More info on the original 1976 Family Feud gameboard

[jlgarfield]

https://books.google.com/books?id=oLuly6UdghYC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=Ferranti-Packard+board+Family+Feud&source=bl&ots=LeFTt_hqma&sig=ACfU3U3aFbDirPexVWw-HfjUF1R8z4ApBw&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjI_uORzbvnAhWT9Z4KHVQ5An8Q6AEwBHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ferranti-Packard%20board%20Family%20Feud&f=false - Hey, all. Here's something cool: This November 1976 issue of Computerworld talks about the then-new game show Family Feud's Ferranti-Packard game board being powered by a 32K Jacquard Systems computer! Quite the technological marvel then.

There was a thread about this, but it's poor form to post form a several-year old thread, so here's a new post. Cool, eh?

[NewsDirector3287]

This is so cool!   It looks like they were testing out a different format for the title on the board. It also looks like the picture here was taken during one of the pilot tapings. I've learned over the years from forums, articles, and interviews with some of his staff and Mark Goodson himself about how big of a perfectionist he was, and that Family Feud went through several different forms before making it to TV.  Does anyone know exactly how many pilots were taped for Feud? I've seen the one on Youtube, but I know I've seen pics online of another pilot with different families than the ones that are in that pilot.

[jlgarfield]

And in case you are wondering whether the same board was used in the later Combs version, it was NOT. Randy West states that Mr. Goodson paid about $250K for a faster, souped-version of the Ferranti-Packard board for Combs' FF.

[pricefan18]

And in case you are wondering whether the same board was used in the later Combs version, it was NOT. Randy West states that Mr. Goodson paid about $250K for a faster, souped-version of the Ferranti-Packard board for Combs' FF.

Which makes sense, given the title side scrolled much much faster and for that matter repeatedly each show, vs. just once on the Dawson version. Also revealed answers faster in Fast Money as well.

[Casey]

One would think that the speed of the display board would be more controlled by the software controlling it than the hardware that makes up the board. 

It did speed up a bit on Richard Dawson's version towards the end of the run - particularly when hiding and revealing the answers during Fast Money.   If you watch Ray Combs' pilot episode, the board runs at the speed of Richard Dawson's.

[Axl]

One would think that the speed of the display board would be more controlled by the software controlling it than the hardware that makes up the board.

The speed also is related to how quickly the dots can be physically flipped around.  A board redesign with better electromagnetic systems could conceivably make them flip faster.

[Grand_game2004]

I don't know why, but I always thought that the board that was used on Combs's FF was pretty cool, due to the fact that there was a subtle change in the way the logo was presented to us. I also would like to mention I think there was a week where FF was taped for the Grand Ole Opry, and instead of using the board that rotated to show the answers that were flipped mechanically, they used the board for everything from the main rounds to the fast money round during that week. I know Family Fortunes in the UK used this board for the whole game. I liked how they used a one line board for both families on the Combs version.

[ThomHuge]

I don't know why, but I always thought that the board that was used on Combs's FF was pretty cool, due to the fact that there was a subtle change in the way the logo was presented to us.

Come again? You directly contradicted yourself in the same sentence. If you start by claiming you didn't know why you liked the Combs board, why did you spend literally the second half of the sentence telling us why you liked it?

Think before you post. You'll stand a better chance of making sense.

[jlgarfield]

Re: The Nashville shows of FF during Combs' run: The TV audience, however, did not see the Ferranti-Packard board in the maingame, being replaced by CGI graphics on-air.

[ThomHuge]

Re: The Nashville shows of FF during Combs' run: The TV audience, however, did not see the Ferranti-Packard board in the maingame, being replaced by CGI graphics on-air.

If you look closely, they seem to do the same thing on today's Feud. Whenever they cut to a closeup of the board, the graphics we're looking at seem to be superimposed over the board rather than actually displayed on it. To me, the giveaway is that what we're seeing in closeups is a lot brighter and more vibrant than the wide shots, or for that matter anything I'd expect to see from a rear-projection board.

For comparison look at the Anderson and Karn years--we always saw the rear-projection board live exactly as shot, and it looked washed out by the studio lights, even though they tried to keep the light spill to a minimum. (There's the question of why the small score display directly above the board seemed to disappear in closeups during Fast Money, but that's another topic.)

[pricefan18]

Re: The Nashville shows of FF during Combs' run: The TV audience, however, did not see the Ferranti-Packard board in the maingame, being replaced by CGI graphics on-air.

Actually.....yes they did. Except for Bullseye. You are thinking of Dawson's one year return the following season. THAT is when they brought the CGI graphics in for the TV audience.

[therealcu2010]

Come again? You directly contradicted yourself in the same sentence. If you start by claiming you didn't know why you liked the Combs board, why did you spend literally the second half of the sentence telling us why you liked it?

Think before you post. You'll stand a better chance of making sense.

I understood his post perfectly fine (save for not using whole words at points). There is no need to nitpick another member's post like that.

Think before you post. You'll stand a better chance of not getting banned for backseat moderating. Leave the moderating to the moderators.

[ThomHuge]

Think before you post. You'll stand a better chance of not getting banned for backseat moderating. Leave the moderating to the moderators.

Don't threaten me. I do think before I post, thank you very much. And the people posting random crap clearly do not. You may have a problem calling them out, but I don't.

[blozier2006]

Don't threaten me.

WOW.

[tpir04]

Don't threaten me.

Are you really that arrogant? Cu has the power to ban you, and if he feels he should use it, he would be within his right to do so. I suggest you take a chill pill before you get sent to Banville, along with all the other trolls.