Family Game Fight! is an American game show where families compete in challenges to win $100,000 in prize money. The show is hosted by Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, marking their first television project together.^[1][2][3] The series aired on NBC from August 8, 2021 to August 7, 2022.

The show is partially based on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Ellen's Game of Games and is executively produced by Ellen DeGeneres with her group (including Bell and Shepard).^[4][5][6]

Format

In each episode, two families consisting of four members are joined by Bell and Shepard to take on in a different set of silly games, both physical and mental. Both families compete in a series of games, with the winning family given a chance to win $100,000.^[1][7]

The families competing usually have these relations: Brothers and Sisters, Moms and Best Mates, as well as regular families including Parents, Grandparents and Kids.^{[8][unreliable source?]}

Preliminary games

• Air Heads: Four team members are given a secret word by the opposing team, and each one submits a clue to their fifth teammate, the guesser. If two players give the same clue, they are blasted with air to the face (hence the name "Air Heads"), and their mutual clue is discarded. The guesser must identify the secret word based on the remaining clues. The team that correctly guesses the most words wins.^[9]
• Between the Sheets: In this game, hosts Shepard and Bell are in a bed, where they wear blindfolds and guess the objects hidden under the sheets while describing them to each other. Meanwhile, the families have to place a bet on how many items their host would get right. The family with most correct guesses wins the game.^[10]
• Brain Freeze: In this game, one team member is placed in a freezer, wearing headphones to not hear anything. The rest of their family, along with either Bell or Shepard, have to list things relating to a given category. The member in the freezer then has to guess the answers given by their team. A wrong answer leads to a river of ice flowing onto the members' backs. Three wrong answers ends the team's turn. The team with the most correct guesses wins.
• Deep Dish Dash:
• Fruit Flies:
• Helium Hoops: Two team members have to carry a helium balloon, wedged between them, through an obstacle course without using their hands. At the same time, the opposing team throws balls at them. At the end of the course, they have to release their balloon so it goes through a hoop suspended above them. After the other team puts balloons in, the team who put the most balloons through the hoop wins.
• Nosy Neighbors: In this game, one player from each team will jump on a trampoline and give clues to Shepard and Bell about a collage of celebrities on the other side of the fence.
• Pie Rollers: In this game, hosts Shepard and Bell play alongside one player from each of their team, where they have to challenge the opposing team to guess a word using only a fixed number of describing words (similar to 25 Words or Less). For each wrong answer, the team member guessing will get hit with a pie on the face.
• Sound Bites: One team member plays with either Bell or Shepard. The players alternate grabbing an item and making a sound effect hinting towards the answer. The team with the most correct answers wins.
• Taste Buds: This game is based on Ellen DeGeneres' creations, where contestants have to guess a food or item and explain it to the other members with blindfolds on. This version is just with families in addition; the family with the most correct answers wins the game.

Final game: Spin Cycle

The winning family sits on the rotating podium and has 60 seconds to name as many as 10 objects as described by Shepard and Bell in alternation, either by using words, acting, or drawing them. Each correct answer awarded $10,000 but the rotating podium increases its speed. The game ends once the family identifies all 10 objects or runs out of time.^[10]

Production

In February 2019, when Bell and Shepard visited on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, they were forced to play one on Ellen's favorite game called Taste Buds, noting, "It was so much better than it could've been ever hoped". Afterwards, DeGeneres with her production group came up with an idea of a game show starring Bell and Shepard. Later, the name revealed to be Family Game Fight!, with DeGeneres as leading executive producer.^[8]

The show was originally scheduled to premiere on August 11, 2021. On July 11, NBC announced that a preview of the series would air following its primetime broadcast of the 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, replacing Ultimate Slip 'N Slide (whose production had been suspended).^[6]

In May 2022, NBC shelved the series indefinitely.^[11]

Episodes

Reception

U.S. ratings

Critical reception

Joel Keller of Decider wrote "What makes Family Game Fight fun isn't the families competing, and it's mostly not the game play, though the games the families play are goofy and fun to watch. No, what makes FGF an enjoyable show is its hosts".^[24]