Successful game shows with no home editions

[BrandonFG]

Was thinking about how Chain Reaction has a 42-year history but never had a home game. How many successful game show franchises never had any home game release whatsoever? A few qualifications:

1. By "successful" I'll set the bar at three or more seasons from single or combined versions. I'm willing to allow something that ran for like two years and 10 months, considering there's one season wonders that got home games, or in the case of Top Secret, never even made it past the pilot.

2. By "home edition" I mean a physical version like a board/video game, a card game, or even a book of questions. Online sites or apps don't count.

3. Revivals count as part of the entire franchise. For instance, To Tell the Truth never got a release during the 70s or current revivals but there was one in the 50s. So TTTT can't be included.

Other shows:

-Split Second
-Cross-Wits
-Win Ben Stein's Money
-Street Smarts
-America Says

[TLEberle]

It ran off and on, and you can question how successful (but again, see runs from 1991-2003) I would say Shop Til You Drop is your clubhouse leader.

The one that eats at me most (especially because I saw a localized version while traveling in Italy but it was 45 euros) though it would be a tough ask for people to play the game straight is Greed.

[Dbacksfan12]

Fandango comes to mind.

[BrandonFG]

Shop Til You Drop absolutely counts...the Lifetime version ran for a few years by itself.

[TLEberle]

Fandango comes to mind.

At first glance, a game about country/western music seems like it would be a hard sell but I think Arbitron ratings show that it's the top format for radio stations, so maybe an oversight.

[MikeK]

Gambit
Tattletales, with an asterisk since at least a prototype was made

[Jimmy Owen]

I wonder if Matt O. will chime in.  Oh, Quizbusters.

[BillCullen1]

I don't believe The Dating Game ever had a home version. The closest to it was MB's Mystery Date.

OOPS - mea culpa. Apparently there was a home version, by Hasbro. Never mind.

[tvwxman]

I know we're splitting hairs, but Card Sharks comes to mind. I know I know, done in the last 15 years but still......

I think a better Q would be what didn't come out at time of popularity..... Tattletales, Split Second, Gambit, Super Password, Card Sharks make that list, esp since so many shows with shorter lifespans had home games .

Press Your Luck would have been an easy card game to make.

[BillCullen1]

I've got one. Catch 21. Question, how long did Divided and Idiotest last?

[Casey]

I know we're splitting hairs, but Card Sharks comes to mind. I know I know, done in the last 15 years but still......

I think a better Q would be what didn't come out at time of popularity..... Tattletales, Split Second, Gambit, Super Password, Card Sharks make that list, esp since so many shows with shorter lifespans had home games .

Press Your Luck would have been an easy card game to make.

Since video games were specified as counting, Super Password and Card Sharks both had computer games for MS-DOS, Commodore 64 and Apple II computers during the time those shows were still in production.  I believe Press Your Luck also had a computer game release around the same time.

[BrandonFG]

I don't believe The Dating Game ever had a home version. The closest to it was MB's Mystery Date.

OOPS - mea culpa. Apparently there was a home version, by Hasbro. Never mind.

Pressman released a home game during the Joyce/MacGregor era as well.

[Jimmy Owen]

A Money Maze game played on an electric football field would be possible, if lame.

[calliaume]

Others with more knowledge can chime in, but I’m guessing Hatos-Hall didn’t put a priority on home games. There was a ten-year gap between the MB and Ideal versions of Let’s Make a Deal, which is surprising given the show itself was red hot during that time. Maybe that’s why they didn’t bother with Split Second. (Another possibility: it would have been impossible to rank the buzz-ins at home by priority. Actually, the demands on whoever would be the “host”—rank the buzz-ins, judge the answers, parse out the money for a correct answer after each question, etc.—probably would take all the fun out of it.)

[Matt Ottinger]

I wonder if Matt O. will chime in. 

You people are covering it nicely.

Fandango comes to mind.

It is extraordinarily rare (I had a copy once and may have sold it to one of you fine collectors), but there IS a Fandango Quiz Book.