25 Oct UK’s Top Gaming Shows
There is no denying that the humble game show is aubiquitous part of living in the UK. While they exist elsewhere in the world, there is something about the UK audience that makes us insatiable for watching different kinds of game shows – and this has meant that they have also become part of popular culture in many ways.
We have seen TV shows based on game shows (and game shows based on TV shows). We have seen spin off game shows from other shows, we have seen them develop into reality TV competitions like Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent, and we have even seen a comedy take on a popular game show format (8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown).
When it comes to TV genre popularity, things tend to come and go – what was popular last year might not hit the spot any more. Game shows seem to be the exception to this rule. While the format and the content might change, us Brits love nothing more than watching people pit themselves against tough questions or physical challenges to win some cash.
The very first game show was a live broadcast of the popular game Spelling Bee which was held in Alexandra Palace. This 15-minute show first aired back in 1938, and while it remained on the radio for much longer, there were only about four episodes filmed for TV.
Since then, there has never been a time where there wasn’t some type of game show on British TV, and that is probably why they have become such an inherent part of our lives, even filtering into the games we like to play ourselves. Whether a board game, something on a PC, or a cash-winning paysafecard casinos, we love to imitate the shows we have seen on TV.
So, what are some of the best cheesy game shows that we love to watch? Check out the list below and see if you can spot your favourite.
Tipping Point
If you love to play the 2p games in the arcade, you’ll enjoy the mechanics of Tipping Point. Contestants mustanswer questions to get the opportunity to send ‘coins’ into the machine, getting it past the tipping point to win the cash.
Catchphrase
This is one of those games that is often both funny and a little bit saucy, as contestants answer questions to reveal a picture that describes a commonly used catchphrase. There have been many occasions where the revealed squares look a bit… naughty – but we’ve all shouted at the TV because we knew what it was after the first square was removed.
Countdown
Daytime TV gets a bit cerebral with this game, where contestants are given some letters with the challenge to make the longest word that is in the dictionary out of them. Pressured by the sound of the famous Countdown clock, the game becomes even more challenging in the numbers round, where the contestants need create a sum that gets to the total provided using random numbers, too.
The Crystal Maze
Teamwork makes the dream work in this game show, where a group of contestants must complete several different mental and physical challenges to earn crystals. At the end of the game, they use these crystals to power the Crystal Dome to win cash. When Richard O’Brien hosted, it was excellently cheesy and a little bit spooky.
Pointless
This is the show where you want to have really niche trivia knowledge, as the idea of the game is to select an answer that nobody else would know. 100 people are asked a question, and the contestants need to work out an answer that is not only correct, but one that is pointless, too. Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong are excellent hosts and fact checkers.
Deal or No Deal
Noel Edmonds hosted this game that ran for 11 years (and is reportedly coming back again in 2023), A contestant chooses a box, which contains an undisclosed random sum of money. They need to eliminate the rest of the boxes, all the while hoping to get the top prize (or a deal from the Banker). It’s tense, and more people were invested just to find out the identity of the Banker than watching the contestants win.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
This might be the ultimate in game shows when it comes to the UK audience, with phrases used in the show becoming common parlance for people of a certain age. Essentially, it is a general knowledge quiz show, where the contestant must answer multiple-choice questions that get progressively harder as they advance through the game. There are three lifelines – phone a friend, ask the audience, and 50:50. There were quite a few millionaires made in the show, but we remember it fondly for the contestants who answered the ‘easy’ questions incorrectly.
