Win, Lose or Draw

Burt Reynolds would have a weekly charades party in his living room and various celebrities would participate from week to week. As he recalled in 1987, one of the frequent participants was Fred Astaire. Reynolds said that Astaire was incredibly shy and would rather draw pictures than act out words, and so he brought out a chalkboard one night for him to use and the game that would eventually become Win, Lose or Draw was born. Eventually, Reynolds was convinced to try to make a television series out of the weekly game night after Merv Griffin had told him of the success he had garnered with the launch of Jeopardy! in syndication in 1984. In November 1986, a pilot episode was staged at CBS Television City with Bert Convy hosting. Reynolds and his then-wife Loni Anderson played the game along with Tony Danza and Betty White, with Rod Roddy announcing. The set was modeled after Burt Reynolds' living room. The pilot, produced by Reynolds and Convy, garnered interest from both NBC and local station ownership groups, so much so that Reynolds and Convy, through their company Burt & Bert Productions and a partnership with Richard S. Kline of Kline and Friends Productions, decided to produce one edition for NBC's daytime schedule and another for syndication. On September 7, 1987, both editions of Win, Lose or Draw launched. Vicki Lawrence hosted the edition produced for NBC, while the syndicated edition was hosted by Bert Convy. Bob Hilton served as the announcer for the daytime edition; Gene Wood was the initial announcer for the syndicated series but was eventually replaced by Hilton as the series progressed. The daytime Win, Lose or Draw inherited the spot previously occupied by Wordplay on NBC's morning schedule and was scheduled at 11:30 a.m., which displaced the show that had been airing there, Scrabble; that show moved to the 12:30 p.m. timeslot that Wordplay had been occupying. Paired in the hour with the daytime version of Wheel of Fortune, both shows faced off against CBS' The Price Is Right, with Win, Lose or Draw competing with the second half of the long running hit. The show lasted just under two years on NBC, airing its finale on September 1, 1989. The syndicated series, meanwhile, was renewed for a third year which began on September 4, 1989 with a significant amount of changes made. Coinciding with the return of the syndicated series was a new Burt & Bert/Kline and Friends production, a panel game titled 3rd Degree!. After the series was sold with Peter Marshall as the host of its pilot, the producers decided to have Convy leave Win, Lose or Draw to host 3rd Degree!; Robb Weller, who had been a reporter and host for Entertainment Tonight, replaced him for what would prove to be the last season for Win, Lose or Draw. The final new episode aired on June 1, 1990; reruns of the series continued to air until the show was withdrawn from syndication on August 31, 1990. Reruns of the syndicated version aired on the USA Network from January 1, 1991, to December 24, 1992, and on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002, to March 14, 2004. During its run, the syndicated Win, Lose or Draw made several road trips, including Hawaii, Central Park in New York City, Burt Reynolds' ranch in Jupiter, Florida, Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Navy Pier in Chicago. ==Gameplay==

The idea is similar to the game Pictionary. Two teams, men versus women, each composed of two celebrities and one contestant (or a celebrity and two college students in the College Tournament in 1988), took turns guessing a phrase, title or thing, and one teammate was drawing on a large pad of paper with markers. Each team sat on a couch on a set designed after Burt Reynolds' actual living room at the time. The team member doing the drawing could not speak about the subject in his or her drawing and could not use letters, numbers, or symbols. If one of these illegal clues was used, any money won in that puzzle was split between the two teams. However, if a non-drawing team member mentioned a word that was part of the answer, their teammate at the sketch pad was then allowed to write it down. In the first three rounds, each team had one minute to solve a puzzle, earning $200 ($250 in the pilot) for a correct guess. At the thirty-second mark, a doorbell sounded (or various sounds, like a fanfare during the College Tournament in 1988), and the drawing player had the option of handing the marker off to one of his/her teammates, but the puzzle value would then be cut in half. If the team did not guess within the time limit, the opposing team was given one chance to confer and guess. If they gave the correct answer, they were awarded the money; if not, no money was awarded. By 1989, the first round was later changed to have the drawing contestant sketch a series of clues to a puzzle, one clue at a time. If the team guessed the puzzle from the identified clues, they scored $200. Following round three, one player for each team was nominated to draw clues in a 90-second speed round. The topics for drawing were simpler for this round compared to those in previous rounds. Each correct guess was worth $100, and the team could only pass twice. The speed round started with the team that was ahead. The team with the most money at the end of the game won, and the contestant on the winning team received $1,000 in addition to the money they had already earned. If both teams were tied at the end of the speed round, each contestant earned $500. By the end of the daytime version's run, the speed round was decreased to 60 seconds and $50 a word. Bonus Round The daytime series underwent another significant change towards the end of its run, which was eliminating the $1,000 bonus and instead replacing it with a bonus round, which the series had not seen in either iteration to this point. This change coincided with one that added an additional civilian contestant to each team in place of a celebrity. The bonus round was played similar to the speed round, except that players were allowed to pass multiple times. The first word was worth $50 and each correct answer that followed doubled the bank. Passing resulted in the bank resetting to zero and the contestant had to start building a new bank. Originally, the bonus was played with as many words as possible within the time limit. Under this format a team was able to win $25,600 in one round, guessing ten words without a miss. Afterwards, the scoring format was adjusted, this time, if the winning team correctly identified seven words within the time limit of 90 seconds, regardless of how many passes were used, they won $5,000. Audience game If there were extra time at the end of the show, an audience member would be called on stage and given the opportunity to sketch a subject for either the men's or women's team to guess in 60 seconds, much like the main rounds, with $100 awarded if the chosen team was able to identify the subject. 1989–1990 changes Among the many changes that were made for the syndicated series' third season was an overhaul of the format. While the two celebrity-one civilian contestant teams were kept in place, the series instituted a returning champions rule where contestants played until winning ten matches or losing in the front game. For the first two rounds of play, the designated drawing player could not switch places with any of his/her teammates. The team could not guess the puzzle until twenty-five seconds had passed; once that happened, if they correctly guessed the puzzle before five more seconds had passed, it was worth $200. If not, the round continued with the puzzle value reduced to $100. If they still had not solved the puzzle when time was up, the opposing team could score $50 with a steal. The shortened speed round introduced in the last months of the daytime series was played, with the team that was leading drawing first. The team that was ahead after both had taken their turns won the game. In the event of a tie, the team that had forced the tie was given a choice of two words and set a time for the other team to beat with their word. Whichever team guessed their word fastest won. The bonus round from the daytime series was also introduced, but with a sixty second time limit. The same rules applied, with the first word winning $50 and each subsequent word doubling the pot. Passing again reset the bank to zero, and getting seven words before time expired was worth $5,000. ==Disney Channel versions==

Teen Win, Lose or Draw From April 29, 1989, to April 28, 1990, and again from September 10, 1990, to September 26, 1992, Disney Channel aired a version called Teen Win, Lose or Draw. This version was hosted by Marc Price. Jay Wolpert produced the first season, which taped at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, with Stone-Stanley Productions taking over for the rest of the run, at which time production also moved to Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles. Originally the show aired on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 11:30 a.m. Rotating as announcers during the first season were Brandy Brown, Chase Hampton and Tiffini Hale from The Mickey Mouse Club, with Mark L. Walberg taking over that duty for the final two seasons. Teams were made up of two teenage contestants (one each of two boys and two girls), and a teenage celebrity. Gameplay was largely identical to the original run, ==Home versions==

Board game Milton Bradley Company created its version in 1987. It could be played like the TV show, or a variation of the game with pawns and a game board. Party, Junior, and Travel Junior editions were produced, plus a Refill Pack for the game. All contestants who appeared on the show received a copy of the Party edition, as did select audience members. It sold 1 million copies in 1987 alone. Computer and video games Hi Tech Expressions released two editions of the MS-DOS version of the game in 1988, as well as a "Junior" version, followed by a version for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989. Both versions of this party game featured a scene set in a living room, with the game contestants (representing real-life players) seated on opposite couches, much like the television show. While the game system drew a picture on the screen, one of the players would have a limited amount (60 seconds for the main game, and 90 for the speed round) of time to type in the word or phrase represented by the image. If the player typed in the incorrect answer, a player on the opposing team would have an opportunity to type the correct answer (in single-player games, the game system would type a random incorrect answer). The team that typed the correct answer would win money for that round, and the team that earned the most money at the end of the game won. ==International versions==