Game shows have been part of television programming since its early days, with the first game show, Spelling Bee, airing in 1938. Game show popularity soared in the 1950s in both the UK and US, led by shows like Take Your Pick and Double Your Money. The 1960s saw the continued success of these shows and the introduction of new formats like Jeux Sans Frontiéres. Interactive game shows incorporating new technologies emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, exemplified by The Krypton Factor and Knightmare. Consumerism and relationships were reflected in popular shows like The Price is Right and Blind Date in the mid-1980s. By the late 1980s, the success of board games led to television

1. Game shows through decades

2. First game shows
The very first television game show, Spelling Bee, was broadcast in
1938. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on
commercially licensed television. Its first episode aired in 1941 as an
experimental broadcast.

3. 1950’s game shows
In the mid to late 50s, Britain went quiz show mad, reflecting the
similar fever in the USA. Game show fever reached its height in the
autumn of 1958, when the ITV network was putting a quiz out in prime
time six nights a week (from Sunday to Friday: Dotto, Keep It in the
Family, Twenty-One, Spot the Tune, Double Your Money and Take Your
Pick). The big money shows didn't all have their way - celebrity panel
games such as I've Got a Secret and Tell the Truth also added to the
mix. But none of these matched the success of Take Your
Pick and Double Your Money, which both ran until 1968.

4. 1960’s game shows
With Take Your Pick and Double Your Money maintaining their remarkable headlock
on the audience figures until their unfortunate demise, very few other shows were
able to get a look-in. The introduction of a second BBC channel in 1964 did little to
alter the outlook, since it had been created to provide alternative higher-brow
programming than mere quiz shows, and for several years Call My Bluff was the
channel's only game show of any note. It wasn't until near the end of the decade
that the BBC finally came up with a hit game show in the somewhat low-brow form
of Jeux Sans Frontiéres. Meanwhile back on ITV, the unashamedly
highbrow University Challenge was perhaps the most surprising hit of the decade.

5. 1970’s game shows
A further illustration of the strike culture is provided by an all-out
strike at the BBC on 22nd December 1978. With no BBC to watch,
everyone turned over to Sale of the Century, giving it 21.2 million
viewers - the highest ever rating for an ITV game show.Beyond Gen
Game and Sale, the other shows of the 70s were very much a mixed
bag. The betting game Winner Takes All started in 1976, and the
futuristic The Krypton Factor in 1977 (more of which in a moment).
1979 saw the light-hearted celeb fest Give Us a Clue while possibly the
darkest show yet, Mastermind, went from strength to strength.

6. Early 80’s game shows
Games like Finders Keepers, Beat the Teacher and First Class all made
extensive use of microcomputers, and adult shows like Bob's Full
House and Every Second Counts at least tried to look digital. Later in the
decade, Knightmare - inspired by the computer game Atic Atac - broke
through all kinds of technical barriers to bring a convincing dungeon to
life. Long-range communications played their role in Top of the
World and Treasure Hunt, and Ultra Quiz took contestants to places a
UK game show had never been to before. Treasure Hunt - based on a
French show - was probably the first ever action game show, and
certainly the first to use helicopters. Possibly in reaction to all the
electronic gimmickry, the stubbornly manual Countdown launched the
new Channel 4 into being.

7. Mid 80’s game shows
Mrs Thatcher's enterprise-led policies were bringing wealth to the
middle classes and, despite high unemployment, money and goods
were the aspiration of the time. This was reflected on television by the
continued success of Family Fortunes and the introduction of an
unabashedly consumerist version of The Price is Right. American
influences inspired a whole raft of shows where "the people were the
stars". Practical jokes abounded in Game for a Laugh, while we saw
relationships put to the test for the first time in the form of Blind Date.

8. Late 80’s game shows
The success of Trivial Pursuit and its ilk brought about a minor spate of puzzle
games and board game conversions from the mid 80s to early 90s,
including Television Scrabble, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit itself. They drew the
line at Operation. Similarly, the increase in pub quizzes led to the phenomenon
of the woolly-jumpered know-alls with wacky team names that have populated
a constant stream of shows such as Masterteam, the Great British Quiz. Political
correctness was beginning to bite, not least in the title of one ITV game show
called Everybody's Equal. Michael Barrymore's startling style of presenting
brought a new dimension to the small screen, and the contestants on his Strike
it Lucky show came from a wider range of backgrounds than the typical white,
middle-class husband-and-wife teams seen in the 70s.