Beloved Board Game Being Turned Into Game Show

A new game show is coming this fall, but you can play it at home now. Mario Lopez will host Blank Slate, a TV series based on the existing board game by the same name. The series is expected to premiere in the fall of 2023 according to a report by Ad Week.

Blank Slate was perhaps the biggest announcement at the Game Show Network upfront presentation in late March. Not only has the network secured a beloved Saved By the Bell alum as its host, it has gotten the rights to a game that is already beloved by players around the world. Blank Slate is published by USAopoly and is a word game for groups of three to eight players. It provides cue cards with incomplete words or phrases which players must complete.

In the board game version, one player reveals a cue card from the deck and then everyone at the table writes down their answer on their dry-erase board. For example, a cue card might say “__ House,” so players might write down “Haunted House” or “Dog House.” The goal is to match what another player is going to write down. If two players match, they each get three points. If more than two players match, they each get one point. The first player to 25 points wins.

It’s not clear how the TV version will work yet or how it may differ from the tabletop original. The game is simple and easy to learn, and it thrives on players who already have a good rapport with each other. In a TV setting, factors like this may be harder to convey. However, as a report by Buzzer Blog points out, the Game Show Network has never hesitated to tweak the rules to familiar games so that they will be more accessible on screen.

Other important details still need to be revealed as well, including the game’s top prize. There has not been an obvious casting call for Blank Slate yet either. So far, the biggest draw for this game besides the IP itself is Lopez, who is a great fit. There will undoubtedly be plenty of wordplay involving the title “Blank Slate” and Lopez’s fan-favorite character AC Slater from Saved By the Bell.

Blank Slate is expected to premiere in the fall of 2023, but no dates have been set yet. The Game Show Network has three other new series coming this year as well – Split Second, where contestants answer rapid-fire trivia, another trivia game called Riddiculous and a guessing game called Hey Yahoo where players try to predict the most-searched phrases on the Yahoo search engine. You can see GSN’s full schedule on their website here.