15 Best Game Shows, Ranked

Game shows offer a thrilling chance to watch everyday people win millions with their encyclopedic knowledge, cunning gameplay, or plain dumb luck — and, of course, to imagine ourselves in the hot seat.

The game show TV genre took off in the 1950s when producers realized they could produce entertainment at a fraction of the cost of scripted fare — a game show needs only one set and fewer staffers than sitcoms or dramas — and inspire a quarter of Americans to tune in, Popular Science reports. “Once somebody’s won it, the idea is, ‘Well, it could be me,’” Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, told the site.

We’ve now taken a challenging quest of our own: picking our favorite game shows from the past seven decades. Here’s what we’ve landed on…