The Display Field Guide was created in May 1998 to help alt.tv.game-shows subscribers end the confusion about different types of game show numeric displays. It's taken on a life of its own since then, as many people have contributed in identifying these items that game shows can't do without. |
Last modified: December 13, 2001
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What follows is a
far-from-comprehensive listing of display types.
(But it's getting there.)
As always, input, additions and/or corrections are always welcome.
All illustrations created by the author except where noted, and all errors are attributed to author's faulty memory. Of course, all errors are indeed correctible and will be in the next update.
See below for screen grab credits.
They're back! Download all the available
display fonts here in one
convenient zip file!
(Must have WinZip or equivalent program to extract. All fonts are in the TrueType format.)
How to read the tables:
| Display Type First appeared: 19xx |
Shows the display was found on. | |
| A brief description of the display here. | ||
| Display illustration | Real-world example (Ferranti-Packer examples available when I figure out how to make them look pretty on the page) |
|
And now, on to the stories.
Early Displays (pre-1965)
| Tote Board First appeared: 1956 |
Found on: The Price Is Right (1956-65), Sports Challenge (1971?) | |
| Can be found nowadays at horse tracks. | ||
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||
| Slides First appeared: 1961 |
Found on: Password ('62-'67), Jeopardy! ('64-'75), Double Exposure (1961) | |
| Served their shows well in the 1960s. | ||
 |
 Password, 1962-67 |
|
Modern Displays (1965-date)
| Bank First appeared: 1966 |
Found on: The Face Is Familiar (clock) | |
| Can be found today, with modifications, outside your local bank. | ||
 |
||
| Go First appeared: 1966 |
Found on: The Newlywed Game (1966-80, score), The Parent Game (score), Go (timers), The Hollywood Squares (1966-80, score), Baffle (timer), Dream House (1968-70), Sale of the Century (1969-73) | |
| Would be worth seeing again in some capacity. | ||
 |
 The Newlywed Game, 1966-80 |
|
| Solari Boards First appeared: 1968 |
Vertical Flip found on: $10,000/$20,000 Pyramid,
Liar's Club, The Big Showdown, Jackpot '74, Fast Draw
(clock), others Horizontal Flip found on: All About Faces, Winning Streak (letters), Spin-Off, Pass The Buck (pot score) |
|
| Simulates the numbers on mid-70s clock radios. | ||
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| Eggcrate (Type I) First appeared: 1968 |
Found on: The Price Is Right, The Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough (1978-86), Bullseye, Gambit, The Magnificent Marble Machine, Card Sharks (Money Cards display), Password Plus, Debt, Jackpot (1989), to name a few | |
| The workhorse of game show displays, featured on so many shows that I couldn't begin to count them. A personal favorite of mine. | ||
 |
 Dream House, 1983-84 |
|
DFG Feature:
Different Meat, Same Bird
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|
Any discussion of game show displays of the last 20 years has to start with the eggcrate display, one which has become almost synonymous with "CBS game show", since most of the CBS shows in the 1970s and 1980s of various packagers (B+E, G-T, H-Q) used them. In the 1990s, the eggcrate has persevered - but in two different, but the same, forms. The first form (A, left) is an example of the old-school style as found on The Price Is Right, GSN's Inquizition, and others. The second (B, left) was found on Debt and the 1997 reincarnation of It Takes Two.
So why the difference? I personally have no idea. Different manufacturers, maybe? We may never know for sure (unless someone says something), but that seems to be the safe assumption.
And, someone finally has. Here's Brian Hamburg:
The eggcrate seen on "Debt" and "It Takes Two" 1997 are different in that they use a 7x5 LED matrix, while true eggcrates (Dream House, etc.) use actual light bulbs in a foam mask. The advantages of the newer eggcrates are they are cooler to use and they are more flexible for displays. The newer eggcrates allow just about anything to be displayed (see: Debt 2nd Series), while the old eggcrates were good for only numbers.
(LED's? Really? Don't look like it to me... Ed.)
(As an aside, anybody know how one would go about picking up some of
these puppies? E-mail me some leads.)
| Sports Type First appeared: 1972 |
Found on: The Price is Right (IUFB, Poker Game, Dice Game), Whew! (timer), Blockbusters '80 (champ total display), Card Sharks (front-end displays), Super Password (score displays), Face The Music, Mindreaders, Pro-Fan, Hot Seat, Let's Make A Deal (1980s, Door #4) | |
| Mimics the numbers found on older sports arena scoreboards. Some scoreboards (including the auxiliary boards in old Boston Garden) used these very numbers. | ||
 |
 The Price Is Right |
|
| Ferranti- Packer First appeared: 1976 |
Found on: Family Feud (all versions), Chain Reaction (letters), Hot Potato (letters), Jackpot (USA Network version) | |
| Thanks to Curt King for providing the official name for this display type. Also found on highway message boards in some states, and on buses. | ||
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DFG Feature:
Letters! We've Got Letters! We've Got Lots And Lots of
Letters!
One of the little-known features of the Ferranti-Packer display is the
letter set, which was found exclusively on Chain Reaction and Hot Potato.
To quote Jim Lange: And heeeeeeere they are!
|
| Vane First appeared: 1982 |
Type I found on: $25,000/$100,000 Pyramid,
Scrabble (Sprint timer), Sale of the Century '83 Type II found on: Double Dare '86 (Nick), Get The Picture, Finders Keepers, Remote Control, Jeopardy! (c. 1984-93), Tic Tac Dough (1990) |
|
| Did you know: the Pyramid clocks were generated by two different types of displays? The players saw a clock with an eggcrate display, while those at home saw a keyed vane display. | ||
Type I
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Type II
|
|
| Eggcrate II First appeared: 1988 |
Found on: Fun House/College Mad House, Wipeout, Caesar's Challenge | |
| A slight modification of the classic eggcrate display type. | ||
 |
 College Mad House, 1988 |
|
| 7-Segment With Bulbs First appeared: 1990 |
Found on: Quiz Kids Challenge, Hollywood Squares '98, Burt Luddin's Love Buffet, Comedy Central's Vs. | |
| Uses light bulbs to display the segments of the numbers. Though technically of the vane family, the use of light bulbs merits its own category. | ||
 |
 Hollywood Squares, 1998- |
|
| LEDs First appeared: 1998 |
Found on: The Reel To Reel Picture Show, The Blame Game | |
| As predicted, the numbers got drowned out in the studio lights. | ||
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Photo credits:
"Dream House" grab from Matt Sittel's Dream House page.
All other screen shots provided by Jay Lewis.
DFG Contributors
Many display examples provided by Larry J. Hall.
Vane type II and 7-segment with bulbs graphics provided by John Isles, IV.
Identity of Family Feud displays courtesy of Curt King.
Display fonts courtesy Jay Lewis.
Pyramid clock info courtesy Randy Amasia.
DFG Chronology Of
Additions
July 23, 1999: Added new display types.
August 16, 1999: Added new item formatting.
August 18, 1999: Added display-related vignettes.
September 1, 1999: Added "Bank" display type.
December 1, 1999: Finally added hyperlinks for the font downloads. Joy!
July 6, 2001: Deleted download hyperlinks.
November 27, 2001: Re-added download link.
*Early Family Feud display dates are approximate.
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