Also interesting that the set contained eggcrate scoreboards, instead of the traditional UK vanes.
That picture was from a U.S. pilot hosted by Jim Peck c. early-1985, per the photo. Notice, too, the monitors below each player (gasp!).
The format had elements of what you saw in the UK eventually. The first round was 3-letter word chains, with the crossword clues beforehand. Each right answer was worth whatever you stopped on in the shuffle - an amount from $10-$100, or "tie-the-leader." Whoever led when time was called got to run up their score with the "booby trap" round, where your opponents wrote a word you could chain from a master word (on their telestrators; hence the monitors). You doubled your initial stake ($10) with each successive new word they didn't say, up to four (IIRC). This happened once more with increased stakes and 4-letter words, culminating in one last tie-the-leader shuffle thing with 5-letter words to determine a winner. B&E, never being one to create a dull moment - the last spin of the game quite obviously "lands" on the tie-the-leader space. The bonus was the same as the British one, played for $10,000.
By the time it got to the UK, they figured out the game was more in the chain-of-words idea than the clues, which were only heard in the final round of that version. Very cool photo!
-Jason
