Hollywood Squares

Rules
Here's Peter Marshall's way of explaining Hollywood Squares:

"The object of the players is to get three stars in a row either across, up & down or diagonally. It is up to them to figure out if a star is giving a correct answer or making one up; that's how they get the squares."

Here's how John Davidson explains the Game:

"The object of the game is to simply win Tic Tac Toe, three squares across, down, or diagonally, or acquire as many squares as you can."

Here's what it means:

The object of the game is to get tic-tac-toe. That's three Xs or Os in three stars' squares (one for each square), either across, up & down or diagonally; or be the first contestant to capture five of the nine squares. The Xs are almost always by the male contestant (dubbed Mr. X), while the Os are almost always by the female contestant (Miss Circle).

Here's how they do it:

The two contestants competing takes turns picking off each of the nine celebrities seated in a great big tic-tac-toe board. On each star, the host asked a question to that star afterwhich the star would usually give a crazy answer (classified as a zinger) followed by his/her real answer. After hearing the real answer, the contestant in control decided to either agree, meaning the star is correct or disagree, meaning the star answered with a bluff. Sometimes a star would come up with no answer; when that happens, the host would ask the contestant to answer it himself/herself or pass it up. On a pass, the question would be thrown out, and a new question would be asked to the same celebrity. In any case, if the contestant's judgment/answer was correct, he/she gets the square (hence the phrase "X/Circle (O) gets the square" {Peter would say, "Put an X/a circle (O) there [insert answer and/or extra information]}); if the contestant's judgment/answer was wrong, his/her opponent gets the square unless it would mean a win; when that happens nothing would be placed in that square because a win had to be earned by the contestant in control. Up until the later episodes in the 1998 version, if a player could not win with five squares on the board, his/her opponent automatically got the remaining square and the five-square win.

The first player to get three-in-a-row or five squares wins the game and money for that game.

Secret Square
In certain games, one of the squares would be dubbed the "Secret Square". The contestant who picked that square would usually have sounds going off to let the contestant, the star, and everybody else know. Then the star would be asked a question that was sealed in a special envelope (usually multiple choice). The star gave an answer but without a zinger and if the contestant can correctly agree or disagree with the star's answer, he/she won a bonus prize or prize package. On two of the versions, the host would tell everybody who the Secret Square was if not chosen.

Shows

 * The Hollywood Squares (1966–1981)
 * The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour
 * Hollywood Squares (1986-1989)
 * Hollywood Squares (1998-2004)
 * Storybook Squares
 * Hip Hop Squares
 * Nashville Squares