Australian Game Shows Wiki
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Host
Michael Pope
Broadcast
Blockbusterslogo
Seven Network: 1991-1994
Packager
FremantleMedia

Blockbusters is the Australian version of the short-lived, "Grown-up" American format from 1980-1982 and 1987 of the same name was broadcast on the Seven Network from 1991 until 1994, where players from two schools competed over the course of a week (five episodes), in a rolling format - where games could be started in the middle of an episode, and stopped and continued on the next episode. The school team earning the most points (based on questions answered from the main game, except tie-breaks) won a major prize for their school, such as an encyclopedia. The show was hosted by Michael Pope.

Gameplay[]

Main Game[]

The game board consisted of 20 interlocking hexagons, arranged in five columns of four. Each hexagon contained a letter of the alphabet. A contestant would choose one of the letters, and would be asked a general-knowledge trivia question whose correct answer began with the chosen letter. (A typical question was something like, "What 'P' is a musical instrument with 88 keys?" The answer would be a piano.)

Two students from each school played in each match. the shorter path alternated between the teams in the first two games, and a 4x4 tie-break gameboard was used in the event of the first two games in a match being split between the two teams. Five points were earned towards the school team's weekly total for each question correctly answered, with no points scored during tie-breaks (nor for Gold Runs).

Gold Run[]

The winner of the match went on to play the Gold Run bonus round. The board consisted of a pattern of hexagons similar to that of the main game, but the hexagons had 2 to 5 letters inside them; those letters were the initials of the correct answer. (For instance, if a contestant chose "BS" and the host said "Where people kiss in Ireland", the correct answer would be "Blarney Stone.") If a contestant guessed correctly, the hexagon turned gold. However, if the contestant guessed incorrectly or passed, it turned black, blocking the player's path; it was then up to the contestant to work around it. The object was to horizontally connect the left and right sides of the board within 60 seconds (or before blocking off all possible horizontal connections).

Gold Run questions had two-word answers, with a successful run resulting in a small prize for that player and his team-mate. As there was no consolation prize for each question in a failed Gold Run, the game would be terminated early if the board became completely blocked from black spaces.

Merchandise[]

A board game was released by Croner at the time. (NOTE: the artwork and game pieces of the box looks similar to that of the 1986 UK version released by Waddingtons at the time. Minus the appearance of the late Bob Holness on its box cover.)

Pictures[]

YouTube Links[]

Clip of Game 2

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