Nick Arcade was a game show for children that aired on the Nickelodeon television network in America from 1991 to 1993. The show was the first to regularly intermix live action with animation using a bluescreen. Contestants, in teams of two, would play two initial rounds. In these rounds a cartoon character, called "Mikey", would be navigated over a thematic game-board by the teams. (The themes included things like "The Old West" or "The Jungle".) The game-board was divided into squares, and Mikey would be moved towards a "goal" space on the board. When new squares were landed on, various things would be uncovered, including trivia quizes, video based puzzles, bonus instant-win prizes, and "Video Challenge" squares. The latter involved one player of the team playing one of five specially-designed video games in an attempt to meet a certain pre-set score within sixty seconds.
The team with the most points after two rounds would then head into a live-action video game with three rounds. Using a video monitor to see themselves, they would be in front of a blue screen attempting to achieve previously explained goals for each level of the game. A typical scenario would be a jungle setting where the player must climb "palm trees" to obtain bunches of bananas sitting at the top. (Obviously the player was on a soundstage climbing ladders in front of a blue-screen.) The third round of each video game included a face-off with one of several villains that recurred throughout the games run. An example was "Scortia," a fireball throwing sorceress.
Typical prizes on the game included trips to Space Camp, bicycles and video games systems. The show was hosted by Phil Moore, who is to date the only African American male to be the host of a television game show.
