History Main / HomeGame

[[caption-width-right:350:1978 Ideal Toys home game of ''Series/TicTacDough'', back when the Wink Martindale version was called ''The New Tic-Tac-Dough'' {plugged by Jay Stewart as a consolation prize)]]

* One of the prize items in the third stage of ''VideoGame/SmashTV''.

-->-- Don Pardo, '''Music/WeirdAlYankovic''''s ''I Lost on Jeopardy!''

* George Carlin did a bit on game shows on his ''FM/AM'' album:

[[https://web.archive.org/web/20160328030420/http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/gshghp/ Matt Ottinger]] has more information on home versions of game shows. Don't confuse with those games that a sports team plays in their own stadium instead of traveling--that [[PeopleSitOnChairs isn't really a trope]].

[[https://web.archive.org/web/20160328030420/http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/gshghp/ Matt Ottinger]] has more information on home versions of game shows.

Home adaptations of television game shows are made mostly of paper, cardboard and plastic, and often the game play has to be changed significantly to fit the relevant constraints. Since the 1980s, many home games have been created for popular home computers and video game consoles. ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' are probably two of the biggest examples in recent years, at least from the game show front.

* Also featured is the [[InvertedTrope opposite of this trope]]: game shows like ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'', ''Series/{{Scattergories}}'', ''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'' and ''Pictionary'', which were, of course, home games made into game shows.
** ''Scrabble'' then had its own home game, titled ''[[RecursiveAdaptation TV Scrabble]]'', and Wink Martindale's version of ''Trivial Pursuit'' for [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]] had its own adaptation, called "Trivial Pursuit Game Show" (and used photos from the pilot on the box).

* In a ''Numberwang'' sketch on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', the overly-complicated game show is revealed to have an equally-complicated home game. It features a pair of 400-sided dice that are too small to see with the human eye, a wig of the host's hair, a rotating board, and a 37-volume rule book, "so you can say 'That's Numberwang!' with confidence!" without going to jail for violating the copyright laws that surround the game.

* Fictional game show ''Numberwang'' in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' is revealed to have an equally overly complicated home game. It features a pair of 400-sided dice that are too small to see with the human eye, a wig of the host's hair, a rotating board, and a 37-volume rule book, "so you can say 'That's Numberwang!' with confidence!" without going to jail for violating the copyright laws that surround the game.

* In ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', Homestar's game/talk show "The Show" offers runners-up "a year's supply of our home game", according to the Strong Bad Email [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail136.html geddup noise]].

[[http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/gshghp/ Matt Ottinger]] has more information on home versions of game shows.

* Fictional game show ''Numberwang'' in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' is revealed to have an equally overly complicated home game; featuring a pair of 400-sided dice that are too small to see with the human eye, a wig of the host's hair, a rotating board, and a 37-volume rule book, "so you can say 'That's Numberwang!' with confidence!" without going to jail for violating the copyright laws that surround the game.

** ''Scrabble'' then had its own home game entitled ''[[RecursiveAdaptation TV Scrabble]]'', while Wink Martindale's version of ''Trivial Pursuit'' for [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]] had its own adaptation called "Trivial Pursuit Game Show" (and used photos from the pilot on the box).

* The first ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' home game was eventually packaged with a disclaimer advising buyers that it was for entertainment only and offered absolutely no actual cash prize, as so many people who did not grasp that it was only a game tried to claim the million pound TV show prize for successfully completing it.

* Also featured is the [[InvertedTrope opposite of this trope]]: game shows like ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'', ''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'' and ''Pictionary'', which were, of course, home games made into game shows.

** ''Scrabble'' then had its own home game entitled ''[[RecursiveAdaptation TV Scrabble]]'', while Wink Martindale's version of ''Trivial Pursuit'' for [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]] had its' own adaptation called "Trivial Pursuit Game Show" (and used photos from the pilot on the box).

* Also featured is the [[InvertedTrope opposite of this trope]]: game shows like ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'', ''Trivial Pursuit'' and ''Pictionary'', which were, of course, home games made into game shows.
** ''Scrabble'' then had its own home game entitled [[RecursiveAdaptation TV Scrabble]].

* [[Series/TheTonightShow JohnnyCarson]] once poked fun at the trend when he hosted the Oscars during the '70s with the claim that "those of you who don't win will receive 'The Oscars Home Game'."

Home adaptations of television game shows are made mostly of paper, cardboard and plastic, and often the game play has to be changed significantly to fit the relevant constraints. Since the 1980s, many home games have been created for popular home computers and video game consoles. ''{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''WheelOfFortune'' are probably two of the biggest examples in recent years, at least from the game show front.

* Also featured is the [[InvertedTrope opposite of this trope]]: game shows like ''{{Scrabble}}'', ''Trivial Pursuit'' and ''Pictionary'', which were, of course, home games made into game shows.

* In ''RatchetDeadlocked'', the [[AnnouncerChatter announcer will occasionally remind viewers to purchase the Dreadzone Home Game]]. Given that ''Dreadzone'' is essentially a reality TV show about brutal gladiatorial combat, [[FridgeHorror well...]]

* A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch featured a game show called ''I'm Gonna Have Sex With your Wife''. It consists of the sleazy host taking each contestant's wife off-stage and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin having sex with them]]. At the end, the two runner-ups are given the "''I'm Gonna Have Sex With your Wife'' home game":

'''Host''': Yeah, it's mine. Just give it to your wives, they'll know what to do.
* JohnnyCarson once poked fun at the trend when he hosted the Oscars during the '70s with the claim that "those of you who don't win will receive 'The Oscars Home Game'."

* When Garfield of ''GarfieldAndFriends'' has a DreamSequence in which he is a contestant on a game show called ''Name That Fish'', one of the things he wins is a copy of the home game. It appears to be a box with fish sticking out.

* Parodied in ''[[WhoseLineIsItAnyway Whose Line is it Anyway?]]''. Apparently, it comes with a blow-up doll version of Drew Carey. At other times, Drew claimed that the home game was a mail-in premium from ABC; [[BlatantLies one would later receive "a desk and four stools" if they sent in their money]].
* A ''SaturdayNightLive'' sketch featured a game show called ''I'm Gonna Have Sex With your Wife''. It consists of the sleazy host taking each contestant's wife off-stage and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin having sex with them]]. At the end, the two runner-ups are given the "''I'm Gonna Have Sex With your Wife'' home game":

* The first ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' home game was eventually packaged with a disclaimer advising buyers that it was for entertainment only and offered absolutely no actual cash prize, as so many people who did not grasp that it was only a game tried to claim the million pound TV show prize for successfully completing it.

* Fictional game show ''Numberwang'' in ''ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' is revealed to have an equally overly complicated home game; featuring a pair of 400-sided dice that are too small to see with the human eye, a wig of the host's hair, a rotating board, and a 37-volume rule book, "so you can say 'That's Numberwang!' with confidence!"

* In an episode of ''{{The Fairly OddParents}}'', a knight tries to pull out the Sword in the Stone, but apparently breaks his arm doing it. He is then awarded the "Sword in the Stone Home Game"...and breaks his fingers trying to pull it out.

* Parodied in ''[[WhoseLineIsItAnyway Whose Line is it Anyway?]]''. Apparently, it comes with a blow-up doll version of Drew Carey.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}'', the SpanishInquisition gives its victims the "Convert or Die" home game if they choose the latter in order to make their time on DeathRow more enjoyable.