Camouflage

Puzzles within puzzles. A great concept for a game show. And it moves along at good pace thanks to host Roger Lodge who is not slowed down by the use of a co-host. That is one of the problems I had with "Lingo". Sometimes the hosts there seem to overlap on "who does what" leading to confusion for the contestants and viewers.

About the only thing I would change on "Camouflage" is that Roger often repeats the clues after the solving starts (the letters have started falling away). That seems like an unnecessary distraction.

So far I have enjoyed the game a very much and find it more difficult than I would have thought. I keep thinking how much Roger looks and sounds like a combination of Casey Kasem and the late comedian Richard Jeni.

GSN's first new game show effort in several years (after the bombs "Cram" and "WinTuition"), "Camouflage" is a very clever and challenging word search game with elements from other word-based game shows like "Now You See It" and "Scrabble".

Based on a video screen displaying one to three lines of run-on letters (some of which spell some rather amusing phrases, thanks to the show's team of writers), contestants must figure out the answers based on the clue read by host Lodge. Example clue (not on the show): "It's just a numbers game." Example puzzle: "CRABLOPOTTERIBBY". As the computerized video screen removes the extra letters the answer emerges, "LOTTERY". Contestants able to determine the answer to a puzzle with fewer letters removed earn higher scores. Three rounds of puzzles are played to determine a winner.

The player with the highest score advances to the Final Camouflage round and must solve a series of short puzzles in 45 seconds. For each puzzle solved, one letter is removed from the final puzzle. The player solving the final puzzle wins $5,000, or $250 for each of the other puzzles if the final puzzle is unsolved.

What "Camouflage" has in common with "Now You See It", "Scrabble", "Crosswits" and even "The Magnificent Marble Machine" is the crossword puzzle-style clues. Those who enjoy crossword puzzles will likely enjoy "Camouflage".

The show is taped at KCET-TV, a PBS station in Los Angeles, for GSN.