Double Talk

Host: Henry Polic II
Announcer: Bob Hilton
Run: ABC mornings, 1986

Premise: If you can figure out what the writers really mean, you could win $10,000 cash.

Rules: The game has two civilian and celebrity teams. One team begins by picking one of four puzzles concealed behind the numbers 1-4. The puzzle was a phrase written in synonym form:

The Price/of Survival

Is: The Cost/of Living. Each player on the team had to solve half of the puzzle for 10 points, and the right to continue on. If the team could not accomplish this, the opponents could jump in to steal 5 points. The team played through the entire board, and if they got all four puzzles, they had a shot at the Jackpot puzzle, worth $1000 cash, and having $500 added each day it was not won. After each team played a board, the game went to round two, where puzzles were worth 20 points, but a steal was still worth only five. At the end of this round, the team with the most points moved on to the bonus game, for a shot at $10,000.

Bonus: To win $10,000; the team had to spell DOUBLE TALK on the board at the rear of the studio. Each letter had a set of initials the player could see, and a key phrase the celebrity could see. The celebrity formed a sentence to lead the player to the phrase:

A.F.
The cloth with fifty stars and thirteen stripes is the...
American Flag

Each correct answer in 60 seconds won $100, and $10,000 if the team finished the board. The D in DOUBLE was given for free.

Both teams played both games of the show, with the other celebrity, and the player that won more money in the bonus game returned. It was thus possible for a player to win $20,000 in one game.