Game show memories from your childhood

[Twentington]

What are some of your earliest game show related memories? I'm sure most of you got into this rather early — i.e., way before I was born. :-P

Some of my earliest memories are bits and pieces of what my grandmother watched: Card Sharks and PYL reruns on USA (all I remember from either was its logo — even at age 3, I thought PYL's logo looked like that of Bekins Van Lines), Wipeout, LMaD'90, and of all things, TTD'90. While mom usually watched Classic Concentration and Combs Feud.

But my more specific memories come from around 1992. I was 5, and we had just started visiting an elderly couple. We would sit and watch Jeopardy!, Wheel and sometimes other shows with them. From Wheel, I remember quite a lot:

* Not understanding Before & After (two I remember were CHARLIE BROWN PAPER BAG and PARDON MY FRENCH FRIES).
* A promo that had Vanna popping out of a suitcase, that somehow aired twice in a row one day.
* Being utterly terrified of WNEM's logo at the time, particularly when it would pop up without warning mid-game so they could chyron the lottery numbers on-screen. One day, they just put the lottery numbers on a plain screen during the commercial break, sans logo.
* A game from Soap Opera College Challenge (specifically, their taking forever to figure out SQUID'S SQUIRT with the Q's, U's and I's missing, and the misspelled bonus puzzle FOG HORN being way up at the top of the board).
* The lady who guessed C D Z O on the bonus puzzle ZOO, including Pat's reaction of "What kind of game is this?!" after RSTLNE turned up nothing.
* The electric guitar solo in the 1992 mix of "Changing Keys", and wondering where said theme went several years later.
* And while not game show related, ads for Kessel Foods and ABC Warehouse.

[toddyo]

Being able to watch the gameshows in the 70's as they aired. The one thing game shows did for me was that they actually educated. Trivial bits but you could learn nuggest of knowledge. And, I learned how odds worked through Celebrity Sweepstakes. Nowadays....I miss end tag announcements, mid episode ticket announcements like MG and shows that are recorded live to tape with little or no editing involved. The mark of a true director.

[MikeK]

I remember watching Hollywood Squares in its final NBC year and watching Whew! and TPiR at the hospital when my mom was in labor with my sister.  A slightly later but more vivid memory is being scared of the Las Vegas Gambit lock-in sounds.  Back in the day, snow days and off days from school meant wall-to-wall game shows from 9 or 10 AM through at least 4 PM.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

One that comes to mind right away was when I was watching the opening to one episode of Wipeout with Peter Tomarken. It began with him riding a bicycle around the circular structure where he typically made his entrance from.

[DrBear]

Mostly the panel shows from the early 60s - I remember seeing the "In The Good Old Somerstein" bit - and Concentration with that board and the door slides that magically went from one side to the other. I also remember when Password went from its original set to its best-known one - I thought the Password logo was placed on a football-shaped sign because it was almost Packer season and CBS carried the Packer games!

[pacdude]

* A promo that had Vanna popping out of a suitcase, that somehow aired twice in a row one day.

That was a spot for Choice Hotels. The company I currently work for produced that commercial.

[geno57]

I remember all four of the sets used on the original Concentration, plus the one they built for the far more spectacular nighttime version.  It was Concentration that got me hooked on game shows, from the time I was a toddler!

I remember when Password changed its sets, and its theme music, from the stock production cut to the custom "swing" theme that we know so well.

I watched the original (NBC) Match Game.  Missed the first show, but caught it the rest of the week.  (MG's 50th anniversary is coming up December 31st, btw.)

[clemon79]

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.)

[Johnissoevil]

Earliest memory for me is late 70s, watching TJW, TTD, Bowling for Dollars, Narz Concentration reruns, Clark CrossWits, and Feud at night, Wheel, Price, $20K Pyramid, Gong Show, and Feud during the day.

[Chief-O]

-Being startled by the "Scrabble" Sprint win sirens [I'd pay---OK, maybe not!--to hear them in the clear]
-Likewise, being startled by the "Classic Concentration" bonus round buzzer/horns
-Thinking Bob Eubanks, not Goen, hosted "Blackout" [must've seen some "Card Sharks" in my infant days--that's probably the only way I'd have heard his name]

[JasonA1]

I don't specifically remember the earliest one, but I have a few:  my parents tell me I would "play Wipeout" in my toddler years, running back and forth using a wall like this one as my "monitors."

I remember moving into a new house and whining for the TV to be hooked up, just in time to catch the last few rounds of Combs Feud.

I remember going ice skating on a frozen pond-turned-rink-for-the-season and holing up in the shack where you could warm up to catch a Classic Concentration car game.

-Jason

[Jimmy Owen]

I'm 51, so my first memories are from the mid '60's.  I remember liking "Call My Bluff."  Watching WML meant I was up reeeely late, and I liked how Orson Bean filled out his ballot on TTTT.

[TLEberle]

and the misspelled bonus puzzle FOG HORN being way up at the top of the board).

Drink.

[BrandonFG]

When I was 2, I had knee surgery. I vividly remember watching The $25,000 Pyramid in the hospital.

I also remember watching Strike It Rich and Crosswits at daycare.

For some reason, I always wanted the card table from Eubanks'/Rafferty's CS...also for some reason, I told my uncle that the wheel from Wheel of Fortune came from Pep Boys. :-P

And I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought the PYL logo looked like the Bekins moving company logo! I was probably about 3 or 4, but I remember making the connection after seeing a moving truck outside my old apartment.

[TimK2003]

My earliest recollection had to be the original sets of "It Takes Two" and the set of "Sale Of The Century".