In honor of the 60th anniversary of the premiere of The Hollywood Squares (its first episode aired on NBC on October 17th, 1966), I'm doing something I haven't had occasion to do for a while: feature the board game version of a classic game show.
First, a bit about the show itself. It's basically tic-tac-toe, but unlike the previously featured Tic-Tac-Dough, in which squares featured different categories that determined which questions would be asked of contestants, each square on Hollywood Squares featured a reasonably well-known (if, rather famously, somewhat lower-tier) celebrity. When a contestant called upon the celebrity's square, the host would read a question, to which the celebrity would usually respond first with some joke or one-liner, but eventually a legitimate answer. The contestant was then asked to "agree" or "disagree" with the celebrity's response. If the contestant chose correctly, their symbol ("X," traditionally a male player; or "O," consistently referred to as "Circle" and traditionally played by a woman) would get the square. If the contestant chose wrong, their opponent's symbol captured the square instead (unless, in most versions, such a result would result in a win for the opponent. Usually, wins had to be secured by the player him or herself). While the game itself was subject to the restrictions on advance information provided to contestants that had been mandatory ever since the game show scandals of the 1950s, the celebrities were typically provided with information in advance, so as to better enable them to make the humorous responses that made the show so enjoyable to watch. This formula has proven so popular that the original run lasted for roughly 15 years, and the show has since been revived multiple times (including a current run on CBS), as well as multiple international versions (most replacing the name "Hollywood," generally with something either generic or locally appropriate).
This version of the board game came out in 1986, alongside the second of the show's revivals (the first having been a short-lived combo as The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour). Because it is assumed that a home player won't have access to celebrities willing to come to one's home to play a board game, the nine squares are represented by made-up "celebrities" with punny names such as "Rosy Glow," "Tom Foolery," and "M.T. Promises." The game provides 12 of these "celebrities" as cardboard inserts, so you can chose both which 9 you want to use in a given game, as well as where on the board each "celebrity" should reside. "Circles" and "Xs" are provided as static cling markers (such as those used for the hexagons in the US Blockbusters home game... I should get around to featuring the UK version sometime!) intended to stick to the game board below each "celebrity". The end result is a remarkably accurate miniature mock-up of the set used on television, within the limitations of cardboard and plastic.
As with many board game versions of game shows, the official rules are modified to allow play without a dedicated emcee,* whereby each player asks his or her opponent the questions (and potential answers for the purposes of agreeing or disagreeing), which are provided on cards, with many questions on each card. These cards are fit into a holder that allows questions (and answers) not yet asked to remain hidden until it is time to use them (indeed, the answers are a line below the questions, so the question-asker is encouraged to give a response without yet knowing whether it is a bluff or not). Sadly, jokes are not provided, so any humor arising out of the questions will have to rely on whatever quick wit the players happen to have (the box promises "All the fun of the TV game show," but just how does that work without the jokes?).This particular board game was a somewhat unexpected addition to my collection during a recent visit to see my family, during which my brother and I went to a local "Antique and Toy Mall." This game was on sale as a "Clearance" item for $2.50 (from which an additional 20% applying to the entire booth was deducted!), and I thus bought the game fully expecting it to be incomplete. I went through the list of contents found inside the box to learn that it was, to my surprise, absolutely complete, making this easily the most inexpensive addition to my game show board game collection in many years (if not ever!). It was doubly-fortunate that this happened in time to celebrate the show's anniversary.*As I've said elsewhere, I prefer to play game show board games with an emcee/host, myself. Happily, the rules of this board game expressly allow for hosting, as well, should there be enough willing participants.
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