The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: MikeK on August 25, 2013, 07:35:35 PM

Title: Home game writing
Post by: MikeK on August 25, 2013, 07:35:35 PM

Is home game material written by a show\'s contributors or by the game manufacturer?  I know some shows lifted material straight from the show; Wipeout DOS game in the late 80\'s comes to mind immediately.  Thanks.


Title: Home game writing
Post by: DoorNumberFour on August 25, 2013, 08:47:13 PM

I remember reading in Harry Eisenberg\'s Jeopardy book that some of the game material was separately licensed for home versions.


 


Also, I\'m pretty sure the first edition of MB Concentration featured puzzles written by the MB people.


Title: Home game writing
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 25, 2013, 09:34:10 PM

There\'s no right answer.  Some did it themselves, some used show material.  I know when I interviewed for a job with Milton Bradley in the eighties, they told me that the game material was all written in-house by MB employees.  However, as you say, some material is clearly taken directly from actual game play.  The one surviving episode of The Who What or Where Game features some questions that appear in the home game, and that was MB.


 


Long answer way of saying \"It depends.\"


Title: Home game writing
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on August 26, 2013, 07:08:19 AM


Is home game material written by a show\'s contributors or by the game manufacturer?  I know some shows lifted material straight from the show; Wipeout DOS game in the late 80\'s comes to mind immediately.  Thanks.




The Family Feud DOS game (made by the same people that did Wipeout) also lifted material directly from the first few weeks of shows.

Title: Home game writing
Post by: Jimmy Owen on August 26, 2013, 07:11:08 AM

Wouldn\'t there be writer\'s guild stipulations if Q&As were lifted from the show? 


Title: Home game writing
Post by: MikeK on August 26, 2013, 09:20:22 AM


There\'s no right answer.  Some did it themselves, some used show material.  I know when I interviewed for a job with Milton Bradley in the eighties, they told me that the game material was all written in-house by MB employees.  However, as you say, some material is clearly taken directly from actual game play.  The one surviving episode of The Who What or Where Game features some questions that appear in the home game, and that was MB.


 


Long answer way of saying \"It depends.\"




I figured the answer would be that, especially for games which were made when the show was not on the air at the time, like the 14th edition of Jeopardy from 1982.  I was curious if the contributors to shows (Chris C., others who may be lurking) would share their experiences.

Title: Home game writing
Post by: Bob Zager on August 26, 2013, 11:18:15 AM

I\'ve often found that the  home versions will mention somewhere in the instruction/question booklets that the material is taken from the actual TV show, whenever that\'s the case.


Title: Home game writing
Post by: Adam Nedeff on August 26, 2013, 04:54:58 PM


Wouldn\'t there be writer\'s guild stipulations if Q&As were lifted from the show? 




If the writers were unionized, yes. I know Goodson didn\'t have union writers; I\'m curious, did any game show packagers have union writers?

Title: Home game writing
Post by: clemon79 on August 26, 2013, 06:21:33 PM

If the writers were unionized, yes. I know Goodson didn\'t have union writers; I\'m curious, did any game show packagers have union writers?


 


ISTR a situation where Aaron Solomon had to walk off of the set of whatever show (Donnymid, maybe?) he was working on when the last big writer\'s strike happened, so possibly.

Title: Home game writing
Post by: GSNFAN3000 on August 26, 2013, 07:00:46 PM


I\'ve often found that the  home versions will mention somewhere in the instruction/question booklets that the material is taken from the actual TV show, whenever that\'s the case.




 


Yes, the 70s versions of the \"Match Game\" board games used questions and answers from the show.

Title: Home game writing
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on August 26, 2013, 09:19:01 PM

ISTR a situation where Aaron Solomon had to walk off of the set of whatever show (Donnymid, maybe?) he was working on when the last big writer\'s strike happened, so possibly.


Wasn\'t Donnymid -- that was cancelled years before the strike happened. I wanna say it was Temptation.
Title: Home game writing
Post by: TLEberle on August 26, 2013, 09:28:24 PM
That sounds right.
Title: Home game writing
Post by: clemon79 on August 26, 2013, 10:17:41 PM

You know what, I think it was Temptation. I kept thinking Donnymid but then I also kept thinking, as Steve said, \"dammit, but the timing doesn\'t work out there...\"


Title: Home game writing
Post by: Matt Ottinger on August 26, 2013, 11:25:11 PM

It was definitely Temptation, though the specific situation wasn\'t exactly what you\'re describing. 


 


I think Adam\'s original question, though, was more with regard to the \"classic\" era of game show producers, the Goodsons, Barrises, Stewarts, Enrights and the like.