Top 12 answers on the board, ever?

[Otm Shank]

A couple of questions about Family Feud that have occupied my brain for over 40 years now. Now seems as good a time as any to ask...

Did they ever have a survey with 12 answers on the board? I think I remember a 10 once, but don't recall more than that.

Somewhat related, was the rule that in the main game they always listed every answer that got 2 responses, or did they occasionally cut off under the premise that it wasn't in the Top X answers on the board? Thinking like a triple board that had a high top answer and they might have trimmed some of the single-digit answers to keep it to Top 3 or 4.

If it was a hard and fast rule, I suppose a survey with many small value answers would just be earmarked for Fast Money.

[Jeremy Nelson]

I remember seeing a 10 as well, but no more.

I feel like they cut off answers in the Triple round, as sometimes the answers would only add up to 80-85.

[Marc412]

I’d guess that if there are a lot of two- or three-pointers for a given survey, they wouldn’t have room on the board for all of them so they get left off.

[MSTieScott]

Somewhat related, was the rule that in the main game they always listed every answer that got 2 responses, or did they occasionally cut off under the premise that it wasn't in the Top X answers on the board?

The latter. Here's a question I saw on a 1981 episode that aired on Buzzr (it was the second question of the episode):

We surveyed 100 women... name something men do that really turns you off.
1. BRAG/SHOW OFF (33)
2. SWEAR/CRUDE TALK (13)
3. GET DRUNK (7)
4. SMOKE (6)
5. SPIT (5)

That adds up to only 64 points. I'm going to assume that the question didn't receive 36 unique responses.

[weaklink75]

A couple of questions about Family Feud that have occupied my brain for over 40 years now. Now seems as good a time as any to ask...

Did they ever have a survey with 12 answers on the board? I think I remember a 10 once, but don't recall more than that.

Somewhat related, was the rule that in the main game they always listed every answer that got 2 responses, or did they occasionally cut off under the premise that it wasn't in the Top X answers on the board? Thinking like a triple board that had a high top answer and they might have trimmed some of the single-digit answers to keep it to Top 3 or 4.

If it was a hard and fast rule, I suppose a survey with many small value answers would just be earmarked for Fast Money.

-They did use a 10 for the one-question playoff between the winners in at least one of the ABC hour-long celeb specials in the 70's..

-In the Russian version of the show, 1-point answers have come up in their Fast Money round

[JasonA1]

And to piggyback re: at least 2 people saying an answer, I imagine they started with pure intentions, because that condition was part of Richard's host language at the very beginning of the series. But they had to realize pretty quickly that it was better to manage what you show on the board, than promise to the viewer every response said by at least 2 people was represented.

-Jason

[MSTieScott]

Right. It also wouldn't surprise me if they quickly learned that they couldn't shunt all of the surveys that received more than twelve scorable answers to Fast Money. They paid for those surveys, so they're going to use them.

I understand why Buzzr hasn't aired the 1976 episodes (they were slower), but I'm also a little bummed, as I'm curious as to how long it took before the show started to trim some of the two-point answers in the main game.

[Otm Shank]

OK, so I'm not going crazy that there was a "rule" that mandated 2-point answers at some point. Makes sense to have dropped it, as they are going into long games with little additional payout or throwing away perfectly good surveys.

Also seems that an all-star "one-game playoff" was a pretty good place to slide a 10-answer survey. Thanks for all the replies!

EDIT: Maybe not as good as I thought. Certainly not how they planned for it to go:

[gromit82]

On a related note, is it the case that answers in Fast Money that were only given by 1 respondent count as 0? I don't remember ever seeing a 1-point answer in Fast Money.

[BrandonFG]

On a related note, is it the case that answers in Fast Money that were only given by 1 respondent count as 0? I don't remember ever seeing a 1-point answer in Fast Money.

Anytime Richard mentioned the two person minimum, I remember it being during Fast Money, so I’ll say yes.

[That Don Guy]

I don't remember seeing an 11, much less a 12, but do remember two 10s - the one from the first hour-long Celebrity special, and one from a regular episode (I think the question was, "Name your favorite movie actor" - and Richard reminded the players that it was a survey, so they wouldn't think to name their own favorite by mistake). There may have been a third - "Name something you would find at a wedding" - but I thought that was the one from the celebrity special, before seeing the video.

[TLEberle]

On a related note, is it the case that answers in Fast Money that were only given by 1 respondent count as 0? I don't remember ever seeing a 1-point answer in Fast Money.

Anytime Richard mentioned the two person minimum, I remember it being during Fast Money, so I’ll say yes.

i watched the Ray version and wouldn't swear to it coming up during the main game. My thinking is that when the game is on the line with a triple value multiplier question they don't want the game to hinge on whether a team can come up with "red dog" or "big six wheel" to round out the board on "Name a gambling game." It would be a bad look--there were just the four answers of Slot machine, blackjack, roulette and craps.

[SuperMatch93]

Just turned on Feud on Amazon Prime, and Hamilton vs. Haislmaier (1980) had as the first question "Name something people raise or lower" with 10 answers.