Jumble (game show)

Wink Martindale and Bill Hillier created and produced four "interactive" games for FAM, Jumble being the last of the four. The other three were Trivial Pursuit, Boggle, and Shuffle. Wink and Randy were the host-announcer tandem for all four.

Jumble replaced Shuffle on the FAM lineup. Jumble had many similarities to Boggle and Shuffle; each show was played similarly and used the same theme song and sound effects. The three shows even used the same set; each show used most of the same set pieces, redone to give each show a distinct look.

Jumble started with four contestants. Each contestant had a telephone keypad built into their podium. To start, contestants were given a scrambled word. Wink would read a clue to the word, and the contestants had 10 seconds to unscramble the word. They did this by pressing the buttons on their keypad corresponding to the letters of the word. For example, if the scrambled word was "MAS", and the clue was "America's Uncle", contestants would push 7-2-6 to spell "S-A-M". Contestants would get points depending on how quickly they punched in the right answer, starting at 1,000 and counting down as time went on.

After each word was revealed, some letters of the word would be circled. When four words have been played, the circled letters would be shown again, along with a cartoon with a caption. Contestants would have 10 seconds to unscramble the circled word, which would fit into a humorous phrase related to the caption & illustration. For example, if the caption was "You need this to play tennis", the phrase was "A lot of ____", and the letters were "TSUG", the correct answer would be "A lot of GUTS".

The player with the lowest score after the Jumble was eliminated.

The three remaining contestants had their scores reset to zero, and the process was repeated with another Jumble. The lowest scoring player after this round was eliminated.

In the final round, the two remaining contestants' scores were reset to zero once again. The contestant with the highest score after the final Jumble was declared the day's winner. The winner won two prizes (one of which was always a trip), while the runner-up won a smaller prize.

When each round with the studio players was done, home viewers could call a special 1-900 number. For a cost of $4.98, they could play a game of "Interactive Jumble". This was played exactly like a round of the studio game, and home viewers answered with their touch-tone telephone. The home viewer with the highest score would win a small prize and the right to enter a weekly playoff, played the same as before. The winner of this playoff would receive a trip.