Family Game Night (game show)

Family Game Night is an television series based on the video game Hasbro Family Game Night, in turn based on Hasbro's family of board games. The show is hosted by Todd Newton, and also features announcer Burton Richardson. The 60-minute program debuted on October 10, 2010 on the new channel, The Hub, formerly Discovery Kids; it was previewed on October 9, 2010 on its sister channel, TLC.

Gameplay

The TV show features two families of four competing for cash and prizes. Each family consists of the mother, the father, and two children aged 18 or younger. Teams are usually named for the younger of the two kids (ie. Willie's Family or Suzie's Family).

Teams earn "Monopoly Crazy Cash Cards" by playing the various games, normally 5 of them in each episode. When a family wins a game, the youngest child gets to pick a Monopoly Crazy Cash Card from a rack located at the "Crazy Cash Corner" on the far left of the stage. The rack starts out holding 21 different cards, each depicting one of the tokens used in either the original "Monopoly" board game or the "Monopoly: Here And Now Edition" board game. Each card holds a different randomized amount of money, which is revealed at the end of the show. Most of the cards are valued between $100 and $995 (in $5 increments), although at least one card holds a four-figure amount (usually between $2000 and $5000) and one card is the "Top Cash Card" worth between $10,000 and $25,000. (The Top Cash Card's value is announced at the beginning of the game and referred to throughout the episode.)

When a team wins a game, in addition to the Cash Card, they also get a special bonus prize. At the end of the show, both families take their accumulated cards to the "Crazy Cash Machine". Each card is placed into the Machine, revealing its value and spitting out the amount in oversized Monopoly Money bills. Both families keep all the cash & prizes they win during the game, and the family with the most cash at the end wins the grand prize, which changes every episode (usually a family vacation).

Games

Family Game Night features an interchangeable selection of mini-games, similar to The Price Is Right.

Guess Who?

Guess Who? is the opening toss-up game that decides which family is given the option to play first or second in the first game. The host gives up to four clues to the identity of a celebrity or a fictional person. The families can buzz in whenever they want. If they get it right, they get to pick to go first or second in the next game. If they get it wrong, the other family wins the round and they get to decide if they want to go first or second. In addition, after this game, each family selects a "Crazy Cash" card, starting with the family that will be playing first.

Scrabble Flash

Scrabble Flash is a game where the families have to make words using 5 oversized electronic Scrabble Flash letter tiles. Alternating between teams, each family takes a turn picking what word they can make. The team then arranges the Flash tiles used to make that word. The team gets 3 points for making a word with 3 letters, 4 points by making a word with 4 letters, or 5 points by making a word with 5 letters. The first family to reach a score of 25 points or more is the winner.

Bop It! Boptagon

In Bop It! Boptagon, each player occupies one of eight Boptagon stations, alternating between teams (ie. if a Red player is at station 1, a Yellow player is at station 2, another Red at 3, and so on). The "Bop It! Caller" then calls one of the eight Bop It! commands, relating to its given station (see below). If the Caller calls the command for a player's station, they perform it. If the Caller says "Rotate It!", all players move clockwise once to the next station on their left. If the Caller says "Reverse It!", all players move counterclockwise one station to the right. If someones misses their command or does their command too late, moves the wrong way on a "Rotate It!" or "Reverse It!", or does their command when it wasn't called, they're out. (Multiple eliminations are possible on a single flubbed command.) Play continues with any remaining players until one of the families has all four members eliminated, thus winning the game for the other family.

The Boptagon stations and their related actions are (in counter-clockwise order as Todd Newton describes them before each play):

1. Twist It!: Turn a set of handlebars attached to a pedestal
2. Pull It!: Pull the foot of a large disembodied leg
3. Shout It!: Shout into an oversized microphone
4. Kick It!: Kick a floor-mounted punching bag
5. Whack It!: Hit a spring-mounted target with a hammer
6. Honk It!: Honk a large horn
7. Crash It!: Bang two springarm-mounted trash can lids together
8. Bop It!: Hit the big BOP IT! buzzer

Cranium

Cranium is actually a set of four minigames, each represented by one of the Cranium characters. The host reveals one of the characters and the characters' related game. The game is then played in two parts, with the children in each team competing first, followed by the parents. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins a Cash Card and a bonus prize.

To date, the only Cranium minigame played has been Data Head. There are three other minigames: Creative Cat, Star Performer, and Word Worm. Players are shown a series of images and are either asked questions about the image or are asked to identify an aspect of the image or something related to it. Five such images/questions are asked to the kids for 10 points each. Then another five more difficult images/questions are asked of the parents for 20 points each.

Guesstures Free Fall

In Guesstures Free Fall, a variation of the charades game Guesstures, one family member is the "guesser" while the other three family members are the "actors", each suspended in mid-air by wires. The actors, starting with the one on the guesser's left, then mime either things or actions for the guesser to solve within a 2-minute time limit. 10 points are awarded for each correct answer, but if the guesser passes on an item or if an actor makes a noise while miming, the actor is then dropped, freefall-style, behind the Guesstures barrier. The answer is then revealed, and the guesser proceeds to the next actor. The family with the most points wins the round. Ties are broken by which team made the fewest passes.

Operation Relay

Operation Relay is where the families get the pieces from Cavity Sam using tweezers. If they hit the edge, the person has to go to the end of the line. If they get the piece, they have to go through an obstacle course and stick the piece on a board that has points corresponding to each piece, the points based on difficulty. If they trip over or miss an obstacle, they have to go to the end of the line. Each family is given 2 minutes, with the family scoring the most points winning the round.

Bounce 'n Boogie Boggle

On a 5-by-5 grid that resembles a Boggle board, family members take turns searching for words. A player announces a word, then walking to the first letter in the word, spells it out by jumping from square to square to spell them, scoring 1 point for each letter in a correct word. As in the board game, words must be at least 3 letters long, and the letters used in spelling the word must touch each other in the grid orthogonally or diagonally. If a player backtracks (uses a letter square they've already used in the given word), spells a word incorrectly, uses unconnected letters, spells a word different from their announced word, or fails to come up with a word in time, that player's turn is lost. The family that scores the most points in the 2-minute time limit wins. Also, if a family member spells a pre-determined Secret Word (shown to the home viewers), that family wins an additional bonus prize.

Connect Four Basketball

In this variation on the vertical checkers game Connect Four, the checkers are replaced with red and yellow basketballs. Family members take turns throwing those balls into baskets into one of the seven slots on a 7x7 board, in order to get 4 in a row in any direction. The challenge is how the ball bounces off a slot and landing in another, thus letting the other player achieve a four in a row.

Twister Lights Out

Based on both Twister and Lights Out, kids and adults have to follow directions, mostly like Bop It. When the game starts, commands are given, then the lights go out. If people do the wrong command or do it when the lights are on, they are out of the game.

Sorry! Sliders!

To date, no episodes have been hosting this game.

Yahtzee Bowling

To date, no episodes have been hosting this game.