Battlestars

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• 1981-1983
• Family, Game Show

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"Battlestars" was a spin-off of Merrill-Heatter Productions' verenable "The Hollywood Squares." However, "Battlestars" had quite different rules. Two contestants, including a champion, competed; the six celebrities, all whom appeared a week at a time, sat in a two-tiered row of triangles, with the numbers 1 through 10 lighted at each of the triangle's corner angles. Each contestant used a plunger to stop a randomly flashing light; wherever the light stopped, that celebrity played (unless the light touched more than one triangle, in which case the contestant chose a celebrity). Host Trebek asked the celebrity a question, to which he or she would answer. The contestant had to decide whether to agree or disagree with the celebrity's answer. If correct, the contestant retained control, but if not, control passed to his/her opponent; either way, the number was lit. The player who lit the third number around a celebrity "captured" that star, with the background turning either blue (for the champion) or red (for the challenger). Slightly different rules were played if two (or sometimes, three) celebrities could be captured on a single question. The first player to capture three celebrities won $500 and played the Picture Round. In the Picture Round, the champion was shown a famous face, with all but three of sixteen segments blacked out; if he/she could identify the face with just three segments showing, they won $5,000. If not, more squares could be revealed (and celebrity help enlisted) at $1,000 each. After six months, the original "Battlestars" left the air, only to return again in 1983 as "The New Battlestars." In "The New Battlestars," the front game's rules were similar, except that once a contestant lit a number, he/she could choose their own numbers until they guessed incorrectly. Also, the celebrity's answer choices were shown to the audience but not the contestant. The completely retooled bonus game was called Battlestar Bonanza, with the champion playing with the three celebrities he/she captured in the front game. In the Battlestar Bonanza, the contestant was asked a series of three questions as per the front game, each celebrity having one question apiece. The celebrities had three answer choices; if the contestant disagreed, they had to choose what they believed was the correct answer from the remaining two choices. Correct answers were worth $500 each, with all three correct answers worth $10,000 in cash and prizes, plus $2,500 added for each day the Battlestar Bonanza was not won. Contestants competed until defeated or winning five games (at which point they also won a new car).