Game show glossary

This list included terms used in game shows.

A

Audience

A crowd of people sitting in several rows of seats at one end of the studio. They may participate in the show in several ways, i. e. via pressing a button on a remote to cast a vote or by giving the contestants hints and/or advice to help them make a decision.

B

Buzzer

A buzzer is a red half-spheric lock-in device, usually placed on the contestant's podium. This device is used to gain priority on answering a question, starting and/or stopping a timer or initiating an event. Pressing the buzzer is mostly accompanied by a sound effect, and this sound effect may be different depending on who buzzed in first.

C

Catchphrase

Catchphrases can be described as the show's vocabulary of terms and actions. They are commonly said by the host and/or the commentator, and depending on the situation, they can be said more of less often. Some examples include "pressing one's luck" for Press Your Luck or "sitting tight" and "being on the move" for Ejector Seat.

Category

Categories are a group of questions having an identical or similar subject. In most cases, categories appear in groups, with the currently active contestant being the one choosing the category he wants. Depending on the show, categories can also be more or less absurd, like in the third round of the French game show Burger Quiz.

Challenger

In game shows where one contestant appeared multiple times in succession in order to extend their earnings, challengers are new contestants whose primary aim is to defeat the champion, thus taking their title and ending their winning streak. They always compete together with the champion, but few have acutally defeated one and taken their place.

Champion

A champion is a reccuring contestant, usually having returned on several shows in a row in order to extend their winning streak and prize fund. In order to differenciate the champion from other contestants, the champion is usually given a dinstinctive mark, such as a trophy or a special piece of clothing, like in The Great British Bake Off.

Co-host

A co-host is a person accompanying the host, providing feedback on certains aspects or manipulating certain stage elements to show information. They are mostly represented by young women wearing mostly black dresses, working as assistants for the male main host.

Contestant

A person being neither the host nor a member of the backstage team that participates in a show in order to win prizes and money. They are mostly everyday persons, but they are a few exceptions where the contestants are actually VIPs trying to win the money and spending it for the good cause they represent.

E

Elimination

An event during which a contestant is permanently removed from play, for example for having the lowest score or getting the most votes. These are mostly kept simple, with the contestant mostly walking away through the exit, but sometimes, they can be outrageous, like getting tipped out of a seat or falling through a trap door.

F

Final

The last round of the show, which serves as a chance to win the main prize. This also serves as a most difficult version of the main rounds, with altered rules, a mostly dark lighting and increased suspense. Also, depending on how far the contestant got or how well they played beforehand, they can have certain advantages.

G

Game board

A big rectangular structure used to display information, such as the current state of the game, the current question and/or a timer. It can have different architecture and/or screen size depending on the show and the stage's size. It can also be used to show messages from the show's titular mascot.

Gimmick

A show's representative structure or a recurring mechanic that is used throughout the show. It is mostly declined in different ways depending on the current round's rules. Notable gimmicks include the wheel in Wheel of Fortune, the trap doors in Who's Still Standing? or the cheater in Dirty Rotten Cheater.

Grand prize

The highest amount of money or the object with the highest value that can be won on a show. Depending on the show, the grand priez can be increased in value in case the final round should end in a loss. Common grand prizes include vacations, ready-to-use houses or a brand new car, often even combined for even greater monetary values.

H

Host

A person in charge of supervising the show, asking the questions, introducing the contestants and announcing the prizes. They are often accompanied by co-hosts and/or commentators, and they also serve at contributing to a show's atmosphere. For example, Anne Robinson acts very sternly in The Weakest Link, while Gemma Hunt from Swashbuckle is more light-hearted and child-friendly.

J

Jackpot

A prize fund that increases under certain circumstances, for example after each failed attempt at the final or once a special condition has been met. The fund usually starts off at a certain monetary value, and increasing the value can also mean adding different materialistic prizes to the fund, which increases the value further.

Joker

An object served as a mean of easing the difficulty and/or saving a contestant from a risky situation. They are mostly represented by a special symbol (such as a star, a question mark or a special button next to the buzzer) and can only be obtained of certain conditions are met, like answering a question correctly after landing on a specific space.

O

Offer

An event during which a contestant can choose between leaving the show and winning what they have acquired or keeping playing the round with the risk of going home empty-handed. This is mostly proeminent in Deal or No Deal, where the contestant can either continue playing or accepting an offer, both with the risks or having lower earnings.

Open-ended

A question where there are no answer proposals and that the contestant must answer through memory. In most cases where this type of question is applied, the contestants must answer several of these correctly to gain points required for progression or increase the prize fund they will be risking in the main round.

P

Podium

A pedestal displaying information about the contestant, such as their name, their current amount of money or the answer they locked in. Like the game board, they have a specific design, and once the contestant is eliminated, the podium's screen can either be blank or display an animated background with no information.

Potluck

A set of questions that do not belong into any specific category. This is the most common type of questions, alongside the categories, where the former is mostly used at the end of the show and the latter at the beginning. Answering a potluck question correctly does not alter the overall scoring in terms of increased points.

R

Rapid-fire

Questions that get asked one after the other in rapid succession that the contestant must answer as quickly as possible. This is usually done under a time limit, in which the contestants must answer a certain amount of questions correctly, with being eliminated early as the penalty for failing.

Round

A section of the show that has its unique rules and conditions of success. These can be of varying length, depending on how many time the contestants have to answer each question and/or how many points they have to gather in order to proceed. The rounds can consist of questions, small challenges or both.

T

Tie-breaker

An event used to separate contestants whose scores are tied. It can either be an oepn-ended question, the final round of a physical challenge or even both. While this event is fairly uncommon in game shows, it is sometimes necessary due to the winner being decided by other parameters in some cases.

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