In 1982, shortly after NBC cancelled "Blockbusters," Bill teamed up again with the now-renamed Mark Goodson Productions to mount a pilot for CBS. Here's a look at the pilot that led to "Child's Play."


The game began with Round One, which was similar to what was used on the series but with a few differences. At the start of each word each contestant received a symbol. One contestant got a bullseye (meaning they only had one guess at the word), the opponent got a pair of candy sticks(meaning they got two guesses).



The child's definition was shown, and the "bullseye" player either chose to pass or play. If they played and gave a wrong guess, they lost their bullseye and the opponent got the next two definitions to guess alone. If the "bullseye" player played and was correct, they received a point. If they passed, the "candy sticks" player was forced to make a guess, and if right, they got the point. If wrong, they lost a candy stick, and the bullseye player was shown another definition and had to make the same decision. Again, if the candy sticks player was wrong, they lost the remaining stick and they were out, leaving the bullseye player alone to guess the word.


Also, another difference, was that if the three definitions were shown and neither player guessed correctly, Bill told the contestants what letter the word started with, and played another definition of the same word, and this time the player hit their lockout buttons for the right to guess. Posession of the "bullseye" and "candy sticks" alternated from word to word.


One continued until someone scored 3 points, at which point the game switched to Fast Play, which was the same as the series with the exception that each right answer was worth one point, and the first player to score 6 points won the game and $500.


The Triple Play round was used as the pilot's end game, except that the pilot name was "The A-B-C Game" (and since the pilot was for CBS, it's easy to figure out why this name didn't make it to the series). The only differences were that the player had a full minute to guess six words, and a different clock (which sort of looked like the clock from "Two for the Money") and score display was used.


I know I'm not the first game show fan to say this, but I'm puzzled as to why the format was changed, especially with Mark Goodson's substance-over-style reputation. It's certainly easy to understand, and the game is more intriguing with the different options available. Round One in the pilot format actually has a vital effect on the game's final outcome (which was rare in the actual series' format).

Although not evidenced in the pilot, games could have "straddled," which would have been helpful in avoiding the slow, plodding reputation the show gained for gameplay.