Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It is given in honor of a game show that features "contestants, either alone or as part of a team, who play a game involving answering questions or solving problems for money and/or prizes". Programs that have aired at least 15 original episodes for the calendar year are eligible to enter.
The 1st Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held in 1974 with the game show Password receiving the award. The award category was originally called Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show before changing to its current title in 2013. The awards ceremony was not aired on television in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. The Emmy was named after an "Immy", an affectionate term used to refer to the image orthicon camera tube. The statuette was designed by Louis McManus, who modeled the award after his wife, Dorothy. The Emmy statuette is fifteen inches tall from base to tip, weighing five pounds and is composed of iron, pewter, zinc and gold.
Since its inception, the award has been given to ten game shows. In 1980, The $20,000 Pyramid and Hollywood Squares tied for the award, which was the first tie in this category. This situation repeated later only in 2011, with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune both winning the award. In 2006, Jeopardy! became the series with the most wins in the category when it won a tenth time, surpassing Pyramids previous record of nine; Jeopardy! went on to win in six additional years, ultimately receiving seventeen wins. Jeopardy! also has been nominated on 36 occasions, more than any other series. As of the 2020 ceremony, Jeopardy! is the most recent winner in this category.
Winners and nominees
Multiple wins and nominations
The following series received at least one Emmy since the award's inception:| Wins | Series |
| Jeopardy! | |
| Pyramid | |
| The Price Is Right | |
| Hollywood Squares | |
| Cash Cab | |
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | |
| Password franchise | |
| Family Feud | |
| 1 | Wheel of Fortune Win Ben Stein's Money |
The following series received two or more Game Show nominations:
| Nominations | Series |
| 37 | Jeopardy! |
| 35 | The Price Is Right |
| 20 | Wheel of Fortune |
| 16 | Family Feud |
| 16 | Pyramid |
| 13 | Hollywood Squares |
| 11 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire |
| 8 | Let's Make a Deal |
| 6 | Cash Cab |
| 6 | Win Ben Stein's Money |
| 3 | Win, Lose or Draw |
| 2 | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? |
| 2 | Match Game |
| 2 | Password franchise |
NOTE: Pyramid and Password include all versions, regardless of title changes among variants of the franchise. Family Feud includes nomination for CBS one-hour version.