4 Square is the British tournament game show that aired on BBC1

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 from 3 May 1988 and 31 October 1991. The original host was Michael Groth, but he was replaced by John Sachs

John Sachs

John Sachs is a British television presenter, voiceover and commentator known for his narration on the original series of Gladiators and as a long time DJ on London's 95.8 CapitalFM....

 from the second series. Two contestants competed in a series of rounds, trying to score points in each one.

Pair the Squares

Pair the Squares was a Concentration/Memory

Concentration (game)

Concentration, also known as Memory, Pelmanism, Shinkei-suijaku, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards...

-typed game.

This round had a 6x6 game board with 36 numbered squares; behind those numbered squares were symbols. The players took turns picking four squares. If any two of them consist of matching symbols, the player who found the match scored two points, had those squares turned to that player's color, and continued his/her turn by choosing two more (one if there was a leftover square). If no match was made or if one player took the necessary two turns, his/her opponent took a turn. If four of the squares of one player's color were arranged in one large square, that contestant received a 5 point bonus.

Pick a Picture

This round also had a 6x6 game board with 36 numbered squares; behind the majority of those squares were pictures. To start the round, both contestants picked four free squares each. Now each contestant in turn picked one square by number and revealed a picture behind it. On each picture, the host read a question associated with that picture. A correct answer to that question scored 1 point and captured that square; but if the answer incorrect, the square & point went to the opponent. As before, upon a capture, the captured square turned that player's color, and whenever four squares of one player's color were arranged in one large square, that contestant received a 5 point bonus. But to make things difficult for the players involved, four or seven squares contained "Gremlins" (indicated by sad faces); if any one of those were exposed, that square automatically went to the opponent. The round continued until there were no more 4 Square possibilities.

The Maze

In this round, each contestant had 60 seconds (one minute) to go through a maze. There were 10 junction points all around the maze. On each junction point, the host read a "true or false" statement, and the contestant in control locked in his/her true or false answer by pressing one of the two buttons in front of him/her. A correct answer scored 1 point and continued down the maze, but an incorrect answer forced the player to hit a dead end. If the player in control can answer 10 questions correctly, he/she was out of the maze an was asked a bonus question. If both players made it through, only faster of the two players got the bonus question.

The game ended with another "Pair the Squares" round, or in later shows, the rest of the "Pair the Squares" round. The player with the most points continued on in the tournament.

Transmission guide

• Series 1: 16 editions from 3 May 1988 - 26 May 1988
• Series 2: 31 editions from 12 September 1988 - 2 November 1989
• Series 3: 31 editions from 10 September 1990 - 31 October 1990
• Series 4: 30 editions from 9 September 1991 - 31 October 1991