Game shows are TV comfort food at its finest. They're pure escapist entertainment that we the viewer can participate in right from the comfort of our couch. While other entertainment mediums such as professional sports, concerts, or movies focus on their audience watching somebody, or a group of somebodies, with higher-than-average talent performing a task incredibly well, game shows draw in their fans for the exact opposite reason — everybody watching is the same as the regular Joes who are playing. Take a look at our list of the top 10 game shows everybody wishes they could play on (ranked from worst to best).
Match Game
Match Game has been around since the '60s and has had several different reboots and restarts, all of them focusing around the same central premise of contestants coming up with answers to fill-in-the-blank questions. The show currently airs on ABC and has been running since 2016, with Alec Baldwin residing as host. The innuendos and double-entendres for the blank answers can often make the show a fun watch (just as all the shows on this list are) but the simple premise with a lack of any real "game" is what lands this show at the bottom of our list.
Pyramid
Another game show that has been around for decades and has had several reboots is Pyramid and it doesn't get a much better ranking on our list. The show that now features a grand prize of $100,000 (up from the original $10,000) suffers the same fate as it's ABC "Sunday Fun and Games" counterpart in the fact that the premise of contestants giving clues for other contestants to guess is just too simple for audiences to get into. Not to mention that the audience can see the answer the contestant is giving hints for, which completely takes away the element of surprise.
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
The show that makes every adult on earth feel like an idiot because they don't know the random facts the American education system feeds to its youth — that's the summary of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?. To be fair, this show would be a lot more pleasant and enjoyable for audiences if it didn't seem as though they go out of their way to pick the most obscure questions imaginable. But the simple fact remains that most of the show's questions are things that most functioning members of society have no reason to know — and, frankly, neither do 5th graders.
Let's Make A Deal
Let's Make A Deal is one of the more fun, upbeat game shows — and that's saying something — as every single member of the audience is usually in some sort of costume and constantly jumping or screaming (or both). The show consists of host Wayne Brady trying to make deals with the contestants to win or lose prizes and often results in the players winning extravagant prizes. So why does this show sink so far on this list? Because it's on so freaking early. While The Price is Right might be able to get away with its earlier-than-usual time slot for a game show, Let's Make A Deal isn't quite as entertaining and the fact that it comes on even earlier makes it that much worse.
Deal or No Deal
The second game show in a row about making deals gets a middle spot on our list for the simple fact that everything about this show is a gamble, not a game. While highly entertaining and heart-pounding, Deal or No Deal revolves around the premise of a single contestant randomly choosing suitcases with X amount of money in them and hoping that the X is a low amount. The suspense might be enough to keep any audience member enthralled, but the fact that this show is literally just a guessing game is what keeps it out of the top five on our list.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Everybody — that's the point. While Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? asks an easy question, the show is anything but easy. Audiences like to have fun when they're watching game shows, but they also like to be challenged and that's exactly what this show can offer them as it centers around the premise of asking a contestant a list of increasingly difficult questions to win a million dollars. However, the difference between this show and Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? is that the questions seem more factual instead of just random excerpts copied out of a child's textbook.
Wheel of Fortune
We're starting to get into the classic ones here as Wheel of Fortune has been a staple in American society since the '70s and holds the record as the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. The first show on here that's more of a game features three contestants spinning a wheel and then shouting out letters of the alphabet to fill in blanks on the board that eventually spell out different phrases or words. The combination of the spinning wheel, the uncertainty of what might appear on the board, and the fact that seemingly any person could step into the contestant's spot is just part of what has made this game show so popular for so long.
The Price is Right
You're lying through your teeth if you say you didn't fake being sick at least once when you were in school so that you could stay home and watch The Price is Right (or you were actually sick and still watched it anyway). Either way, the show is a phenomenon with audience members getting as much into it as the contestants. Seriously, the amount of energy surrounding the show, that's premise basically revolves around the American-consumer system (essentially, what things in our society cost), is ridiculous and has kept audiences entranced since 1972. (Side note: Bob Barker is a national treasure).
Jeopardy!
Remember in the intro to this article when we stated that game shows are so appealing because every average Joe feels as though they could step right into the contestant's shoes? Forget that theory for the next few sentences because Jeopardy! is anything but that, and yet still manages to take the number two spot on our list. The reason why that might be is because while shows such as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? can often leave their audience feeling stupid, Jeopardy! quite often leaves the fans feeling as though they learned meaningful facts as opposed to being schooled on all of the random things they don't know.
Family Feud
Game shows seem to do the best they can at finding the most insane and crazy contestants, but what about when they find entire families that are that crazy? Look no further than Family Feud, the game show that makes everybody feel better about how wacky their own families are. The show isn't particularly difficult, asking a series of questions that they use surveys to get the answers on and seeing if the contestants can come up with the same answers. But with a host like Steve Harvey and a knack for finding the most outlandish and eccentric families they can, Family Feud easily takes the number one spot on our list — at least, that's what the survey said.