First appeared: 1966
The Newlywed Game, 1966-80
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.
people have visited the Field Guide since 5/29/98. Thanks for coming! Get your LE FastCounter here! 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. 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) | |
| Tote Board First appeared: 1956 | Found on: The Price Is Right (1956-65), Sports Challenge (1971?) | |
| Can be found nowadays at horse tracks. | ||
| 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 | ||
| Tote Board III First appeared: 1967 | Found on: Baby Game (1967), Dream House (1968), Camouflage (score 1961-2) | |
| This is a variation on 'Tote Board 1' with the 2, 3 and 5 being different . | ||
| | ||
Found on: Twenty-One (1956)-58(champion's winnings, on Barry's podium under "Geritol" logo), GE College Bowl (1959-c. 1964), Dotto (1958), Who Pays? (1959 summer series hosted by Mike Wallace)
| 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
| A | B |
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.)
| 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 | ||
| Sports Type Variant First appeared: 1974 | Found on: Password All-Stars (1974), Password (1975) | |
| Constructed similarly to "sportstype," but on a 5x7 grid, upright (non-italicized) and with serifs. | ||
| | | |
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  The Price Is Right, 1986?- | Type II | |
Finders Keepers, 1987-90
| 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 | ||
| Eggcrate III First appeared: 1990 | Found on: Match Game (MatchUp scores, 1990) | |
| Another slight modification of the classic eggcrate display type. | ||
| | ||
| 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. | ||
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.
Some displays identifed courtesy R. Jermaine Schex
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.
February 2006: Site moved to QWIZX.com.
February 2010: Added new display types
*Early Family Feud display dates are approximate.
