Overview
Party Game was a Canadian television game show in the 1970s, produced by Hamilton independent station CHCH-TV from 1970 to 1981. It aired throughout Canada in syndication, broadcast on 32 stations at its peak. Hosted by Bill Walker, the show featured two teams of three players in a charades competition. The Challenger Team was composed of a contestant joined with two guest star players who appeared either for a single day or for the whole week, while the Home Team consisted of series regulars Jack Duffy, Dinah Christie and Billy Van. Using game play similar to the American game show Pantomime Quiz, answers were usually jokes or complex phrases based around a pun or some other form of word play. Viewers at home were also invited to send their own joke or phrase, which if used, could win them a small prize. Party Game was produced by Riff Markowitz, the executive producer and star of The Randy Dandy Show and executive producer of The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. It was taped in a double suite at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto. The set was a simple living room type with couches and a few wall pictures and pieces. The voice-over announcer who announced each charade was credited as "Gardiner Westbound", an obvious nod to a stretch of the Gardiner Expressway in Downtown Toronto, but was actually producer Markowitz.