All-Star Blitz

Two contestants, one usually a returning champion, competed to uncover and solve hidden word puzzles with the help of a four-celebrity panel. The puzzles, which varied in length from two to six words, were concealed behind a grid of six monitors above the panel, and a star was positioned at the corner of each monitor. There were 12 stars in all, arranged in four columns of three with one column above each celebrity's seat. Each monitor contained all or part of only one word, and the last word on the top row did not continue onto the bottom one.

The object for the contestants was to light the stars around the monitors. To begin play, the home audience was shown how many words were in the puzzle and a certain number of stars (originally two, later four) were lit at random. The contestant in control, usually the challenger, chose a celebrity and a position (top, middle, bottom). The star in that position was lit, and Marshall then asked a question to the chosen celebrity. The contestant either had to correctly agree or disagree with the given answer, in much the same manner as Hollywood Squares and Battlestars. Choosing correctly allowed the contestant to keep control and pick again, but making a wrong decision passed control to the opposing player.

Once all four stars around a monitor were lit, the part of the puzzle it was concealing required a correct agree/disagree choice from one of the contestants to reveal and the celebrity underneath the star would remain in play until one was given. Once the puzzle piece was uncovered, the contestant that revealed it was given a chance to guess the puzzle or continue playing as an incorrect guess passed control to his/her opponent.

Play continued on a puzzle until one player solved it or all six monitors were uncovered, with the player who uncovered the last monitor winning the game by default.

The first contestant to solve two puzzles won the match and a prize package, and went on to play the Blitz Bonanza. Rather than featuring models, celebrity guests often modeled and demonstrated prizes while being described by the announcer, which would be preceded by a message on the game board monitors describing the prize(s).

Each episode of All-Star Blitz was played to a time limit. If time was called during a puzzle, the contestant in control was given the option of whether or not to guess the puzzle. Choosing not to guess ended the game, and the solution to the puzzle was revealed. Guessing incorrectly gave the option to the opponent. Regardless of the decision and its outcome, play resumed on the next episode with either a new puzzle or the Blitz Bonanza as dictated by the rules.

In the Blitz Bonanza round, the champion was given one final puzzle to solve and was told how many words it contained (later, only the panel and the home audience were shown this information[3]). In order to reveal the puzzle pieces, the champion spun a large wheel. This would move a light border around the board and once it stopped, the space it landed on would uncover to reveal part of the puzzle. The champion did this four times, and for each subsequent spin after the first the opportunity existed for the light border to land on one of the spaces that was already uncovered; this was referred to as a “wasted spin”. If fewer than four spaces were uncovered after the last spin, the champion was given the option to leave the board as it was or give up the prize package he/she had won in the main game in exchange for one more spin.

Once all of the champion’s spins were used, he/she was given ten seconds to study the uncovered spaces on the board. The celebrities would also participate by trying to come up with their own solution.

Once the champion’s ten seconds were up, he/she provided a guess at the solution to the puzzle. A correct guess won him/her a growing cash jackpot. If the champion did not correctly guess the puzzle, the celebrities were polled for their responses; if any of them managed to come up with the correct solution, the champion was given $250 for each one that did.

The jackpot had a starting value of $10,000. Initially, it increased by $5,000 for each time the Blitz Bonanza was not won and was capped at a maximum value of $25,000. Later, the cap was reduced to $20,000 and the increase for every unsuccessful attempt was reduced to $2,500.

Any champion who played the Blitz Bonanza four times retired undefeated.

All-Star Blitz originally aired on ABC at 11:00 AM EST, replacing Trivia Trap and followed by the long-running Family Feud. However, the series found itself facing strong competition from the first half of the powerhouse The Price is Right on CBS and Wheel of Fortune on NBC.

In June 1985, two months after All-Star Blitz premiered, Family Feud was cancelled, and All-Star Blitz moved up a half-hour to the 11:30 AM EST slot formerly occupied by Feud.[2] However, now competing against the second half of Price, as well as Scrabble on NBC, ratings did not improve and All-Star Blitz ended its run on December 20, 1985.

All-Star Blitz on IMDb