Storybook Squares (U.S. Game Show)

Storybook Squares is a children's game show airing on FOX Family, and is loosely based on Hollywood Squares. The primary difference, apart from having children as contestants, was that it featured celebrities (usually the same ones from Hollywood Squares) in costume as well-known fictional characters and some as historical figures. Jeff Sutphen (of Nickelodeon's BrainSurge) is the host, with Phil Moore (of Nickelodeon's Nick Arcade and You're On!) as the announcer. Moore read the characters' names off a scroll as "The Guardian of the Gate." This is the third incarnation of the game show. The first two versions aired on NBC as a companion piece with it's parent show Hollywood Squares.

Format
Like the normal version, two contestants competed (with a boy as X and a girl as O). The game was played exactly the same as the original Hollywood Squares, but no money was involved. Instead, the children played for prizes, with one being awarded per game won.

Panelists
The panelists played characters from fairy tales and books, historical figures, or in some cases the characters they played on television. Unlike the parent series, on Storybook Squares each panelist/character was given an elaborate introduction as they entered the set and took their place on the board.

Revival
Although the original 1969 series made 16 episodes, the format returned as part of the regular series from 1976–1977 for special theme weeks. However, the format differed slightly, featuring teams with three generations of family members (for example, grandmother/mother/daughter). Each game was worth $300, with each team earning $50 per square should time run out (similar to the short-lived NBC primetime version from 1968). The kids played for the first segment of the show, and their parents squared off in the next game, and the grandparents for the rest of the game, unless time was running out, in which case all three players on each team played.

The team with the most money at the end of the game won a large prize, such as a car or exotic vacation.

The Return of Storybook Squares
In 2014, as the FOX Broadcasting Group was getting ready to relaunch FOX Family, they realized that they needed an original series to go along with the relaunch of Great Pretenders. So they decided to buy Storybook Squares from the parent company of Hollywood Squares and made it their own. They began production of the series, using the 1969 version rules of the series. Jeff Sutphen was named the host of this version with former Nickelodeon host Phil Moore named as the announcer, also known as "The Guardian at the Gate."

Set
Using a modern version of the 1976 series, the set was decked out in a medieval theme for the host, players' podiums and the gameboard, with a sweeping castle facade built around and behind the "Squares".