Game show guess the word

Hosts

Michael Reagan (1987–1988) Ralph Andrews (1988) Chuck Woolery (2002–2007) Bill Engvall (2011) RuPaul (2023-present)

Co-Hosts

Dusty Martell (1987–1988) Margaux MacKenzie (1988) Paula Cobb (2003) Stacey Hayes (2003–2004) Shandi Finnessey (2004–2007)

Announcers

Randi Thomas (2002–2003) Todd Newton (4/1/2003) Stacey Hayes (2003–2004)

Broadcast

Syndication (Daily): 9/28/1987 – 3/25/1988 (reruns aired until 9/1988) GSN (Daily): 8/5/2002 – 6/29/2007 GSN: 6/6/2011 – 8/1/2011 CBS: 1/11/2023-present

Packagers

Ralph Andrews Productions (1987-1988) Bernstein-Hovis Productions (1987-1988) CCR Video Corporation (1987–1988) Laurelwood Entertainment (2002–2007) IDTV International (2002–2004) Zoo Productions (2011) Triple Brew Media (2023-present) Objective Media Group (2023-present) All3Media (2023-present) RuCo Inc. (2023-present) CBS (2023-present)

Distributor

ABR (1987–1988)

Lingo was a game show which is played a lot like bingo, except in order to mark your card, you have to guess a five-letter word within five turns to have a chance.

Gameplay (1987–1988 Version)[]

Two teams of two contestants competed in a game of guessing five-letter words and making bingo or in this case, «lingo».

Main Game[]

At the start of each game, both teams received their lingo cards, each one had seven numbers marked off at the outset. The challengers’ card consisted of odd numbers with each one covered by a red circle, and the champions’ card consisted of even numbers with each one covered by a blue circle.

Now the team in control (with the challengers going first), was shown the first letter of a five-letter mystery word behind their card (generated by the show’s Amiga computer). All the team had to do is to guess the word, then spell it out (contestants on the controlling team took turns while doing that). After each guess, the word was analyzed using red squares and yellow circles around the letters, a red square meant that the letter was correct and in the right position, while a yellow circle meant that the letter was correct but in the wrong position, wrong letters, of course, were letters with nothing around them.

The team lost control if they didn’t guess the word in five turns, guessed a word that doesn’t fit (shorter or longer than five letters), is not a real word, misspell a word, guessed a word that can only be a proper noun, or just plain ran out of time. If any one of those things happened, the opposing team got a shot at the word. When stealing, a free letter was given (in this version it was referred to as a «clue letter»), but if there was only one blank space left, no free letter was given, but the team did get a five second conference (conferring was generally not allowed except in this situation).

Once the word was guessed, the team who solved that word won it, and if the team in control guessed the word on the first try, they won $1,000.

The team with a correct guess, also earned the right to pull out two lingo balls out of a hopper in front of them. Eighteen of the balls were printed with the remaining numbers on the lingo card, while three of them were red balls. If and when a contestant on the controlling team pulled out a number ball, the number was marked off the board; but if a red ball was pulled, the team lost their turn. But if they didn’t pull out a red ball, and if a lingo was not yet achieved, the team took control of the next word.

In addition to the number balls and the red balls, also in the teams’ hoppers were prize balls. When pulled out, the team was credited with the prize and got a free draw. When the show started, there were three prize balls; pulling out one ball was worth $250 in traveler’s checks, pulling out another also played for a trip, and there was also one special ball called the jackpot ball, which played for a Lingo Jackpot which started at $1,000 and grew by $500 for every game in which the jackpot was not won. Later there were only two prize balls in the hopper, one was worth a trip, and the other was the jackpot ball. And finally, offering a trip was no more, but the jackpot was still in play. To win the jackpot that time around, the team had to pull out both prize balls. Prizes pulled out by the team in control were theirs if they won the game.

The first team to make lingo (five in a row) won the game and $250 plus all the prizes credited.

Guessing the Word

Making Lingo

No Lingo (Bonus Round)[]

The winning team played a bonus round called No Lingo, so called because the object of the game was to not lingo and win a grand cash prize. To start the winning team was shown a lingo card with the even numbers, and sixteen numbers instead of seven were crossed off and arranged in a star shape with the center number (usually the free space spot in regular bingo) left uncovered. The winning team was given house money to start, and then was shown a five-letter mystery word but with two letters revealed at the start (one was as usual the first, and the other was in any one of the remaining four spaces). As always, the team had five chances to guess the word. Conferring was always allowed in this round. Each chance increased the danger of making lingo, because if they guessed the word, they receive the number of draws according to how many chances it took to guess the word, and missing the word entirely earned seven pulls. The hopper in front of the team consisted of all the bingo even numbers (2 though 74) printed on the green balls, plus one very special ball, «The Gold Ball.» On each draw, if the number they drew appeared on the board, that number was covered up, but if the number pulled out was a number not showing on the board, nothing happened and they just simply drew again. If the winning team survived all the pulls without making a lingo, they doubled their cash, and if they pulled out the gold ball, their money was doubled instantly, and the gold ball was put back into the hopper (unlike the green number balls which were always discarded when pulled out).

After each successful round, the winning team could choose to either take the money and quit or continue playing knowing that if at any time a lingo was formed, they lost the money (the winning team even got that option at the start of the No Lingo round, and no team refused to take the challenge). Five words were played in this round, so if the winning team guessed and/or got passed all five words and avoided lingo, they won the maximum grand cash prize. The first trip to No Lingo gave the winning team $500 to start, so winning the No Lingo round was worth $16,000. The second attempt gave the team $1,000 to start making the grand prize $32,000. And making it to No Lingo the third and final time gave the winning team $2,000 to start, for a possible grand total of $64,000. Winning teams stayed on the show until they won three times or defeated once; so the winning team could win up to $112,000 in No Lingo alone.

Format Change[]

In later months of the show, the team that won the main game received money according to how they lingoed. Lingoing vertically or horizontally was worth $500, a lingo that went diagonally won $1,000, and achieving a Double Lingo (two lines that were made using the same number) was worth $2,000. That money became the base amount for No Lingo; so Lingoing vertically or horizontally made the grand prize $16,000, diagonal lingos made the grand prize $32,000, and a Double Lingo went for a $64,000 payoff.

Additionally, there was no limit to how many games a team can win. They simply kept on playing until they lost twice.

---

This version of Lingo died due to the fact that the show was low on dollars and not many contestants were paid because of it. This version did, however, give way to several foreign versions until at last, fourteen years later, Lingo made its American return.

Other Pictures[]

Gameplay (2002–2007 Version)[]

Fourteen years later, Lingo was back in a brand new format and veteran host Chuck Woolery at the helm. By Season 3 he was accompanied by a co-host. The co-host would also act as announcer. He had two throughout the series with the first being British-born Stacey Hayes, and the second was former Miss USA and one-time Dancing with the Stars competitor Shandi Finnessey. For a brief period in Season 3, he had a second co-host named Paula Cobb. In Season 2, the announcer was Randy Thomas, the Hooked on Phonics spokeswoman famous for reminding viewers to call 1-800-ABCDEFG.

Main Game[]

In this version, teams scored points for each word and for each lingo. The game was played in two rounds, and each one ended when time ran out. Winning teams went on to play a bonus round where this time, they did have to make lingo in order to win. The teams were dubbed the Yellow Team on the left and the Red Team on the right, similar to Nickelodeon Arcade.

At the start of the game, both teams received their lingo cards, only this time ten numbers were marked at the outset (they were arranged in a certain way so that only one (sometimes two) row(s), column(s) or diagonal(s) would require two numbers to make lingo, while others required three or four). The Red Team’s card had even numbers and the Yellow Team’s card had odd numbers.

The controlling team still had five guesses to get the word, and failure to solve the word after five tries gave the opposing team what was now called a «bonus letter» (unless there was one letter remaining in the word in which case it was not given), and a chance at the word. The team also lost control if they guessed a word that doesn’t fit, is not an acceptable word (including proper names unless they doubled as ordinary words), misspelled one, or ran out of time.

The team that guessed the word earned points for that word, and the honor to pull out two lingo balls (now colored blue) that are hopefully printed with one of the numbers on their lingo card. Pulling out one of the three red balls still lost their turn (the red balls were referred to by Chuck as «stoppers,» a throwback to his days hosting Scrabble), but not pulling out a red ball or having yet to score a lingo kept their turn and started another word. Each time a team made lingo, they scored double the points of each word and received a new card, but control of the next word passed to the opponents.

Round 1[]

In Round 1, each correct word was worth 25 points, and each lingo was worth 50 points.

Round 2[]

In Round 2, points were doubled. This meant that correct words were now worth 50 points, and lingos were worth 100 points. Plus to help the teams in making lingo, three question mark balls were added to both teams’ hoppers, they acted as wild cards, for whenever a question mark ball was pulled, the team could select any number to cover up, even the ones that caused a lingo (which happened occasionally). When this occurred, the wild-card-replaced number was not removed from the hopper, if it happened to be drawn later, the draw was ignored (for the purpose of game play) and had to be edited out of the show before it was aired.

---

The team with the most points when time was called in Round 2 won the game and the right to play Bonus Lingo. If the game ended in a tie, a mystery seven letter word was shown to both teams. The first and last letters were given to start, then each new letter appeared back and forth. The first team to buzz-in took a chance to guess, if they were wrong, the opposing team earned another letter and the right to guess, but if the opposing team was wrong, play continued as normal. Later rules had all letters revealed back and forth, both teams buzzing in as many times as they wished, and somehow though not explained, the contestants spelled out the tiebreaker word just like the normal five-letter ones. The first team to guess the word won the game.

Main Game from Season 2

Main Game from the Stacey/Shandi Era

Stopper Ball

Question Mark/Wild Card Ball

Tiebreaker

Bonus Lingo[]

The Bonus Lingo round was played in two parts.

Part 1[]

In the first half, the winning team had two minutes to guess as many five-letter words as they can (five tries for each word as always). On each word two letters were revealed (one was as usual the first, and the other was in any one of the remaining four spaces). Any breakage of the rules explained above only wasted a shot, and failure to guess the word in five guesses caused the word to be revealed and forced the team to move on to the next word. Each correct word was worth $100 and one lingo ball.

Starting in Season 2, if the team was stumped they could call for a bonus letter. One bonus letter was earned for each lingo made during the main game, plus one more for winning the game. Sometimes the bonus letter they called for would complete the word, and it happened on several occasions.

Also starting in Season 2, the team stopped guessing when they solved ten words correctly, for that made it impossible for the team to lose Bonus Lingo. Occasionally, after solving their tenth word, another would briefly appear, as it would have been the next word to contend with had they passed, but the players did not have to guess at this word.

Part 2[]

When the time was up, the winning team was shown another lingo card with a different number of numbers marked off. The winning team used the number of draws to make lingo. Not making lingo won only the money picked up from the first half. Making lingo within the number of pulls won a grand prize, and starting in Season 2, making lingo in one pull won a bigger grand prize.

In Season 1, 13 numbers were marked off the board, they were arranged in an octo-square with a plus sign inside it, so a team could lingo by pulling out four numbers in the diagonals, three in the top and bottom rows and the left and right columns, and only two in the center rows and center columns. The winning team kept the money won from the first part win or lose, but making lingo won a Borders gift card, an Argus digital camera, a Croton watch and a Cassiopeia EM-500 Pocket PC, all totaling $4,000.

Starting in Season 2, 12 numbers were covered and arranged in such a way so that only one row or column could allow a guarantee that a lingo could be made on the first pull. Teams could only win the $100 a word if they didn’t make a lingo. Successfully making a lingo now won $5,000, but making a lingo on the first pull (known as a «Super Lingo») won $5,000 and a trip. For Season 2, the grand prize was a Jamaican vacation package worth more than $10,000. For Season 3, the grand prize was a Harrah’s Entertainment and casino package in Lake Tahoe.

Starting in Season 4, the grand prize for making a lingo on the first pull was bigger cash. For Season 4 only, the grand prize was $10,000. For Seasons 5–6, the grand cash prize was now a progressive Bonus Lingo Jackpot which started at $10,000 and grew by $1,000 for every day it was not won. The largest jackpot won was $41,000.

Season 2 Bonus Lingo

Shandi Era Bonus Lingo

Tournaments and Special Episodes[]

GSN held a tournament of champions with particularly successful contestants from its second and third seasons. Instead of playing Bonus Lingo in the final tournament episode, a third round was played in which points were tripled: words were now worth 75 points and Lingos were worth 150 points. The question mark balls from the second round carried over to the third round. At the end of the show, the team with the most points won the tournament and won a Suzuki Verona for each teammate.

A special episode that aired on April Fool’s Day in 2003 had the entire roster of GSN’s six original show hosts together playing for charity. While Woolery hosted, Mark L. Walberg (Russian Roulette) and Marc Summers (WinTuition) played against Kennedy (Friend or Foe?) and Graham Elwood (Cram), with Walberg and Summers shutting them out 500–0. The sixth host to take part was Todd Newton (Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck), who served as the show’s announcer/comic relief.

The fourth season featured an entire week of celebrity shows, four of them featuring GSN personalities including:

• Bill Dwyer and Michelle Merkin vs. Zach Selwyn and Dodgy (all from extreme dodgeball, Dodgy being the show’s mascot)
• John Ahlers and Lisa Dergen vs. Kathy Liebert and Kenna James (Poker Royale)
• Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice (of Kenny vs. Spenny) each team with a contestant playing against each other.

Lingo occasionally featured theme weeks where the set was decorated, the host, hostess, and contestants wore costumes, and the theme music and logo redone in the theme’s style. Themes included Sc-Fi, Fiesta Week and Hawaiian week.

The prize for winning Bonus Lingo varied for episodes in which celebrity contestants competed. In one episode teams received $25,000 for their charity for a first-draw Lingo, while in another the team received $30,000 for completing a Lingo even after the first draw. The prize ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 for celebrity teams who were unable to complete a Lingo in the bonus round. Beginning in the fourth season, celebrity teams received an additional bonus letter.

Internet Players vs. Broadcast Players Tournament of Champions[]

In 2007, a special tournament was held pitting the best contestants who have appeared thus far on Lingo, Robert McKee and Heather Gunn, against the two best contestants paired up from GSN’s online version of Lingo, Mike Mehan and Mindy Harris. The lead changed five times, but in the end Robert and Heather moved on to Bonus Lingo. The prize structure was similar to a regular episode, as this episode aired in order after the jackpot was won on the taping immediately prior, resetting the jackpot to $10,000. Chuck had noted that the gameplay from both teams during this episode illustrated what he saw as the textbook example of how Lingo should be perfectly played.

Other Pictures[]

Trade Ads[]

Pics of the 2004-2007 set[]

Shandi and Chuck[]

Gameplay (2011 Version)[]

Lingo returned in June of 2011 with comedian Bill Engvall taking charge, and some new format changes.

While the basic format of the front game remained intact, some new changes were made. There were now three rounds, with three, four, and three words played in each respective round. Cash was now awarded for each word; $100 in Round 1, $200 in Round 2, and $500 in Round 3, these were also the amounts awarded for a Lingo. Instead of pulling a ball out of a hopper, the players drew from a rack behind them. The rack consisted of 20 balls: 16 of them had numbers needed on the card, 3 red balls (now referred to as «stopper balls» since they have just a red dot on them), and a ball which was marked with a green dot, if drawn, it awarded the team a bonus prize to keep, regardless of the outcome. Also, before each word, Engvall would give a clue, similar to Scrabble. The team with the most money at the end of Round 3 won the game, kept the money, and advanced to the new Bonus Lingo.

If any teams drew a «stopper ball» from their rack, then the words «STOPPER BALL» (emphasis on the word «STOPPER» in red and the word «BALL» in white respectively) would appear on the video screen in front of them.

In the new Bonus Lingo, the team had 90 seconds to solve five words (no clues). There was no card; just the words. The first word was worth however much money the team earned in the front game, each subsequent word doubled the total, and the fifth word won the team $100,000.

Progressive Shows[]

On shows sponsored by Progressive, one stopper ball was replaced with a «wild ball» with the Progressive logo, and in Bonus Lingo, a bonus letter was awarded on the first word only, except they didn’t call for it; it was given to them on the first guess.

Gameplay (2023 Version)[]

Lingo made its return on January 11, 2023 on CBS, with RuPaul as the host.

Four teams compete, and for the first time, there is no bingo element.

Each word in the front game has a set value. A team has ten seconds to solve each word. For every correct guess the value will diminish. Once the word is guessed, the team in control wins the remaining amount.

Qualifying Rounds[]

Round 1[]

Each team will play three boards. On each board, guessing the word on the first try scores $5,000 (it is classified as a golden guess), while guessing it on the second try is worth $2,500 minus $500 for each subsequent try. Violating said rules mentioned earlier on the page gives the opposing team a chance to steal. If the opposing team gives an invalid guess, play on that word automatically ends.

Round 2: Super Lingo[]

This round is played with two long 10-letter word puzzles. At the start of each puzzle, a big box full of lucky balls descends from the ceiling down to the stage. One side consists of golden money balls while the other contains white number balls. At the start of each word, the team in control of the word will decide which ball from either bin to take. If (s)he takes a gold ball, the amount of the ball (either $100, $500, or $1,000) will be added to the word, and if (s)he takes a white ball, a letter in the corresponding position is revealed for free. Then after that, the puzzle and its clue are revealed. Then letter in the answer pop in one by one. The puzzle starts at $5,000 and diminishes by $500 the longer the play. The team in control can buzz-in at anytime to answer and score the remaining money.

Round 3: Lingo Battle[]

Each team nominates one player to take on two five word boards, leaving the other with the six letter word boards. The twist in this round is that the player in control needs to correctly place a letter to earn another guess, otherwise the opponent will take a turn. The first player to guess the word will again score the remaining amount. Plus all the dollar values are doubled, meaning that each word is worth up to $10,000.

After four words, one last Super Lingo will be played for up to $10,000 and possibly the game. If the game ends in a tie, one final tiebreaker Super Lingo but with no value attached is played.

---

The two winning teams will compete in a final matchup for $50,000 and the combined total of all the money scored by both teams.

Lingo Showdown[]

The two winning teams will compete in a final showdown called Lingo Showdown. Each team will have two minutes to solve as many five and six letter words as they can with the length of words alternating throughout. The team in control can pass on a word if they get stumped. Each correct word no matter how many guesses it takes scores points. The five letter word puzzles score five points and the six letter word puzzles score ten. If the team gives an invalid guess during this round, the word in play is thrown out and a new word is played. The team with the most points wins $50,000 plus the combined total of both teams.

---

Other Pictures[]

Rating[]

Music[]

1987 – Jett 88
2002 – Same as the Dutch version — by Robert Etoll, Dean Grinsfelder, and Piet Soer
2003 – Robert Etoll, Dean Grinsfelder, and Piet Soer (The 2002 main still used if a tiebreaker is played)
2011 – Unknown

Inventor[]

Ralph Andrews

Harry de Winter created the revised game format for the 2002, 2003, and 2011 versions.

Trivia[]

Michael Reagan is the adopted son of former President of the United States Ronald Reagan.

On one episode from Season 1, while trying to spell «Approach,» which has eight letters, the board showed «APPPO.» Chuck said, «We’ll do a Max Spell Check on that one!» And on that same episode, the winning team failed to get a single word in Bonus Lingo.

$100,000 was won twice when Bill Engvall hosted the show. Christine and Tamara were the first to win it and Ashley and Jordan won the big cash prize but had more time to spare.

A main game shut-out was achieved only twice during the entire Woolery-hosted run, the first on the GSN hosts episode with Marc Summers and Mark L. Walberg defeating Kennedy and Graham Elwood 500-0. Chuck commemorated it claiming it had never happened in 12 years on the Dutch version (it was achieved only once on the French-Canadian version). The second occurred during the fourth season and to commemorate the event Shandi presented the losing team with two donuts. A shutout never occurred during the Engvall-hosted season.

In 2002, a short-lived GSN original reality series starring Chuck Woolery was originally titled Chuck Woolery: Behind the Lingo (for which the title in itself references the show Woolery formerly hosted from 2002 until 2007). However, the show was later re-titled as Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned (for which this title references Woolery’s one-hit wonder song from 1968 of the same name when he was formerly a lead singer of the band Avant-Garde at the time) in 2003.

On February 11, 2022, CBS recently announced that a new version of Lingo (this time based on the current 2021 British version with Adil Ray) with RuPaul as the host and executive producer.^[1][2][3][4]The decision to bring it back could’ve been inspired by the web-based word game called Wordle. Casting is currently underway.^[5]On May 2, 2022; it has been announced that the British version of Lingo will have an all-star spinoff airing on ITV as Celebrity Lingo^[6]hosted by RuPaul as well prior to the upcoming CBS version. On November 14, 2022; according to this press^[7]release (courtesy of Paramount Press Express), this version will premiere on January 11, 2023. In addition, the 2023 version aired on the same day as the grocery workers edition of The Price is Right at Night and the third season of Name That Tune with Jane Krakowski.

Before becoming the host/executive producer of the CBS version, RuPaul appeared as a guest on The Price is Right at Night with Drew Carey on May 11, 2020.

RuPaul is the third host to go solo, the first was Chuck Woolery (pre Stacy/Shandi era) from 2002 until 2003 then Bill Engvall in 2011.

This was RuPaul’s second series where he doesn’t appear in drag, the first was RuPaul’s Drag U in 2010 until 2012.

Spin-Off[]

PlayMania – Lingo was part of this show’s lineup of interactive games.

International Versions[]

Countries that have previously aired their versions of Lingo includes:

• Canada (French language only)
• France
• Germany
• Indonesia
• Israel
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Taping Locations[]

• BCTV Television Centre, Burnaby, BC (1987–1988)
• Hilversum, The Netherlands (August 2002)
• The Burbank Studios, Burbank, CA (December 2002–2003)
• Ren-Mar Studios, Hollywood, CA (2003–2005)
• Tribune Studios, Hollywood, CA (2005–2007, 2011)

Additional Pages[]

Lingo/Merchandise
Lingo/Catchphrases
Lingo/Letter Combinations
Lingo/Video Gallery
Stopper (Lingo)

References[]

Links[]

Official Site of the Current Version
Travis Eberle’s Lingo Page
Jay Anton’s Lingo Page
Lingo Rules @ Loogslair.net
Xanfan’s Lingo Page
Chuck Donegan’s Lingo Page
David Livingston’s GSN Lingo Page
Another Lingo Rules Page
Josh Rebich’s Lingo Page
GSNN Extra’s coverage of the Lingo Tournament of Champions

YouTube Videos[]

The $64,000 win in 1987
The $35,000 win in the GSN version, from 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lingo
Genre	Game show
Created by	Ralph Andrews
Presented by	Martin Daniels (Original version, 1988) Adil Ray (Regular version, 2021–present) RuPaul (Celebrity version, 2022–present)
Voices of	Nick Jackson (1988)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1 (Original) 3 (Regular) (Revival) 1 (Celebrity) (Revival)
No. of episodes	10 (Original) 115 (Regular) (Revival) 7 (Celebrity) (Revival)
Production
Production location	Dock10 (Revival)[1]
Running time	30 minutes (1988) (inc. adverts) 60 minutes (2021–present) (inc. adverts)
Production companies	Thames in association with Ralph Andrews Presentations and Action Time (1988) Objective Media Group North (2021–present) Triple Brew Media (2021–present)
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (1988) 16:9 (2021–present)
Audio format	Mono (1988) Stereo (2021–present)
Original release	12 May 1988 – present
Related
Lingo USA

Lingo is a British game show based on the American programme of the same name, the original iteration of the programme was made by Thames Television and Action Time for ITV, running for a single series with host Martin Daniels from 12 May to 14 July 1988. A revived version has also aired from 1 January 2021 hosted by Adil Ray.

In the revival version, ITV and Objective Media Group revived Lingo with new presenter Adil Ray. The bingo element has been eliminated in the revival, focusing instead entirely on the word guessing game.^[2][3][4] In September 2022, ITV premiered the spin-off Celebrity Lingo, with RuPaul (who is hosting a U.S. revival of Lingo for CBS that is also being filmed in Salford) as host.^[5]

Gameplay[edit]

The game is played between teams of two contestants, tasked with solving mystery words. The team in control is given the first letter of each mystery word and receives five attempts to guess and spell the word. After each guess, the team is told whether their guess contains letters that are in the mystery word and whether or not they are in the correct position. The two members of the team alternate taking each guess.

If the team fails to identify the word within five guesses, fails to make a guess within a time limit, gives a misspelt or otherwise invalid word, control is passed to the opposing team and one of the correct letters is revealed.

Contestants who are deaf or hearing-impaired are allowed to have an interpreter on the set, who may interpret between spoken words and sign language. However, the interpreter may not help with solving the words.

Original[edit]

In the 1988 version (which was based on the original U.S. syndicated version), the game was played between two teams. They were each assigned a 25-space «Lingo card» (similar to American bingo) with odd or even numbers respectively with seven numbers on each card already marked. Each word was five letters in length and each correct guess awarded £50. The team would also be allowed to draw two balls from a hopper containing balls with the 18 remaining numbers on the card, two prize balls and three red balls. Drawn numbers were marked off on the team’s Lingo card but drawing a red ball immediately ended the team’s turn and passed control to their opponents. Forming a «Lingo» line of five numbers in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally awarded a £100 bonus.

The team with the highest score at the end of the game advanced to the bonus round «No Lingo»; the team was given a new card with 16 spaces covered, arranged in a star shape along the diagonals, middle row and middle column (but excluding the centre space). Unlike the main game, the objective was to avoid forming a line of five in a row. The team once again had to solve mystery words (given the first letter and one additional letter) but were required to draw one ball for each guess taken and two more as a penalty if they ran out of guesses. The hopper initially contains 39 numbered balls consisting of the even figures from 2 to 80 (but excluding the ball corresponding to the centre space) and one silver ball.

If the team drew a numbered ball, it was discarded and marked off if it appeared on their card. If the team draws the silver ball, they no longer have to draw any more numbers for the round and the ball is returned to the hopper. After each successful round, the team’s pot is doubled and they are given the option to leave with their winnings or play another round. If the team forms a Lingo at any point, the game ends and the team’s bonus winnings are reduced by half. Up to five rounds could be played, beginning with a base pot of £100 and progressing to the grand prize of £3,200, beginning with the second round, the ball corresponding to the centre space is added to the hopper.

Revival[edit]

The 2021 revival does not use any bingo mechanics and consists only of word guessing in various formats, beginning with three teams:

• Round 1 uses four-letter words worth £200 each. Each team solves four words each (three words each in Series 1), followed by a nine-letter puzzle word (ten-letter puzzle word in Series 1) worth up to £300 but its value decreases as more letters are revealed.
• Round 2 switches to five-letter words worth £300 each. Each team solves three words each, followed by a ten-letter puzzle word (eleven-letter puzzle word in Series 1) worth up to £400 but its value decreases again as more letters are revealed. In this round, failures can be stolen by opposing teams. The team with the least amount of money after Round 1 goes first and the team with the least amount of money at the end of this round is eliminated.
• In Round 3, the one member of each team is assigned to four-letter words and the other member of each team is assigned to five-letter words respectively with each member receiving two words alternately. Each word is worth up to £500 but its value decreases by £50 for each attempt. Both the four-letter word and five-letter word games are followed by an eleven-letter puzzle word (twelve-letter puzzle word in Series 1) worth up to £750 but its value decreases again as more letters are revealed. Again, in this round, failures are passed on to the opposing team. The team with the least amount of money before each of the two games in this round goes first and the team in the lead at the end of this round advances through to the Final.
• In the Final, the winning team has 90 seconds to solve three more words in order to claim their winnings. If the team cannot solve a word, they may pass and receive a new one. The team must first solve one four-letter word to claim half of their winnings, then one five-letter word to claim the entirety of their winnings and then one six-letter word to double their winnings or as of Series 3, at this point, the team is given the option to risk their winnings on a seven-letter word instead of the six-letter word to win a £15,000 jackpot; however, the team may not pass on this one and they lose all of their winnings if they fail to solve the word.

On Celebrity Lingo, the rounds’ values are increased to £500, £750 and £1,000 for words and £750, £1,000 and £1,500 for puzzles (played with eight-letter, nine-letter and ten-letter words respectively). Unlike the civilian version, losing teams receive a consolation prize of £1,000.

Transmissions[edit]

Original[edit]

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 May 1988	14 July 1988	10

Revival[edit]

Regular[edit]

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes	Notes
1	1 January 2021	12 February 2021	30	Series 1 took breaks on: 20 January 2021.
2	8 November 2021	4 February 2022	60	Round 1 started having four words to solve before the puzzle word. The puzzle words started being nine letters in Round 1, ten letters in Round 2 and eleven letters in Round 3. Series 2 took breaks on: 20–24 December 2021.
3	2 January 2023	TBC in 2023	50	The seven letter words for the £15,000 jackpot was introduced. Series 3 took breaks on: 6 February 2023–present.

Celebrity[edit]

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes	Notes
1	4 September 2022	19 November 2022	7	Series 1 did not take any breaks

See also[edit]

• Wordle

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Lingo at IMDb
• Celebrity Lingo at IMDb
• Lingo at UKGameshows.com

Guess the Word

Guess the Word is a fun vocabulary game for young learners and young teens with a level of A2 (Basic user) on the CEFR.

In this game students read a definition of a word and have to guess what the word is using the letters that appear. This game is a great way to practice reading, spelling and review vocabulary all at the same time. You can also use this activity to prepare Cambridge Flyer level students for the Flyers exam as a similar task appears in the exam though this game is a great game for any group with an A2 or below level.

There are a total 11 categories of vocabulary covering the most common language studied at this level. Can your students guess all the words?

How to Play Guess the Word

1. 1. Project the game on the whiteboard.
   2. In teams or individually students have to read the definition and guess what the word is. If they don’t know the word they can buy hints which reveals some of the letters of the word.

1. The team that guesses the most words wins!

Discover games on our Youtube Channel.

A word guessing game taking the world by storm has been compared to 1980s game show Lingo. 

Josh Wardle, who lives in Brooklyn and graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2006, created the game Wordle to play with partner Palak Shah.  

Having first played the game with Ms Shah, Mr Wardle then shared it with his family on WhatsApp, where it proved so popular that he opened it up to the world. 

On November 1, Wordle had 90 players. Last Sunday, more than 300,000 people took part in the daily challenge, with game spreading rapidly on social media. 

However, it has now been compared to game show Lingo, which aired in the US and the UK in the 80s. A recent UK revival show has aired on ITV since 2020. 

In the game show, Lingo contestants took turns guessing five-letter words.

Similarly, in Wordle, players are invited to guess a five-letter word once a day. 

Upon submitting their guess, Wordle tells you whether any of your letters are in the secret word and whether they are in the correct place.

Players are then given six attempts to guess what the secret word is.

Play the game yourself — click here 

ITV’s relaunched Lingo — hosted by Adil Ray- sees three pairs of contestants try to work out words appearing in grids and puzzlewords.

The Lingo computer gives them the first letter of words of different lengths — and they can cash in if they can guess the full word correctly.

Fans were quick to point out the similarities between Wordle and Lingo. 

One wrote: ‘Is there any connection between Wordle and the TV quiz show Lingo? Or it is just a massive coincidence that they are exactly the same, right down the choice of colours?’

Another said: ‘So this Wordle thing everyone’s doing, it’s just Lingo, right? Someone just stole Lingo and made it an app?’ 

While a third added: ‘Hold up. So this Wordle thing I keep seeing recently is actually just Lingo?’ 

Wordle creator Mr Wardle, a former software engineer for Reddit, created a similar prototype in 2013 but abandoned it after friends were unimpressed. 

However, during the pandemic, he revisited the game, after he and his partner ‘got really into’ the New York Times spelling bee and daily crossword.  

It is not the first time that Mr Wardle has created something that has caused a storm online. 

In 2015, he created Reddit’s The Button, a bizarre game where a button appeared on a website with a 60-second countdown. 

Every time someone pressed the button the clock would reset, but each person could only press it once. Despite there being no prize for clicking it, the simple reward of being able to press it saw millions of people click it. 

He is also the creator of Place, a collaborative social experiment that caused waves in April 2017.

Place was a shared online space that allowed users to fight over what was drawn there.

It resulted in huge, sprawling communities battling over space on an online canvas.

Now based in New York, Mr Wardle says he enjoys ‘building unique products that focus on human interaction’. 

Ms Shah says she now wakes up every day to play Wordle. Though it is now shared with the world, she said she appreciated that Mr Wardle originally created it for her.

‘It’s really sweet,’ she said. ‘This is definitely how Josh shows his love.’

Mr Wardle graduated Royal Holloway, University of London in 2006 after studying Media Arts. He then studied Digital Arts at the University of Oregon. 

His education was followed by two years as an artist for Reddit, before becoming a senior product manager and later an adviser for the company. 

Mr Wardle spent nearly two years as a software engineer for Pinterest before returning to Reddit in the same role in January 2020.  

Discussing the success of Worlde, Mr Wardle, told The New York Times: ‘I think people kind of appreciate that there’s this thing online that’s just fun. It’s not trying to do anything shady with your data or your eyeballs.’ 

He added that the game also attracts players because it takes up just three minutes a day. 

Mr Wardle said: ‘It’s something that encourages you to spend three minutes a day. And that’s it. It doesn’t want any more of your time than that.’  

His partner was the first player to play the game and played a key role in getting it ready for the world 

Wordle’s initial list of all of the five-letter words in the English language — about 12,000 — contained obscure words the couple thought would have been near impossible to guess.

Mr Wardle eventually narrowed the list of Wordle words to about 2,500, which should last for a few years. 

However, fans have already complained about some words, saying that the words REBUS and TAPIR were not familiar enough.