At some point during 1997(?), they began running promos during Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for GSN. Being intrigued and awestruck by the idea of an entire channel for game shows, I flipped through my cable lineup, and no GSN. First time it ever really hit me that there were entire channels of TV out there that I didn't get.
Though the promos during Wheel/J! kept the channel's existence in my mind, I moved on. That Thanksgiving, the family went to my aunt's for Thanksgiving dinner. They had satellite, and after flipping channels for a minute or two on one of the TVs, there it was. GSN. An episode of Jeopardy was just starting, and I was marveled at how it had the "old" (read: early 90s) set they'd gotten rid of. Watched J! and the first half of $25K Pyramid that day, and was hooked.
Got to see the channel in very limited quantities for the next few years. Hotel stays and visits to my aunt's. Loved every fleeting glimpse I got. Was out of my mind for probably the first two months after they added the channel in 2001 - if my TV was on, it was on GSN. Eventually programming changed and the novelty wore off, of course, but the concept of a channel of nothing but game shows, to a younger me, was truly marvelous.