Great Getaway Game

The Great Getaway Game was a game show, running on the Travel Channel from June 1, 1990 to April 1991. As of 2007, this is the Travel Channel’s sole attempt at a game show. Wink Martindale hosted this show, and also helped produce it. Created and co-produced by Brockway Television (L.I., NY). The show was taped "live" and featured Rick Sommers as the Announcer while music/sound effects were handled by Leer Leary.

Gameplay

Two players, one a returning champion, competed. They faced a 6X5 board with the spaces numbered 1 through 30. The spaces made up a word search, with each space hiding one letter. Somewhere in the board was one word for the contestants to find. The word could be either four, five, or six letters long. Before the round began, Wink gave a clue to the word, along with one letter that was in the puzzle.

To begin the round, each contestant picked two free spaces, revealing the letters behind them. Wink would then ask a question relating to geography. A contestant could buzz in at any time to guess. A right answer was worth 10 points, but a wrong answer lost 10 points and gave their opponent a chance to answer. Getting the right answer also won the right to reveal one letter in the word search and guess the word. Finding the word won 100 points and a bonus prize, a wrong answer continued the round. If both contestants got a question wrong, two letters in the word search were revealed at random.

Each new round was played the same way, but used a different board and offered a different bonus prize. The point values also doubled in each round. Play would continue until time ran out. If time was called in the middle of a round, letters in the word search were revealed until a contestant found the word. The one with the most points is declared champion and advances to the bonus round.

The bonus round was one final word search. The contestant had 30 seconds to find five words with a common theme in a 7X7 grid. If the contestant found all five words, they won a trip.