Editing Match Game (section)

====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 After six weeks, the rule was rescinded.