1961-1962
The original game show was created and produced by Jerry Hammer of Jerry Hammer Productions, directed by Gilbert Cates with Don Morrow as host, and Johnny Gilbert as the announcer (as well as a substitute host for Morrow), with Chet Gould as the show's alternate announcer. Paul Taubman provided the show's live music. Contestants tried to find objects hidden on an electronic board by tracing the outline of the object using a wand.
The game began with Morrow telling the contestants what object to look for. He then asked them a true-false question; a countdown clock began at 10 and stopped when a contestant buzzed in. A correct answer was worth points determined by time left on the clock, and removed a piece of the camouflage; the contestant had ten seconds to find and trace the object. If s/he tried and failed, the opponent got 10 points and a chance to trace it. An incorrect answer also gave the opponent the points and control of the board. (Each contestant had a separate board which his or her opponent could not see.) To help, once a player scored 30 points in the quiz, s/he got to see what the object looked like. The first player to spot and trace the object won the game and a prize. When it was obvious that the contestant had spotted and begun to trace the object, Morrow would say, "You say it's there...it is there!"
Each game had a predetermined point value (up to 200 points), with ten points deducted from the value of the game when a contestant made an incorrect tracing or chose to pass and wait for more of the camouflage to be removed. The winner's prize was determined by that person's score in the quiz added to the points left in the overall value of the game. The day's big winner was given one more object to find in fifteen seconds for a new car. For the bonus round, none of the camouflage was removed. Contestants retired after winning the car or five games, whichever came first.
The original version of Camouflage aired from January 9, 1961 to November 16, 1962 on ABC. From January 9, 1961 to June 29, 1962 it aired from 12 Noon-12:30 PM, Eastern; on July 2, 1962 it moved to 12:30 PM and its running time was cut to 25 minutes, with a five-minute newscast airing at 12:55. This continued for the remainder of the original show's run.
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