1988 - Present
Spelling Bee is a unique game played for a car. The contestant is shown a board with 30 cards on it; 11 of the cards say "C", 11 say "A", 6 say "R", and 2 say "CAR". The contestant picks two cards for free at the beginning of the game. The contestant can earn up to three additional picks by guessing the prices of two-digit small items. If the contestant's guess is within $10 above or below the ARP of the small item, s/he wins the item and another pick. An exact bid on any of the item wins all three items and all three picks (even if the contestant did not earn a pick on a previous item). Once the small item bidding is over, the object of the game is to spell the word car. Each card does have a $500 cash value and the contestant always has the chance to quit the game and keep the cash shown. If the contestant spells car, s/he wins. If the contestant finds a "car" card, s/he automatically wins.
Contestants don't often take the money, but a few have. It's especially recommended when the car being offered is really cheap, if you don't need a new car, or if you'd rather have the cash (up to $2,500, which isn't that bad).
Two contestants in Spelling Bee history have cleared the board; that is, spelled "CAR" and found the two "CAR" cards. The odds against this are 11,777 to 1. Not too bad. Most contestants who lose this game have trouble finding the "R" which is of course in less frequency on the board. If a contestant sees an "R" behind one of his/her first few picks, s/he usually knows s/he has won the car.
Set Changes: Red was added behind the numbers on the board to make it easier for contestants to see which numbers s/he had already picked. A frequency diagram of C's, A's, and R's was added to the bottom of the board in the early '90s.
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| It's the all-new Blockbusters! No wait, it's Spelling Bee. | These are pretty cool prize podiums over here. They malfunction every once in a while, though. |
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| This contestant bid $50 on the vacuum, so he wins it and a pick of the board. | In fact, he won all three small items! With his two free picks, he has the maximum of five cards. He could take the $2,500 or try for the car... |
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| He went for the car--and good thing, because he won it in three cards! | Here's a good full set shot of the turntable and the game. A pretty impressive setup! |
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| Here's a 1999 ep. The red behind the cards makes the chosen number easier to see... | ...although it doesn't make the game easier, as shown by this loss. The frequency diagram is at the bottom there, though hard to read. |