Play Your Hunch

Infobox_television
show_name = Play Your Hunch


caption = Play Your Hunch title logo.
format = Game Show
runtime = 30 Minutes
creator = Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
starring = Merv Griffin (1958–1962), Gene Rayburn (1962) and Robert Q. Lewis (1962-1963); Announcer: Lee Vines (1958-1959) and Bill Wendell (1959-1963)
country = USA
rating=TV-G (on GSN)
network = CBS (1958-1959), ABC (1959), NBC (1959-1963) Nighttime NBC (1960 & 1962)
first_aired =June 30, 1958
last_aired =September 27, 1963|

"Play Your Hunch" was an American game show first hosted by Merv Griffin from 1958 to 1962, and was then hosted by Robert Q. Lewis until 1963. The announcers for the show's entire run was Johnny Olson, Johnny Gilbert and Don Pardo. In 2001, Play Your Hunch was ranked #43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time.

"Play Your Hunch" was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production. It has been considered to be something of a "spin-off" of another more successful Goodson-Todman game, "To Tell the Truth".

Broadcast history

The show first aired on CBS from 1958-1959. ABC picked it up in the same year, and then NBC aired it for the rest of its run, concluding in 1963. During the NBC run, two different prime time versions aired, one in 1960, and one in 1962.

Hosts and announcers

The show had a few hosts, with the longest tenured being Merv Griffin. After Griffin left to begin his talk show, Robert Q. Lewis took over for the rest of the run. It was also hosted by Gene Rayburn of "Match Game" fame for one month in 1962, as a substitute for Griffin.

This was Johnny Olson's first regular announcing job with longtime employer Mark Goodson. Olson is better known as the first announcer on the Bob Barker version of The Price is Right, and as the announcer for every version of The Match Game, until the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour.

Game play

Two couples (or occasionally pairs with other relationships) competed. The game revolved around "problems" which involved a choice between three visible possibilities (often three people) which were always labeled X, Y, and Z. Some questions would have an element of observation; for example, one couple was asked which of three labeled musicians amongst the show's band was not playing his instrument and was merely pretending. Other problems depended mainly on luck in guessing correctly.

The teams were alternatively presented with problems and had the choice to play or pass after the choices were unveiled but before the problem was described. The couple who played the problem discussed the answer amongst themselves until a chime rang and the couple had to answer. If the couple was wrong, the opponents had the choice between the remaining two answers. If either couple got the right answer, they earned a point, with three points winning the game. At least once every show, the couples would also have to solve a "come-closer" problem, which involved coming up with a numerical answer to a problem by writing their answer on a slate (example: how many coffee beans in a displayed container); the teams would then reveal their slates, and the team who guessed closer to the actual answer would score a point.

Couples remained on the show as champions until they were defeated, with the first question of each game going to the challengers. On the CBS version, a bonus game was played by the winning couple for a prize, like a trip, an appliance, a car, etc. Either the show's assistant, or announcer Johnny Olson himself would hide behind one of three "doors" onstage; the couple would simply have to guess which "door" either of them was hiding behind. On the NBC version, each point scored during the game was worth $100 to both teams.

Foreign versions

A British version of the show was produced by the BBC in the early 1960s, hosted at one stage by Alan Freeman.

Episode status

At least some episodes of the American series exist. GSN has aired a handful of episodes of the Griffin version in the past (Most recently on early Monday morning August 20, 2007, the first night-time episode of the series, which had also aired on GSN at least once prior).

No editions of the UK series are listed on the BBC Programme CatalogueFact|date=September 2007, suggesting that no editions of the series survive in the archives.