LINGO
Premiere: August 5th, 2002
Host: Chuck Woolery
Announcer: Randi Thomas (season 2)
Assistant: Stacy Hayes
Two teams of two compete. Each gets a Bingo card, with 10 of the numbers filled in. Team 1 gets the first letter to a five letter word. They make a guess at the word's identity. If they get a letter in it's correct spot it turns orange. If the letter is in the word, but is in another space, then the letter becomes yellow. A team gets as many as five chances to get the word, but if they guess a word that isn't five letters or isn't a real word, control passes and their opponents get a free letter. If a team uses all five guesses, control changes. Once the word is identified that team gets 25 points and draws two balls from the hopper. If the ball contains a number, that number is covered on the card. If the ball is red, their turn is over. More words are played. When a team gets five numbers covered in a row, they "Lingo" and get 50 points. In season two and on, every Lingo translated into one "free letter" in the bonus round. That team then gets a new card. When the buzzer sounds, round 1 is over.In round two, point values double, and "?" balls are added to the mix. "?" act as wild cards, and can be used to cover any number. When the second buzzer sounds, the team in the lead goes to "Bonus Lingo."
The team has 2 minutes to guess as many words as possible. Two letters in the word are given for free. Each word they correctly guess is worth $100 and a Lingo Ball. When time runs out, the players draw as many balls as they won and try to make a "Lingo" on a card with 13 numbers covered to start. If a "Lingo" is made, they win a prize package worth over $4,000.
In the second season, the bonus game was reworked a bit. In addition to retooling the computer system, the players can call for a "free letter" they earned in the main game to put the correct letter in the first open spot in the word. In some episodes (depends on where in the taping order it came from) they are allowed to complete a word with a free letter - other shows, they can't. After two minutes are up, the players are given a card as usual, but one spot is a Lingo right off the bat. If they can fill it, they win a vacation plus $5,000. If they miss on the first ball, they can still acheieve a Lingo for $5,000. If they don't, they win $100 for every word they got in the first part.NOTES
The show taped it's first season on the Netherlands version's set. Contestants were American residents living in the Netherlands. There was no audience in the studio.
There was no announcer during the opening of the first 20 shows, all taped overseas. Chuck read the prize plugs for the bonus round.
The prize package in the first 20 shows was a Borders gift card, Croton watch, Argus digital camera and a Casio Pocket PC.
Randi Thomas, the second season announcer, is best known as the "Hooked-on-Phonics lady" who reminded viewers to call at 1-800-A-B-C-D-E-F-G.
For season three, another new set debuted. In early shows, it lacked neon and a second assistant joined Stacy. Her job was to intro the contestants and gesture at the "Lingo" screen. In addition, she walked over in the bonus round to introduce the number that won the vacation, and mixed it into the hopper.
In season two, the vacation was to the Grand Lido resort in Jamaica. For the third order of shows, it was a trip to Harrah's casino in Las Vegas.
Celebrity shows featured GSN hosts and California governor candidates.
MY THOUGHTS
A fun way to spend a half-hour. There is a lot of play-along value, especially with the dummy contestants who you'll, I'm sure, have fun correcting. Luckily, they've been improved somewhat on the U.S. shows. Some have cried fowl at the non-straddling format, but I think it works fine. The payouts aren't terribly bad. Especially with the advent of the new vacation bonus.
JAY SAYS...
Cast - 2.0
Game - 1.5
Bells and Whistles - 2.0
Prize - 1.5
Tilt - 2.0