Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

Each day began with two new contestants playing Match Game, hosted by Rayburn; Bauman occupied the lower-left seat on the panel.

Three rounds were played, with one question per contestant in each round. A coin toss determined who played first in round one, and the high scorer at the end of each round played first in the next one. In the event of a tie, the contestant who had not played first in that round did so in the next one.

Rayburn read a humorous fill-in-the-blank question, and each celebrity wrote down a response. The contestant provided a verbal response after they had all finished; the celebrities then revealed their answers one at a time, and each match scored a point. Only the celebrities who had not yet matched a contestant played on subsequent turns by that person. The leader after the third round advanced to face the returning champion in the second half of the hour on Hollywood Squares.

If the game ended in a tie, one Super Match-style question was posed to the contestants (e.g., "_____, New Jersey"). Instead of writing down an answer, the contestants chose a response by number (1–4) from a board that was out of sight of the panel with four pre-selected answers chosen by the writers (e.g., "Atlantic City", "Hoboken", "Newark", "Trenton"). A backstage draw conducted before the game determined which contestant chose first, and that contestant selected an answer by calling out its number. After both contestants had chosen a response, Rayburn polled the panel one at a time for their own responses. The first contestant to match any celebrity became the winner.

The Hollywood Squares half of the show, hosted by Bauman, pitted the Match Game winner against the previous day's champion.

For Squares, three more celebrities joined the panel along with Rayburn, who sat in the bottom left square. A third tier of the panel set swung into place to accommodate the new panelists, and the celebrity who was already sitting in the top center seat for Match Game became the center square. As on the original Squares, contestants took turns attempting to claim squares on a tic-tac-toe board. The contestant in control chose a celebrity, who answered a question. A contestant claimed a celebrity's square by correctly agreeing or disagreeing with the answer. A miss awarded it to the opponent. The first contestant to get three of his/her own symbol in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) or capture five squares won the game.

There were several differences in game play compared to the original Squares. The champion always played "X" and the opponent played "O". This has been the only version of Squares not to use the traditional "Mr. X" or "M(r)s. Circle" distinction. Each individual square earned was worth $25. The first game was worth $100, and the value increased by $100 for each subsequent game. No "Secret Square" was played in this version. Most questions asked were of the true/false or multiple choice variety.

The most significant rule change involved winning a game. On all versions of Squares before and since, if a contestant missed a question on a square that the opponent needed for a win, control simply passed back to the opponent and they had to earn the square on their own. This version of Squares eliminated that rule, enabling a contestant to win a game on an opponent's error.

The contestants played as many games as time allowed, with the champion starting the first game and the loser of each game starting the next one. When the final bell rang, the contestant in the lead became the day's champion and joined Rayburn on stage to play the Super Match bonus round. Both contestants kept any money they earned in this segment. In the event of a tie, the board was cleared and the contestant who did not play last chose one star. The contestant won an additional $25 and the match by correctly agreeing or disagreeing with the star's answer to Bauman's question. If the contestant failed, the opponent won.

The champion played for a grand prize of up to $30,000 in the Super Match. The round began with the Audience Match, in which the champion tried to match one of the three most popular responses given by a previous studio audience to a short phrase. (e.g., "Trading ______ .") The champion called on any three celebrities for help, and could either use one of their responses or offer one of his/her own. The three most-popular responses awarded $1,000, $500, and $250 in descending order. The champion won $100 for failing to match one of the three most-popular responses.

For the Head-to-Head Match, the champion attempted to match against one celebrity of his/her choice. Each celebrity had a card with a hidden number on it; four celebrities had a 10, four had a 20, and one had a 30. Once chosen, the celebrity revealed the number and it was multiplied by the amount of the Audience Match to determine the jackpot.

Rayburn read the phrase to the celebrity, who wrote an answer to fill in the blank. The champion was then asked to provide one of his/her own. If both answers matched, the champion won the Super Match and the respective money amount. The celebrity and champion had to match exactly.

Regardless of the result of the Super Match, the champion returned on the next episode to play Hollywood Squares against that day's Match Game winner. Champions remained on the show until they either lost to a challenger or played the Super Match five times. If a champion retired, a contestant was chosen at random to fill the "X" position on the next day's Squares segment.