Concentration: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
[[File:concentration69.jpg|
{{quote|''Can you tell us what the puzzle says?''}}
[[
Jack Barry was the original producer of ''Concentration'', as well as ''[[21 (game show)|21]]'' and ''[[Tic-Tac-Dough]]''. Shortly into the run, NBC took over production of ''Concentration'' and canned ''Twenty-One''. Hugh Downs, most notable to news fans as a ''Today Show'' anchor, hosted from 1958-69. Barry himself helmed a four-episode nighttime version, which replaced the aforementioned ''Twenty-One''. A second nighttime edition, this time in color, aired for six months in 1961.
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*** "The Envelope and Its Unknown Contents". Whoever won this was given said envelope to read out loud, and could have prizes ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to a new car.
*** From about 1970-73, home viewers were entreated to send in postcards for prizes. The first letter of the viewer's surname would correspond to its numerical equivalent (A-1, B-2, etc.) and whatever prize was on that trilon when it spun around was what the viewer won. Gag prizes and Forfeit One Gift paid $100, Take One Gift awarded $250, and Wild Cards were worth $500.
* [[Bonus
** Wild Cards were the '''only''' special space to be used on every version. Matching one with a prize revealed those two spots, but left the unmatched one on the board (and could be matched again with another Wild Card). Beginning in 1985, the "natural" match was also removed.
*** Matching the Wild Cards netted a further bonus. On the original series, this was originally $500 but increased to '''a new car'''. The Narz version went back to $500, then reduced it to $250 during the 1975-76 season. On ''Classic'', matching two credited a player $500 (matching ''all three'', $1,000), but you had to solve the puzzle to win it.
** Take One Gift, which remained in all versions except the 1985 pilot and the first few weeks of the Trebek era (see [[The Pete
** Free Look, used during the Narz era, which automatically revealed that square.
** Cashpot and Five Bonus Car Seconds, used only on ''Classic''.
* [[Game Show Winnings Cap]]: The original series allowed contestants to stay on for a maximum of ''20'' games, although only two people ever did so. The Narz era had two new contestants on each show, since it was syndicated. ''Classic'' originally let contestants stay for up to five matches, or until winning three cars in the process, but for about the last year champions were retired after winning a car.
* [[Golden Snitch]]: You can have all the prizes on the board, but still lose. On ''Classic'', you could have no prizes matched, solve the puzzle, and lose the car round in every game and go home with nothing but the consolation prizes they give to the loser. On the original series, winning the game with no matched prizes (apart from gag prizes) still netted the contestant $100 cash.
* [[Home
** Softie and GameTek made electronic versions of ''Classic'' for MS-DOS (recycling contestant sprites from ''[[Card
** Pressman and Endless Games each made a ''Classic'' home game, a decade apart, with full-color rebuses.
** Tiger Electronics made an LCD handheld game, albeit with some [https://web.archive.org/web/20150112155659/http://wat.midco.net/jvipond/gameshow/tiger-goofs.html misspelled rebus
** The most recent was a PC game based on ''Classic'', which on the box is stated as having been licensed by NBC. Yes, the network will license the rights to a home game but won't ''actually'' let the show see the light of day.
** During the plugs for the home game, Trebek would often mention that it was a good tool to use for contestants to get familiar with some of the ''Classic'' symbols used such as the awl, the aisle and the ewe/mare with the lipstick. (Awl, aisle and the omnipresent oar were all staples of puzzles on the original show.)
* [[Losing
* Personnel:
** [[The
** [[Game Show
** [[Lovely
* [[Show the Folks At
** On the first few episodes of ''Classic'', the rebus solution would be revealed to the audience superimposed over the numbered squares before the game was played.
*** In addition, Trebek would often use this exact phrase at the end of a round: "Let's show the folks at home how [the
* [[Think Music]]: On ''Classic'', a softer version of the theme played as the numbers were removed one by one during third-puzzle tie breaker rounds. Or when time is running short.
* [[
* [[Zonk]]: Three "gag gifts" in each game of the original series, which made the above Whammy useful on occasion. If a contestant won any of these "prizes", they were given $1 for each.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Arc
* [[Borrowed
* [[Catch
** "Look at these two parts--what does the puzzle say?"
** "...is right!!" (upon a contestant correctly solving the puzzle)
** "Not a match. The board goes back." (now used by [[David
** "Swell." (upon the matched squares showing no clues)
** "Stay with us. We'll be back in a moment." (mid-show break)
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** Trebek would almost always pronounce abbreviated prizes as they were written on the board (for example, "Word P'cessor" as "Word Possesser") For "Dish Washer", he would almost always joke, "His name is Carlos".
* [[Catch Phrase|Catch Symbol]]: How many people would know what an awl is without ''Concentration''?
* [[Cats Are
* [[Christmas Special]]: During the original series, the annual Christmas game had two celebrities dressed as [[Santa
** 1965: Only one Secret Santa this year (producer [[Word of God|Norm Blumenthal]] says {{spoiler|Hines}} and {{spoiler|Diller}} were the only female Santas), that being {{spoiler|[[Bill
** 1968: For [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOKelYk7dD8 Downs' last Christmas show], the Santas were {{spoiler|Bob Clayton}} and {{spoiler|Victor Borge}}. Downs then made an announcement that {{spoiler|Clayton would be the show's new host}}.
** 1969: For [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0AEWlUCa_c Clayton's first Christmas show], the Santas were {{spoiler|Hugh Downs}} and {{spoiler|Joe Garagiola}}.
* [[Color-Coded for Your
* [[Media Research
* [[Epic Fail]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYNCAcAmEbY This
{{quote|'''Alex''': Next time out, ''seventy-five seconds''. [[Self-Deprecation|That's longer than my first marriage lasted.]]}}
* [[Excited Show Title!|Excited Prize
* [[
** ''The Rebus Game'' (ABC, 1965) had contestants drawing out clues to a phrase or person's name.
** ''Fractured Phrases'' (NBC, 1965) had phrases and names broken down phonetically into separate words much like ''Mad Gab''; for example, "Eat Spinner Lotto Phone" would translate into "It's Been a Lot of Fun").
** ''[[Catchphrase (game show)|
* [[Girls with
* [[Grand
** The telecast itself is up for viewing. Here's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03J96yhIpM&feature=related part
* [[Halloween Special]]: The original series had an annual Halloween episode, where Downs (later Clayton) and the contestants played in costume. This tradition continued on the Trebek version, but only for the contestants.
* [[
* [[Leitmotif]]: On the original show, a quick 5-second ditty is played as the prize slide doors (opened to introduce a new player) close.
* [[Long
* [[Loophole
* [[Lottery
* [[Milestone
** 1963 (5th): A match between Mitch Miller and [[Merv
** 1968 (10th): A match between Downs and Clayton, with series producer/puzzle creator Norm Blumenthal taking the reins.
** 1969 (11th): During Ed McMahon's brief tenure as host, he played the game against Johnny Carson while Clayton hosted.
** 1971 (13th): A "behind-the-scenes" look at the show where, once Clayton got behind the board, he was greeted by Downs.
** 1972 (14th): For that day (August 25) and the ensuing week, 14-year-olds played the game.
* [[Missing
* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: On the original show, if a board was cleared (apart from the two remaining unmatched squares) and neither contestant solved the puzzle, the game ended in a draw. A new game was started and each contestant retained up to three prizes from the draw game. Similarly, if a game is interrupted because the show is about to end and the puzzle is 3/4th exposed, the puzzle is shown in its entirety, the answer disclosed and a default draw is ruled. A new game is started in the next show with the contestants retaining three prizes from that draw game.
** Blumenthal said that early shows went through some three games because the puzzles were too easy. He started making the puzzles more challenging to make the show hold better interest.
* [[One-Book
* [[Opening
{{quote|'''Gene Wood:''' Behind these numbers is a puzzle! Can you solve it? (Gives out clues of the rebus puzzle and then answers the whole thing) If you can do that, you can win a brand new car! As we play ''Classic Concentration''! And here's the host of Classic Concentration, Alex Trebek!}}
* [[Our Tropes Are Different|Our Puzzles Are
** Oddly, the puzzles in the second edition of the home game had no plus signs at all.
* [[Precious
* [[Pretty in Mink]]: A 1960s episode offered a ''chinchilla coat'' as a prize.
** Some rebuses on ''Classic'' included a woman in a fur coat to represent the syllable "fur". In at least one rebus, Steve Ryan attached a "fake" tag to the coat.
* [[Prop
* [[Rearrange the
** From 1969-73, the mid-show camera pan of the audience had Milton Kaye playing the standard "Puppet on a String". When Bob Clayton described the Chevrolet Nova awarded to the player calling two Wild Cards on the same turn, "See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet" was played.
* [[She's Got
* [[Shout-
* [[Took a Level in
* [[Trans-Atlantic
** The original Australian version helmed by Philip Brady ran from 1959-67 on the Nine Network, with a concurrent primetime run airing until 1961. Lionel Williams helmed a version in the 1970s on the Seven Network, followed by a brief 1997 run with Mike Hammond.
** A UK version produced by Granada aired on [[ITV]] from 16 June 1959 to 7 June 1960. Originally hosted by Barry McQueen, he was replaced by Chris Howland in 1960 and David Gell toward the end of the run. Blumenthal [http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=21303&view=findpost&p=258967 saw
{{quote|'''Blumenthal:''' My entire staff watched together and agreed it was extremely slow moving and sort of boring. Aside from the fact that the puzzle solutions were expressions and names of bands or singers and expressions unheard of to all of us, it didn't work for us. After a while, we figured out why. There were no commercial breaks!}}
** A revival using ''Classic'''s graphics package aired from 4 September 1988 to 1990, with hosts Nick Jackson (1988) and Bob Carolgees (1989-90). The bonus round was the same, but used eight trips instead of cars and a win awarded the non-matching trip.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:American
[[Category:Game Show]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the
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