Lingo

Lingo (Vietnamese: Đoán từ Bingo) is a game show distributed by Sofia the First Channel, based on the American game show of the same name. This show marked the first ever show by Sofia the First Channel requiring contestants to test their English, although the main language for the show is still Vietnamese.

The show's format combined the structure of the game of chance known as bingo with a word guessing game; contestants took turns guessing five-letter words and tried to guess enough of them to fill in enough spaces on a five-by-five card to form a line.

Format
Two contestants competed each episode. To start the game, each contestant received a computer generated Lingo card. The yellow (left) podium receives twenty-five odd numbers, while the red (right) podium receives twenty-five even numbers. Ten out of twenty-five spaces on each card were covered.

First round
The game began with the left podium. A five-letter word was randomly selected and the first letter was displayed before the contestant provided a guess. The contestant them had fifteen seconds to provide a valid guess, which had to be five letters in length and then spell the word. If the contestant did not come up with the right word on the first try, they were shown which letters were correctly-placed as well as those in the word but not correctly placed. If a letter was in the word and in its correct place, the square was lit in red and the letter remained displayed for each subsequent guess. If a letter was in the word but was not in its proper place, a yellow circle was placed around it. Play continued in this manner until one of the contestant guessed the word.

The contestant could lose the turn if any of the following happened:
 * Failing to guess the word correctly within five tries. The five tries are cumulative and carry over if turn passed to the other contestant.
 * Giving an invalid word, whether it be misspelled, not in the dictionary, did not begin with the first letter given, or not five letters in length. If a word was longer than five letters but the first five letters spelled a valid word in the dictionary, the contestant remains his/her turn.
 * Failing to come up with a guess within fifteen seconds.

If more than one letter in the word had not yet been revealed, one was given to the other contestant before the contestant took his/her turn. If only one letter remained, the contestant did not get to see it but were allowed fifteen seconds to confer. The contestant who guessed the word correctly receives 25 points.

Once a contestant guessed the word, the contestant drew two balls from a hopper in front of them. Eighteen of the balls had numbers on them corresponding with the numbers of the uncovered spaces on their Lingo card. When drawn, the corresponding space was marked on the contestant's Lingo card. Three red balls were also in the hopper; drawing one of these ended the contestant's turn and cost them a turn.

As long as a contestant did not draw a red ball, they retained control and received first guess at the next word. The match went on until one of the contestants completed a line during their turn. Forming a Lingo was worth 50 points, after which the contestant received a new card with ten different numbers marked off and fifteen new balls in the hopper. Play then passed to his/her opponent.

The first round in overall lasts for 7 minutes, any contestant who guessed the word correctly would temporarily stop the clock. The clock resumes once a new word is generated. When the time was called, this means the first round has ended.

Second round
In the second round, play continued from where the first round left off. The contestant with the lowest score begins the round. This time, point values were doubled, meaning a correct word was worth 50 points, and a Lingo was worth 100 points. In addition, three balls with question marks on them were added to each contestant's hopper. If drawn, the contestant could cover any open space on their Lingo card. Similar to the first round, the game lasts for 7 minutes, any contestant who guessed the word correctly would temporarily stop the clock. The clock resumes once a new word is generated. When the time was called, this means the second round has ended.

The contestant with the most points at the end of the second round wins the game and moves on to Bonus Lingo. If contestants are tied at the end of the second round, a tiebreaking word with seven letters was played. The first and last letter of the word were revealed, and one at a time the remaining spaces were filled. In order to take a guess, the contestant had to press a buzzer on their podium. If a contestant guessed incorrectly, they were locked out and the other contestant was given a bonus letter. If that contestant did not guess correctly, play resumed as normal. The contestant that correctly guessed the word won the game.

Bonus Lingo
Before the game starts, the contestant received one bonus letter for winning the match plus one more for each Lingo they made. These allowed the contestant to fill in one of the spaces in a Bonus Lingo word and could be called for at any time, even if filling a space would result in the word being revealed (the contestant still had to say and spell the word to receive credit for it).

The winning contestant has two minutes to guess as many five-letter mystery words as possible. Two letters are initially revealed in each word, one of which is always the first letter. If the contestant fails to guess a word in five tries, it is revealed and the team moves on to the next word. The team wins $100 for each correctly guessed word.

After the game, a Lingo card is then revealed with twelve numbers marked off. The hopper contains thirteen balls, one for each uncovered space on the board, and the contestant draws a ball for each mystery word successfully guessed in the Bonus Lingo round. If the contestant successfully completed a Lingo, the contestant won 5,000,000 StF; otherwise they received 100,000 StF for each word solved in the Bonus Lingo round. But, when the contestant successfully completed a Lingo with just by drawing one ball, the contestant won 10,000,000 StF.

Series overview

 * Season 1 (3 episodes; April 25, 2021 - May 9, 2021)