Lingo (US game show)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lingo | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Game show |
| Creator(s) | N/A |
| Starring | Chuck Woolery Stacey Hayes (2003-2004) Shandi Finnessey (2005-current) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 280 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes (per episode) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | GSN |
| Original run | August 5, 2002 – Present |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Lingo is an American television game show currently being produced for GSN . It combines a skill-based word game with a form of Bingo. Versions of Lingo have also existed in other countries.
Contents |
[edit] Broadcast history
The first US attempt at airing Lingo was in 1987. It was produced by Ralph Andrews (in association with Bernstein/Hovis Productions) in Canada for syndication in the US. This version of the show has become somewhat controversial, with allegations that the cash-strapped producers did not pay some winning contestants their prizes. Despite the show's checkered run, versions of Lingo were subsequently produced in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Quebec (see Lingo (Quebec game show)), France, Norway, Sweden, and The Netherlands.
On August 5, 2002, Game Show Network started airing the first episodes of its version of Lingo. The first 20 episodes were recorded in the Netherlands, on the set of its Dutch counterpart; subsequent episodes were produced in the US. Five more seasons, each consisting of 65 episodes, began in December 2002, December 2003, August 2005, April 2006 and April 2007 respectively. GSN held back five unaired Hawaiian-themed episodes from the fourth season, but these episodes aired as part of a New Year's Day marathon on January 1, 2007. Lingo will begin its 6th Season on April 2, 2007 on GSN.
[edit] Hosts and co-hosts
The host for the 1987 version was Michael Reagan, son of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, with Dusty Martell as co-host. The host for the last five weeks was executive producer Ralph Andrews with a new co-host, Margaux Mackenzie.
The host for the current version is game show veteran Chuck Woolery. Co-host Stacey Hayes joined the show in the third season; in early episodes of that season, there was a second co-host but that role was quickly eliminated. Shandi Finnessey, Miss USA 2004, took over the role as co-host since the start of the fourth season. Randi Thomas, a female announcer known for doing Hooked on Phonics ads, was the offstage announcer in the second season, with Hayes acting as announcer in the third season.
Note: Stacey Hayes made her premiere on a "special" California elections episode.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Original 1987 Version
[edit] Main Game
| B | A | R | E | S |
| B | R | I | N | K |
| B | R | A | S | H |
| B | R | U | S | H |
The game is played between two teams of two players each. At the start of the game, each team is given a "Lingo" card with 25 spaces on it. The champion team's card contains even numbers, and the challengers' contains odd numbers. Seven numbers on each card are automatically covered at the start of the game (the challengers' numbers are covered by red circles while the champions' numbers are covered by blue circles.) The team in control (beginning with the challengers) is shown the first letter of a five-letter mystery word (randomly selected by the show's Amiga computer), after which one team member must try to guess the word and spell it out. After each guess, a red square is placed around letters that are in the correct position, and a yellow circle is placed around letters that are in the word but not in the correct position. If the team in control guesses the word on the first try, they win a US$1000 bonus. Otherwise, the other team member takes a guess, then the first team member takes the third guess, and so on. If the team fails to identify the word within five guesses, fails to answer at anytime within their five second time limit, or gives a misspelled or nonexistent word, the other team gets a chance to guess. If there is more than one letter unrevealed, one of those letters is revealed, and the team is given five seconds to make a guess. If there is only one unrevealed letter in the word, it is not revealed, but during the five seconds of thinking time, the team is allowed to confer. (This is the only time when conferring is allowed.)
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The team that correctly guesses the mystery word then gets a chance to pull two lingo balls out of a hopper in front of them. Eighteen of the balls are labeled with numbers corresponding to the numbers on their Lingo board; when a numbered ball is drawn, the corresponding space on the Lingo card is covered. Also in the hopper are three prize balls: one is worth $250 in Traveler's cheques, another is worth a trip, and the third is worth a jackpot which starts at $1,000 and increases by $500 every game the jackpot isn't claimed (later in the run, there were two "jackpot balls", and a team had to draw both of them in order to activate it). Prizes can only be claimed if the team wins the game. Normally, after drawing their balls, the team keeps control and may guess at the next mystery word. However, the hopper contains three red balls as well; a team drawing one of these balls must immediately stop drawing, and loses control (the opposing team gets to guess at the next mystery word). Once balls are drawn, they are discarded (prize balls are placed in a stand on the team's podium as a reminder that the prize is in play), so the same ball cannot be drawn twice in one game.
The first team to cover numbers on their board that form a Lingo – five numbers in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal row – wins the game, $250 (along with the prizes from any prize balls they drew), and the right to play in the "No Lingo" bonus round. Later in the show's run, the prize was $500 for a vertical or horizontal Lingo, $1000 for a diagonal Lingo, and $2000 for a Double Lingo (two lines completed with the same ball).
[edit] No Lingo
| L | I | N | G | O |
| 16 | 56 | |||
| 4 | 70 | |||
| 44 | ||||
| 14 | 72 | |||
| 18 | 54 | |||
| L | I | N | G | O |
The winning team plays a bonus round called "No Lingo". The team is shown another Lingo card filled with even numbers. Sixteen numbers are covered before the start of the round, arranged in a star shape along the diagonals, middle row and middle column; the center space, where the free space is on a normal bingo card, is left uncovered. The hopper is loaded with 37 numbered balls (all the even numbers from 2 to 74 -- this is unlike the main game, in which only the numbers that actually appear on the Lingo card are loaded into the hopper), plus one gold ball. The contestants are given $500 to start. They can choose to simply take this $500 and stop, or risk it by continuing on. The team is shown a five-letter mystery word in which the first letter and one of the other four letters are shown. The team is given the usual five chances to guess the mystery word; for each guess they use, they must draw one Lingo ball. If they fail to guess the word in five tries, they must draw an extra two balls, for a total of seven balls. If the team draws a numbered ball that appears on the board, that board space is covered and the ball is discarded, just like it would be in the normal game; if this forms a Lingo, the team immediately loses the bonus round and the prize money. If the team draws a numbered ball that does not appear on the board, nothing happens; the ball is simply discarded. (This is good for the players, since the object of the round is to avoid forming a Lingo.) If the team draws the gold ball, tbey are immediately allowed to stop drawing, and the gold ball is returned to the hopper. If they manage to draw the required number of balls (or draw the gold ball) without completing a Lingo, then they double their money to $1,000. The team can then take that $1,000 and quit, or try to double their money again by guessing another mystery word using the same rules. (The Lingo board remains as it was, and any previously-drawn numbered balls are still out of play, so the risk of forming a Lingo increases as time goes on.) The team can try up to a total of five words, with the prize money doubling after each word; so the team can win $16,000 by trying all five words.
If the team wins the main game a second time, they start their second attempt at the "No Lingo" round with $1,000, so they can win a total of $32,000 by surviving all five words. If the team wins the main game a third (and final) time, they start the "No Lingo" round with $2,000, and can increase it to $64,000 by surviving all five words. Teams during that time can win more than $112,000.
Later in the show's run, when the prize structure was changed for the main game, that main game prize was the opening "stake" for the bonus round. Up to five words would be played, which made the top prize $64,000 if the main game was won with a Double Lingo. Six balls (instead of seven) were drawn if a word was not guessed in five tries. Additionally, teams were not limited to three wins, or eliminated by a single loss; they played until they were defeated twice in the main game.
[edit] Current GSN Version
[edit] Main Game
The main game play is nearly identical to the original version, except that the object is to score the most points, instead of scoring a Lingo first. A correct guess of a word scores 25 points. The team has five guesses at the word, though if the team does not guess correctly, the opposing team is given control of the word and is granted a bonus letter. Control of the word is also given to the opposing team if any of the following situations occur: The team runs out of time, does not spell a legitimate word, does not guess a five letter word, guesses a word that has already been tried, does not start their guess with the established first letter, or guesses a proper noun. A bonus letter will not be given if four out of five of the letters have been identified, as doing this would reveal the entire word. If both teams miss a word at the point where a word only has one missing letter left, the word is thrown out and a new one is played.
[edit] Lingo board
Play is again similar to the original version, except that ten numbers instead of seven are marked off for each team at the start of the game. (The 10 pre-marked numbers are chosen in such a way that no more than three spaces are marked off on any row, column or diagonal.) When a team forms a Lingo on their board, they score 50 points, and immediately receive a new Lingo card (with 10 numbers marked off) and a new hopper of balls. (This is unlike the original version where scoring a Lingo won the game outright.) The other team then gets control of the next mystery word. Like the original version, red balls cause the team to immediately stop drawing and lose control; the red balls are now often called "stoppers," perhaps owing to Chuck's Scrabble experience. Unlike the original version, there are no prize balls.
[edit] Second round
After time runs out for the first round, the second round begins. Lingo cards carry over from the first round. Point values are doubled, meaning a correct word guess is worth 50 points and a Lingo is worth 100 points. Also, three "question mark" balls are added, and they can represent a number of the team's choice. After the second round is over, the team with the most points wins the game and advances to Bonus Lingo.
[edit] Tiebreaker
If there is a tied score at the end of the second round, and time runs out, a tiebreaker is played. A mystery seven-letter word is shown, and the first and last letters are displayed, similar to the speedword on Scrabble. Teams must ring in on the red button on the podium with the correct word to advance to the Bonus Lingo round. An incorrect guess locks a team out, and gives a free letter to the opposing team. If that team does not know it, their opponents are unlocked and anybody can guess. If nobody knows what the word is, another letter is revealed, and continues to do so until a team figures out the word.
The main game rarely ends in a tie, however. This has only happened a total of three times so far in the entire series.
[edit] Bonus Lingo
| 5 | 37 | 65 | ||
| 25 | 51 | |||
| 15 | 63 | |||
| 23 | 43 | |||
| 4 | 31 | 74 | ||
| L | I | N | G | O |
In Bonus Lingo, the winning team tries to guess as many mystery words as possible within two minutes. In each mystery word, two letters are initially revealed – the first letter and one of the remaining four letters, just like in the original version's endgame. If the team fails to guess any word in five tries, the word is revealed and the team moves on to the next word.
In the first season, a Lingo card was then revealed with thirteen numbers marked off, and the hopper contained twelve balls (one for each uncovered space on the card). The team was allowed to draw one ball for each mystery word successfully guessed; forming a Lingo won a $5,000 prize package consisting of a digital camera, a bookstore gift card, a watch, and a pocket PC. Win or lose, the team won $100 for each mystery word successfully guessed. (However, there was a first-season team that guessed no words correctly and thus won absolutely nothing.)
In the second and later seasons, during the two-minute speed round, the team could now use bonus letters. When a team member called out "bonus letter", the first unknown letter of the mystery word was immediately revealed; this does not count as one of the team's five guesses for the word. The team received one bonus letter for winning the game, plus one for each Lingo they completed during the game. Also, the draw was changed. Twelve spaces, rather than thirteen, were marked off the Lingo card (so there were now thirteen balls in the hopper); the twelve premarked spaces were chosen so that there would always be exactly one row, column or diagonal with four spaces marked off, so that a Lingo could be formed with the first drawn ball (called a Super Lingo).
| 4 | 24 | 34 | 48 | |
| 14 | 42 | |||
| 50 | 62 | |||
| 52 | ||||
| 10 | 16 | 32 | 60 | |
| L | I | N | G | O |
Beginning in the second season, the prize for forming a Lingo was $5,000 cash, but a Lingo on the very first pull would award the grand prize. If the team formed a Lingo on the first draw, the team won the $5,000 plus a trip. For season 2, the prize was a pair of $5,000 Jamaican vacation packages, for a total value of over $15,000. For season 3, a trip to Harrah's Entertainment in Lake Tahoe plus $5,000 was at stake. For season 4 the prize for a first-draw Lingo was changed to $10,000 cash (as in the special episode where contestants played for their favorite charities). A team that failed to form a Lingo still won $100 per word successfully guessed.
Beginning in the show's fifth season (April 2006), a cash jackpot was added to the bonus round. This can only be won if a Lingo was made on the first draw. The Progressive Jackpot started at $10,000 and went up by $1,000 for each show it wasn't won. It took only two episodes for the jackpot to be won for the first time, at $11,000. The jackpot has been won only three times in the season; the other two times were on May 3, 2006 (during Fiesta Week) for $31,000 and for $35,000 on June 9, 2006 (the highest win to date).
Given that there is only one way (up to rotational and reflective symmetry) in which 12 of the 25 numbers are marked off at the beginning of Bonus Lingo, the expected number of draws before a Lingo is achieved can be easily calculated to be 3.86. Since many players earn 5 or more pulls during bonus play, winning Bonus Lingo is quite common. The probability of winning Bonus Lingo after earning N pulls is shown in the chart below.
| N | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 or 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pr(Win) | 7.7% | 23.1% | 43.4% | 64.6% | 82.6% | 94.1% | 98.9% | 99.9% | 100% |
On the third episode of Hawaiian Week (first aired on January 1, 2007), the winning team (Robert McKee of Fort Worth, Texas and Heather Gunn of Thousand Oaks, California) solved ten puzzles and ended the game with twelve seconds left, going on to pull the winning lingo ball on the first draw and to win $10,000. This happened a second time in the first episode between the on-air winners and the online champs (first aired on May 22, 2006), completed with one bonus letter remaining unused. However, this rule is new, as seen in one of the fourth-season episodes when a team got ten words correct in Bonus Lingo, but the first two letters of an eleventh word appeared as time was called. Contestants are now told that earning 10 balls is the maximum rather than the record, and that they are thus guaranteed at least $1,000 (at $100 per ball). Left unsaid is the guarantee of $5,000, given the odds explained above.
[edit] Unusual Situations
A variety of unusual situations can arise during a game. According to an unauthenticated first-person account by a contestant (A Brush with The Chuck), a wild-card-substituted number drawn in a subsequent round is ignored; the segment is edited out of the aired version of the show. If the staff makes a mistake in typing a word during the bonus round and time is lost, the time is restored during the editing process, according to the same account.
[edit] GSN.com
In addition to hosting the television show, GSN also maintains a web site featuring the game. There are several different versions of the online game: a free version where users play against each other, an interactive game where users play along with the show as it airs, and a paid version featuring tournaments with prizes. Occasionally, users of the paid version can win a trip to Los Angeles to play Lingo on the television show.
[edit] Evaluation
Like any TV show Lingo has its detractors, but reviews have generally been positive. Fans of the show say the cleverly designed gameplay offers much play-along value for the viewer, Woolery maintains a friendly atmosphere with touches of humor, and the competition often generates real suspense. Critics have derided the show's paltry prizes, the sometimes anticlimactic bonus round, the questionable judging (valid words such as "busty", "zesty", and "forts," which appear in any dictionary, have been rejected by the show's judges), and the introduction of Stacey Hayes as co-host in the third season.
[edit] Notes
GSN reruns earlier seasons of Lingo extensively on its current schedule. There was a mini-game version of Lingo in GSN's late-night interactive series PlayMania (on which Finnessey is one of three hosts). Viewers try to guess a mystery word in a manner similar to the regular game. Each viewer gets only one guess, however.
ION Television included the original 1987 version of Lingo in the February, 2007 "viewers vote" on its website. Site visitors could vote for the show to be included in the network's schedule.
[edit] Special Episodes
GSN held a tournament of champions with particularly successful contestants from its second and third seasons. In the final tournament episode there was no bonus round. Instead the episode featured a third round where a correctly guessed word was worth 75 points and a "Lingo" was worth 150 points. The "question mark" balls from the second round carried over to the third round. At the end of the show, the team with the most points won a Suzuki Verona for each teammate.
A series of special competitions is now airing on GSN for the first time. Notably successful players from the fourth season face off against pairs of winners from the 2005 online Lingo tournament at GSN.com.
A special episode that aired on April Fool's Day in 2003 had the entire roster of GSN's 6 original show hosts together playing for charity. While Woolery hosted, Mark L. Walberg (Russian Roulette) and Marc Summers (WinTuition) played against Kennedy (Friend or Foe?) and Graham Elwood (Cram), with Walberg and Summers winning 500-0. The sixth host to take part was Todd Newton (Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck), serving as the show's announcer.
