant, competed in a game of word association. Each team was given a "password", a single non-hyphenated word which was not a proper name. One member of the first team gave a one-word clue. If the partner said the exact password, the team scored 10 points. Otherwise, the other team got a chance at the password. The latter applied if a clue consisted of more than one word, any part/form of the word, a hyphenated word, etc, or if the giver used any incriminating gestures. Each clue lowered the score for that word by one point. If neither player guessed the password after 5 turns, that word was tossed out and they went on to the next password. If the guesser's response was a form of the password, (s)he had one more chance to guess the exact password. The first team to score 25 points played the Lightning Round.
For one minute, the celeb gave single-word clues to five passwords, one at a time. Each correctly guessed password netted the contestant $50, which implied that $250 could be won here. The team could pass on a word but coudn't come back to it..
On the daytime show, two players played two games against each other. The winner of each game won $100 and played the Lightning Round, so that both players could each win $350 or one player could win up to $700. Both players switched partners after the first Lightning Round. On the nightie show, the winner snagged $250 and a chance at that much more. Early on the nighttime run, the same two contestants competed against each other for the entire show, changing partners after each game. Very shortly thereafter, two players each played one game, with the loser taking home $50.
ABC VERSIONS:
"From Hollywood, the word game of the stars, Password!": On each word, the clue giver on one team would be given the option to either give the first clue or have the giver on the other team do so (pass or play). A word would be tossed out after three failed attempts from each team. Thus, each password scored 5-10 points. The winning team played the one-minute Lightning Round for up to $250 (5 passwords at $50 a pop). After the Lightning Round, the contestant could bet any or all of those winnings for that game on whether (s)he could successfully convey a "betting word" to his/her celeb partner in 15 seconds. Starting in '73, teams played best-of-3 matches, with partner changes after each game. The first contestant to win 2 games played the Lightning Round, now worth $100/word. Each champion could play up to 10 Lightning Rounds.
The four top winners over a period of three months competed in an elimination playoff. The two finalists played best-of-3 for $1,000 and a spot in the annual Tournament of Champions. At the end of the year, the four quarterly winners competed in a World-Series-style playoff, with the winner picking up $5,000 and playing a best-of-seven match against the champ from the previous year's tourney for $10,000.
"These are the Password All-Stars!": On 11/15/74, the game's name was changed to Password All-Stars. Six celebs played for an entire week. Two of them alternated giving clues to the other four on the lower part of the stage. The first player to buzz in and guess the password scored. The first guesser to guess two passwords paired up with the giver of his/her choice. The next player to do so teamed with the other giver for the main game. Each password still scored 5-10 points and the first giver chose to pass, play or double. If the latter was selected, each team got one shot at guessing the word, but for 20 points. The first team to score 25 points played the 20/20 round, in which each member of the winning team conveyed one word to each other. Doing so in 20 seconds scored each player another 20 points towards their final score for the week. Each player scored the amount of his/her team's score after each game. Ergo, each member of a team which finished a game with 32 points would earn 32 points towards their final score for the week. The four highest-scoring players from Monday-Thursday played on Friday. The player with the highest score at the end of the show won $5k for his/her favorite charity and a spot in the Grandmasters' Tournament, which was played the same way, but with the winner for that week earning an additional $25k for their favorite charity.
"...and the name of your game is Password!": After the second All-Stars GM tourney was played, the show went back to a celeb/contestant format, and the show was renamed Password. Four contestants, including 2 newcomers, received clues from the two celebs. The first two to each get three passwords teamed with the celebs. The first one to do so picked a celeb to play with. The pass/play/double option remained. The first team to 50 points played the 3-part Big Money Lightning Round with a very complicated payoff structure. In the each part, the contestant must guess 3 passwords in 30 seconds. The non-celeb would be paid as follows:
Part 1: $25/word = value of each word in part 2. If they got all three words, $75 + ($5 x time left) = value of each word in part 2.
Part 2: Part 1 winnings times the number of words identified. All three added $10/second. If no passwords were guessed correctly, the round ended but the non-celeb still kept his/her part 1 winnings.
Part 3: Nailing all 3 words in 30 seconds multiplied the contestant's part 2 winnings tenfold.
Contestants were allowed to win a maximum of $30,000. Once a player reached this limit, (s)he retired undefeated and 3 newcomers would be presented.
"IT'S MORE THAN PASSWORD; IT'S PASSWORD PLUS!"
Each team would be given 2 turns to identify the password (3 during the first half year). The password could also be a proper name, hyphenated, or 2 words. A few months into the run, opposites of passwords were considered off-limits to the clue givers. The player who guessed the password was allowed to take a guess at the Password Puzzle. In each round, a maximim of five passwords were played. Each word for that round related to a specific person, place, thing, etc. For the first puzzle, the celebs gave the clues. The roles switched after each puzzle. If nobody knew the password, it was put up on the board and nobody was allowed a guess at the puzzle. If the fifth password was guessed, the guesser for that team took the first stab at the puzzle. If wrong, the clue giver was given a chance. If (s)he too failed, the puzzle was trashed and a new one was played. Usually, the host would call for a guess from the studio audience, who were fortunate enough to have the correct answer most of the time. Anyhoo, the first team to solve the puzzle earned the contestant money. Each of the first two puzzle solvings earned $100, with each puzzle thereafter being worth $200. The first contestant to pocket $300+ played Alphabetics.
In Alphabetics, the guesser would be shown ten consecutive letters, something like A-J, C-L, or J-S. Get it? Each of 10 passwords started with one of those letters. No 2 or more passwords started with the same letter, they each started with a different letter. The guesser must identify all ten passwords within one minute. Each identified password paid the contestant $100. Nailing all ten won $5,000 minus $1,000 per illegal clue.
In the fall of '81, a couple of changes took effect. The first THREE puzzles were valued at $100 a pop, with the contestants switching celeb partners after the third puzzle. From then on, each puzzle paid $200 with a score of $500+ winning the game. Also, Alphabetics was played for a jackpot worth $5,000 + $5,000/loss. If the jackpot was won, each illegal clue cost $2,500, later 1/5 of the jackpot. Throughout the entire run, champions retired after playing Alphabetics 7 times. The last show ended with $5,000 going to whomever was ahead.
"IT'S PASSWORD...IT'S SUPER PASSWORD!"
Played like before, but with super payoffs. Opposites were never off-limits to the clue givers on this version. The first puzzle was played for $100, the second for $200 and a shot at the Ca$hword, then $300, and, if needed, $400. If the team that guessed the fifth password couldn't solve the puzzle, both opponents were given a crack at it. The team who solved the $200 puzzle played Ca$hword, in which the celeb was shown a difficult password and was allowed to give up to three clues. Identifying the Ca$hword netted the player a bonus cash prize, not affecting game score, which started @ $1,000 with each loss adding another grand. After Ca$hword was played, the contestants switched partners. The first contestant to rack up $500+ played Super Password, played the same as Alphabetics, with the jackpot being worth $5k + $5k/loss. Each word was still worth $100. A foul clue tossed that word out and therefore meant no chance at the jackpot. Each champion could play SP up to 5 times.
In the Tournament of Champions, eight big winners competed. No Ca$hword was played and each SP was played for $2,500. The winner of the finals picked up $25k and played Super Password for another $25k. On the celebrity All-Star Specials, Ca$hword was always played for a grand and the Super Password was always played for a flat $5k.
During the Tournament of Losers, all contestants who won no money were given a second chance to win cash, with the SP being played for $5k, the Ca$hword for $1,000, and $10k going to the biggest money winner at the end of the week. On the last show, Heather Daily played for $10k after solving the $100 puzzle because no time was left for a $200 puzzle.
Million Dollar Password: In each round, 2 players are given 30 seconds to convey up to 5 passwords to their teammates. The celebrities give the clues during the first and third round and their partners give the clues during the second and fourth round. After the second round, the players switch partners. The contestant with the highest score after the fourth round plays for $1,000,000!!!
The winner would be partnered with the celebrity with whom most of his/her points were scored. (S)he also decides as to whom would give the clues. In each phase, the guesser must identify 5 passwords in 90 seconds in order to move one step up the money ladder. The giver is allowed a maximum of 3 clues for each password. A fourth clue or a pass tosses that word out. If 5 passwords are guessed in 90 seconds, the contestant wins money, which increases as follows:
level 1: 5 out of 10 passwords for $10,000.
level 2: 5 out of 9 for a GUARANTEED $25,000.
level 3: 5 out of 8 for $50,000.
level 4: 5 out of 7 for $100,000.
level 5: 5 out of 6 for $250,000.
level 6: all 5 passwords (no passes) for $1,000,000!!!
If the contestant crashes at either of the first 2 levels, (s)he leaves with nothing. If (s)he succeeds at level 2, (s)he leaves with at least $25,000. Once the contestant wins $100,000, the clue giver is shown 5 passwords for the next level before deciding whether or not to continue.
For the second set of episodes, success at the $250k level guaranteed a free shot at $1M, and failure on either of the first 2 levels allowed a second chance at that level.
OTHER TIDBITS:
Whenever Allen Ludden was presented at the start of the show, before taking his place at the podium, he usually said "Hi, doll" to his mom-in-law, Tess White. He was, of course, married from 1963-1981 to Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls), who won her only Emmy for hosting a game show (Just Men) in '83.
On Plus, in the spring of '80, Allen took one month off and Bill Cullen filled in. Tom Kennedy became the new host on 10/27/80 after Allen suffered a stroke. Allen eventually died from stomach cancer on 6/9/81.
On one episode of Plus, guest player Jack Narz switched places with his brother, host Tom Kennedy (born Jim Narz).
Bert Convy also hosted Tattletales, Win Lose or Draw, 3rd Degree, and the pilot for the '90 revival of Match Game for ABC. He later fell ill with brain cancer and died in '91.
One SP contestant known as Patrick Quinn was actually identified by a home viewer as an insurance con artist named Kerry Ketcham. And sure enough, he was nabbed.