Family Game Night is a television series 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 $7,500 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" (actually the voice of Newton) 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):
- Twist It!: Mom turns a handle bar attached to a pedestal
- Pull It!: Mom pulls the foot of a large disembodied leg
- Shout It!: Bigger Sibling shouts into an oversized microphone
- Kick It!: Bigger Sibling kicks a floor-mounted punching bag
- Whack It!: Dad hits a spring-mounted target with a hammer
- Honk It!: Dad honks a large horn
- Crash It!: Youngest player bangs two springarm-mounted trash can lids together
- Bop It!: Youngest player hits 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.
In an early episode, all 4 minigames were featured; the team with the highest combined score won the game.
Data Head: 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.
Creative Cat: This minigame divided into 2 halves. In the first half, the 2 children in each family are given clay, as well as a card with a thing that each pair of children has to make from their clay. After a commercial break, the clay "masterpieces" are brought out, and the parents have 15 seconds to guess what their children made. Each correct answer is worth 10 points per second remaining. Then, in the second half, the parents get to draw things for their children to guess. Each parent uses an electronic sketch pad and is blindfolded while drawing. The children then have 15 seconds to guess what each parent is drawing. Correct answers are worth 10 points per second remaining. The family with the most total points from the two halves wins the round.
Star Performer Parents have 30 seconds to guess activities performed by their kids; 20 points for each correct answer.
Word Worm Words are revealed either from top to bottom or reverse. The captains from each team get to solve the words, with the first to guess each word scoring 30 points.
Guesstures Free Fall[]
In Guesstures Free Fall, a variation of the charades game Guesstures, one family member has 2 minutes to guess things or actions mimed by the other three family members, each suspended in mid-air by wires. 10 points are awarded for each correct answer, but if the family member who guesses decides to pass on an item or if the family member who mimes makes a noise while doing so, the miming player is then lowered, freefall-style, behind the Guesstures barrier. The answer is then revealed, and another of the family members suspended in mid-air gets to mime. The family with the most points wins the round. Ties are broken by determining which family made the fewest passes.
A subsequent rules change for this game had the time limit reduced to 45 seconds, with all three family members acting out things or actions for the fourth member to guess. The same scoring rules remained in effect. At the 30-second mark, one of the family members is lowered, followed by another at the 15-second mark. Passing is allowed only 3 times.
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 game.
Bounce n Boogie Boggle[]
On a 5-by-5 grid that resembles a Boggle board (in fact, a "'Big 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 6- or 7-letter Secret Word [shown to the home viewers], that family wins an additional bonus prize.
Connect 4 Basketball[]
In this variation on the vertical checkers game Connect Four, the checkers are replaced with red and yellow balls. Family members take turns throwing those balls into baskets on a 7x7 board, in order to get 4 in a row in any direction.
In an early episode, players from both teams shot their red and yellow balls at the same time. The first team to make 4 in a row won one round; the first to win two rounds won the game.
Twister Lights Out[]
In this variation on Twister, family members have to follow commands like "left foot, blue", with the dots shown on a floor-level video board. As play goes on, the dots disappear one by one, clockwise. If a family member either [1] has a body part that's on a disappeared dot, [2]does not follow the command on time, or [3] has any body part other than hands or feet on the board, that member is eliminated.
The first round has the kids participating; the second round has the adults taking part. Whichever family has one player standing wins a round; two rounds win the game.
Sorry! Sliders![]
In this big version of Sorry! Sliders, each family has two giant-sized rolling pawns. One player from each family pushes the pawns into one of the 4 rings with point values starting at 5 in the center, then 3, 1 and The Sorry Ring, which is worth no points, in the outer area. Players can push their opponents' pawns to affect the scoring. Each round consists of 2 rolls per family. The family with the most points wins the round, and the first family to win 2 rounds wins the game. If each family wins a round, a "slide-off" takes place with only one roll per family; the most points wins.
Yahtzee Bowling[]
In this variation of Yahtzee, the dice are represented as 5 six-sided bowling pins. Each family gets three chances to roll a bowling ball down a lane and knock down the pins to make the best scoring combination possible—a pair, two pair, three of a kind, a small straight, a full house, a large straight, four of a kind, or Yahtzee(five of a kind).
The family with the best combination wins a frame; 2 frames win the match. If a third frame is required after the families split the first two, each family gets only one roll, with the best combination winning the match. The family who makes a Yahtzee also receives a bonus prize.