The Top 20 Game Shows Of All Time Ranked!

Time on TV: 5 years

Hosted by game show vet Wink Martindale, who was one of the first inductees into Las Vegas’ Game Show Hall of Fame, this version of casino mainstay blackjack (where a winning hand’s total face value is the closest to 21 without exceeding it) ran on CBS (1972-76) and NBC (1980-81). Opponents were two married couples who buzzed in to answer multiple-choice or true-or-false questions to earn a card’s value — or pass it to an opponent in the hopes that they’ll go bust. Reach 21 exactly and you’d win the Gambit Jackpot, which would help couples live happily ever after.

Time on TV: 6 years … and counting?

Turning one of the world’s most popular board games into a daytime TV show required adding a crossword element. In NBC’s TV version, hosted by Chuck Woolery from 1984-90 and again briefly in 1993, contestants picked letter tiles, some with extra money value, and guessed a word from a clue often based on a pun. The winner moved on to face a previous champion in a Scrabble Sprint round. We’ll say this: It moved a lot faster than the board game — and your daily bouts of Words With Friends! Raven-Symoné will host a reboot planned for this fall on The CW.

Time on TV: 7 years

Officially it was a talent search, but in reality, it played like the most eye-popping house party you could ever be invited to during its original run on NBC from 1976-78. The “talent” was amateurish, judging was from 0-10 (unless you were bad enough to be gonged off), and the prize of $516.32 was actually the minimum day rate for unionized actors. But the fun was the point: Host Chuck Barris led the antics with regular judges Jamie Farr, Jaye P. Morgan and Arte Johnson in on the gag. It made stars of Gene Gene the Dancing Machine and the Unknown Comic.

Time on TV: 9 years … and counting!

A two-round game played on a set with more flashing lights than a police chase, this CBS contest (1983-86) featured contestants answering trivia questions to earn “spins,” which they then used on an 18-space game board. The signature pitfall: landing on a spot with the dreaded “Whammy!” — a cartoon red devil that emptied all your coffers. Elizabeth Banks presides over the contemporary reboot on ABC.

Time on TV: 11 years

With an appropriate dollar sign in its title, this series tempted players with bargain basement deals, such as his-and-hers sweaters and a camera (together worth $579) for $5! Would contestants give up the dough they earned from correct trivia answers? The $ale lasted a lot longer than any Black Friday, with 1969-73 and 1983-89 runs. Its hosts: Jack Kelly (of Maverick fame), ex-sportscaster Joe Garagiola and a post-Card Sharks Jim Perry.

Time on TV: 15 years

Billed as the game show “where knowledge is king and lady luck is queen,” The Joker’s Wild — a comeback vehicle for once-disgraced quiz show scandal host Jack Barry — translated the anticipation of Vegas slot machines to television. From 1972-86 and 1990-91, players would literally pull a handle to reveal not cherries or lucky sevens but quiz categories such as All About Languages and Zoology to answer questions and win big. The updated Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker’s Wild launched in 2017 — and added zippy red dice to the handles!

Time on TV: 18 years … and counting!

The music guessing game, which premiered in the summer of 1953 (but went silent for the ’60s), is best known for its iconic (and surprisingly tense!) “Bid-a-Note” round. In both the NBC and syndicated reboots in 1974, it sees two overconfident contestants betting on how many notes it would take them to name a tune after hearing a spoken clue. Kathie Lee Gifford got her big break in 1977, serving as a vocalist in the Tom Kennedy-hosted syndicated version. The current revival — since 2021 — is hosted by Jane Krakowski, with Randy Jackson leading the band.

Time on TV: 18 years

Before The Bachelor, TV love was found on game shows, and this one — which ran on ABC from 1965-73, with multiple syndicated revivals — would have a single person feed risqué questions to three members of the opposite sex, who were hidden from view by a partition. The prize? Whoever he or she picked would go on a date, courtesy of the show. With unflappable host Jim Lange at the helm, before-they-were-famous contestants included Farrah Fawcett, Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds and Steve Martin! And don’t forget the signature blowing of a kiss at the end of each episode. Mwuah!

Time on TV: 19 years

CBS aired this successful What’s My Line? spinoff from 1952-67. The “secret” being guessed by four regular celebrity panelists was usually strange, embarrassing, fascinating or funny. (Examples: The astronomer who discovered Pluto; ex-Beatles drummer Pete Best; and Philo Farnsworth, who invented the television.) Longtime host Garry Moore, followed by Steve Allen, kept things rolling. Then, for the special celebrity round, stars, including Ronald Reagan, Boris Karloff and budding comic Carol Burnett, came on with their own (sometimes made-up) secrets.

Time on TV: 21 years … and counting!

The password is … brilliance! In its classic original format, Password lasted through the 1960s and ’70s thanks to the clever ways contestants and celebrities revealed a mystery word using only one-word clues. The genial host was Allen Ludden — married to one of the game’s best players, Betty White, until his untimely death in 1981. Immortalized in a classic episode of The Odd Couple, Password was revived several times and, since 2022, has featured Keke Palmer hosting, with exec producer Jimmy Fallon as a regular competitor.

Time on TV: 23 years

Airing on ABC from 1966-74, with multiple syndicated revivals, this cheeky series saw four newly married couples reveal how much (or little) they knew about each other, with amused host Bob Eubanks asking the most leading questions on TV. (“Ladies, what will your husband say is the one thing he absolutely forbids you to put on his wiener?”) The wives would sit solo and answer four queries before the husbands rejoined to answer the same questions in hopes of matching. Hilarious disagreements, bickering and constant use of the phrase “making whoopee” made the show current-day meme heaven.

Time on TV: 24 years

Part memory test and part puzzle, Concentration featured pieces of a larger picture hidden behind a wall of numbers. Match the pieces behind any pair of numbers and those numbers disappeared, revealing a prize and sections of the whole board. Guess what the picture puzzle is and you get to keep all the prizes you matched on the board, courtesy of original broadcast host Hugh Downs or, later, Ed McMahon or Alex Trebek. The series aired from 1958-78, before returning for a several-year revival in 1987.

Time on TV: 24 years … and counting!

$100K may be the current prize, but the original amount was $10,000 when the show started in 1973 with Dick Clark hosting. In each episode, celebrity guests work with regular contestants to guess words or phrases from a particular category through clues given by their teammate, often using pantomime. One year into the game, in 1974, hand gestures were not permitted in the Winner’s Circle, and wrist straps had to be included on chairs to help the contestants follow that rule! John Davidson and Donny Osmond have been hosts, but Michael Strahan has guided the action since June 26, 2016.

Time on TV: 24 years … and counting?

This glorified version of tic-tac-toe was just an elaborate — and delightful — vehicle for celebs like Rose Marie, Joan Rivers and the ever-hilarious Paul Lynde to crack wise. Originally broadcast on NBC from 1966 to 1980, it’s been revived several times, but the game has remained the same. Stars seated in squares of a giant board are asked questions, and contestants have to decide whether their answers are correct to take the square with an X or an O. The show’s original host was Peter Marshall. Tom Bergeron hosted the 1998-2004 revival with Whoopi Goldberg taking center square for most of the run. CBS announced earlier this year that a reboot of the game show will launch in January 2025, with Drew Barrymore set to be the famed center square.

Time on TV: 25 years

It may have premiered on NBC on New Year’s Eve 1962, but the legendary fill-in-the-blank show is most fondly remembered for its mid ’70s run on CBS and in weekly syndication (1973-90). Host Gene Rayburn, with his lengthy mic in hand, perfectly teed up six celebrity panelists — including fan favorites Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers and Betty White — who tried to anticipate how contestants would finish sentences, with delightfully inappropriate results. The show made the phrase “Dumb Dora is so dumb” famous. Most recently, the double entendres were flying on ABC, where Alec Baldwin hosted a revival from 2016-21.

Time on TV: 34 years … and counting!

Monty Hall famously hosted the original run (1963-86 on NBC, then ABC, then in syndication) in which he randomly chose contestants from the studio audience — most of whom were outrageously costumed to get attention — with Jay Stewart bringing prizes down the aisle. The players then had to make a deal with Hall. He might give them $100; they could keep it and stop playing or swap for an unknown prize. Continued trading could lead to a new car or a dud, aka a bunch of live chickens! Wayne Brady hosts the current CBS version.

Time on TV: 41 years … and counting!

No need to see what the survey says: We know this game show has been a fan favorite since it debuted in 1976 with a hand-shaking, lips-kissing Richard Dawson at the helm. In each episode, two families of five face off to see who can nail the most popular responses to survey topics posed to groups of 100 different people, such as “Name a reason for kneeling.” Half the fun is watching for the awkward answers given under pressure: “To be beheaded!” Current host Steve Harvey can never hide his disbelief.

Time on TV: 49 years … and counting!

Spin the wheel, pick a letter, solve the puzzle, win some prizes … and avoid those Bankrupt slots! Wheel of Fortune, which pits contestants’ ability to solve hangman-type games against a giant wheel of cash and prizes, has earned the title of longest-running syndicated game show in the U.S. (it debuted in daytime Jan. 6, 1975, and went into syndication in 1983) and recently retired host Pat Sajak, who took over from Chuck Woolery in 1981 and was joined by Vanna White in 1982, holds the title as longest-running game show host ever. CON_RAT_LATIONS!

Time on TV: 52 years … and counting!

Answer: It is TV’s most popular game show. Question: What is Jeopardy!? Merv Griffin’s clever idea was a winner from the start: The show’s host gives the answers, and three brainy contestants with fast fingers vie to push their buttons first and provide the correct question. Jeopardy! has both the most Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Game Show and the biggest game show winner, Brad Rutter, with $4,688,436. A former iteration was famously hosted by Art Fleming, but the beloved Alex Trebek had all the answers on the syndicated show from September 1984 until his death (his last episode was Jan. 8, 2021). Former contestant Ken Jennings, crowned Greatest of All Time in a 2020 tournament, now hosts.

Time on TV: 61 years … and counting!

“Come on down!” Those three words, beckoning a lucky few in the studio audience to play this game show that debuted Sept. 4, 1972 — following the Bill Cullen-hosted version that ran from 1956-65 — are an invitation to participate in daytime TV’s wildest party: Contestants guess the price of various products, and whoever’s “bid” is closest without going over gets to go onstage to play wacky games like “Hole in One” or “Plinko” for a chance to win more prizes. It all leads up to the dramatic Showcase Showdown, which inevitably features [booming announcer’s voice] “a new car!” Drew Carey has greeted the excited players since 2007, after Bob Barker ended his 35 years with the mic.