By the Numbers

By The Numbers was a short-lived 1962 Game Show by Desilu Studios for KTLA, although it was intended to go national. Two teams of two competed to make words from a six-by-five (30-space) game board containing all 26 letters of the alphabet and four blanks. The teams studied the revealed board for 15 seconds, after which it was covered. One team then took turns picking numbers, briefly revealing those letters, until they spelled out a proper three-letter word for 30 points (although more letters awarded 10 points each).

After making a word, that team started over and tried to make more words, staying in control until they 1) passed, 2) failed to make a proper word, or 3) uncovered a blank. The first team to 150 points won the game.

By The Numbers is very obscure, even among game show fans. The show is briefly named in the 1994 book Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and this page mentions the man responsible for it and fellow Desilu-KTLA games Zoom and Show Me — Ralph Andrews.


 * Bonus Round: "Secret Word", a six-letter word covered up by the first 24 numbers of the board. Each member of the winning team called out three numbers, and those slides were removed permanently. After this, the team was allowed one guess for $1,000. A wrong guess removed $100 from the pot and the team called another number; this continued until the word was guessed, or the team failed at the $100 level.
 * Consolation Prize: If the Secret Word was not guessed at the $100 level, each player received a $100 prize.
 * Home Game: One was released by Milton-Bradley on a national scale, and is the source of the above rules (and as such, may not be how the show itself was played). More information here and here.
 * Personnel:
 * The Announcer: We're relatively sure there was one in some capacity; we just don't know who.
 * Game Show Host: See above.
 * Rules Spiel