The Who, What, or Where Game
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The Who, What, or Where Game was an American television game show, broadcast weekdays by NBC from December 29, 1969 to January 4, 1974. The host was Art James, and the announcer was Mike Darrow; Ron Greenberg packaged the show, which was recorded at the NBC studios in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
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[edit] Rules
Three players competed in each episode, two challengers and a returning champion (or designate). Each player was spotted $125 to start, which was used to bid on his or her ability to answer questions in the presented category. Each category (e.g. "Newsmakers," "American History") would have three available questions: a who question (with a person, or persons, as the answer), a what question (with a thing as the answer), and a where question (with a location as the answer). Each question would have posted odds displayed on a board, with odds increasing with the difficulty of the question; odds ranged from even money (1:1) to 4:1. "Pot Luck" was a special category which could be about any topic; there, the odds were always "two-to-one across the board," as James would say.
Each player would secretly bid on one of the three questions. When the bids were revealed on displays on each player's podium, the player bidding the most on a particular question would get the opportunity to answer the question; if all three bid on different questions, each got the opportunity to answer. If two or all three players bid the same amount for a particular question, the host would begin an auction, whereby the players could increase their bid up to their current score; the highest bidder got the question. (In the rare event that both players were matching high bidders — they were tied in score and bid the maximum, or one player bid the amount of the other's score, and the other opted to match the bid — the players would write their answers on cards, hidden from each other's view.)
A correct answer won the bid multiplied by the odds; an incorrect answer docked the player the amount of the bid only. However, if a player's score dropped to zero, he/she was eliminated from the game at that point, with the remaining players continuing.
Later in the show's run, a "lightning round" category was played, where players buzzed in on rapid fire questions, similar to that of Sale of the Century's "Speedround." This was the only time when any buzz-in technique was used in the game.
The first round had a maximum betting limit of $25, and the second raised the limit to $50 (this was later changed to $50 throughout the game). The final round was called "Pot Limit," a single question in which the bids were limited only by the player's scores. The leading player after that round was declared the champion and returned for the next show. A champion retired undefeated after five wins.
[edit] Broadcast History
The show was part of a block of daytime games on NBC during the early 1970s, which began with Concentration at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time and continued to Three on a Match at 1:30 p.m. Most of these games were known for emphasizing game play over prizes, which were intentionally small due to memories of the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. 3 W's ran at 12:30 p.m., opposite Search for Tomorrow on CBS, and sitcom reruns, soap operas, and the games Password and Split Second on ABC. Because NBC ran a five-minute newscast anchored by either Floyd Kalber or Edwin Newman at 12:55 p.m. (before a 30-minute affiliate break), 3 W's only ran 25 minutes each day, instead of the customary 30.
3W's succeeded a short-lived Laugh-In spinoff hosted by Gary Owens titled Letters to Laugh-In; it was succeeded in turn by Jackpot!. Conincidentally, 3W's announcer Darrow would later host a Canadian-produced revival of Jackpot! that aired between 1985 and 1988 on the USA Network.
[edit] Trivia
Host James informally used a shortened version of the show's name, The 3 W's, throughout each broadcast, in order to save time from saying the lengthy formal title. The show even used the nickname on the mid-program studio audience ticket plugs.
Milton Bradley produced a home game version of this show in 1970.
The Who, What, or Where Game was the inspiration for The Challengers, a similar game that aired during the 1990-91. Ron Greenberg also produced this show, alongside Dick Clark (who also served as host).
[edit] Episode Status
Although this series is believed to be mostly destroyed, a few episodes have turned up in the trading circuit. As with all other daytime shows of that era, NBC reused the 3 W's tapes as much as possible, erasing previous recordings in the process.
