A staple of American media whose format has extended to classrooms and social events.

Mass media contests with celebrities, average citizens, or both, have offered rewards ranging from charity donations to $1 million. Drawing on radio, television games as prime-time events reached their apogee in the 1950s. Since then, they have been daytime staples and syndicated products that fill out local schedules. These games are distinguishable on the basis of contest rules, participation and vulgarity as well as rewards.

Early quiz shows like The $64,000 Question (1955–9), Twenty-One (NBC, 1956–8) or Tic Tac Dough (NBC, 1957–8) were immensely popular weekly evening shows, turning “ordinary” citizens with extraordinary knowledge into stars. Questions could be complex, but the visible struggle suited American beliefs and hopes. This popularity waned when congressional hearings revealed that contestants, including Columbia instructor Charles Van Doren, had been coached in their answers (as depicted in Quiz Show, 1994). As Steven Spark notes, this collapse opened evenings to other series and drew lines between news and entertainment for decades.

Yet these big-stakes shows were not the only option of the 1950s. Other prime-time shows included long-running celebrity matches created by Mike Goodson and Bill Todman, who dominated the genre for decades. Their What’s My Line? (CBS, 1950–67) highlighted repartee among actors and columnists guessing the occupations of ordinary and star contestants. I’ve Got a Secret (CBS, 1952–67), To Tell the Truth (CBS, 1956– 67), The Price is Right (NBC, 1956–63; ABC, 1963–5) and Beat the Clock (CBS, 1950– 8; later ABC and syndication) also focused on distinguishing the truth—whether stumping celebrities or demonstrating physical and economic acuity Meanwhile, these shows emphasized the jovial, male, white announcer who might have other serious roles: newsman Hugh Downs hosted Concentration (NBC, 1958–73); Walter Cronkite led Its News to Me (CBS, 1951–4). Comedian, Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life (NBC, 1950– 61) displayed Groucho’s wit more than contestants’ prowess.

These shows and their successors found addi tional lives as board and party games.

Indeed, television enshrined live competition as deeply American—in television sports, show business (Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour, various networks, 1948–70; Star Search, syndicated, 1983–97), beauty pageants or media awards. This model extended to College Bowl (NBC, 1953–70) (pitting university teams against erudite questions) and high-school imitators nationwide. Even Sesame Street (PBS, 1969–) invented the unctuous Guy Smiley to host educational games.

Goodson and Todman’s hegemony ended in the 1970s with Family Feud (ABC and syndication, 1976–94) and the New Price is Right (various networks, 1957–, with a total run of roughly four decades). A subsequent entrepreneur, Chuck Barris, created hits like Dating Game (ABC, 1965–73; syndication) and Newlywed Game (ABC, 1966–74; syndication), more notable for vulgarity in their sexually loaded questions and answers.

Barris also created the Gong Show (NBC, 1976–78; syndication)—a talentless talent show that effectively ridiculed hapless contestants.

In the 1990s, game shows found new life through syndication. Merv Griffin, a 1960s talkshows host, produced global game shows like Wheel of Fortune (NBC and syndicated, 1975–) and Jeopardy (ABC and syndication, 1990–) (the latter famed for knowledge rather than luck). A European import of 1999, Do You Want to Be a Millionaire?, has also raised stakes and moved towards prime-time, spawning a succession of new titles like Greed (FOX, 1999–), Twenty-One (NBC, 1999–) (again!) and survival contests based on European hits. Meanwhile, cable’s game-show channel reruns earlier (post-scandal) shows, while other channels have created contests about music, state history and sports. Kid’s game shows also mix education and family values with physical competition and green slime.

Obviously Americans share game-show elements with other nations. Yet these remain American in their sense of individual heroism, the production of instant celebrities and a belief in the equality of luck that underpins lotteries as well as politics.