Would it work on radio too?

[carlisle96]

As long as I'm on a roll with questions, gang, here's another one: what TV game show would also have worked as a radio show? I don't mean shows that started on radio like Groucho's or had brief radio versions like What's My Line or $64,000 Question. I think Password and You Don't Say would have been a good radio games. Jeopardy could also be adapted to purely an audio version too. Child's Play perhaps?

[steveleb]

Indeed, Jeopardy has existed as an audio-only entity, via its J6 game which Amazon Alexa used to offer as a subscription service.  It essentially took the unused clues from actual recent categories.

And believe it or not, Wheel of Fortune was actually attempted as a radio game from the prolific mind of Mark Richards, aka Alex Trebek's "best friend", who hosted a drive time "radio game show" for XTRA 690 out of San Diego in the late 80s.  He actually instructed players who phoned in to write down the blanks in the puzzle and number them.  One shudders to think if car phones were more prevalent at the time how many accidents he might have caused.

[Casey]

Match Game would work pretty well on radio - particularly the original version.  I think the 70s version would work also.  Sure, we wouldn't see Jim Nabors and Carol Burnett stroll in or Gene climb the audience, but most of the time you could easily follow the game. 

[clemon79]

Indeed, Jeopardy has existed as an audio-only entity, via its J6 game which Amazon Alexa used to offer as a subscription service.

Only in the sense that you had to add the "skill" to your Alexa account. It's always been free to my recollection, not even tied to Prime or anything.

[JasonA1]

Indeed, Jeopardy has existed as an audio-only entity, via its J6 game which Amazon Alexa used to offer as a subscription service.

That still exists. J! also has 24/7 stations on Tunein, where they had Buzzy Cohen host audio-only play-in games for the Champions Wildcard earlier this year.

-Jason

[Eric Paddon]

Audio recordings of the original Match Game show that it can work quite well as a listen only experience.   Password could work fine so long as you had the announcer's "The Password is....." voiceover.   I have an ABC Password after that had been eliminated where it's almost impossible to follow.

"What's My Line?" actually had a separate radio version created after the show's debut in 1952 and ran for a season on NBC Radio (different sponsor as well).  An announcer would tell the listening audience the occupation and a panelist would give a detailed physical description of the contestant prior to game play (a radio version of the "walk of shame" that was used in the early years of the show where a contestant would walk in front of the panel before game play so we could have such inanities like Dorothy asking to see a contestant's hands or Arlene or Bennett asking a contestant to flex a muscle or some other thing they hoped might give them a clue).   Only one episode of this radio version is in circulation though the Library of Congress has some more.   Arlene guest hosted a couple of the radio shows (something she never did on TV).

In later years, Armed Forces Radio would play audio only episodes of WML drawn from the TV soundtrack with an announcer mentioning the occupation and the Mystery Guest.