Adding money to the pot

As questions were answered correctly, money was added to the pot which went to the winner:

On the original series, the same nine categories were used for an entire match regardless of the number of games played and/or episodes it took. On all subsequent series, each new game featured a different set of nine categories. If there were ties on the original or first syndicated series, the pot was carried over to each subsequent game until someone won. In the 1990 series, there was no carryover of the pot from a tied game. Instead, the values of the outer boxes increased by $500 and the center box by $1,000 until the tie was broken.

For each tie game before being defeated, losing challengers received $100 on the 1950s version and $250 from 1979 to 1986. Champions who eventually lost the match after a tie game did not receive any additional money.

1978 CBS differences

The CBS summer season featured gameplay differences. Categories were shuffled at the beginning of the game and then only prior to the champion (playing as X) choosing a category. The challenger was required to select from the remaining categories after the champion's turn. After shuffling, some categories were featured with a black background rather than blue. If a category with a black background was selected, either contestant could ring-in and respond, regardless of who selected the category.

Unlike in the 1950s series and the following syndicated series, tie games did not result in the pot carrying over or a new set of categories being played. Instead, a final jump-in question was asked and whoever answered it correctly won the game and advanced to the bonus game. The jump-in format was later used during the syndicated versions as the "Jump-In Category" (see "Special Categories" below).

Special categories

The use of special categories, which appeared in red boxes (red letters in the 1990 version), began on the syndicated version in 1980. At first, just one special category (starting in the lower right box, later in the lower center box) was used per game. Eventually, two appeared each game (one in the upper center, the other in the lower center at the start), then three of these appeared per game (in the upper center, center right and lower center boxes to start the game). The categories then shuffled like normal categories, though special categories never shuffled into the center box and some of the special categories were used for a block or a win.

• Auction – Contestants were read a question with multiple answers. Contestants took turns bidding on how many correct answers they could name until either a contestant deferred to his opponent or opted to name all the answers on the list. If the winning bidder fulfilled the bid, that contestant won the box. If not, the other contestant only needed to give one additional correct answer to win the box.
• Bonus Category – A three-part question was asked, which, if answered correctly, gave the contestant another turn. The categories were shuffled before the extra turn; as a result, it was possible for the champion to win the game on his/her first turn by repeatedly selecting this category. If this happened, the challenger was invited back to compete in the next game.
• Challenge Category – The contestant who selected this category could answer the question or challenge their opponent to answer. Either contestant could win the box with a correct answer, and the one in control could also win it on a miss by the opponent.
• Double or Nothing – If the contestant answered the question correctly, they could either keep the box or try to earn a second one. If unsuccessful, the contestant lost both boxes. The rule was later changed to force the contestant to play for the second box. When this category was selected, the board did not shuffle after the first question was answered correctly.
• Grand Question – This category replaced Secret Category (see below). A correct answer added $1,000 to the pot.
• It's a Dilemma – The contestant heard the question and could ask for up to five clues; however, the opponent decided who answered the question.
• Jump-In Category – This was the show's first red category where contestants used buzzers (the red button in front of them) to ring-in and answer a question. A correct answer won the box, but if the contestant buzzed-in with an incorrect answer or took too much time (buzzing-in without answering immediately) then the other contestant got to hear the entire question for a chance to win the box. In the 1990 version, the category name was accompanied by a general subject or "Who?", "What?", "Where?", etc.
• Number Please – The contestants were asked a question with a numerical answer. The contestant who picked the category guessed the answer and the opponent guessed if the correct answer was higher or lower. If the opponent was correct, they won the box, otherwise the first contestant won. An exact guess of the number won the box automatically for the first contestant.
• Opponent's Choice – The contestant answered a question from one of two categories which were selected for them by the opponent. During the 1985–86 season, one category contained one question while the other category contained two.
• Play or Pass – The contestant had the option to skip the first question and answer a second.
• Secret Category – This was the show's first red category, which first appeared in the lower right hand corner at the start, then later appeared in the bottom center at the start. The topic of the Secret Category was only announced by the host after it was selected. A correct answer to that category doubled the value of the pot meaning that there were occasions where the pot got above $10,000 and therefore this category was eventually replaced by Grand Question (see above).
• Seesaw – A question with multiple answers was read to both contestants. Contestants alternated giving correct answers until one contestant gave a wrong answer, repeated an answer, or could not think of an answer and the opponent won the box, unless the opponent could not answer either, which left the box unclaimed. The box could also be won by giving the last correct answer.
• Showdown – Contestants were asked a two-part question, using the buzzers to ring-in. The first contestant to ring-in answered one part of the question. The other contestant answered second. If one contestant was right while the other was wrong, the contestant answering correctly won the box. Otherwise, additional questions were asked until the box was awarded in this manner.
• Take Two – The question had two clues. The contestant could answer after the first clue, but to receive the second clue he or she had to first give the opponent a chance to answer.
• Three to Win – A series of buzz-in questions was asked to both contestants, with the first to answer three correctly winning the box.
• Top Ten – A question with ranked answers was asked. The contestant who chose the higher-ranked answer won the box; however, if the first contestant gave the top-ranked answer, he/she automatically won the box. Renamed Top This during the 1985–86 season.
• Trivia Challenge – A question with three multiple-choice answers was asked. The contestant chose to answer first or defer to their opponent. Regardless of who started, if a contestant was incorrect, his/her opponent could choose from the remaining answers. If the opponent also guessed wrong, the box remained unclaimed. Renamed Trivia Dare during the 1984–85 season.

Bonus round

The bonus round was introduced in the 1978 version, giving the winner of a match a chance to "Beat the Dragon".

NBC: 1956–59

Tic-Tac-Dough premiered on NBC daytime television on July 30, 1956, hosted by co-creator and co-executive producer Jack Barry.

Beginning on September 12, 1956, Barry began hosting Twenty-One in Primetime. The show was initially on Wednesday nights but quickly moved to Thursday nights. At this point, Gene Rayburn began hosting Tic-Tac-Dough on Fridays. Twenty One later moved to Monday nights in February, 1957, and Barry once again hosted the show all five days of the week.^[2] Barry left the show and was replaced by announcer Bill Wendell on October 6, 1958. Wendell hosted the show, with the announcing taken over by Bill McCord, until its demise on October 23, 1959.

A nighttime version, produced in color,^[7] played for bigger stakes aired from September 12, 1957, to December 29, 1958. Jay Jackson was the original host, and was replaced by Win Elliot on October 2, 1958, for the duration of the show's nighttime run. Johnny Olson filled in as both host and announcer at varying points on this version.^[2]

Quiz show scandal

Main article: 1950s quiz show scandals

The daytime show with host Jack Barry, 1957.

In August 1958, the cross-network hit game show Dotto was canceled after network and sponsor executives discovered the game had been rigged, and when newspaper headlines exploded with confirmation that deposed Twenty One champion Herb Stempel's allegations of rigging on that show were true, the big money quiz shows began to sink in the ratings and disappear from the air as the scandal widened.

Tic-Tac-Dough did not go unscathed before its cancellation. The April 3, 1958 episode featuring U.S. military serviceman Michael O'Rourke winning over $140,000 became one key subject of the federal grand jury investigating the quiz fixing. That run occurred during Jay Jackson's tenure as host. Jackson was never implicated in any wrongdoing himself, and he had left the show well before the quiz investigations began, but he never again hosted a television game show. The same could not be said for Tic-Tac-Dough producer Howard Felsher. Felsher was in charge of all facets of the show's production, including selecting contestants. One of them, sixteen-year-old Kirsten Falke, auditioned as a folk singer. This led her to the offices of Tic-Tac-Dough producer Felsher, who provided Kirsten with the answers and hints to win on the show and a promise to showcase her talent and sing. "I botched it up", said Kirsten. She requested her categories in the wrong order and, as a result, walked away with a paltry $800. A grand jury subpoenaed Kirsten to testify, and Felsher implored her to lie. Felsher admitted to Congress that he urged roughly 30 former show contestants and all of his production staff to lie to the grand jury, and that he had himself lied under oath. Felsher also estimated that about 75% of the nighttime Tic-Tac-Dough run had been rigged. Felsher was fired in the fallout of the quiz show scandals by NBC,^[8] but later resurfaced as a producer for Goodson-Todman Productions in the 1970s and 1980s.

The daytime show was unaffected, and host Gene Rayburn's career was completely unscathed. After Tic-Tac-Dough, Rayburn went to Goodson-Todman, where on December 31, 1962, he began the first of his hosting assignments of The Match Game.

CBS/Syndication: 1978–86

Almost two decades after its original cancellation, the game was reborn as The New Tic-Tac-Dough on CBS gave it a place on its daytime schedule. The series ran from July 3 to September 1, 1978, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern/9:00 a.m. Central, replacing the Bill Cullen-hosted Pass the Buck. Coincidentally, that timeslot had been occupied from September 1972 to June 1975 by the original version of Barry's The Joker's Wild.

However, the CBS TTD ran only nine weeks because of the high popularity of its competition on NBC, Card Sharks. It was replaced by daytime repeats of All in the Family, which had already been running on CBS daytime for about two a half years. When it was cancelled by CBS, TTD had averaged a 3.9 rating/21 share through July 28, and had a clearance rate of 84%.^[9] TTD was one of numerous failed attempts by CBS to find a suitable lead-in to The Price Is Right, by then a daytime institution; it was not until The New $25,000 Pyramid and Press Your Luck arrived in 1982 and 1983, respectively, that the network finally succeeded in that effort.

On September 18, a previously-planned nighttime version premiered in first-run syndication, where it aired in some markets as a companion series to Joker, which went into an off-network version the previous season. This was a nearly identical situation to a 1976 game packaged by Barry and Enright, Break the Bank, which was hurriedly put into syndication after ABC cancelled it just three months into a daytime run in order to expand two of the network's daytime serials; the syndicated version ran during the 1976–77 season.

Wink Martindale hosted Tic-Tac-Dough for its first seven seasons, then left on May 24, 1985, to host his new creation Headline Chasers. Jim Caldwell took over as host on September 23, 1985, and hosted until the series finale on May 23, 1986. Jay Stewart served as announcer for the first three years. Charlie O'Donnell replaced Stewart in 1981. Occasional substitutes for those announcers included Johnny Gilbert (including the syndicated premiere), Bob Hilton, Mike Darow, John Harlan, and Art James.

In an interview, Martindale stated that while the CBS version began airing Barry & Enright Productions secured a spot to air a syndicated version that began in the fall. The CBS version ended due to poor ratings, but the syndicated version drew high numbers and as a result had an eight-year run.

Throughout its eight-year run, the show used its theme song entitled "Crazy Fun", which was composed by Hal Hidey. From 1978 to the end of 1980, the show was recorded at CBS Television City in Hollywood in studio 31 and studio 43 at different times.^[10] From 1981 to 1984 and again for the final season from 1985 to 1986, the show was taped at the studios of KCOP (also known as Chris Craft Studios). The 1984–85 season was taped at The Production Group Studios, while Chris Craft Studios was getting an overhaul.

Beginning around early 1979, every Friday was "Hat Day", where Martindale received hats from viewers to show off at the end of the show. Some were winter hats, and some even dealt with the show (such as having a picture of a dragon on them). He also wore hats on the Friday shows of Las Vegas Gambit, which he was also hosting on NBC at the time, requiring Martindale to commute between Los Angeles and Las Vegas for over a year.

The gameboard, designed by Bob Bishop of Apple Computer, Inc.,^[11] was driven by nine Apple II computers, each one responsible for displaying a single box of the gameboard, and in turn controlled by an Altair 8800 system. It was one of the first uses of computer graphics on a television game show.

Syndication: 1990

The logo from the 1990 syndicated version, as seen when the show was rerun on USA.

The second syndicated revival of the series premiered on September 10, 1990. Its theme music was composed by Henry Mancini,^[2] his final television theme song. The series was a Barry & Enright Production (the company's last) and distributed by ITC Entertainment.

As noted above, Patrick Wayne hosted, while Larry Van Nuys announced with Art James substituting for two weeks. The 1990 revival was one of four game shows to premiere on September 10, 1990, with five premiering altogether for the season. Like the other four series, however, Tic-Tac-Dough did not find an audience. The series was the first of the five to be cancelled, airing its final new episode on December 7, 1990, after thirteen weeks. Three months of reruns followed and the show aired for the last time on March 8, 1991.