Synopsis of Saturday Morning Show

In the fall of 1976, kids from across America converged on Magic Mountain Amusement Park in Valencia, California, to compete for fame and honor in a series of Way Out Games. Produced by game show veterans Jack Barry and Dan Enright (producers of the original Twenty-One and The Joker’s Wild), Way Out Games pitted teams of 12 to 15-year olds against each other in a series of wacky, sloppy, “way out” competitions.

Each of the six-member teams hailed from one of the fifty U.S. states, plus Puerto Rico, turning the series into a battle for geographical bragging rights. On each episode, three teams were matched up in three competitions, running the gamut from obstacle courses to greased poles to water walking on giant floating shoes. The first contest earned one point, the second two and the third three, based on the team’s speed in finishing the task.

After seventeen episodes, the winners moved on to a championship round, whittling down the field to a preteen battle royale between Oregon and Indiana. In a squeaker, the bad boys from the Beaver State downed the homies from Hoosierville in the show’s final episode.

The entire series ran again for the second half of the 1976-77 season, moving from Saturday afternoon to early Sunday morning, but it never returned for a second round of competition. Oregon was left as the sole Way Out Games champ, and the messy stunts were put away for the next decade, waiting to resurface on sloppy game shows like Double Dare in the mid-80’s.

Release History

9/11/76 - 9/4/77 CBS

TV Sub Categories

live-action
game shows

TV Studio

Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions, MGM

Television Cast

Host Sonny Fox
Assistant Mark Maxwell-Smith

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