User Reviews

Billy Van, Dinah Christie and Jack Duffy would be winning Gold Medals every Olympics if charades were an Olympic event. I still do not understand why this show was not nominated for any Emmy's as it was so entertaining with Bill Walker as the host and each week a new group of guests was invited to get their asses whipped by Billy, Dinah and Jack.

I would love to see the producers release even a few of the hundreds of shows episodes that this group did as a DVD compilation just so we could re-live some of the past shows for their entertainment value. The only surviving member of the aforementioned regular cast who is still alive is Dinah Christie and I would love to see her reminisce about some of the episodes in a DVD release.

Oh the memories this show has. Release the DVD please.

10 for 10 rating

The long phrases parsed and solved with ease made this show both hysterical and awesome for a young Buffalonian enjoying Canadian TV. Billy Van was more versatile than almost any American post-Vaudeville comedian, and his easy with was another factor that made Party Game repeated viewing.

Sometimes clues would literally be a paragraph long, and the regulars knew each other's clues so well as to obliterate phrases in lightning time. Now, when I try to use them on people I play charades with , they look at me as if I was some kind of Canadian. I miss the show and the ties where a show like this could go on for almost a decade.

Why is this not out on video?

Someone has to mention Ted Ziegler with his RED SOCKS.

Also, TED and BILLY had a routine called the "BONE AND MUSCLE TENSIFIER". Ted would appear to pull Billy's arms out of their socket in an imaginary way - and Billy would bend / contort as if it was actually being done. Then Billy would appear to pull Ted's lips over his face. And they would trade gross cruelties - all imaginary. My brother and I copied this, as best we could, to amuse our family and friends.

Also learned the best Chardes techniques. - one word, two words etc: number of fingers hitting your other arm - chop arm: number of syllables (spelling isn't important in this game) - sounds like: pull your ear - correct: point to your eye

Billy Van also did characters (in between the games). One would NEVER be allowed today: Maurice of Mimico. He would roll up the front his t-shirt into the top - making it look like a "bandaide" / "bikini". And then prance around in gay abandonment. It was played for pure fun, and could not insult anyone.

I use to watch Al Boliska's (sp?) The Party Game all the time. It came on CHCH TV from Hamilton. And was watched by people all around the Golden Horse Shoe, from Buffalo to my home town.

Free styling' charades with Billy Van, Dinah Cristie and Bill Walker.

It was an awesome show. The Party Game taught you everything you needed to know about " non-verbal " communication.

Thanks Dinah, Billy Van, Bill Walker.

It was so much fun. You were GREAT.

This was Canadian TV as never seen before and never seen again.

With the exception of the Hilarious House of Frightenstein of course.

This lost gem of Canadian TV was a half-hour show featuring a trio of Canuck (read: Toronto) 'celebrities' assembled as a crack team of charade-players who would then be challenged by a guest-team of 'local celebrities'. Hosted by another basically unknown local TV person, the show was set in a comfy rec-room-like studio set complete with orange shag rug, fake fireplace, and paintings on the wall. As a youthful watcher, I was constantly amazed and mystified at the swiftness with which the players could translate the challenging phrases into hand-gestures. The home team were killer charade-ists and sometimes received harder questions if the guest team were lame. The whole atmosphere of the show was meant to be fun and 'party'-like. Unfortunately the host was forced to don a conservative suit while yet trying to appear convivial and make jokes. He and always appeared somewhat uncomfortable amids the strained revelry. On the plus side, things were obviously unscripted and a certain risky spontaneity is evident -- in fact, many of David Letterman's famous revolutionary TV antics seem pre-dated by this show (not the least being the use of a breaking glasss sound effect whenever regular Billy Van would throw things around).

What a great show. I remember it well from the 1970s, and I recently got a hold of a few episodes on DVD. It holds up really well, and my memories of it were pretty accurate: The wood panel basement set, the theme song and opening animation, the cold opens with a bit of lame comedy from Billy and Captain Jack, Dinah doing a ditty on her guitar - all of them come across as quaint but, at the same time, kind of charming.

Of course the charades skills are exceptional. Nobody I've ever played with comes close to the home team! It's also fun to see B-grade Canadian celebrities do their thing - whatever happened to Dave Broadbent, anyway?