It's more than PASSWORD, it's....
Hosts:
Allen Ludden (January
1979-October 1980)
Bill Cullen (April-May 1980 sub host)
Tom Kennedy (October 1980-March 26, 1982)
Broadcast History
Airdates: January 8, 1979-March 26, 1982, NBC
Announcers: Gene Wood (primary), John Harlan, Bob Hilton,
Johnny Olson (substitutes)
Studio: NBC Studio 3, Burbank
Packager: Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
Main Game
Two teams, consisting of a celebrity and a contestant
competed. The object was for the clue
giver to convey a word to
their
partner by giving one word clues. The celebrities gave the clues in
round 1, and alternated each round. Three clues were allowed per team
(later changed to two), and each team alternated giving clues. Also,
the first team giving
the clues was allowed to pass on giving the
first clue, or give the first clue (The first few months the team
that didn't get the last password was given the option, 
later the
team that got the password was given the option). Each "password" was
put into a "Password Puzzle", which is a person, place or 
thing. The
team that guessed the "password" took a guess at the "Password
Puzzle" (The 
guesser of the Password guessed the Password Puzzle). If
an illegal clue was given (A two word clue, an "opposite" of the
word, or a form of the password), then the opposing team was given a
guess. Each puzzle was worth a certain amount. Round 1 was $100,
Round 2 was $100, and then each afterwards
was $200. First team to
reach $300 won the game. During the last few months some rules in the
scoring were changed. The first three rounds were worth $100, and
then $200 after. The first team to $500 won
the game, and after round
3 the contestants switched celebrity partners. The winning team went
and played Alphabetics.
Alphabetics
In "Alphabetics" the celebrity gave one word clues to
their partner, and the object was to solve 
10 words in 60 seconds.
The words started with 10 consecutive letters of the alphabet (Example:A-J). $100 was awarded for each solved word, and solving
all 10 won $5,000. An illegal clue reduced the jackpot by 
$1,000. In the later years of the show, a growing jackpot was added which
started at $5,000 and increased by the much until won (During that time $2,000 was reduced
from the jackpot for each illegal clue).
Facts
-Password Plus was a revival of the original "Password"
which aired on CBS from 1961-1967 in daytime and primetime, and ABC
from 1971-1975 in daytime
.-Allen Ludden, who hosted Password and Password Plus
passed away on June 8, 1981. Bill Cullen filled in for Allen while
Allen was hospitalized for a month in 1980. Allen returned for a few
months afterwards, but then became too ill to continue (after suffering a
massive heart attack) and Tom
Kennedy took over in October 1980 as permanent host. Allen Ludden is
known as "Mr. Password" to many.
-Tom Kennedy and guest celebrity Dick Martin once
exchanged a hilarious bit during a December 1980 episode. Dick gave
an illegal clue (France for french) and that's when the fun began.
Tom kept screwing up by saying they would go to another puzzle rather
than put french on the board. This was known as the "blooper" episode
and the part took nearly 10 minutes!
-Another one of the many changes in the final season was
the change in the opening speil. The first part of the speil was
eliminated ("It's more than Password.") and was changed to just "It's
Password Plus."
Back home to
the Galaxy!