Two celebrities play with two civilians in two teams of two people each – a celebrity and a civilian. A "password" shown on the screen is given to the celebrities/civilians and they have to give the partners one-word clues to get it correctly. For example, if the password was "word", someone would give the clue "pass" and the civilian/celebrity would try to guess the password (e.g. "word"). If the password is guessed in one guess, they get 10 points. Each wrong guess removes a point (e.g. 1 wrong guess makes it 9, 2 wrong guesses makes it 8, etc.). Two word clues (e.g. "light sleeper") or "sounds" were not allowed, other wise a buzzer would sound and Allen Ludden would say "When you hear this sound it means your clue has not been accepted by our word authority (name of word authority)". The first person to get 25 points wins $250 and goes to the "Lightning Round" where they are given 60 seconds to guess 5 words worth $50. Each one correct will cost that amount and a second game is played where a new set of civilians comes in (Prior to November 1962, the civilians switched seats instead). At the end of the show, Allen Ludden would give a "password of the day" (e.g. "parties") and would make a sentence about the password (""Password" is a great game to play at "parties"") before signing off.