THREE ON A MATCH

"(Contestants), if your first three picks match, you win that prize plus a new car, on Three on a Match!"

Two parts Concentration plus one part Sale of the Century and one part true/false quiz equals Three on a Match, a fondly remembered game.

Three contestants compete. Three categories are announced, and the contestants secretly bid on how many questions, one to four, they want to answer. Top bidder wins the auction, unless there's a tie, in which case the contestants cancel each other out and low bid wins. If all three tie, the bids are erased and they bid again.

The winning bidder selects a category and tries to fill their bid by answering as many true/false questions as needed to win an amount of money calculated as ($10 x total number bid by all three players). If they fail, the next high bidder tries to fill their own bid for the same amount. If there's a tie for next high bid, another auction is held between the remaining players. High bid wins, and if the players tie, the round is simply thrown out.

Three new categories are introduced after every auction. Also, one category in each set of three hid either a bonus of "double pot" (where the total number bid is multiplied by $20 instead of $10) or "One/Two/Three Free Box(es)," which can't be saved. The contestant must go to the prizeboard immediately to use this bonus.

Once a contestant has at least $90, they have the option to go to the prizeboard. The prizeboard consists of 12 spaces divided into $20, $30, and $40 columns, and the four boxes in each column are represented by a color. The prizeboard hides four prizes with a common theme (luxury items, furniture, etc.) The contestant calls out spaces by the value and color ("$30 on the Red, Bill!") To win a prize, and the game, the contestant must purchase three boxes hiding the same prize, with one box per prize in each money column (i.e., a prize won't be three $20 boxes or two $40s and a $30. It's behind one $20, one $30, and one $40.) Occasionally to make things interesting, a "No Match" space was placed somewhere on the board.

Contestants keep picking boxes until they've spent all their money, or the money they have left can't buy anything that will win a prize, at which point the game simply continues. If they match a prize, the contestant wins that prize, keeps what money s/he still has, and meets two new opponents. And as the opening indicates, if the first three picks match, the contestant also gets a new car.

On April 23, 1973, the series introduced a new format. The game was played largely the same, but now the game board hid pictures with a common bond (movie stars, types of hats, etc.). When a contestant made a match, they made a note of it with the flip cards on the podiums, the scores were erased and the contestants started over again.

The first contestant to get three matches wins a $5,000 prize package and the right to meet two new opponents. If a contestant makes a match on their first three picks, they automatically win the game and the $5,000 prize package. If a contestant makes seven consecutive matches, s/he wins a $5,000 cash bonus and a new car. In an unheard-of rule for network games in the '70s, our information suggests that there was no winnings limit, and contestants could continue until defeated.

Also included in the new format was "The Big Match," a bonus game played by all three contestants played once per show. Two halves of a $1,000 bill are hidden in two boxes on the board, the other ten boxes are blank. The contestants go down the line selecting the boxes until either the contestants have uncovered a total of nine blanks (ending the game) or until one of them finds half of the bill. That contestant then has one final pick to locate the other half of the bill for a cash jackpot that starts at $1,000 and increases by $1,000 per show until won.

An enjoyable game. Certainly one of the faster-paced games Bill hosted, but he doesn't seem to struggle through it. The concept was a clever one, and unlike most format changes, the second format seems just as good as the first.