Caesars Challenge
| Caesars Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Michael Dubelko Rick Rosner |
| Presented by | Ahmad Rashād |
| Starring | Dan Doherty Chad Brown Zach Ruby |
| Narrated by | Steve Day |
| Theme music composer | Stormy Sacks |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 155 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Rick Rosner |
| Producer(s) | Harry Friedman |
| Location(s) | Caesars Palace, Las Vegas |
| Running time | approx. 26 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | June 14, 1993 – January 14, 1994 |
Caesars Challenge is an American game show that aired on NBC from June 14, 1993 to January 14, 1994. Ahmad Rashad hosted the show and Dan Doherty, dressed as a gladiator, served as the show's assistant. Chad Brown and Zach Ruby also served as assistants early in the show. Steve Day announced the program, which was taped at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Caesars Challenge is the last daytime game show to air on NBC.
Contents |
[edit] Game play
Three contestants competed, and three rounds were played. The object in each round was to solve a jumbled word displayed on a 9-screen slot machine on stage. Seven-letter words were used in round one, eight-letter words in round two and nine-letter words in round three.
Each new word fit into a category that was originally revealed to everyone, but later only revealed to home viewers. Rashad asked the players a toss-up question with three choices based on the category, and a player who buzzed in with the correct answer won money and the right to choose a letter to be placed into the word. Correct answers paid off at $100 in the first round, $200 in the second round, and $300 in the third round, and if two of the three players failed to answer any question correctly, the money and letter choice was awarded to the third player by default.
After the player's selected letter was placed, they were given five seconds to try to guess the word. Doing so won the player additional money based on how many of the letters were not placed; otherwise, play continued until the word was correctly guessed. The first two rounds were played with two words apiece, and the third round was played until time ran out, with as many words as possible played.
During the time when the category was only revealed to the home audience, Rashad announced the category of the word to the contestants after the word had been correctly guessed.
In round one, each word was seven letters in length, and the contestant who solved the word received $100 per each unplaced letter. Round two featured eight-letter words, and the unplaced letters were worth $200 each. Round three's words were all nine letters in length and the value for unplaced letters increased to $300.
One of the nine screens in each word was designated the "Lucky Slot", signified by a red border surrounding the screen. If a player placed a letter in the Lucky Slot and solved the puzzle immediately after, they won an instant cash jackpot that was added to their score along with the money the player earned from unplaced letters. The Lucky Slot began each day at $500, increased by that amount for each word it wasn't won, and reset to $500 once it was claimed.
When time was running short (signified by a car horn), the Lucky Slot was taken out of play and letters were automatically placed one at a time into the word. The first contestant to buzz in with the correct answer won whatever money was available from the unplaced letters. An incorrect answer locked a player out of the remainder of the round. The player with the most money at the end of the game won and advanced to the Bonus Round. Originally, the winner shopped for prizes with their winnings; later, they were given a prize package equal to their winnings. The other players left with parting gifts, including dinner for two and tickets to a headliner show at the Circus Maximus showroom at Caesars Palace. In the case of a tie, another speed-up round was played between the tied players.
[edit] Bonus round
Caesars Challenge employed two different bonus rounds. The prize in both formats was a car.
[edit] Format #1
A giant rotating bingo cage filled with 200 lettered balls lowered from the ceiling. One by one, the letters spilled out of the cage and Doherty announced the letter as the ball rolled down a ramp. Once a dictionary-certified nine-letter word could be formed from the letters, a gong sounded, the cage stopped rotating, and Caesar announced, "Caesar says stop!".
The nine letters were then displayed on the slot machine screens in the order that they rolled down the ramp. A champion was able to place one letter on the first day and one additional letter for each subsequent day they returned to the round. Once the champion placed their allotment of letters they had 10 seconds to try to guess the word. A correct guess won the car and retired the champion. Otherwise, they returned on the next show. The theoretical maximum amount of days a champion could return to the round was eight.
[edit] Format #2
On November 22, 1993, a new bonus round format was introduced. The champion faced a computer-generated board with five scrambled words with each word having one more letter in it than the one before (the first had five letters, the second six, and so on up until the last word with nine). Each of the five words had its letters automatically placed one at a time each second, and the champion had 30 seconds to unscramble them all. Doing so won the car. If the champion made three consecutive bonus rounds and failed to win the car, they retired undefeated with whatever they had won in the main game.
[edit] Audience game
During the closing credits of every show, Rashad and Doherty went into the studio audience and gave audience members an opportunity to unscramble five-letter words. Correctly guessing the word won a handful of casino tokens and gold foil-covered chocolate medallions from a bowl held by Doherty.
[edit] Broadcast History
Caesars Challenge aired at 12:30 PM EST replacing Scattergories. The program preceded Days of Our Lives. Caesars Challenge suffered against the first half hour of CBS's The Young and The Restless. Some NBC stations preempted the program with local news broadcasts which often aired the entire noon hour. Caesars Challenge was NBC's last game show to air in daytime.[1]
Reruns aired on the USA Network from June 27 to November 4. 1994.[2][3]
