Bumper Stumpers
| Bumper Stumpers | |
|---|---|
|
Bumper Stumpers title card | |
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Wink Martindale |
| Developed by | Mark Maxwell-Smith |
| Directed by | William G. Elliott |
| Presented by | Al Dubois |
| Narrated by | Ken Ryan |
| Composer(s) | Ed Lojeski |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Dan Enright Wink Martindale |
| Producer(s) | Doug Gahm |
| Location(s) |
Global Television Studios Toronto, Ontario |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Global Television Network Barry & Enright Productions Wink Martindale Enterprises USA Network |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |
Global Television Network USA Network |
| Original run | June 29, 1987 – December 28, 1990 |
Bumper Stumpers is a Canadian game show in which two teams of two players attempted to decipher vanity license plates in an attempt to win money. The show was a joint production of Canada's Global Television Network and the United States' USA Network, the two networks that aired the series in first run, in association with Barry & Enright Productions and Wink Martindale Enterprises. This was one of three original series that USA and Global co-produced in the 1980s, with a 1985 revival of Jackpot[1] and 1986's The New Chain Reaction preceding it.
Bumper Stumpers premiered on June 29, 1987 and aired concurrently on Global and USA until December 28, 1990. It was created by Wink Martindale, the second creation of his to make air (Headline Chasers, which Martindale launched in syndication in 1985 in the United States with himself as host, was the first) and developed by Mark Maxwell-Smith. Al Dubois, who at the time was a weather forecaster for Global, hosted the show with Ken Ryan serving as the announcer. The show was taped in Toronto.
Reruns of the series were seen on Global in Canada from 1990 to 1995 and on Game Show Network in America in 1994-95 and 2000. Bumper Stumpers has aired on the Canadian network GameTV since October 1, 2012.
Main game
Bumper Stumpers featured two teams, one usually a returning champion pair. The teams' goal was to correctly solve the Super Stumper, a puzzle designed to resemble a vanity license plate that consisted of seven spaces. At the beginning of each game, host Dubois would tell the teams whom or what the plate belonged to, and the first space was revealed.
In order to begin filling in the spaces in the Super Stumper, the teams played a series of jump-in questions. Bumper Stumpers used a game board consisting of seven monitors, and each jump-in question used the top row of two monitors. The teams would be shown two plates, one of which belonged to someone or something, and had to guess which of the two was the correct plate. If a player correctly chose the plate, his/her teammate was given ten seconds to decipher what the plate said. For instance, a plate belonging to swashbucklers would read "PYR88" with the solution being "pirates" while one belonging to Bill Cosby would read "IIPI" with the solution being the title of his television series I Spy (consecutive letters or numbers in a plate were treated as plurals, so the two numbers at the end of the first plate would read as "eights" and not "eighty-eight" while the first two letters in the second would not be pronounced "eye-eye"). If the other member of the team could not decipher the plate, the opposing team received ten seconds to guess themselves. If the first teammate buzzed in and picked the wrong plate, the opponents received first guess.
Contestants were unable to buzz in until after the clue was read. In later episodes, a green light between the top two monitors was lit during a jump-in round to indicate when contestants could buzz in. Originally, the player who buzzed in and correctly identified the plate to solve could decide to either let his/her partner play or challenge their opponents to solve the plate. That rule was dropped after far more contestants opted to play rather than pass.
The winners of the jump-in chose one of the remaining blank spaces to fill in on the Super Stumper, then were given five seconds to try to come up with the solution. Coming up with the solution won the game. If a team could not solve the Super Stumper after all seven spaces were revealed, the opposing team had one final chance to solve it. If they missed, another full game was played with a new Super Stumper. Later, if both teams missed the Super Stumper, the game shifted into a speed round in which a new Super Stumper plate was displayed, and the teams alternated turns (starting with the team who won the last jump-in) revealing spaces in the new plate until one team solved it.
Winning the match
The teams played a best two-out-of-three match, with the first team to score two victories becoming champion.
Originally, each game win was worth $500 and a bonus round would be played after each game. Any unsolved Super Stumpers added $500 to the total money available each time it happened. Later, this rule was changed and a team could only play the bonus round after winning the match. Winning five matches retired a team undefeated.
Bonus round
This show had three bonus rounds throughout the run.
Bonus round #1
The first bonus round featured two separate rounds. The first half saw the players trying to identify up to seven plates within thirty seconds. Getting seven won $2,000 and ended the round immediately. As long as the team identified at least one plate, they moved on to the second half of the round dubbed the Final Stumper.
The Final Stumper was played with all seven of the game board's monitors, with the letters S-T-U-M-P-E-R displayed in them. The object was to bank a set amount of money without finding a stop sign, at which point the round ended. The Final Stumper was played two different ways.
Format #1
Hidden behind the seven monitors were various dollar amounts and stop signs. For each plate the team solved, a money amount was added to the board. The first amount added was $500, and depending on how many plates were solved up to five additional amounts would be added. $100 was added to the board first, $200 second, $300 third, $400 fourth, and an additional $500 space was added last.
The team could keep choosing as long as they kept revealing dollar amounts and could stop at any point. Revealing a stop sign ended the round and froze the team's winnings. If they managed to find at least $500, the money was doubled. A team could win a maximum of $1,800 in this portion of the round ($100, $300, $500 = $900, multiplied by two).
Format #2
In the second format, each solve placed a different set of spaces on the board. The first placed on the board was marked "WIN", and the next five were the money amounts mentioned above. Accumulating $1,000 or more or finding the "WIN" space augmented the team's total to $2,000. This time, finding a stop sign bankrupted the team and ended the round.
Bonus round #2
In the second bonus round, the team was given thirty seconds and up to five plates to solve. Solving four of the five was worth $200.
For the second half of the round, the team was given up to three additional plates to solve and could stop at any time with the money earned. If the team decided to play on, they were given seven seconds to study the plate. Coming up with a right answer doubled the money each time, with a team winning $1,600 if they solved all three. Failing to come up with a correct answer ended the round and cost the team their bank, and the round also ended if the team failed to get four plates in the first half of the round.
Bonus round #3
The third Bumper Stumpers bonus round consisted of a series of five plates connected to a subject, with each plate serving as a clue to the subject's identity.
This time, only one player from the winning team played the first half of the round. That player was given thirty seconds to decipher the plates, with $100 given for each. Unlike the previous bonus round formats, Dubois did not give out clues to the plates. After the time was up, the player was given a choice: either stop with whatever money he/she had accumulated, or risk it to see if the other player, isolated backstage, could come up with the owner of the plates. If the team took the risk and the second player was able to identify the subject, the team's winnings would be tripled. Thus, the maximum amount a team could win was $1,500.
References
- ↑ closing credits of a 1985 episode, airdate undetermined