Category Archives: wizard of wor

BAM! The Wizard of Wor is hit! POW!

The following is a TV commercial for CBS Video Games.  Dating from 1982, it purports to show clips from what is called “Challenge of Champions“, a head-to-head competition hosted by longtime football commentator John Madden.  It featured one of the company’s latest wares, “Wizard of Wor”, a home adaptation of the popular arcade game from Midway, released in 1980.

In fact, the clips are a dramatization of the competition.  It’s not even clear if the match had an audience, although I like the American Idol set and Madden’s fevered pitch.  Madden, of course, would go on to put his name on something a bit longer lasting than CBS VIdeo Games: EA’s preennial Madden Football series.  The first, John Madden Football, was released in 1988.

Clip courtesy of The Museum of Classic Chicago Television.