Editing Match Game (section)

===Super Match===
The contestant who matched more celebrities than the other contestant at the end of the game won the game and went on to play the Super Match, which consisted of the audience match and the head-to-head match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the main game won $100.

====Audience Match====
The contestant was shown a short fill-in-the-blank phrase (example: "Tell it to ______"), for which the members of a previous studio audience had provided responses. The three most popular responses were hidden on the board, and the contestant attempted to match one of them. The contestant chose any three celebrities to offer suggestions, and could either use one of their ideas or give a different one. Matching one of the three responses on the board awarded $500, $250, or $100 in descending order of popularity. If the contestant failed to match any of them, the round ended immediately and the contestant won nothing. The premise for ''[[Family Feud]]'' (which Dawson began hosting in 1976) was derived from the audience match.

Two audience matches were played on ''Match Game PM'', allowing the contestant to win up to $1,000 in this half of the Super Match. If a contestant failed to win any money in either audience match, Rayburn then read a question similar to those in the main game. The contestant earned $100 per celebrity matched, for a maximum of $600.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game PM |network=Syndication |date=17 October 1976 |season=2}}</ref>

====Head-to-Head Match====
[[File:Richard Dawson Family Feud 1976 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Richard Dawson]], a regular panelist from 1973 to 1978, was usually chosen to participate in the head-to-head match.]]

A contestant who won money in the audience match then had the opportunity to win an additional 10 times that amount (therefore, $5,000, $2,500, or $1,000) by exactly matching another fill-in-the-blank response with one celebrity panelist. Originally, the contestant chose the celebrity. Later, the celebrity who played this match was determined by spinning a wheel (see "Star Wheel" below). At the very start of the 1970s series, Rayburn read the question before the celebrity was chosen, but this was changed after the first two episodes. The format of these matches was much shorter and non-humorous, typically requiring the contestant and celebrity to choose from a number of similar familiar phrases, such as for "Baseball _____" (baseball game, baseball diamond, etc.). The contestant was instructed that his or her response must be an exact match, although singular/plural matches were usually accepted, whereas synonyms, derivatives, and partial word phrases were not.

The panelist chosen most often by contestants to play the head-to-head match was Richard Dawson, who usually matched with the contestants who chose him. Dawson, in fact, was such a popular choice for the second half of the Super Match that the producers instituted a rule in 1975 that forbade contestants from choosing the same panelist for consecutive head-to-head matches in an effort to give the other celebrities a chance to play. After six weeks, the rule was rescinded.

====Star Wheel====
On June 28, 1978, the producers made a second attempt to ensure that each celebrity received a chance to play the head-to-head match. Instead of simply choosing a celebrity, the contestant spun a wheel that was divided into six sections, each marked with a different celebrity's name. Once the wheel stopped, the contestant attempted to match with the indicated celebrity. If the wheel did not make at least one complete revolution, the contestant was required to spin again.

The introduction of the star wheel also brought about a change in the bonus payout structure. Each section included several gold stars, which doubled the stakes if the wheel stopped on one of them. The maximum prize was $10,000 on the daytime series and $20,000 on ''Match Game PM''.

When the star wheel was introduced, each section contained five stars in a continuous white border, and the prize was doubled if the wheel stopped with its pointer anywhere in that area. Beginning with the premiere of the 1979 syndicated version, the wheel was re-designed so that each section had three stars in separate, evenly spaced squares. The pointer now had to be on a square in order to double the money.

Ironically, the wheel stopped on Dawson the first time it was used, inspiring four of the panelists (Somers, Reilly, guest panelist [[Mary Wickes]], and Dawson himself) to stand up from their places and leave the set momentarily out of disbelief, leaving recurring panelist [[Scoey Mitchell]] and guest panelist [[Sharon Farrell]] behind.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1246 |language=en}}</ref> As the others returned, Wickes said to host Rayburn, "Do you know what that wheel costs us? And it's right back to Richard!"

At the time, Dawson was becoming weary as a regular panelist on ''Match Game'' as he had concurrently been hosting the (by then) more-popular ''Family Feud'' since 1976. Dawson was tired from appearing on both shows regularly and wished to focus solely on the latter. The addition of the Star Wheel ended what effectively was Dawson's "spotlight" feature on the show, which distressed him further, and he left the panel of ''Match Game'' permanently a few weeks later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/18082/4-famous-tv-co-workers-who-struggled-get-along|title=4 Famous TV Co-workers (who struggled to get along)|date=2008-02-21|website=mentalfloss.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref>

The subsequent [[#1990–91, ABC|1990–91 version]] of the show used a redesigned version of the star wheel. The wheel itself was stationary, and the contestant spun the pointer on a concentric ring to determine which celebrity he or she had to match. The prize was doubled if the pointer stopped on either of two circles within each section.