The Match Game Pilot was taped
on May 19,1973 at CBS Television City in Hollywood. It is the
same Match Game you know and love, but there were some minor
differences. Here are the
actual pictures from the pilot, so now you can see what stayed,
and what went.
TIME FOR ROUND
ONE
You can see that the contestant
podium is different than the one they had on Match Game 73-77.
Some of the questions asked were either fill in the blank, or
name something. Here is an example: Name some thing a baby does
more than an adult. Some celebrities put down "wet the bed"
or "cries".
The winner after two rounds
would go on to play the "JACKPOT MATCH," which could pay off over $5,000.
The JACKPOT MATCH became the SUPER MATCH. The Jackpot Match was played
exactly the same way as the Super Match. Whatever the contestant
won during the Jackpot Match, they would then play for ten times that
amount.
This contestant would play for
$5,000. A neon sign displaying the amount the contestant could win had not yet been built. Instead, a superimposed $5000 flashed on the screen.
On the panel: Bert Convy, Arlene Francis, Jack Klugman, JoAnn Pflug, Richard Dawson, and Betty White.
When the celebrity matched a
contestant's answer, the green triangle or the red circle would
turn off from the panel and light up at the contestant's podium
instead of lighting up at the panel and the contestants podium.
This has been a look at the
pilot that started one of television's greatest game shows, Match
Game. About two months after the taping of the pilot, Match Game
73 premiered on CBS and would soon become the number one daytime game
show until 1978.