Air Dates: December 31, 1962 - September 20, 1969
NBC-TV, 4:00-4:25 PM EST (Live)
Host: Gene Rayburn
Announcer: Johnny Olsen

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The original MG bore little resemblance to the version we all know and love. Two three-member teams competed, each consisting of a celebrity and two civillians. Gene would ask a simple question, such as "Name the word you think is used most often in everyday speech" or "Fill in the blank: To a rich man, *blank* dollars is nothing." Each member of each team would write down an answer. If two members of a team matched, they recived 25 points; should all three match, 50 points were awarded.

The game continued until one team reached 100 points or, if both teams tie at 100 or more, whenever the tie is broken. The two players of the winning team split $1 per point won.

The winning team then played the "Audience Match," where they tried to predict how a previous studio audience (or, occasionally, special groups like 100 men, 100 teenagers, etc.) answered similar questions. Each member had a guess at each question, with the team winning $50 for each match (for a top possible payout of $450).

Unfortunately, only nine episodes of this MG - including the pilot - are known to exist, as NBC destroyed tapes of many of their early daytime shows (being a live show for part of its run, MG may have been recorded infrequently to begin with). The existence of long-lost kinescopes, however, is up for specualtion. Eight of the nine episodes are in the TV collection of the Library of Congress.