History Series / TheAdventureGame

* EarTrumpet: Gandor the butler was very hard of hearing and carried an ear trumpet around with him. However, it was his spectacles that helped him hear properly; the ear trumpet was instead a device intended for contestants to use to solve puzzles.

The Argonds' default form was dragonlike (hence the many {{Significant Anagram}}s of "dragon" sprinkled throughout the show), but several of them [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith adopted human forms]] so as to make it easier to explain the puzzles for the benefit of the viewers before the contestants saw them, and then communicate with the contestants themselves. The only one to appear in all four series was Gandor (Christopher Leaver), an elderly and eccentric butler. In the first three series, he was assisted by Gnoard (Charmian Gradwell); she was replaced for the final series by Dorgan (Sarah Lam). The first series also featured Darong (Moira Stuart, before she became a newsreader), while the last two series featured the series' best-remembered character, the backwards-talking Australian Ron Gad (Bill Homewood), whose CatchPhrase was an encouraging "Doogy rev!" ("Very good!") for the contestants. The Argonds' monarch was the Rangdo of Arg, whom the other Argonds addressed as "Uncle" but whom the Earth contestants were required to greet by bowing and saying "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness." In the first series, he was played by ''Radio/JustAMinute'' creator Ian Messiter, but in Series 2 and 3 he took the form of a potted aspidistra, and in Series 4 he appeared as a giant teapot.[[note]] The column on which the aspidistra pot rested was controlled from within by Kenny Baker, more famous for controlling ''Franchise/StarWars''[='=] R2-D2.[[/note]]

The Argonds' default form was dragonlike (hence the many {{Significant Anagram}}s of "dragon" sprinkled throughout the show), but several of them [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith adopted human forms]] so as to make it easier to explain the puzzles for the benefit of the viewers before the contestants saw them, and then communicate with the contestants themselves. The only one to appear in all four series was Gandor (Christopher Leaver), an elderly and eccentric butler. In the first three series, he was assisted by Gnoard (Charmian Gradwell); she was replaced for the final series by Dorgan (Sarah Lam). The first series also featured Darong (Moira Stuart, before she became a newsreader), while the last two series featured the backwards-talking Australian Ron Gad (Bill Homewood), whose CatchPhrase was an encouraging "Doogy rev!" ("Very good!") for the contestants. The Argonds' monarch was the Rangdo of Arg, whom the other Argonds addressed as "Uncle" but whom the Earth contestants were required to greet by bowing and saying "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness." In the first series, he was played by ''Radio/JustAMinute'' creator Ian Messiter, but in Series 2 and 3 he took the form of a potted aspidistra, and in Series 4 he appeared as a giant teapot.[[note]] The column on which the aspidistra pot rested was controlled from within by Kenny Baker, more famous for controlling ''Franchise/StarWars''[='=] R2-D2.[[/note]]

* SdrawkcabName: Eccentric Argond Ron Gad spoke backwards English, and would make his entrance on set singing a backwards version of "Waltzing Matilda" complete with fake Australian accent to clue the contestants into the secret behind deciphering his speech. Some contestants caught on immediately and, through hesitant backwards conversations with him, were able to get useful information easily; other contestants never quite seemed to crack the "code" and had to fend for themselves.

The series was aimed at children and aired around teatime, but developed a considerable adult following due to the entertainment value of seeing sitcom actors and children's TV show hosts floundering in their attempts to decipher Ron Gad's backwards speech or to get the key to a door out of a seemingly impenetrable vessel. Each series was re-run a few months after its original airing, but then they were condemned to the archives (or, worse, wiped) apart from an occasional airing of Series 4 on Challenge TV in the early 2000s... until 2016, when the BBC Store made the seven surviving episodes of Series 1 and 2 available for purchase,[[note]] Though only in the UK.[[/note]] with a DVD release of all four series following in 2017.

** The episodes of Series 2 would feature anagrams of one of the contestants' names as a password or other significant phrase. For example, in an episode featuring ''The Chinese Detective'' star David Yip, the explorers were given a letter addressed to "Ivy P. Daid" (Yip almost immediately deduced that he was the real intended recipient), while in an episode featuring marketing executive Philip Sheppard as the non-celebrity contestant, the password to get past the first door was "Elphrida Phipps".

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants.[[note]] In theory, this was offset by slightly friendlier rules; the contestants got the first move and the Vortex could not be moved to the final row of spaces, so that once a contestant reached the sixth row (of seven), victory was assured. However, of the fifty-one contestants across Series 2-4, just fourteen managed to cross the Vortex successfully, though another four got free passes across for being falsely accused moles in Series 2.[[/note]] However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."). It was also possible to win a green cheese roll from a bonus game just before the final round that could then be used to test for the presence of the Vortex (though it was evaporated if it was put on the Vortex space); some contestants were able to use logic and judicious testing with their rolls to cross the grid safely (Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis proved very adept at this on his appearance in Series 4), but more usually they just moved from one space to the next and hoped for the best.

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants.[[note]] In theory, this was offset by slightly friendlier rules; the contestants got the first move and the Vortex could not be moved to the final row of spaces, so that once a contestant reached the sixth row (of seven), victory was assured. However, just ''two'' contestants (out of eleven) crossed the Vortex grid successfully in Series 2; the success rate wasn't much higher in Series 3, but improved to nearly 50% in Series 4.[[/note]] However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."). It was also possible to win a green cheese roll from a bonus game just before the final round that could then be used to test for the presence of the Vortex (though it was evaporated if it was put on the Vortex space); some contestants were able to use logic and judicious testing with their rolls to cross the grid safely (Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis proved very adept at this on his appearance in Series 4), but more usually they just moved from one space to the next and hoped for the best.

The series was aimed at children and aired around teatime, but developed a considerable adult following due to the entertainment value of seeing sitcom actors and children's TV show hosts floundering in their attempts to decipher Ron Gad's backwards speech or to get the key to a door out of a seemingly impenetrable vessel. Each series was re-run a few months after its original airing, but then they were condemned to the archives (or, worse, wiped) apart from an occasional airing of Series 4 on Challenge TV in the early 2000s... until 2016, when the BBC Store made the seven surviving episodes of Series 1 and 2 available for purchase,[[note]] Though only in the UK.[[/note]] with a DVD release of all four series announced for 2017.

The Argonds' default form was dragonlike (hence the many {{Significant Anagram}}s of "dragon" sprinkled throughout the show), but several of them [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith adopted human forms]] so as to make it easier to explain the puzzles for the benefit of the viewers before the contestants saw them, and then communicate with the contestants themselves. The only one to appear in all four series was Gandor (Christopher Leaver), an elderly and eccentric butler. In the first three series, he was assisted by Gnoard (Charmian Gradwell); she was replaced for the final series by Dorgan (Sarah Lam). The first series also featured Darong (Moira Stuart, before she became a newsreader), while the last two series featured the backwards-talking Australian Ron Gad (Bill Homewood), whose CatchPhrase was an encouraging "Doogy rev!" ("Very good!") for the contestants. The Argonds' monarch was the Rangdo of Arg, whom the other Argonds addressed as "Uncle" but whom the Earth contestants were required to greet by bowing and saying "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness." In the first series, he was played by ''Radio/JustAMinute'' creator Ian Messiter, but in Series 2 and 3 he took the form of a potted aspidistra, and in Series 4 he appeared as a giant teapot.

The second most well-remembered game was the Drogna Game, based on the Argond currency. Starting in Series 2, the tile layouts the contestants had to navigate featured five colours - red, orange, yellow, green, blue - and five shapes - circle, pointed oval, triangle, square, pentagon. These colours and shapes also appeared on plastic discs that were used by the Argonds as money, with the value being the product of the number of sides on the shape (one for the circle, two for the pointed oval, etc.) and the position of the colour in a list of colours of the spectrum (so that a red circle was worth 1 drogna, while a blue pentagon was worth 25). Sometimes they would have to base their crossing of the grid on sticking to the higher values, while other times they would have to move in cycles based on the colours or shapes.

* WhosOnFirst: In a Series 4 episode featuring ''Play School'' and ''Think of a Number'' presenter Johnny Ball, ''Sorry!'' actress Barbara Lott, and champion water skier Liz Hobbs, the contestants had to open a combination safe with the word "watt". As Dorgan and Gandor were discussing the games before letting the contestants begin them, much "what/watt" confusion ensued...

** The series was packed with anagrams of the word "dragon" (the Argonds' default form). As well as "Argond" itself, the Argonds' actual names - Gandor, Gnoard, Darong, Dorgan, Ron Gad, the mute Angord, and the Rangdo - were all anagrams of "dragon". Ditto their currency, drogna, and the correct greeting for the Rangdo, "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness."

* GoldenSnitch: It doesn't matter how well the contestants did at the puzzles in the main part of the episode; if they got evaporated by the Vortex during the final game, they still had to walk home instead of taking their spaceship. This could be particularly frustrating for viewers when it happened to especially capable puzzle solvers, such as ''Play School'' and ''Think of a Number'' presenter Johnny Ball.

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult; significantly fewer than half the contestants who had to participate in it were able to cross the grid successfully. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants.[[note]] In theory, this was offset by slightly friendlier rules; the contestants got the first move and the Vortex could not be moved to the final row of spaces, so that once a contestant reached the sixth row (of seven), victory was assured. However, just ''two'' contestants (out of eleven) crossed the Vortex grid successfully in Series 2; the success rate wasn't much higher in Series 3, but improved to nearly 50% in Series 4.[[/note]] However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."). It was also possible to win a green cheese roll from a bonus game just before the final round that could then be used once to test for the presence of the Vortex; some contestants were able to use logic and judicious testing with their rolls to cross the grid safely (Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis proved very adept at this on his appearance in Series 4), but more usually they just moved from one space to the next and hoped for the best.

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult; significantly fewer than half the contestants who had to participate in it were able to cross the grid successfully. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants.[[note]] In theory, this was offset by slightly friendlier rules; the contestants got the first move and the Vortex could not be moved to the final row of spaces, so that once a contestant reached the sixth row (of seven), victory was assured. However, just ''two'' contestants (out of eleven) crossed the Vortex grid successfully in Series 2; the success rate wasn't much higher in Series 3, but improved to nearly 50% in Series 4.[[/note]] However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."), but more usually they would simply walk across the grid and hope for the best.

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult; significantly fewer than half the contestants who had to participate in it were able to cross the grid successfully. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants.[[note]] The game was still easier than in later series, as the contestants got the first move and the Vortex could not be moved to the final row of spaces, so that once a contestant reached the sixth row (of seven), victory was assured. Starting in Series 3, the Vortex was moved first and could be moved to the last row.[[/note]] However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."), but more usually they would simply walk across the grid and hope for the best.

''The Adventure Game'' was a GameShow (crossed with light entertainment) created by Patrick Dowling that aired for four series from 1980-86 on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC1]] (Series 1) and [=BBC2=] (Series 2-4). Dowling co-wrote and co-produced the first two series with Ian Oliver, who took over both jobs after Dowling retired from the BBC in 1983.

** The team of Denise Coffey, Toby Freeman, and Garry Hunt in Series 1 had to play a maze game on a computer terminal (with a then state-of-the-art dual display with the maze pictured on one screen and the text entered on the other), and one of the objects they could pick up was a scarlet fish. Coffey immediately suspected that it was called a scarlet fish for a reason, but they took it anyway... and, sure enough, it proved to be useless in solving the puzzles in the maze.

** The series was packed with anagrams of the word "dragon" (the Argonds' default form). As well as "Argond" itself, the Argonds' actual names - Gandor, Gnoard, Darong, Dorgan, Ron Gad, the mute Nagord, and the Rangdo - were all anagrams of "dragon". Ditto their currency, drogna, and the correct greeting for the Rangdo, "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness."

The celebrity contestants were mostly TV actors and presenters whom young audiences were likely to recognise, such as ''Series/TheLiverBirds'' actress Elizabeth Estensen; ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden; ''Series/HiDeHi''[='=]s Ruth Madoc; ''Tomorrow's World'' presenters James Burke and Michael Rodd; ''Series/DoctorWho'' actresses Janet Fielding and Bonnie Langford;[[note]] The latter before her run as Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush.[[/note]] ''Series/{{Rentaghost}}'' actress Sue Nicholls; ''Play School'' and/or ''Play Away'' presenters Fred Harris, Carol Chell, Derek Griffiths, Nerys Hughes, Sheelagh Gilbey, and Johnny Ball; ''Series/BluePeter'' presenters Lesley Judd and Sarah Greene; ''The Computer Programme'' presenters Chris Serle and Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis; ''Nationwide'' presenters Sue Cook and Richard Stilgoe; and ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' presenters Maggie Philbin, John Craven, Noel Edmonds, and Keith Chegwin. But they also featured academics, such as mathematician David Singmaster, engineer Prof. Heinz Wolff, and astronomers Garry Hunt and Heather Couper; and athletes, such as swimmer Duncan Goodhew and judo champion Neil Adams.

The celebrity contestants were mostly TV actors and presenters, such as ''Series/TheLiverBirds'' actresses Elizabeth Estensen and Nerys Hughes; ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden; ''Series/HiDeHi''[='=]s Ruth Madoc; ''Tomorrow's World'' presenters James Burke and Michael Rodd; ''Series/DoctorWho'' actresses Janet Fielding and Bonnie Langford;[[note]] The latter before her run as Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush.[[/note]] ''Play School'' presenters Fred Harris, Carol Chell, Derek Griffiths, Sheelagh Gilbey, and Johnny Ball; ''Series/BluePeter'' presenters Lesley Judd and Sarah Greene; ''The Computer Programme'' presenters Chris Serle and Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis; ''Nationwide'' presenters Sue Cook and Richard Stilgoe; and ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' presenters Maggie Philbin, John Craven, Noel Edmonds, and Keith Chegwin. But they also featured academics, such as mathematician David Singmaster, engineer Prof. Heinz Wolff, and astronomers Garry Hunt and Heather Couper; and athletes, such as swimmer Duncan Goodhew and judo champion Neil Adams.

* TheMole: Lesley Judd appeared as a contestant in the final episode of Series 1 alongside ''Series/BlakesSeven''[='=]s Paul Darrow and special effects technician Robert Malos; they were unsuccessful in crossing the grid at the end of the episode, but for Series 2, the writers decided to have Judd stay on, and the teams visiting Arg were now on a rescue mission... unaware that Judd is now in league with the Argonds and, once freed from her cell, will do all she can to hinder their progress and divert suspicion of treachery to the other contestants. At the half-hour mark of each episode, the team would be gathered and asked whom they believe to be the mole; if they guessed incorrectly, the falsely accused mole would be evaporated (but only as far as the other side of the Vortex) and the team would have to continue as a duo. [[spoiler:Only one team correctly identified Judd as the mole.]]
* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult; significantly fewer than half the contestants who had to participate in it were able to cross the grid successfully. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants. However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."), but more usually they would simply walk across the grid and hope for the best.

The celebrity contestants were mostly TV actors and presenters, such as ''Series/TheLiverBirds'' actresses Elizabeth Estensen and Nerys Hughes; ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden; ''Series/HiDeHi''[='=]s Ruth Madoc; ''Tomorrow's World'' presenters James Burke and Michael Rodd; ''Series/DoctorWho'' actresses Janet Fielding and Bonnie Langford;[[note]] The latter before her run as Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush.[[/note]] ''Play School'' presenters Fred Harris, Carol Chell, Derek Griffiths, Sheelagh Gilbey, and Johnny Ball; ''Series/BluePeter'' presenters Lesley Judd and Sarah Greene; ''The Computer Programme'' presenters Chris Serle and Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis; ''Nationwide'' presenters Sue Cook and Richard Stilgoe; and ''Swap Shop'' presenters Maggie Philbin, John Craven, Noel Edmonds, and Keith Chegwin. But they also featured academics, such as mathematician David Singmaster, engineer Prof. Heinz Wolff, and astronomers Garry Hunt and Heather Couper; and athletes, such as swimmer Duncan Goodhew and judo champion Neil Adams.

The celebrity contestants were mostly TV actors and presenters, such as ''Series/TheLiverBirds'' actresses Elizabeth Estensen and Nerys Hughes; ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden; ''Series/HiDeHi''[='=]s Ruth Madoc; ''Tomorrow's World'' presenters James Burke and Michael Rodd; ''Series/DoctorWho'' actresses Janet Fielding and Bonnie Langford;[[note]] The latter before her run as Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush.[[/note]] ''Play School'' presenters Fred Harris, Carol Chell, Derek Griffiths, Sheelagh Gilbey, and Johnny Ball; ''Series/BluePeter'' presenters Lesley Judd and Sarah Greene; ''The Computer Programme'' presenters Chris Serle and Ian [=McNaught=]-Davis; ''Nationwide'' presenters Sue Cook and Richard Stilgoe; and ''Swap Shop'' presenters Maggie Philbin, John Craven, Noel Edmonds, and Keith Chegwin. But they also featured academics, such as mathematician David Singmaster, engineer Prof. Heinz Wolff, and astronomer Heather Couper; and athletes, such as swimmer Duncan Goodhew and judo champion Neil Adams.

** In a Series 2 episode featuring mathematician David Singmaster, ''Nationwide'' presenter Sue Cook, and marketing executive Philip Sheppard, Cook was the only contestant to be evaporated by the Vortex, and after an unsuccessful attempt to hitch a lift from the passing Arg-Earth shuttle (with Singmaster and Sheppard as its passengers), she muttered that she wished she had brought ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. This was more than just a throwaway reference; when Patrick Dowling proposed the idea of ''The Adventure Game'' to the BBC, he approached Creator/DouglasAdams about writing for the series to enhance the sci-fi feel, as he had just begun writing the SoundToScreen adaptation of ''Hitchhiker's Guide''.

''The Adventure Game'' was a GameShow (crossed with light entertainment) created by Patrick Dowling and Ian Oliver that aired for four series from 1980-86 on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC1]] (Series 1) and [=BBC2=] (Series 2-4). Although the execution of the game changed with each series, the premise was always the same: three contestants, including two celebrities and a member of the general public, would travel across time and space to the distant planet of Arg, whose residents, the Argonds, would then set them a number of challenges to complete before they would give them the time crystal they needed to return home. (Dowling envisioned the series as a combat-free, live-action version of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', with the Argonds as the game masters.) The episodes would then cut back and forth between footage of the contestants trying to solve the puzzles and occasional sketches involving the Argonds. Each series featured multiple puzzles that involved home computers, technology that was still strange and new to viewers and contestants alike.

** In a Series 2 episode featuring mathematician David Singmaster, ''Nationwide'' presenter Sue Cook, and marketing executive Philip Sheppard, Cook was the only contestant to be evaporated by the Vortex, and after an unsuccessful attempt to hitch a lift from the passing Arg-Earth shuttle (with Singmaster and Sheppard as its passengers), she mutters that she wishes she had brought ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. This is more than just a throwaway reference; when Patrick Dowling proposed the idea of ''The Adventure Game'' to the BBC, he approached Creator/DouglasAdams about writing for the series to enhance the sci-fi feel, as he had just begun writing the SoundToScreen adaptation of ''Hitchhiker's Guide''.

''The Adventure Game'' was a GameShow (crossed with light entertainment) that aired for four series from 1980-86 on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC1]] (Series 1) and [=BBC2=] (Series 2-4). Although the execution of the game changed with each series, the premise was always the same: three contestants, including two celebrities and a member of the general public, would travel across time and space to the distant planet of Arg, whose residents, the Argonds, would then set them a number of challenges to complete before they would give them the time crystal they needed to return home. The episode would then alternate between footage of the contestants trying to solve the puzzles and occasional sketches involving the Argonds. Each series featured multiple puzzles that involved home computers, technology that was still strange and new to viewers and contestants alike.

* ShoutOut: In Series 3, the contestants were presented as having crashed their spaceship on Arg after coming in to land too fast, represented with hacked versions of the home computer editions of some of the early 1980s' biggest arcade hits, including ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' (identified as ''Argeroids''), ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}'', ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'', ''VideoGame/PacMan'', and ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}''.

''The Adventure Game'' was a GameShow (crossed with light entertainment) that aired for four series from 1980-86 on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC1]] (Series 1) and [=BBC2=] (Series 2-4). Although the execution of the game changed with each series, the premise was always the same: three contestants, including two celebrities and a member of the general public would travel across time and space to the distant planet of Arg, whose residents, the Argonds, would then set them a number of challenges to complete before they would give them the time crystal they needed to return home. The episode would then alternate between footage of the contestants trying to solve the puzzles and occasional sketches involving the Argonds. Each series featured multiple puzzles that involved home computers, technology that was still strange and new to viewers and contestants alike.

The series was aimed at children and aired around teatime, but developed a considerable adult following due to the entertainment value of seeing sitcom actors and children's TV show hosts floundering in their attempts to decipher Ron Gad's backwards speech or to get the key to a door out of a seemingly impenetrable vessel. Each series was re-run a few months after its original airing, but then they were condemned to the archives (or, worse, wiped) apart from an occasional airing of Series 4 on Challenge TV in the early 2000s... until 2016, when the BBC Store made the seven surviving episodes of Series 1 and 2 available for purchase, with a DVD release of all four series announced for 2017.

* NintendoHard: The Vortex game was viciously difficult; significantly fewer than half the contestants who had to participate in it were able to cross the grid successfully. In Series 2, Gnoard and Lesley Judd (and sometimes, the falsely accused mole, out for revenge) kept good poker faces as they moved the Vortex, giving no clues to the contestants. However, in Series 3 and 4, when Gandor was moving the Vortex ostensibly at the Rangdo's command, savvier contestants might be able to use his reactions to gauge whether the Vortex was on a space to which they were likely to move next ("Excellent move, Your Highness!") or somewhere out of the way ("Are you sure, Your Highness? Well, if you say so..."), but more usually they would simply walk across the grid and hope for the best.

* SignificantAnagram: The series was packed with anagrams of the word "dragon" (the Argonds' default form). As well as "Argond" itself, the Argonds' actual names - Gandor, Gnoard, Darong, Dorgan, Ron Gad, the mute Nagord, and the Rangdo - were all anagrams of "dragon". Ditto their currency, drogna, and the correct greeting for the Rangdo, "Gronda, gronda, Your Highness."