Starcade
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| Starcade | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Format | Game Show |
| Created by | James Caruso, Mavis Arthur |
| Developed by | James Caruso, Mavis Arthur |
| Starring | Mark Richards, Geoff Edwards |
| Opening theme | Mindseed, Edwin Anderson |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 134 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
James Caruso, Mavis Arthur |
| Running time | 24 minutes (approximately) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TBS, Syndicated G4 |
| Original run | December 27, 1982 – September 1984 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| TV.com summary | |
Starcade was a game show where contestants competed against one another by playing video games.
Starcade was produced by JM Production Company for Ted Turner to air on WTBS and later syndication by Turner Program Services, TPS. The show originally aired on WTBS during the 1982–83 season. This season was hosted by Mark Richards. The show eventually aired in syndication from 1983–1984, with Geoff Edwards taking the hosting position. Starcade was the first to be a video arcade game show, and set the blueprint for similar game shows like Video Power, Nick Arcade, and Arena. The show was used to showcase brand new arcade games.
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[edit] Format
Two players competed. Three rounds were played.
Each round began with a video arcade-game related toss-up question. The player who buzzed in and answered correctly got first choice of five free-standing arcade games in the studio. After choosing, the player had 40 seconds (later 60, then 50) to amass as high a score as they could. After that contestant was done, the other contestant got to play the game that their opponent picked. Whatever points they earned were added to their overall score.
The second and third rounds were played identically, with 40 seconds (later 50) game playing time for the second round, and 40 seconds for the third. At the end of the second round (and third when the series began), the player in the lead played "Name The Game", where they could win a prize by correctly identifying four video arcade games by screenshots. Prizes were awarded if the player could correctly identify three or four games.
One of the five games was a bonus game. If the player chose it during normal game play, they would receive a prize.
The player in the lead at the end of the third and final round won the game and a bonus prize, moving on to the bonus round.
[edit] Bonus Round
The winning player faced one final challenge: beat an average score of 20 other players at the game they had chosen to play. The player would then have 30 seconds to do so.
If successful, the player won a major prize, which consisted of either their own arcade game, a home entertainment robot, a jukebox, or even a vacation (in certain "invitational" episodes).
[edit] The pilot
The original pilot for Starcade was hosted by Mike Eruzione and featured an almost entirely different format. There were three rows of eight players (24 in total) and their own separate arcade game systems. All three rows featured a different video game; in this case, the first one featured eight Defender systems, the second one featured eight Centipede systems, and the third one featured eight Pac-Man systems. Each player had 30 seconds to accumulate a relatively high total. Whoever had the highest out of all eight on their team was selected to play against the two other highest-scoring players on an arcade game (Berzerk in this case) for the grand prize—their very own arcade game (Asteroids Deluxe, in this case) and an Apple II Home Computer System. Afterwards, the overall winner would play a brand-new arcade game against a celebrity, "just for fun". The winner, David Dyche, played the then-brand new video arcade game Donkey Kong against Larry Wilcox.
The original pilot was conceived to sell to NBC, who passed. A second pilot was shot, featuring a retooled format (more similar to the one described in the above sections) and host Alex Trebek. The pilot was picked up by Ted Turner in 1982, and the show began its life on the WTBS stations that same year.
