History Series / CatchPhrase

GameShow from the mid-1980s in which two contestants competed to solve animated picture puzzles drawn by a computer. Some of the puzzles featured a yellow robot, named Herbie in America and Mr. Chips in the United Kingdom.

** The catchphrase graphics of the first few ITV series looked like contemporary micro games, using many of the graphical techniques used then to draw the catchphrases (the US version utilized similar graphics). The last few series had graphics rivaling cartoons.

** The host would usually ask the audience to shout out answers to catchphrases the players could not get.

** Roy Walker has given out some timeless ones, including the famous "Say what you see" (popular enough by the late '90s to be used ''as'' a catchphrase on the programme), "It's good but it's not right", and "Keep pressing, keep guessing." The most iconic one, of course, is "Riiiiiiiiiiiight!".
** Nick Weir had quite a good amount of his own, too. He tended to describe the Cash Countdown round as "The quicker you are, the richer you are!"

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: The bonus round timer in the UK, accompanied by beeps that start to ascend after 20 seconds have passed.

* LosingHorns: Present in the original UK run as the time's-up buzzer in the BonusRound, in what can only be described as a cross between a fart and a slide whistle. The British revival instead has alarm-esque beeping noises to signal that time is up.

* ProgressiveJackpot: In the original US run, every catchphrase solved would add money to a bank for the Super Catchphrase[[note]]called the Bonus Catchphrase in the UK[[/note]] (the amount depended on whatever dollar amount was hit before the round started); whoever managed to solve the Super Catchphrase won the amount in the bank. {{Inverted}} in the greater part of Roy Walker's run in the UK, where the Bonus Catchphrase's value went down by £10 for every square revealed.

* TitleDrop: "Catchphrase" was once used as a catchphrase. The animation for that particular puzzle was almost a literal title drop.

** The catchphrase graphics of the first few ITV series looked like contemporary micro games, using many of the graphical techniques used then to draw the catchphrases (the US version utilized similar graphics). The last few series had graphics rivalling cartoons.

** The 2013 revival changes it to a 5-level, 15-space pyramid (15 at the top). Solve one catchphrase per level, win from £2,500 to £50,000. Solve #11, win a bonus prize (or double the amounts of the two other guests on celebrity specials).

** Roy's catchphrases are popular that Stephen Mulhern is refusing to use them in the 2013 revival as they're too associated with Roy's tenure. Instead, Mulhern came up with his own, such as "The clue's on the screen but what does it mean?", "Remove the square, and say what's there!" and "Will the middle solve the riddle?"

** Nick Weir tended to describe the Cash Countdown round as "The quicker you are, the richer you are!"

*** As The Family Channel had only recently launched at the time of its broadcast, the series was produced on a low budget, which meant the contestants played for points instead of pounds, and the prize for winning the Super Catchphrase if the winning team reached the M square was always a mystery, which was normally a trip to a theme park (mainly Thorpe Park or Alton Towers) or a game console (like a Sega Master System).

* ProgressiveJackpot: In the original US run, every catchphrase solved would add money to a bank for the Super Catchphrase[[note]]called the Bonus Catchphrase in the UK[[/note]] (the amount depended on whatever dollar amount was hit before the round started); whoever managed to solve the Super Catchphrase won the amount in the bank. {{Inverted}} in the greater part of Roy Walker's run in the UK; the Bonus Catchphrase's value went down by £10 for every square revealed.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The space in the title can vary--the American version had it, but the British version (and the 2006 US pilots) doesn't, so that's how we've spelled it here.

** The Vietnamese version, ''Duoi hinh Bat Chu (Finding Words by Looking at Pictures)'', has had three hosts: Xuan Bac on Hanoi Radio Television from 2005 to 2019, and Si Tien and Thu Huong jointly from 2004 to 2005.

** To people more familiar with the UK series, the US version can come off as this- simpler intro, increased cash amounts and bigger prizes, different set and music, weird-looking logo, Mr. Chips is named Herbie, etc.

* SuddenDeath: In the UK version, if the players failed to answer the Bonus Catchphrase when it was fully visible, they were shown one more and whoever got it won the round. If they didn't get that either, they continued playing sudden death until someone got one. (This did not apply to the US version; the money in the bank simply carried over to the next round.)