Bill Cullen hosted the original series on NBC from January 14, 1980 to June 20, 1980.
A third version aired on Game Show Network from August 1, 2006 to June 9, 2007, hosted by Dylan Lane.
A fourth version also on GSN was announced on January 26, 2015, with Vincent Rubino as executive producer and hosted by Mike Catherwood.
Forty episodes were ordered for Catherwood's version, which aired from July 16, 2015 to January 29, 2016.
[1][2][3] The most recent version, also on GSN, was announced in November 2020, with Mike Richards as executive producer, Ed Egan as showrunner and Lane returning as host, it aired from February 22, 2021 to June 20, 2022.
Since 2006, the team with the highest money total after the fourth round wins the game, a team can also win the game if at any time their opponents' money total is reduced to zero during the fourth round.
The first version of the show aired for 23 weeks from January 14 to June 20, 1980, on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen, except for two weeks when Geoff Edwards hosted while Cullen was filling in for Allen Ludden on Password Plus.
The losing player received $5 a point for playing (changed to parting gifts with the third bonus round).
The celebrities alternated giving words to construct the question, then hit a bell signaling the contestant to respond.
In the first format (which only lasted the first week of the series), the team was staked with $1 and had a 60-second time limit.
For the next four weeks, the time limit was increased to 90 seconds, and the first correct response was worth $1, with the next three each adding a zero behind it.
After two weeks, the format was slightly modified so that the contestant was staked with $100 at the start of the round, thus reducing the number of correct answers needed for a $10,000 win to nine.
Stewart later developed and expanded the bonus round of Chain Reaction into the game show Go.
Champions remained on the show until they were defeated or held their title for five consecutive days.
[citation needed] The winning team/player could collect a cash jackpot by completing one last word chain.
On New Year's Eve 1990, the show was revamped with a tournament format featuring 128 players competing for $40,000.
Charlebois didn't start coming onto the stage to present the home game until Edwards took over the hosting duties, per the aforementioned Cancon regulations.
This version was hosted by Dylan Lane and produced by Michael Davies' production company Embassy Row.
GSN began airing the second season on March 13, 2007 and ended on June 9, 2007.
A second GSN version was commissioned in January 2015, with the new 40-episode season featuring Vincent Rubino as executive producer and Mike Catherwood of the nationally syndicated Loveline radio program as the host.
A third GSN version was ordered in November 2020, premiering on February 22, 2021, with Mike Richards as executive producer, Ed Egan as showrunner, and Lane returning as host.
The bonus round is a timed variation of the main game where the winning team has 60 seconds to complete three chains.
The set resurrects the blue and gold color scheme of the NBC version.
Except when Catherwood hosted, after each of the first three rounds, whichever team correctly identified the final word to complete the chain was allowed to complete a four-word Speed Chain with the first letter of the middle two words given.
Going into the first commercial break in the 2021 version, a three-word chain with the middle word missing was shown for home viewers (as in the USA/Global version, when they were presented at the end of each episode), with the answer revealed coming out of the commercial break.
In the 2006 and 2015 versions, if the fourth round ended in a tie, the teams were given alternating Speed Chains in a "sudden death" format.
For Lane's first series, the bonus round was a revival of "Instant Reaction" from the NBC version.
The guesser sat in a chair with his/her back to the clue-givers and held a signaling button to ring in.
The 2021 version's bonus round is a timed variation of the main game, in which the winning team must complete three final chains of four, five, and six words, in that order within 60 seconds.
A team that completes all three chains (nine words total) in time wins an additional $10,000.