Lingo is a British game show based on the American programme of the same name, the original iteration of the programme was made by Thames Television and Action Time for ITV1, running for a single series with host Martin Daniels from 12 May to 14 July 1988. A revived version has also aired from 1 January 2021 hosted by Adil Ray.

In the revival version, ITV1 and Objective Media Group revived Lingo with new presenter Adil Ray. The bingo element has been eliminated in the revival, focusing instead entirely on the word guessing game.^[2][3][4] In September 2022, ITV1 premiered the spin-off Celebrity Lingo, with RuPaul (who is hosting a U.S. revival of Lingo for CBS that is also being filmed in Salford) as host.^[5]

Gameplay

The game is played between teams of two contestants, tasked with solving mystery words. The team in control is given the first letter of each mystery word and receives five attempts to guess and spell the word. After each guess, the team is told whether their guess contains letters that are in the mystery word and whether or not they are in the correct position. The two members of the team alternate taking each guess.

If the team fails to identify the word within five guesses, fails to make a guess within a time limit, gives a misspelt or otherwise invalid word, control is passed to the opposing team and one of the correct letters is revealed.

Contestants who are deaf or hearing-impaired are allowed to have an interpreter on the set, who may interpret between spoken words and sign language. However, the interpreter may not help with solving the words.

Round 1

Each team solves four four-letter words (three four-letter words in Series 1) worth £200 each, followed by a ten-letter puzzle word worth up to £300 but its value decreases by £60 per letter after the first one as more letters are revealed.

Round 2

Each team solves three five-letter words worth £300 each, followed by an eleven-letter word worth up to £500 but its value decreases by £80 per letter after the first one as more letters are revealed. In this round, failures can be stolen by opposing teams. The team with the least amount of money after Round 1 goes first and the team with the least amount of money at the end of this round is eliminated.

Round 3

One member of each team is assigned to four-letter words and the other member of each team is assigned to five-letter words respectively with each member receiving two words alternately. Each word is worth up to £500 but its value decreases by £50 for each attempt. Both the four-letter word and five-letter word games are followed by an twelve-letter word worth up to £1000 but its value decreases by £180 per letter after the first one as more letters are revealed. Again, in this round, failures are passed on to the opposing team. The team with the least amount of money before each of the two games in this round goes first and the team in the lead at the end of this round advances through to the Final.

Final

The winning team has 90 seconds to solve three more words in order to claim their winnings. If the team cannot solve a word, they may pass and receive a new one. The team must first solve one four-letter word to claim half of their winnings, then one five-letter word to claim the entirety of their winnings and then one six-letter word to double their winnings or as of Series 3, at this point, the team is given the option to risk their winnings on a seven-letter word instead of the six-letter word to win a £15,000 jackpot; however, the team may not pass on this one and they lose all of their winnings if they fail to solve the word.

Original Version

In the 1988 version (which was based on the original U.S. syndicated version), the game was played between two teams. They were each assigned a 25-space "Lingo card" (similar to American bingo) with ten numbers on each card already marked (such that two were marked off on each horizontal row and two on each vertical column). The blue team’s card contained only odd numbers, while the green team played with even numbers. Each word was five letters in length and each correct guess awarded £50. Upon guessing correctly, the team would draw two balls from a hopper containing balls with the 15 remaining numbers on the card, two white surprise balls and three red balls. Drawn numbers were marked off on the team's Lingo card, and surprise balls awarded the team a prize. Drawing a red ball immediately ended the team's turn and passed control to their opponents. Forming a "Lingo" line of five numbers in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally awarded a £100 bonus.

The team with the highest score at the end of the game advanced to the bonus round "No Lingo"; the team was given a new card with 16 spaces covered, arranged in a star shape along the diagonals, middle row and middle column (but excluding the centre space). Unlike the main game, the objective was to avoid forming a line of five in a row. The team once again had to solve mystery words (given the first letter and one additional letter) but were required to draw one ball afterward for each guess taken. If they failed to guess after five attempts, they had to draw two additional balls as a penalty (seven total). The hopper initially contains 39 numbered balls consisting of the even figures from 2 to 80 (but excluding the ball corresponding to the centre space) and one silver ball.

If the team drew a numbered ball, it was discarded and marked off if it appeared on their card. If the team drew the silver ball, they no longer had to draw any more numbers for the round and the silver ball was returned to the hopper. After each successful round, the team's pot is doubled and they are given the option to leave with their winnings or play another round. If the team forms a Lingo at any point, the game ends and the team's bonus winnings are reduced by half. Up to five rounds could be played, beginning with a base pot of £100 and progressing to the grand prize of £3,200, beginning with the second round, the ball corresponding to the centre space is added to the hopper.

Celebrity Lingo

On Celebrity Lingo, the rounds' values are increased to £500, £750 and £1,000 for words and £750 (£100), £1,000 (£150) and £1,500 (£200) for puzzles (played with eight-letter, nine-letter and ten-letter words respectively). Unlike the civilian version, losing teams receive a consolation prize of £1,000.

Transmissions

Original

Revival

Celebrity