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GAMEPLAY Crossword round Two contestants played a Crossword game on a computer-generated Scrabble board. They were given a letter to build on, the number of letters in that word, and a clue to help them figure out the word. The player going first had the option of guessing the word, or selecting two tiles from a rack of 11 (which included three stoppers--letters that were not in the word). The actual amount of numbers in the rack depended on how many letters were in the word (example: if there were 5 letters in the word, then the rack would have 7 letters to choose from). The letters from the tiles were thus revealed, and the player had to choose one of the two letters. If it was in the puzzle, he/she could guess the word or select the other letter. If the other letter appeared in the word, he/she could again guess the word or select two more tiles. If a letter selected was a stopper, that player lost his/her turn. When control of the board was passed to the second player, he/she could guess the word or select two tiles. If that player had one unused letter when control changed hands, he/she could select only one tile, as the unused letter carried over to the second contestant. If a contestant thought he knew the word, he/she hit a buzzer and guessed it. If correct, that player won the word. If incorrect, play continued and that player lost his or her turn. Originally, a player who knew the word simply guessed it without hitting his/her buzzer. If a player picked the third and final stopper, his/her opponent could either guess the word or play "speedword", in which the remaining letters were put in place, one at a time, except for the final letter. The first player to buzz in with the right answer won the word. If guessed wrong, his/her opponent received a chance to see the remaining letters. If neither answered correctly, the word would be revealed, and no one scored. Once a word was completely revealed, another word was put into play, building on a letter from the previously guessed word. The player who did not guess the last word went first. The first player to guess three words correctly won the game and $500 cash. In the event of a 2-2 tie, the fifth and last word is played as a speedword (instituted in 1985), and whoever guessed the word won. In 1985 , a new rule was added, in which if a player lands either on a pink or blue square and guessed the word immediately, that player won bonus money. A $500 bonus was awarded for the blue square, and a $1,000 bonus on a pink square (players were given "Chuck Bucks" instead of real dollar bills when the bonus word is guessed). Originally the bonuses were not in play during speedword, but in 1986 the rule was changed to include it. In the 1993 version, there were no bonuses; however, landing on a colored square and guessing the word added money to a bonus sprint jackpot (explained later). In early episodes, a pot was used instead of $500 for winning the game and the $500 and $1,000 bonus squares. For every letter revealed, $25 was added to a pot; $50 was added if a letter landed on a blue square, and $100 was added for a pink square. The first to guess three words won the game and the money in the pot. During a short time in 1985, not only did the player have to guess the word when he/she wanted to solve the puzzle, he or she had to ''spell'' the word, one letter at a time (like '' Lingo ''). That rule proved to be very unpopular and was eventually abandoned. One episode in particular was in 1985, when two contestants couldn't spell "Mosquitos". That eventually became one of the funniest moments on Scrabble and has been replayed on game show retrospectives such as VH1 's '' Game Show Moments Gone Bananas ''. NOTE: A male player always faced a female player in the crossword games, and both contestants had two different-sounding buzzers. Scrabble Sprint The Scrabble Sprint Round was originally played between the winner of the crossword game and the game's returning champion. The crossword winner selected one of two envelopes (pink or blue) and played three words from that envelope, establishing a time in which the champion had to beat, using the other packet with three different words. The sprint began with a five or six-letter word, with the clue given. After host Woolery said "go", two letters were revealed in the selector and the clock started. The challenger chose a letter from the selector, one at a time. (Originally when a letter was chosen, a new one replaced it. Later on, once a letter was chosen, the other went back into the shuffle to save time.) When the contestant knew the word, he/she stopped the clock by hitting a plunger to give an answer. If correct, the player moved on to the next word. If incorrect, a ten-second penalty was imposed, and the word continued unless all but one letter was revealed. Once a player hit his/her plunger, he/she had to give an answer immediately. If all letters except the last letter were revealed and the player did not know the word, he/she could allow five seconds to run off the clock without hitting the plunger to avoid the ten-second penalty, but he/she was then required to play a make-up word. Once the crossword winner guessed all three of his/her words, the champion then had to guess three words of his/her own in less than the time established from the first player (with the clock counting down). If the champion guessed all three words before the clock hit double-zero, then he/she won $1,500 (three times the value of the pot in early episodes). Otherwise, the crossword winner won $1,500 and became the new champion. Eventually, both contestants played the same set of words. To do this, the champion would head off stage where he/she was unable to see and hear the challenger. If a champion won five Scrabble Sprints in a row, that player won $20,000; a ten-time champion won $40,000 and was retired undefeated. In early episodes, the $20,000 was a bonus given at each winning plateau; five-time champions usually won about $28,500, and ten-time champions would win a minimum of $55,500. In later episodes, the contestant simply had his/her winnings increased to a flat $20,000, then $40,000. Second Format In 1986, the rules changed to which two crosswords and sprint rounds were played in a half-hour's time. The first crossword game was played by one of three challengers and a returning champion (with the challenger going first to begin the game), and the second crossword game was played by the other two challengers, with a coin-toss determining which player went first. The rules of the crossword game remained the same; however, when time ran short in this round, five loud bells were sounded, and the rest of the crossword game was played in speedword format. The winner of the first crossword game played the Sprint round (which was now expanded to four words), establishing a time for the second player to beat. After the second crossword game, the winner of that game played the same four words (with the clock counting down towards 0.0). The contestant with the faster time won $1,000 and a chance to win bonus money in the "Bonus Sprint". The fastest sprint round time was 11.1 seconds, and the longest was over 100 seconds, at which point the timer reset to zero. Bonus Sprint The "Bonus Sprint" was played like the Scrabble Sprint round, but the winner had to guess two words correctly within ten seconds to win the Bonus Sprint Jackpot which began at $5,000 and increased $1,000 every day until it was hit. An incorrect answer ended the game automatically, but the champion returned the next day (up to five days maximum). When the series returned in 1993 , the bonus sprint jackpot began at $1,000 and increased by either $500 or $1,000 whenever a player landed on a pink or blue square in the crossword game and guessed the word immediately. That change proved to be very unpopular and may have contributed to the demise of the 1993 version. OTHER FACTS
Sound Effects Over a dozen sound effects were used on "Scrabble". Among them were:
According to game show purists, it is believed that these sound effects were destroyed by NBC in the mid-1990s, however, there is no reliable source to this claim. EPISODE STATUS All episodes are believed to exist, except for the first season; the status of those episodes is unknown. FremantleMedia currently owns the rights to the series. Repeats of ''Scrabble'' aired on cable's USA Network from September 16 , 1991 to October 13 , 1995 . Another version of ''Scrabble'' was in the works in between the 1984-90 and 1993 runs, hosted by Los Angeles personality Steve Edwards . That version never made it to the air. Yet another version of ''Scrabble'' was planned exclusively for the Game Show Network hosted by Kennedy (the former host of Game Show Network 's '' Friend Or Foe? ''), but with rules more towards the board game rather than the 1980s version, and with no involvement from Chuck Woolery . However, that show didn't make it to air either. EXTERNAL LINKS
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