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Classic Concentration
Classic Concentration titlecard.
Format	Game show
Starring	Alex Trebek Gene Wood Diana Taylor Marjorie Goodson-Cutt
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1020 episodes
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chester Feldman Howard Felsher
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	May 4, 1987 – September 20, 1991

Classic Concentration was a revival of the American game show Concentration. The show was produced and packaged by Mark Goodson Productions and aired on NBC from May 4, 1987 to September 20, 1991. Reruns of the show aired from October 28, 1991 to December 31, 1993.

Contents 1 Presenters 2 Gameplay 3 Winner's Circle Bonus Round 4 Special Episodes 5 Production 6 Episode Status 7 External links

Alex Trebek served as host and was accompanied by prize model Marjorie Goodson-Cutt (daughter of Mark Goodson and wife of associate director Tim Cutt) througout most of the show's run. In early weeks, Diana Taylor served as a model. Gene Wood was the announcer for most of the program, and Art James replaced him for a month in mid-1991.

Steve Ryan created the show's many rebus puzzles.

The basic rules for Classic Concentration were similar to the original Concentration: Two players competed to match prizes and cash awards on a numbered board and solve a hidden rebus puzzle in order to win all the prizes accumulated. This version featured 25 numbered squares instead of the 30 found on the previous versions. Additionally, the mechanical board featured in earlier incarnations was now replaced by a computer-generated GUI board.

Players took turns calling two numbers hoping to match prizes. Typically, the player to Trebek's left [the challenger] would go first. If the player matched two numbers in one turn, the player earned whatever prize was revealed in the match, and two pieces of a rebus were revealed for the player to attempt to solve the puzzle. If the player succeeded, the player won all the prizes accumulated in their prize column. If the player could not offer a solution to the rebus (or offered an incorrect one), the player would choose two more numbers, hoping for another match.

Classic Concentration featured the "WILD!" card, which guaranteed an automatic match to any number on the board, and the "TAKE!" card, which would allow a player to take one prize from his or her opponent's prize column. Each game would typically have three "WILD!" cards (although some games used only one), and two pairs of matching-colored "TAKE!" cards, one red and one green. In the earliest episodes, no TAKE cards appeared on the board, and for a short time, the red TAKE appeared all by itself; the green TAKE was added later. In this game, a player could choose either to use a TAKE card immediately after matching it on the board, or to hold onto it and wait for a particular prize to show up in the opponent's prize column. Choosing two WILD cards in one turn earned the player a $500 bonus, and a third was chosen in the same turn, the contestant earned an additional $1,000 bonus. Cash bonuses could only be won if the player solved the rebus. The FORFEIT cards found on the original Concentration were not used on this show.

Later in the series, a "Ca$hpot" card was added, which contained a cash award that started at $500 and was increased by $100 every day this prize was not won. When a matched the prize and solved a puzzle, the Ca$hpot would reset at $500. Additionally, a "Five Bonus Car Seconds" card appeared, which would earn the player who matched this and solved the rebus five additional seconds in the bonus round.

In the beginning of the run, the player who solved the rebus went to the Winner's Circle while the loser was eliminated (except in cases of an interrupted game, when the losing player would return to play in the next match as the "challenger"). On July 4, 1988, the format was changed into a best-of-three competition, with the first player to solve two rebuses winning the match and playing the bonus game. Unlike most game shows that tend to straddle when playing a best-of-three format, Classic Concentration had each match and bonus game fit into one complete show. The first game was split over the first two segments, with the second (and possibly) third game taking up the third segment. The bonus round was played during the fourth segment of the show.

From June 30, 1990 until the end of the run, a "Two Strikes" rule was instituted. A contestant played for a car each time after solving a puzzle, but a player was eliminated after losing two games.

A player who won a match got the opportunity to win one of eight new cars in the bonus game, euphemistically called the "Winner's Circle." The contestant was shown a board of 15 numbered panels, instead of 25 as in the main game.

Behind those numbers were the names of the eight cars sitting in the studio. The names of seven of those cars could be matched on the board while one was an unmatchable decoy (Early in the run, a buzzer effect would sound indicating to the viewers which car was the matchless one). If the player found all seven matches before time ran out, he won the car indicated in the seventh and final match. New champions were given a base time of 35 seconds (barring any bonus time won in the regular game), and five seconds were added for each unsuccessful attempt. After winning a car, a returning champion's clock would be reset to the base time.

Early in the show's run, a player could win the game and play the Winner's Circle round up to five times before being retired. Later, champions were retired after winning a car.

During some shows, if there was time remaining, an audience member preselected before taping began would play the bonus round for up to $500 cash. Instead of the names of cars, dollar amounts were hidden behind the fifteen numbers. The audience member was given 60 seconds and kept any money amounts matched.

Classic Concentration produced several special episodes for different holidays, including Halloween, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick's Day. For St. Valentine's Day one year, a full week of episodes were produced nicknamed "Love Week." A "College Week" of episodes also appeared. In 1989, the show celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival.

Every year, Classic Concentration invited the fastest car winners from the previous season to compete in a "Tournament of Champions" for a fabulous grand prize. Two contestants play two games each day, and the winner of the rebus game plays the car game. The clock starts at zero and counts up. If the contestant finishes the round in 35 seconds, he or she wins another car. The cars are upgraded for the tournament. The time used to make all seven matches is noted regardless of winning another car. The player who matches seven pairs in the fastest time wins the grand prize, along with whatever prizes were picked up in the main games. For the first tournament in 1988, the champion won a trip around the world. In following years, a third automobile was awarded to each tournament winner.

The basic set layout for Classic Concentration consisted of the game board (composited from a set of Sony television monitors), a large eight-stepped circular staircase where the eight cars were displayed, an elevated circular mound where the "Winner's Circle" round was played, a mobile float where contestants played the regular game, and a large curved "CLASSIC CONCENTRATION" sign that hung from the studio rafters. Throughout the progression of the series, a motley tropical motif was added to the set, consisting of a variety of fake grasses, shrubs, plants, rocks and palm trees. Various other props appeared throughout the year to depict the seasons, from a park bench, fake snow and a street lantern for winter, to fake fruits for summer.

The atmosphere on Classic Concentration was generally laid back. Games usually featured casual banter among the host, contestants, crew and audience. For Trebek, this was a departure from his more formal and gentlemanly persona on Jeopardy!. As a demonstration of this, for a short time before the series' end, Trebek traded his dapper suit-and-tie wardrobe for cardigan sweaters. On one episode, Trebek wore a white sweatshirt that bore a replica of the board and a partly revealed rebus.

Although Mark Goodson Productions packaged Classic Concentration, NBC retains the rights to the entire Concentration format, including this version. All episodes still exist, and NBC has converted them from their original analog format to digibeta (required to air on cable TV). However, NBC has not licensed any version of Concentration for syndication or DVD release.

• Game Show Galaxy: Classic Concentration