Lingo

Storyline

The game is played with three teams of two contestants each. Each team is given the task of solving mystery words in a couple of different ways in order to earn money, but only the team who ultimately earned the most money would play for a chance to win it. Round 1 starts with each team having to solve three four-letter Lingos (words). For each Lingo, the team is given the first letter of a mystery word and receive five attempts to guess and spell the word. With each guess, when the letters of the guessed word are revealed, they can appear with one of three coloured backgrounds depending on where each letter is in the mystery word. Letters with a green background appear in the mystery word in the same place as the guessed word, letters with an orange background appear in the mystery word but are in a different place to the guessed word, and letters with a blue background do not appear in the mystery word. The two people in each team make alternate guesses of the word. If a guess reveals four green letters, then the team have solved the mystery word, which earns them £200. If they fail to solve the word within five guesses, take too long to make their next guess or give a word that is either invalid or misspelt, then it is deemed to be a failure, and a line of red backgrounds will appear and no money is won. After each team have guessed three four-letter Lingos, they are given a clue to a ten-letter puzzle word. Letters from the word are revealed at random until the team guesses what the word could be. The word's value starts at £300, but every letter after the first one decreases its value by £40. If the team can correctly guess the puzzle word, they will win whatever money remains. Round 2 is played in a similar way to Round 1, but with the team that earned the least amount of money being the first to play. In this round, each team has to solve three five-letter Lingos and will receive £300 for each Lingo that they correctly solve, but if they fail to solve a Lingo for any reason, one of the opposing teams can buzz in for a chance to steal the money, after one of the other correct letters of the word is revealed. After the three five-letter Lingos, the team in control has to solve an eleven-letter puzzle word whose value starts at £400 but decreases by £60 for each letter after the first that is revealed. The team who have the least money at the end of this round is eliminated, and leave the game with nothing. Round 3 is played head-to-head between the two remaining teams. For this round, one person in each team plays four-letter Lingos and the other plays five-letter Lingos, with each person being given two words to solve alternately. The payout for correctly guessing each mystery word in this round starts at £500 but decreases by £50 for each guess of the word. If a person fails to solve a Lingo for their team, the corresponding person from the opposing team has the opportunity to steal the money, but if they also fail, then no money is won by either team for that Lingo. The round begins with the two people playing the four-letter Lingos, with the team with less money playing first. At the end of the four-letter Lingos, a twelve-letter puzzle word is given to both teams to solve, whose value starts at £750 but decreases by £130 for each letter after the first that is revealed. The first team to hit their buzzer wins the right to guess the word and receive the remaining money if their guess is correct, but if they give an incorrect answer, the other team will have an opportunity to guess the word. The team who have less money after the first puzzle word will be first to play the five-letter Lingos, and after four of these are played (two by each team alternating), there will be another twelve-letter puzzle word for the teams to solve. The team who have more money after the second puzzle word are the winners and advance to the final round, with the other team again leaving with nothing. In the final round, the winning team is given 90 seconds to solve three more Lingos in order to claim their winnings. If they have trouble with solving any Lingo, then they can choose to pass, in which case the mystery word is revealed and a new word given to the team. Any other failure will also require the team to start again with a new word. If the team can correctly solve a four-letter Lingo, they will take home at least half of their winnings. If they can also solve a five-letter Lingo, they will take home at least the amount of money they won across the previous rounds, and if they can also solve a six-letter Lingo within the time limit, then they will receive double their winnings. Some changes to the gameplay were made in subsequent seasons: SEASON 2 The number of four-letter Lingos given to each team to solve in Round 1 is increased from three to four, and the length of each puzzle word in each round is reduced by one letter, making the puzzle words nine letters long in Round 1, ten letters long in Round 2 and eleven letters long in Round 3. SEASON 3 If a team correctly solve a five-letter Lingo in the final round, then they are presented with two options. They can attempt to solve either a six-letter Lingo for double their winnings or a seven-letter Lingo to win a jackpot prize of £15,000. Should a team attempt to solve a seven-letter Lingo, they are not allowed to pass on the word, and if they fail to solve it in their remaining time then they will leave with nothing. A team who attempt a six-letter Lingo and fail to solve it in their remaining time still get to take home their winnings from solving the five-letter Lingo.