Earliest Game Show Memory...

[RJSchex]

My earliest GS memory?

The tail end of the Bob Clayton version of "Concentration".  The following fall, when the show came back in syndication (with Jack Narz hosting) and the newer, larger, flashier set (as well as the full-color puzzles and the double play round), I was a confused little 3-year old.

What I most remembered about this version were:

(1) The opening, in which the "maze" logo re-arranged itself into the title logo
(2) On this version, the scoreboards doubled as a set of sliding doors through which the contestants made their entry onto the set.  (Also, a "maze" logo was behind those doors as well.)

[DoorNumberFour]

The USA repeats of "Talkabout" with Wayne Cox, especially the center-stage (IIRC) isolation booth.

I also remember Wink's "Trivial Pursuit" pretty well...in particular, each contestant's "game pie" and how delicious it looked.

[Footix]

I definitely remember noticing, along with a friend of mine, that Chain Reaction was now in "a new room." I'm also told that at age negative several months, the words "come on 5000" would always make me kick.

[toddyo]

Guess I'm another one remembering Three on a Match. Between that one, Hollywood Squares, and Concentration.

[calliaume]

The Hugh Downs version of Concentration, Jeopardy! with Art Fleming, Eye Guess, watching Hollywood Squares in prime time when I was sick -- this all must have been 1968.

[Sodboy13]

I was born in late 1978, and while I was born and raised on TPIR (I may have seen the first airing of Plinko, because I distinctly remember those two-stage "WIN!" reveals,) I have a couple of fragmented early game show memories:

For the longest time, I couldn't place it, but I remembered a show with green triangles, red circles, and lots of bright lights.  It wasn't until the late '90s, when a friend got GSN, that I realized I had seen the first incarnation of Match Game.  I also have fairly strong memories of the MG-HSH, and I remember thinking, as a child, "This guy hosting Hollywood Squares isn't very good."

I have vague memories of at least one other letter-turner (possibly Susan Stafford) on Wheel.  More vividly than anything, I remember asking myself, "Why is that one space worth $175 when all the others end in 50 and 00?"

I have a distinct memory of watching 10 numbered circles blink around a bunch of triangles.  Never knew what that was until the internets showed me it was "Battlestars."

And I have a very clear memory of laying down for a nap on a warm, sunny summer day, shades down in my bedroom, and hearing the distinctive clang and buzz of Family Feud coming from the TV in the basement.

So yeah, that's as far back as I go.  1981-82 range.  With all this floating in my head, it's no wonder I can't retain anything useful.

[TwoInchQuad]

My mother was a soap opera fanatic, so I had to catch what I could, but I definitely remember  "To Tell the Truth" around 1963.  "Queen for a Day",  too.

Later, when I got into school, I'd hurry home every day to see "Match Game" & "You Don't Say!".  And during vacations & school breaks over the years, I'd watch "Concentration", "Eye Guess" "Jeopardy!", "Hollywood Squares" "Password", "Split Second", "The Who, What or Where Game" and "Let's Make a Deal".

Never had much of a chance to see the primetime G-T shows when they originally aired, though... my parents were always watching something else.

-Kevin

[trainman]

I remember watching, of all things, "Cross-Wits," circa 1978 or 1979 (age 4 or 5).

[dzinkin]

My earliest game show memory is of the first run of High Rollers, which made its debut when I was four years old.  I recall being on vacation when the show returned in 1978 and wondering why the set looked different -- and when, many years later, I saw each of the two '75 episodes at the Museum of TV & Radio, for a brief moment I felt like a kid again.

The first game shows I recall watching regularly were The Joker's Wild -- the '77-78 syndie episodes aired every morning as I was getting ready for day camp -- and The Price is Right.  That summer WROC also ran promos for TJW, with what would become the '78-86 open playing as Jack Barry asked viewers to watch his show and The Midmorning Break, a local talk show.  Oddly, I also recall being eager to see Jeopardy! when it returned in '78, and thinking that it would be great to see it again, but currently I don't have any memory of watching Art Fleming's first run.

[Adam Nedeff]

Earliest memories...I can remember with "Rain Man"-like clarity sitting in a church rectory and watching one of the 1986 Price specials on a black & white TV while my mother was doing a choir rehearsal.

First game show I watched regularly: USA's "Hot Potato" reruns...Remember when you were a kid and you realized you could make it look like you were smoking when you went outside on a cold day? I used to yell "Hot Potato!" before I did that.

First home game: Grandparents bought me a "Wheel of Fortune" home game once. Not for a birthday or Christmas, just your typical "because we're GRANDPARENTS, that's why" purchase.

I also remember watching the syndicated versions of "Double Dare" and "Finders Keepers" when WSAZ aired them as part of the second half of "The Mr. Cartoon Show." Sadly, right before I got into tape-trading, the VCR ate the tape of my brother and I in the audience shouting "1-2-3-Gooooooooo!" on Mr. Cartoon's cue to start the episode...Sigh...Local television, we hardly knew ye...

Yes, the title of the thread says single-tense "memory," but what can I say? You opened a floodgate... :-)

[PYLdude]

I remember back when I was three, watching the morning block on CBS (save for Sale of the Century, which was always a favorite of mine) with my grandmother, who'd watch me during the mornings.

And of course, as the day wore on, I'd have time to catch Jeopardy! at 4 and whatever was running after it, in this case Card Sharks  (I wasn't even aware WABC had picked up Sale to run after it until I browsed through some old newspaper clippings in the microfilm room at the library...Two of my favorites of all time, running back to back like that? How I wish I had been older at the time, or at least figured out how to work a VCR.).

[bscripps]

It's not technically "watching" or "playing", but the earliest memory I have of *anything* is GS-related.  I have a very, very vague memory from when I was very young--I'm guessing I was about three or four.  I was in a bedroom; for some reason, I think it was at my grandparents' house in Middleboro.  I remember pulling open a drawer on a dresser and finding a home version of "Password" inside.  And that's it.  The whole thing.  

It's certainly the most surreal memory I have, but for as long as I've lived, it's also been the oldest memory I've had.  (And lest you think it unlikely that a three-year old would recognize such a thing...well, considering that my mom wrote in my baby memories book that at age two, my favorite TV shows were "Sesame Street" and "The Price is Right", I don't find it that hard to believe...:-) )

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'bscripps\' post=\'148478\' date=\'Mar 17 2007, 01:35 AM\']
It's not technically "watching" or "playing", but the earliest memory I have of *anything* is GS-related.  I have a very, very vague memory from when I was very young--I'm guessing I was about three or four.  I was in a bedroom; for some reason, I think it was at my grandparents' house in Middleboro.  I remember pulling open a drawer on a dresser and finding a home version of "Password" inside.  And that's it.  The whole thing.  
[/quote]


Thank Goodness!  Imagine what direction your life would have gone if you pulled open the drawer with the dirty magazines in it!!  :-P

[JayDLewis]

I have memories of childhood things from when I was 2 but GS-wise it would be Match Game 70s and Price...specifically the little cars of It's Optional.

I can also remember Dawson-era Feud and thinking how cool it was that the families huddled on the stairs (but not the lollipop trees).

Funny how this thread popped up (for me anyway). My first ever question/post to ATGS was to aks about my fuzzy Price memory of a car going along a dirt road. That was 12 years ago to the month (IIRC).

Also, anyone else feel old when some members say their first memory was from the early 90s or that they were born in the late 80s/early 90s? I know there was a "What's Your Age?" thread but did anyone figure out the average age of the posters here?

[Strikerz04]

I was 2 or 3 when I recalled watching "$ale" and "Scrabble" in the same day. I was more impressed (or mesmerized) with the flashing lights and spinning gameboard/turntable at that time.

My first game show home game was the Junior "Wheel of fortune" in 1989, when my parents believed I was 'too young' to play the old folks' version (funny that 16 years later, I proved them wrong).

I seriously wished I knew how to program that damn VCR, that way I could've had a decent GS collection by now (I'm quite satisfied with taping everything off of GSN back in 1999-2000).