'' was a revival of the classic American game show format, ''
Concentration '', that was produced and packaged by Mark Goodson Productions, and aired on
NBC from
May 4 ,
1987 to
September 20 ,
1991 and again, in reruns, from
October 28 ,
1991 to
December 31 ,
1993 .
Alex Trebek , of ''
Jeopardy! '' fame, was the host of this version of ''Concentration'', and
Gene Wood was the main announcer, while
Art James filled-in for Wood, for one whole month, weeks before the show's cancellation. Diana Taylor was the prize model for the first few weeks, but she was soon replaced by Marjorie Goodson-Cutt, daughter of
Mark Goodson and wife of ''Classic Concentration'''s associate director, Tim Cutt. Steve Ryan created the show's many rebus puzzles. This version of ''Concentration'' was filmed on Stage 3 at NBC's facilities in
Burbank, California .
The basic rules for ''Classic Concentration'' were similar to the original ''Concentration'': Two players competed to match fabulous prizes and cash awards on a numbered board and solve a hidden rebus puzzle consisting of pictures, symbols, letters and numbers depicting a person, place, thing or phrase in order to win all the prizes accumulated. This newest ''Concentration'' featured 25 numbered squares instead of the 30 found on the previous versions. Additionally, the mechanical trilon board featured on the earlier incarnations was now replaced by a computer-generated
GUI board.
Players took turns calling two numbers hoping to match prizes. Typically, the player to Trebek's left
challenger would go first. If the player matched two numbers in one turn, he/she earned whatever prize was revealed in the match, and two pieces of a rebus were revealed for the player to attempt to solve the rebus puzzle. If the player succeeded, he/she won all the prizes accumulated in his/her prize column, and played the Winner's Circle bonus round for a chance to win one of the eight brand new cars that adorned a large circular staircase found near the back wall of the ''Classic Concentration'' set. If the player could not offer a solution to the rebus (or offered an incorrect one), the player would pick two more numbers, hoping for another match.
''Classic Concentration'' featured the "WILD!" card, which guaranteed an automatic match to any number on the board, and the "TAKE!" card, which would allow a player to take one prize from his/her opponent's prize column. Each game would typically have three "WILD!" cards (although some games used only one), and two pairs of matching-colored "TAKE!" cards, one red and one green. In the earliest episodes, no TAKE cards appeared on the board, and for a short time, the red TAKE appeared all by itself; the green TAKE was added later. In this game, a player could choose either to use a TAKE card immediately after matching it on the board, or to hold onto it and wait for a particular prize to show up in the opponent's prize column. Drawing two WILD cards in one turn earned the player a $500 bonus, and if all three were drawn, the contestant earned a $1000 bonus, which would be won if the player solved the rebus. The FORFEIT cards found on the original ''Concentration'' were not used on this show.
Later in the series, a "Ca" card was added, which contained a cash award that started at $500 and was increased by $100 every day this prize was not won until someone matched it and solved a puzzle, when it would go back to $500. Additionally, a "Five Bonus Car Seconds" card appeared, which would allot the player who matched this and solved the rebus five more seconds in the bonus round.
In the beginning of the run, the player who solved the rebus went to play the car game while the loser was eliminated (except in cases of an interrupted game, when the losing player would return to play in the next match as the "challenger"). On
July 4 ,
1988 , the format was changed into a best-of-three competition, with the first player to solve two rebuses winning the match and playing for a new car. It should be noted that unlike most game shows that tened to straddle when playing a best-of-three format, CC had their first game split over the first two segments, with the second (and possibly) third game taking up the third segment, and the endgame taking up the forth. Thus, each show was self-contained. From
June 30 ,
1990 until the end of the run, a "Two Strikes" rule was instituted, where a player who solved one rebus played for a new car, but a player was eliminated only after losing two games.
A player who won a match got the opportunity to win one of eight new cars in the endgame, euphemistically called the "Winner's Circle". The contestant was given a board of 15 numbered panels, instead of 25 as in the main game. Behind those numbers were the names of the eight cars sitting in the studio. Seven cars matched, while one did not match--this was just to confuse the player. (Early in the run, a buzzer effect would sound indicating to the viewers which car was the matchless one.) If the player found all seven matches before time ran out, he/she won the car indicated in the seventh and final match. The clock had a base time of 35 seconds (barring any bonus time won in the regular game), but five seconds were added whenever the bonus round ended in a loss, and the clock would revert to 35 seconds after someone won a car.
Early in the show's run, a player could win the game and play the Winner's Circle round up to five times before being retired. Later, the five-game limit was dropped; the trade-off was that a champion was retired the moment he/she won a car.
''Classic Concentration'' produced several special episodes for different holidays, including
Halloween ,
Christmas ,
Cinco De Mayo and
St. Patrick's Day . For
St. Valentine's Day one year, a full week of episodes were produced nicknamed "Love Week." A "College Week" of episodes also appeared. In 1989, the show celebrated the 20th anniversary of the
Woodstock Festival .
Every year, ''Classic Concentration'' invited the fastest car winners from the previous season to compete in a "Tournament of Champions" for a fabulous grand prize. The ten fastest car winners or the year return. Two contestants play two games each day. The winner of the rebus game plays the car game. The clock counts up, and if the contestant does finish the round in 35 seconds, he or she wins another car. The cars are upgraded for the tournament. The time is noted win or lose. The one player who finishes the board in the fastest time wins the grand prize, along with whatever prizes were picked up in the main games. For the first tournament in 1988, the champion won a trip around the world. In following years, an upscale automobile was awarded to each tournament winner.
The basic set layout for ''Classic Concentration'' consisted of the board (composited from a set of Sony television monitors), a large eight-stepped circular staircase where the eight cars were displayed, an elevated circular mound where the "Winner's Circle" round was played, a mobile float where contestants played the regular game, and a large curved "CLASSIC CONCENTRATION" sign that hung from the studio rafters. Throughout the progression of the series, a motley-looking tropical motif was added to the set, consisting of a variety of fake grasses, shrubs, plants, rocks and palm trees. Various other props appeared throughout the year to depict the seasons, from a park bench, fake snow and a street lantern for winter, to fake fruits for summer.
The atmosphere on ''Classic Concentration'' was generally laid back. Games usually featured a lot of casual banter among the host, contestants, crew and audience. For Trebek, this was a departure from his more formal and gentlemanly persona on ''Jeopardy!''. As a demonstration of this, for a short time before the series' end, Trebek traded his dapper suit-and-tie wardrobe for
Mister Rogers -style cardigan sweaters. On one episode, Trebek wore a white sweatshirt that bore a replica of the board and a partly revealed rebus.
Each episode usually started with this spiel from Gene Wood:
"Behind these numbers is a puzzle. Can you solve it?
puzzle here If you could do that, you'll have a chance to win one of these eight fabulous cars, as we play...CLASSIC CONCENTRATION! And here's the host of CONCENTRATION, Alex Trebek!" (In later episodes, Wood substituted, "you'll have a chance to win one of these eight fabulous cars" with "you could win a brand new car." Additionally, the audience and contestants would shout, "CLASSIC CONCENTRATION" with Wood, on cue.)
Originally, Alex would entered from the top of the staircase, in later episodes, Alex would entered from the bottom of the staircase, behind one of the eight cars.
Although Mark Goodson Productions packaged ''Classic Concentration'', NBC retains the rights to the entire ''Concentration'' format, including this version. All episodes still exist, and NBC has converted them from their original analog format to digibeta (required to air on cable TV), but NBC has, as of today, not licensed any version of Concentration for syndication or DVD release, which is why no version of this show has been seen — not even on
GSN or the
USA Network —since the end of 1993. Episodes still appear on the trading block, and the rejected 1985 pilot, starring long-time game show panelist
Orson Bean , is known to exist in some private home libraries.
