Early Look at “Camouflage”

GSN recently supplied us with a copy of their new original word game Camouflage, and I am happy to say that they have redeemed themselves after Chain Reaction. We’ll get into the superfluous information and praise/complaints in a bit, but here’s a very quick look into the rules.A Scrabble like clue is given and the answer is literally before the contestants eyes, spelled correctly from left to right. However, extra decoy letters are thrown in making it tough to locate the answer. A letter drops out every second, and with each removed letter the point value drops by 10. The sooner a contestant buzzes in and answers correctly, the more points they get. If a contestant answers incorrectly, no points are given or taken away. One puzzle in each round is deemed the “Double Camouflage” puzzle. After someone answers correctly, they are given the chance to double their points if they get another puzzle from the answer given in 10 seconds. There is no penalty for wrong guesses, and they have unlimited guesses in the 10 seconds. Click below to read more.In round one, the answers are one-worded and worth 100 points to start. Round two are two-worded for 200 and, as you can guess, round two is 300 and three worded. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game plays the bonus. In the bonus, the contestant has 45 seconds to guess as many one-worded puzzles as they can with no penalty for a wrong guess and as many guesses as they want. Letters still drop out one letter at a time. When time is up, they have to solve one more puzzle. Every puzzle solved in the 45 seconds removes one letter from the final puzzle. The final right answer gives the player $5,000 and a wrong answer nets $250 for each answer in the 45 seconds.It’s a very simple game as you can see. I expected to have a few more frills when I initially read the rules, but there are none. To be honest, this is rather refreshing. It’s just a simple game. Even more, the entire show is game. There is no chat session and essentially no time for talking. The writing for the show is also terrific. I expected it to be all horrible puns and to be a few steps below Scrabble, but I was completely wrong. It’s right on par with Scrabble.  In fact, I’m glad to say it’s right at the top of best writing for game shows currently; right up there with 1 VS 100.  Roger Lodge, the host, is very good as well. However, he’s had lots of experience, hosting the Price is Right stage show, Trivial Pursuit, and Blind Date. He kept the game moving, threw in jokes when necessary, ad libbed terrificly, and didn’t look like he read the teleprompter that much (something Dylan Lane needs to learn).The only issues I have with the show are the extra items which aren’t that huge of a deal. The set is rather nice in my opinion, as you can see in pictures below, but it is unbelievably tiny. Usually when you see a show on television, the set is much larger than it is in person. Not the case here. It looked like you could take 2 steps and walk across the set. The music and sound effects aren’t bad either, but they are completely unmemorable. I watched the DVD twice and I still can’t remember the theme. Also, the dark moody think music really doesn’t mix in with the relatively light hearted theme. My final complaint is a legit one: this is the most mellow show I’ve ever seen. There is virtually no excitement seen from the players to start. It’s the most canned audience I’ve ever heard in my life; they would have been better not to even bother with the applause track. Also, the show has a tendency to drag a bit, but sadly that’s just the nature of the show. If a contestant knows the answer right away, the game moves quickly. However, once we start getting really hard puzzles and have to wait to nearly the entire answer is shown, it takes up far too much time and gets a bit boring.This is one of the better shows GSN has done in a long time. Easily the best since That’s The Question in my opinion. That’s The Question has a bit of a challenge ahead of itself in the rumored second season, though. Thankfully, I didn’t get a TTQ vibe from the gameplay, but the show just felt like it. A few small things That’s The Question can do to fix this is add an audience in the next season and change the bonus up a bit. However, let’s get back to Camouflage. They have basically everything right. The host, gameplay, set, and music are basically there. It just seems a bit too mellow. It blows the living hell out of Chain Reaction. It doesn’t quite live up to I’ve Got A Secret, but this is a very welcome addition to the lineup, and hopefully it’ll have a nice long life. Camouflage debuts July 2nd at 7:30PM ET on GSN.