Sports on Tap

Sports on Tap is an American sports trivia game show from Sande Stewart Television that aired on ESPN from April 5 to September 30, 1994 and then from January 3 to March 29, 1995.[1] The game was set in a fictional sports bar named "Sports on Tap". Sportscaster Tom Green (no relation to the comic actor) was behind the counter as the "Bartender" (aka Emcee), with Shelly Gray appearing as the bar’s "Waitress" (aka Hostess). There was no music or real announcer for the show. However, at the beginning and end of the show, as well as before commercial breaks, Johnny Gilbert was heard doing play-by-play was played as if from a radio or television. Also appearing on camera was Tony Pandolfo, who called out the names of the contestants and acted as a judge during the game.

Sports on Tap
Created bySande Stewart
Directed byBruce Burmester
Presented byTom Green
Shelly Gray
Narrated byJohnny Gilbert
Country of origin United States
Production
Executive producerSande Stewart
Running timeapprox. 26 minutes
Production companySande Stewart Television
Release
Original networkESPN
Original releaseApril 5, 1994 (1994-04-05) –
March 29, 1995 (1995-03-29)

Game Play

Four players, seated at the counter of the bar, competed against each other.

Round one

Each player was staked to $50 and played one player at a time. The first player in control was shown the first halves of two questions on the bar’s TV monitor (similar to questions on Your Number's Up). The player selected one of the half-questions for Greene to finish. Three half-questions (four on Monday-Thursday during tournament weeks) are played per player in the round. On the first two half-questions (three during the tournament), a correct answer earned $50 with no penalty for an incorrect answer. In either case, a new half-question would replace the chosen one except for the third half-question. At that point, the player would then wager any or all of their score on the remaining half-question. A correct answer added the wager and an incorrect answer subtracted the wager. The three remaining players would play in a similar fashion.

Rounds Two and Three

All four players now competed on a toss-up basis with the player who gave the last correct answer selecting the half-questions. If a player buzzes in with a correct answer, that player would then have a chance at a “Double Play” by selecting another half-question to answer on their own. However, a wrong answer deducted the amount from that player. Each correct answer was worth $50 in Round Two and $100 in Round Three.

Final round

All four players would line up on the stairs in the back of the bar in order of their scores after Round Three. The players would now play a head-to-head "stepladder final" playoff to determine the day’s winner. The fourth place player would play the third place player, with the higher scoring player selecting all the half-questions. Once a half-question has been chosen, the other half-question is removed from the game and two new half-questions appear on the TV monitor. Each correct answer was now worth one point. The first player to reach three points wins the round and moves up to the next step to face the second place player. The winner of that playoff then moves up to face the first place player.

The winner of the final playoff is declared the winner of the day and adds their name to a "Winner’s Board" keeping track of all the winners for that week.

Friday Final

The winners of all four games of the week would then compete in one final game on Friday for the combined total of all four player’s winnings.

Tournament

The weekly winners would then advance to a season-ending Tournament of Champions where the grand champion wins a $50,000 cash bonus in the first season and $25,000 in the second season.[2] During the first three days of the week, three semifinalists (two Friday winners and one of the top-scoring runners-up) competed per day. The loser of the final match of the Playoff Round returned for Thursday's wildcard match. The Friday final pitted all four winners from earlier in the week for the cash prize. The Friday final would be played exactly like a regular episode.

References
  1. Ryan, Steve; Schwartz, David; Wostbrock, Fred (1999), The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows (3 ed.), New York: Checkmark, p. 31, ISBN 0-8160-3847-3
  2. ""Sports on Tap" Page". The Sports Game Show Page. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
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