FUN HOUSE (GAME SHOW)

:''For other uses see funhouse (disambiguation)''
'''Fun House''' was a United States children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988 to April 13, 1991, originally in syndication, and later on the Fox Network. A British version was also made, which screened on ITV between 1989 and 1999. ''Fun House'' was produced by Stone Television (later Stone-Stanley Productions), in association with and distributed by: Lorimar-Telepictures (1988-89), Lorimar Television (1989-90), Telepictures Productions (1990-91), and Warner Bros. Television (1989-91).

Contents

Hosts and assistants

Main game

Round 1 (stunts)

Round 2 (Fun House Grand Prix)

UK version

The Fun House

Rooms in the Fun House

US version

UK version

Power Prizes

College Mad House

Trivia

External links

Hosts and assistants

The American version was hosted by future Endurance star and The Biggest Loser announcer J. D. Roth, who was assisted by cheerleading twins Jacqueline "Jackie" and Samantha "Sammi" Forrest. The announcer on the syndicated version was John Hurley, a.k.a. "Tiny". He was replaced for the Fox version by Michael Chambers, a.k.a. "MC Mike"
The UK version was hosted by Pat Sharp, who was also aided by twin cheerleaders, Melanie and Martina Grant. The voiceover artist was Gary King.

Main game

Two teams of two children (a boy and a girl) played messy games and answered questions to win a chance to run through an obstacle-strewn Fun House at the end of the show.

Round 1 (stunts)

Both teams play three stunts (one for the boys, one for the girls and one for all players). Some games included searching through gunge in the UK, or slime in America. Other stunts resembled those on another popular children's game show, ''Double Dare'' (in face, ''Double Dare'' often mocked ''Fun House'' many times due to its similarities when the former was still taped in Philadelphia); still others involved hitting opposing players in the face with pies. Several games, such as "Pinhead" and "Dump-O", were races to answer a certain number of questions first, with the losing player being slimed by an unusual contraption. The winner(s) of each stunt won 25 points. If the stunt ended in a tie, both teams received the points. After each stunt, the teams returned to their podiums to answer a toss-up question (that somehow tied in with the stunt) for an additional 25 points. One stunt on each episode of the UK version was dubbed a "key game", in which the losers of the stunt earned points relative to their score at the end of the stunt.

Round 2 (Fun House Grand Prix)

This was a high-stakes point earning round that decided the winning team. Team players had to race two laps around the studio; one pushing the Grand Prix "car" and the other steering. While racing, teams collected white and blue point tokens worth 10 and 25 points, respectively; tokens that are dropped were considered out of play and did not count. After one lap, the contestants switched places in the car (the pushing contestant now steered and vice versa). Usually small challenges were set up around the track that each team had to complete (such as gathering each of several food items or hitting targets with a seltzer bottle).
Starting later in the syndicated version, a token bank was placed near the track on the second lap, at which teams could make a pit stop to grab as many tokens as they could. The first team to cross the finish line earned an additional 25 points. At the end of the race, the teams returned to their podiums and the host counted up the tokens, starting with the trailing team. The team with the most points after all the tokens were counted up won the game and advanced to the Fun House. If the game ended in a tie, one last tie-breaker question was played. A correct answer sent the team to the Fun House, but an incorrect answer meant their opponents could answer the question.

UK version

Teams in the UK version originally collected tokens as in the U.S. version, but later collected steering wheels. Each steering wheel was worth 25 points, and a team could collect up to four. Unlike the U.S. version, actual go-karts were used, instead of fake vehicles that had to be pushed by the other team member. The team who won the race received 25 points. Also, no mini-stunts were played during this round; nor was there a token bank.

The Fun House

Contestants on the winning team took turns entering the Fun House and tried to grab a series of tags (three tags per player per turn) in each room in the Fun House. The green tags represented cash, and the red tags were prize tags. One randomly selected tag also included the "Power Prize", which if found awarded the team with a big trip. This continued for two minutes, after which the cash and prizes were added up, and the team was told if they had won the Power Prize. Whatever cash was earned was awarded to each player.
In the FOX version of the show, a "Glop Clock" was also hidden in the house; finding this specially marked alarm clock earned the team an additional 15 seconds to collect tags.
In the UK version of the show, to actually win the power prize, they not only had to grab the tag, they also had to answer one question (often a multi-parter) correctly within 10 seconds. Also, there were only prizes in the Fun House because of a law in Europe and Australia stating that children cannot win money on game shows.

Rooms in the Fun House

US version

★ Balloon Lagoon (a small pool filled with water and balloons; players could enter the fun house through the Lagoon from a set of stairs leading into it, but they could not exit through those same stairs)

★ Fundromat (a giant revolving tunnel filled with clothes)

★ Tiny's Room (two closets, one of which had Tiny in it with a seltzer bottle and the tag)

★ The Shower Room (a series of connected shower stalls with seven doors, only one of which was unlocked)

★ Zapeteria (a mock cafeteria in which the opposing team attacked the runners with whipped cream and pies; used in College Mad House, later used in the Fox version of the series)

★ The Dump (Ballroom covered with trash cans and trashbags)

★ The Swamp (Small lake with the tag in the mouth of an artificial alligator)

★ Small Tall Hall (5 doors, with the doors going from small to largest)

★ Icecave/Batcave

★ Chomping Choppers (Pressure Cooker with eyes and teeth)

★ Windchimes (Large wind chimes close together)

★ Wrong Way Street (a reverse treadmill; pilot version only)

★ Booby Trap (eight small footholes covered by thin paper)

★ Swimmin' Hole (small pool with the tag hanging from a small pole)

★ Tubular Tunnel (spinning tunnel that connected between the Ballroom and the Cave)

★ Border Room (a twisted maze of pipes leading to the next floor)

★ Prize-O-Mat (a vending machine with candy in all five slots, one of which also contained the tag)

★ Mount Fun House (stairs leading to a peak (sometimes had a condor's nest at the peak) that led to a small room that led to two slides; later, also had a bridge connecting it to The Dump)

★ Weather Room (a small drizzle rained on the contestant; the tag was attached to a high balloon)

★ Wallpaper Room (peel the wallpaper and find the tag)

★ Windowsill (a flower with 8 "petals", one of which is the tag, standing in the windowsill)

★ Drawbridge (a small bridge hanging over the first slide in Mt. Fun House)

★ Spider's Web (The drawbridge covered with cobwebs, and a spider hanging down with the tag attached; pilot version only)

★ Shaky Quaky Room/Forest (trees and/or buildings on top of a waterbed)

★ Box Room (Boxes stacked on top of one another, with one box containing the tag)
2nd version

★ Turntable (spinning turntable found at entrance)

★ Moon/Rainbow Bridge (arch that spanned the end of the water slide)

★ Fun Bank (a fake brick wall guarding a safe which housed the tag)

★ Pirate Ship (whack the right pirate for the tag)

★ Main Ship Deck (spin the ship's wheel to lower the tag)

★ Earthquake Bridge (a bridge that swayed front to back)

★ Soda Can (A gushing soda can with a tag hanging near the tab of the can)

★ Cuckoo Clock (placing both clock hands on the 12 made Tiny appear, who handed the contestant a tag and sprayed him or her with a seltzer bottle.)

★ The Vines (tall vines filled this area, one of which held the tag)

★ Telephony Room (tag was hidden under the ringing telephone)

★ Prize Cage (a birdcage with the tag toward the top)

★ Rainbow (pull down the cords which dropped down colored slime and a tag)

★ Treehouse (Climb up the ladder and grab a tag hanging from one of the branches)

★ Cave (a cave hidden in the falls)

★ Tubular Tunnel (Tunnel that spins around)

★ Exit (small skateboard going down a ramp; no tag here)

★ Avalanche Room (rocks tumbled toward the contestant upon entry, revealing a tag)

★ Rocket (hit the switch to launch the rocket and grab the tag)

★ Haunted House (Two coffins were in here, one filled with blood, the other with Tiny with a seltzer bottle; either coffin contained the tag)

★ Coconut Tree (palm tree with tag hanging under one of the leaves)

★ Stew Pot ("boiling" pot with tag hidden in the stew)

★ Pirate's Cove (two areas: a firepole and a pilots room with a tag inside)

★ Paddle Wheel (a running wheel on the side of the ship with a tag attached)

★ Fridge Raiders (Huge fridge where tag lies in waiting)

★ Crazy Cottages (Two small outhouses with an open window connecting the two, tag is in 2nd/top room)

★ Big Mouth (a head with a large tongue, where a tag was located)

★ Treasure Island (located in the pool, where there is a small chest with the tag inside)

★ Hurricane Alley (much like the Earthquake Bridge, except covered with palm trees)
Fox version

★ Water Slide (big water slide which starts at the top of the fun house)

★ Pool (where you land in and also where the time starts)

★

UK version

'1998-99'

★ The Sunken Well (four wells, one of which contained the prize tag)

★ The Ball Run (a river of ball-pit balls)

★ The Flying Fox (a sit-on zipline)

★ The Snake In The Box (a box containing spring snakes, one holds the prize tag)

★ The Fireman's Pole (a standard fireman's pole coming up through a circle in the floor)

★ The Crawl Tube (a transparent crawl-through tunnel, which rotated with gunge inside during the final series)

★ The Bobsleigh (a car that ran down a hill, leading to a transparent tube slide, or in later series, some enormous steps)

★ The Big Leap/Drop (in 1998, it was a tall fireman's pole leading to the giant steps. In 1999, it was changed to a zip-line seat built to carry the player from the top of the Fun House to the bottom ball pool)

★ The A-Frame (two climbing nets fixed together in a triangular shape, the idea was the contestants climbs over it)

★ The Climbing Net (a net ladder leading to the Snake In The Box, Bobsleigh, Flying Fox and Danger Net)

★ The Danger Net (a rope bridge leading to the Wild Slide)

★ The Tall Tower (climb up through a completely vertical tunnel via a ladder, leads to the Crawl Tube and The Big Leap/Drop)

★ The Giant Steps (three yellow giant steps)

★ The Balloon Run (a tunnel filled with colourful balloons)

★ The Wild Slide (a very steep, fast transparent tubular slide leading to the entrance)

Power Prizes

Some of the Power Prizes featured in ''Fun House'' included trips to:

★ Walt Disney World Resort

★ Hawaii

★ Aspen, Colorado

★ Cancún

★ Acapulco

★ Alton Towers (UK version)

★ New York

College Mad House

A version of ''Fun House'' for college students aired in weekly syndication, and was titled ''College Mad House''. This version was hosted by future movie actor Greg Kinnear, and pitted two teams of four students each from rival colleges against each other (for example, one episode featured the University of Texas versus the University of Arkansas). Instead of cheerleaders, a male and a female "referee" assisted with the gameplay. Veteran V/O Beau Weaver was the announcer.
This version featured much more risqué content and stunts than the children's version, often involving crude college gross-out humor and games that required lewd bodily movements among the participants. The format was basically the same, but with some notable differences:

★ The stunts were changed to accommodate four-person teams; the two men from each team faced each other, then the two women, with all four players on each team participating in the third stunt.

★ The Grand Prix round was replaced with the "Finals", in which the teams lined up face-to-face at the podiums. Jump-in-questions were asked; getting a question right earned 25 points and the right to hit the opposing player in the face with a pie. These two players then rotated to the back of the line, with the next two players answering the following question. The team in the lead after a minute and a half advanced to the Mad House.
: (Note: The pie in the face would carry over to the FOX version of ''Fun House''; a correct answer to the question following a stunt allowed the player getting it right to pie his or her opponent.)

★ The format of the Mad House was changed slightly from that of ''Fun House''. As in the original version, the team had two minutes; however, each player had exactly 30 seconds to collect as many of the 13 tags as possible. After one player's 30 seconds ended, he/she had to stop collecting tags wherever he/she was at, and the next contestant was let in immediately (although a contestant could stay in the house after 30 seconds). If a team "cleaned house" by collecting all thirteen tags, they won a trip - this rule was used instead of the ''Power Prize''.
(Note: The layouts of the Mad House were almost identical to that of the Fun House layouts in use at the time that show was being taped; however, many of the names of the "rooms" or obstacles were changed to reflect college life. Also, given that each player had 30 seconds to grab tags, the on-screen clock would show :30 to start, so when a new teammate entered the Mad House, the clock would reset back to 30.)
In addition, while players still won individual prizes for themselves, the cash prizes (still up to $1000) went to the winning teams college.
Like ''Fun House'', ''College Mad House'' was produced by Stone-Stanley; the theme music, as well as that of the run through the Mad House, would later be used on the Lifetime version of another Stone-Stanley game show, ''Shop 'Til You Drop''.

Trivia

★ Leonardo DiCaprio was a contestant on ''Fun House'' in 1990.

★ The pilot episode for the show had slightly different rules for the Fun House run: the winning team still alternated runs through the Fun House for the full two minutes gathering tags, but instead of any three tags, they were limited to two prize tags (with any cash tags they gathered added as a 'bonus' and not counted towards their tag total), and collecting the tag for the Secret Power Prize meant they won everything in the Fun House (the location of the Power Prize was never revealed until after the run, with the team only knowing if they collected it after the host ran the Prize tags through a 'bar code reader' to determine the value of each prize collected). The announcer was Brian Cummings, who announced on ''Let's Make a Deal'' during the 1984-1985 season.

★ John "Tiny" Hurley was the voice of the title character in the 1997 direct-to-video release ''Sammy the Screenplay'', starring Jason Alexander and Rob Schneider. He currently works behind-the-camera on several low-budget projects.

★ Jackie and Sammi Forrest also appeared on ''Jennifer Slept Here'' (five years before their Fun House debut), and as sorority sisters to Alyssa Milano's character on one episode of ''Who's the Boss?'' in 1990. They also starred in the low-budget movie ''Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog'', according to IMDb.

★ Melanie and Martina Grant of the UK version have appeared in musicals and Panto shows since the age of five. Before their ''Fun House'' debut, they were on a BBC series called ''Rockliffe's Babies'', in 1987.

★ The set was used on an episode of ''Perfect Strangers'' in 1989, titled "Games People Play", in which Balki and Larry competed on a game show called "Risk it All", hosted by Bob Goen.

External links

★ ''Fun House'' at UKGameshows.com

★ ''Fun House'' Factory: Fansite for the US version, with some information on the UK version.

★ The ''Fun House'' Headquarters: Another fansite for the US version

★ ''Fun House'' US Episodes

★ ''Fun House'' UK Episodes