[color=green][b][u]Lingo It Up with Cripto[/u][/b][/color]

Hi; this is Cripto.  With so much on my plate, and with so much going on in the news, terrorism or otherwise, it's amazing I always manage to find the time balance out all my jobs between my superhero/cowboy duties, my music career, and my recurring stints as a game show host.  The last one is what I want to mention here, because this news update is to confirm that the WBC primetime game show block has asked me to front a new edition of the classic game show that tests your knowledge of 5-letter words, "Lingo."  

"Lingo" is one of my favorites, and it was on the list of my previous incarnations of the "Fun & Games Variety Hour," also known as the "Mix 'n' Match;" either title represents all the shows I did that helped me earn the Guinness World Record for doing the biggest number of game shows: 156 in all (at least as of the day I earned the achievement), and so I'm very pleased and privelged to do the show on WBC's primetime game show block.

"Lingo" in the US has 4 different runs: 1987-88 in syndication (for both Canadian and American audiences, although its production company, like "Pitfall!", another show, went bankrupt during the show's course, forcing some contestants to go without their winnings; my superpowers helped me to find the contestants of both shows early on in my superhero career, and I paid them personally, because I wanted them to get what they earned); 2002-07 with Chuck Woolery and 2011 with Bill Engvall on GSN, the Game Show Network, and then my run 2016-present on WBC.  My show is a bit of a cross between the two GSN versions, and the widely successful Dutch version, which ran 1989-2014, making it the longest running game show in the Netherlands.  (The nation switching from guilders to the Euro probably didn't help, because the show's jackpots kept on decreasing with the ratings, but I suppose you can be the judge of that.)

Anyways, here's how we play my version of "Lingo."  Like the previous US editions, the idea is to guess 5-letter words in the style of Jotto (a word game similar to the premise of the game "Master Mind"), and then get 5 numbers in a row just like you would in the game of bingo (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).  The game has two teams of two players each: a yellow team and a green team.  (Please note that while the Chuck Woolery version used the color red, having a red team and lighting up words in red), my show uses the color green in place of red [because I like the color green, and it is part of my battle uniform].  Instead of switching yellow to orange to match my battle uniform entirely, which somebody suggested, the producers decided to keep the color yellow.  That's just a formality, though; it doesn't affect the rules of the game, but the teams are color coded.)  

The yellow team plays with all odd numbers from 1 to 75, and the green team plays with the even numbers from 2 to 74.  While we don't designate the columns with the letters "L," "I," "N," "G," and "O," like the 1980s version did, the numbers usually line up in the same sequence: lowest on the left to the highest on the right.  The game begins with each team getting a Lingo card, and randomly marking off ten numbers (designated by changing the circle from white numerical text on a blue background to solid yellow).

Starting with the team that won the coin toss backstage, each team takes turns to guess a 5-letter word.  Teams not only have to tell me the word; they must spell it correctly.  Failure to spell a word correctly or give me a legit word as certified by Webster's dictionary (or if the teams take too long to answer, leading the buzzer to go off) will result in losing control to the next team.  When a team does give me a legit word, the squares will light up accordingly to help them decode the word.  The first letter of the word is always given for free.  If the letter is in the word and in the right place, it lights up in a green square.  If the letter is in the word, but not revealed in the right place, it lights up inside a yellow circle.  The teams have up to 5 guesses to guess the word, and have 5 seconds to answer.  Also, players are not allowed to confer unless I give them the right to do so; more on that below.

Players must alternate turns when guessing as well.

---------------------

Example puzzle:

The word starts with an S.  Player 1 guesses "SCORE."

[quote][color=green]S[/color] C O R E[/quote]

S is in the word and in the right position.  The C, O, R, and E do not appear in the word.

Player 2 guesses "STEAM."

[quote][color=green]S[/color] [color=yellow]T[/color] E [color=yellow]A[/color] M[/quote]

S is in the word and in the right position.  The T and A are in the word, but need to be moved around.

Player 1 guesses "SAILS."

[quote][color=green]S A I[/color] L S[/quote]

S, A, and I are where they belong.

Player 2 guesses "SAINT."

[quote][color=green] S A I N T[/color][/quote]

"SAINT" is the word I was looking for.

----------------

All words are chosen at random by our computers.

When a team loses control to the opposition, the opposition is given a bonus letter that appears in the left-most position, provided it hasn't been discovered.  If only one letter is missing from the word, the team is not show that letter, but they are allowed to confer for one last attempt.  This is the only times they are allowed to confer.  If they don't figure it out, the word is revealed and a new word is attemtped.  If a team, for instance, had only used two guesses, and lost control, the other team would have three guesses, and receive a bonus letter.  They would not be allowed to confer, but would be allowed to decide who would go first.

When a team guesses a word correctly, it wins $50, and $50 is added to the Jackpot (which begins at $1,000).  A team's game score is displayed on a monitor on their podium, and the Jackpot total is displayed on my podium.  The team then gets to draw two Lingo balls from their vat, which contains a set of blue balls that have the same numbers as the numbers on their Lingo card, three red balls (known as "Stoppers"), and three green balls.  The player who guessed the word draws the first ball, and his/her teammate draws the second ball.  If the team draws a blue ball, that number is crossed off.  Crossing off five numbers in a row completes a Lingo, and earns the team a bonus of $100 (plus adds $100 to the Jackpot).  When a team gets a Lingo, they also get a new card with 10 numbers crossed off, and control passes to the other team.  Otherwise, they retain control.  (Also, the player who draws the ball tells me what they drew.)

Some blue balls have a question mark ("?") on them; these act as wild cards, allowing a team to choose any number to cross off.  However, the ball with that number remains in the vat, and should it subsequently be draw, the team has effectively wasted a turn (although they do not lose control of the board).

If a team draws a red ball, control passes to the other team.  A team always has three red balls in the vat when beginning a new Lingo card (as well as the correct set of blue balls).  If a team draws a green ball, it is placed on a stand above the vat and the team may draw again (this is the part that was borrowed from the Dutch version of the show).  If a team draws all three green balls, it wins the Jackpot, and a new Jackpot begins at $1,000.  Also note that green balls carry over from one Lingo card to the next (and the Jackpot itself carries over from show to show), but red balls do not; this is why a team always begins a new Lingo card with three red balls in the vat.  Green balls are not returned to the vat until the Jackpot is won, but when it is, both teams start the new Jackpot with three green balls in the vat.

This entire process is repeated until time ends the round.  Round 2 doubles the values to $100 for guessing a word and $200 for a Lingo.  The team with the largest winnings wins the game and the right to play Bonus Lingo.  Winning the Jackpot does not count towards the team's game score.

Regardless of which team won the game, Bonus Lingo is always played with even numbers.  It does not use red or green balls either.  The rules of Bonus Lingo come from the Chuck Woolery version (because that's the version I am most familiar with); the original aim was to avoid a Lingo, and getting a Lingo meant you lost.  Here, getting a Lingo wins you bonus cash.

The bonus game is played in two parts.  In part one, the team has 2 minutes to guess as many 5-letter words as possible, using the same principles as the main game.  The team is allowed to confer, and has only 6 guesses per word.  The team has a limited number of bonus letters they can use; they earn one for winning the game, and one for every Lingo they managed to achieve during the game. If a team takes too long on a guess, they get buzzed out and lose an attempt at the word.  When time expires, the team has to stop guessing, but sees the word that they were attempting to guess.  (If a celebrity team is playing Bonus Lingo, they get an extra bonus letter because they are playing on behalf of charity instead of playing for themselves.  In some cases, however, the celebrity player will get the money for themselves, and I will personally match the winning amount to give to the charity of their choice.)

The team then is presented with a new Lingo card that has even numbers from 2 to 74, but with 12 numbers being crossed off instead of 10.  Although chosen at random, the crossed off numbers always present the possibility of forming a Lingo on the first draw.  Unlike the main game, however, the team must designate one person to draw all balls, and if he/she forms a Lingo on the first draw, his/her team wins the Super Jackpot, which begins at $25,000 and carries over from show to show, adding $1,000 each time it is not won.  If a team forms a Lingo, but does not do it on the first draw, it wins a fixed prize of $10,000.  If a team fails to form a Lingo, it wins a bonus of $250 for each word they guessed in the first part.

The show does not have returning champions.  Both teams go home with the money they've won, as well as the Lingo goodie bag, which contains various Lingo merchandise, from DVDs, board games, and puzzle books to clothing items such as hats and t-shirts.

That's Lingo.  Some other notes include the fact that while the sound effects are from the Dutch version, which carried over to the Chuck Woolery version, the theme music used is a Furry Fury remake of the classic 1990s theme tune from the Dutch show, recommended to us by François Boulangé, one of the original hosts, and one of the Dutch celebrities who said he regretted not being able to visit Leo the Patriotic Lion in the hospital when recovering from the gunshot wound. (The international versions of "Wheel of Fortune" instead had their hosts come by, and representing the Netherlands were Hans ver der Togt and Carlo Bozshard.  François, however, met Leo later on, alongisde Lucille Werner, the fourth and final host, when the show's staff of the Dutch version visited Wildcat City to consult with me and my staff on how we were going to do the revival of the show on WBC.)

The theme tune brings Furry Fury and the original composers royalites since we covered and extended it, later releasing it as a single from our album "Life's a Game Show," a reference to my love of the genre.  The song peaked at #1 in every single chart around the world, leading some critics to write that "the world has caught Lingo fever."

Other notes include the fact that while I am going to civilian episodes for the most part when the regular season kicks off in September, I will be doing a special G-52 and ally run of episodes in July and August, where my fellow G-52s and the allies to the G-52s (including the canon characters my powers brought to life) will get to play.  The first edition of this run will have Leo the Tiger's human friends, Blue and Pink from the Toppet kingdom, as contestants.  Other editions will have selected UN1024s play the game (although General Richard Jones has declined to play due to his acting duties as POTUS, resulting from all the electoral terrorism springing up because Donald Trump is running for office, and there are wackos trying to murder him and steal all his money).  The first US-only G-52 episode will have Super C and D.W. play against Leo and Tom (the Patriotic Tiger).

Episodes begin on July 4, airing at 8/7c on WBC.  The show is paired with C.K./King Leo's word game, "Golden Words."  I hope everybody tunes in.  I hope to see you all soon, and remember, it's not just letters.  It's Lingo!

THE END