The full end credit roll after the NBC takeover had a title that read "Based on a concept by Buddy Piper".

The most popular contemporary form prior to Concentration involved pictures, letters and numbers as well as plus and minus signs to add or delete parts of a word or phrase.

In such instances, the unmatched cards were turned over to reveal the entire puzzle, and the contestant who made the last match was allowed one guess to try to solve it first.

A sequential two-tone sound resembling a doorbell would be heard signaling time was up for that episode, and play was suspended.

[4][2] Concentration was first hosted by Hugh Downs, who was also the announcer for Tonight Starring Jack Paar and working as one of the NBC Radio Monitor staff.

Concentration is currently the sixth longest-running daytime/syndicated game show behind The Price Is Right and the syndicated versions of Wheel of Fortune (1983–present), Jeopardy!

As a result of the 1950s quiz scandals, the network purchased the rights to Concentration and three other games (Twenty-One, Dough Re Mi and Tic-Tac-Dough) from producers Barry and Enright.

NBC/Universal still holds exclusive rights to both the format and extant episodes of Concentration; however, due to Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, this version is owned by CBS Media Ventures.

The show was produced and broadcast live at 11:30 am Eastern on weekdays in black-and-white, and quickly became the most-watched daytime series in NBC's lineup.

During another contest (c. 1970), home viewers could win a prize based on the initial of their last names corresponding to a number on the board.

When the network took over production shortly after the series began in 1958, NBC maintained this policy, although this may have been for reasons unrelated to the scandals.

For most of its run, Concentration faced sitcom reruns on CBS and local programming on ABC affiliates, easily dominating them in the ratings.

Baffle, a Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley production hosted by Dick Enberg, replaced it at that time slot and ran until March 29, 1974.

Five months after NBC canceled Concentration, the network called upon Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions to produce a new edition of the series for syndication.

This version of Concentration was produced at Metromedia Square in Hollywood, and aired primarily on NBC stations that had carried the original series.

Two new contestants competed each day, with no returning champions; and games did not straddle episodes as on the network version (as some affiliates only broadcast the program one evening a week).

For the first two years, the basic game was identical to the NBC version with the addition of four "head starts" that revealed half the locations of four prizes on the board.

Many prize, Forfeit, Take, and Wild Card spaces had actually come from New York with the original board and were reverse-printed (white lettering on a black background).

In addition, unlike in the original NBC version, the contestant no longer received the opportunity to match the wild card spaces and reveal four parts of the puzzle.

If there were no more matching pairs left on the board, or if time was running short, the remaining boxes were turned over and the complete rebus revealed.

The first player to solve the rebus won $100 plus the amount of their currency matches in American dollars, and if time ran out during the game the same rules as noted above applied.

Many other cues from The Price Is Right were used on Concentration as well, including music used for the head starts and Double Play prize descriptions.

On July 22 of that year,[10] Mark Goodson's daughter, Marjorie Goodson-Cutt, replaced Taylor and remained for the entire series.

Unlike in previous versions of Concentration, a contestant did not have to use a card immediately after claiming it, but could wait and steal a desired prize after making a match at any later time during the round.

Early in the show's run, a contestant could win the game and play the bonus round up to five times before being retired.

[17] Any contestant who had matched this prize and solved the puzzle earned five additional seconds in their next attempt at the bonus round.

If there was time remaining during some shows, an audience member preselected before taping began played the bonus round for up to $500.

The Milton Bradley Company introduced the first commercial version of Concentration in 1958 and subsequently released 24 editions of the game until 1982.

Two computer versions of Classic Concentration were released by Softie for MS-DOS systems, as well as the Apple II and Commodore 64.

A video slot machine based on the 1958–1973 version was released for American casinos by Bally Gaming Systems.