Game show memories from your childhood

[SuperMatch93]

Ken Jennings. (I was 9 at the time)

[Twentington]

(Gets ready for the barrage of "THE HELL OFF MY LAWN" that is imminent.)

Out of curiosity, besides you, Benfield and me, is anyone else on this forum under 25?

(And I'm not under by much; I turn 25 on 3/10.)

[Jay Temple]

Based on where we lived, I must have seen J! as early as 1970, probably 1969. I don't have a clear memory of seeing Concentration that soon, but I must have, because it was around that time that someone taught me the card game and I wanted to know where the Wild Cards were.

[trainman]

My earliest memories are of Jack Clark's "Cross-Wits" and what must have been syndicated "Match Game," i.e., circa 1979.

[Kniwt]

Johnny Olson's voice on nighttime To Tell The Truth inexplicably would terrify the living daylights out of me, and I would have to run into another room when it came on. Fortunately, I got over it by the time T(N)PIR came along.

[clemon79]

Based on where we lived, I must have seen J! as early as 1970, probably 1969. I don't have a clear memory of seeing Concentration that soon, but I must have, because it was around that time that someone taught me the card game and I wanted to know where the Wild Cards were.

They were the aces, of course. How else do you play Concentration?

[PYLdude]

Based on where we lived, I must have seen J! as early as 1970, probably 1969. I don't have a clear memory of seeing Concentration that soon, but I must have, because it was around that time that someone taught me the card game and I wanted to know where the Wild Cards were.

They were the aces, of course. How else do you play Concentration?

You could play it on the computer of course...at least that's what we did in first grade.

We had this old computer (well, for the time I suppose it was state of the art- this is 1989 we're talking about, FTR) and when we'd have playtime in class we'd gather around the computer and it seemed like the one game everyone liked to play was the Concentration game. I guess we all were Alex Trebek fans or something, lol.

[Steve Gavazzi]

When I was 3, we visited my aunt in California.  I remember being excited when I discovered that The $25,000 Pyramid was on TV all the way across the country just like it was in PA.

[geno57]

plus the one they built for the far more spectacular nighttime version.

What was more spectacular about it? (Curious as a Concentration fan who only knows the pre-Narz versions from what I've seen here.)

It was in color ... had generally more "flash", and more obvious "production values" (budget, in other words) ... I think I even remember some chase lights, and a band or orchestra (rather than daytime's organist.)

Mr. Blumenthal might be able to shed more light than I can.  I was all of four years old!

[geno57]

for me...when I was around 4 years old seeing the Concentration board trilons turn & the prize slides; the Password Lightning round words pop out of the table; and the original Jeopardy! board. The sets from the 60's to the late 70's always fascinated me.

In case you haven't seen it already ... If you join TVPMM and access "The Vault", you can look at Ted Cooper's original 1961 drawings for the Password Lightning Round machine.

[Craig Karlberg]

My earliest memory came around 1969 when the nighttime TTTT was on & I distinctly remember hearing that music that plays to start the show.  It was undeniably catchy.  That may've guided me into game shows just on the music.  After all, sometimes music can help a show just as well as gameplay format or the host &/or the set.  It wasn't untill TPIR came along untill I watched game shows for the gameplay aspect of it.

[The Ol' Guy]

Done this before, but let me see if I can come up with some different "8-second earliest memory flashes" while growing up in Battle Creek.
Being fascinated by that weird blinking device that determined money amounts on Double Exposure. And loving the theme from Your Surprise Package.
Cullen's Price Is Right...always a winner!
Having to ride my bike to my great-grandmother's house during the summer because somehow her little portable tv was able to pick up a new ABC station from Grand Rapids that let me watch Get The Message and the moved-from-NBC Missing Links.  
Once my stepfather put an old tv in the basement, there was no more fussing between me and mom over soaps and game shows. Headed right for the basement for the lineup that started with Say When at 10 am.
Also had a chance to watch a few moments of Make A Face. Somehow, our rotating antenna allowed us to occasionally pick up channel 12 out of Flint/Saginaw. Very fleeting memory.
And finding Jerry Van Dyke's Picture This very interesting. Tried to make a home game with spare game cards from Camouflage...which, come to think of it, was another 8-second memory moment from channel 12.

[Offshored2007]

From Concentration:
1. The klunk-klunk noise of the trilons spinning
2. Hugh Downs scaring the beejeezus out of me when a puzzle was solved: "IS RIGHT!"

From Jeopardy!
1. The pointy water cups on the podiums
2. Art Fleming singing the song when some sort of musical clue was revealed.

[Jimmy Owen]

From Concentration:
1. The klunk-klunk noise of the trilons spinning
2. Hugh Downs scaring the beejeezus out of me when a puzzle was solved: "IS RIGHT!"

From Jeopardy!
1. The pointy water cups on the podiums
2. Art Fleming singing the song when some sort of musical clue was revealed.

The cool thing about the pointy water cup is that one is forced to return it to the place it belongs.

[WhammyPower]

I remember specifically that I always watched TPiR every day during kindergarten (Our school district had half-day kindergarten at the time; I was in the afternoon session).

I can also vaguely remember watching some "Press Your Luck" (apparently on USA reruns, as you can judge from the below statement) and remembering shouting "PASS!" at my TV.

Out of curiosity, besides you, Benfield and me, is anyone else on this forum under 25?

Hi. (I'm currently 23)