Fun House was a game show that aired on ITV from 1988-1999 and was hosted by mullet-sporting DJ, Pat Sharp. Fun House was aired on a Friday afternoon at around ten-past four.
Two teams, red and yellow made up of two children each competed for the first two rounds of the game. Each team would have a cheerleader, either Melanie or Martina who would count the scores at the end of each round.
The rounds
1. The messy Games
Everyone's favourite part of Fun House was the messy games which were fun and innovative. The games were too numerous to mention them all here (there were new ones made for each show) but they all boil down to the contestants having to either collect or make as many certain items as they could in the time limit given, all the while either trying to avoid or, more often, having to wade through, the masses of gunge being thrown or in pools on the floor. At the end of the game Melanie and Martina would count how well their respective teams did and the winning team would get ten points, the losing team getting a measly five points.
Each messy game was separated by a short round of three questions (presumably while the next game was being set up) that were added onto each team's total score.
2. The Fun Kart Grand Prix
Each team had an electric go-kart and had to race in three laps around the studio collecting different tokens. At the end of each lap the driver swapped with his/her team-mate, who had to perform a 'pit stop' of fitting a hub cap to the rear wheel of the kart.
On the first lap, drivers could only collect the tokens worth ten points from the posts around the course, only the second lap only the tokens worth twenty-five points could be collected and on the third lap either could be collected.
At the end of the race Pat Sharp would put each team's tokens in some sort of counter (just looked like a clear box to me) that would make a tone each time a token was inserted. The team with the most points with tokens added on to their over all score would commence to the next round, but since it was a kind game show, the losers would get a goody bag to take home with them.
3. The Fun House
After all this, the winning team were given three minutes in the Fun House. The Fun House was very much a large child's play area, with a ball crawl, flying fox, weird foam rollers, etc. Around the Fun House were hung large green tags, each one representing a prize that would be won if a team member grabbed it. Somewhere in the Fun House would be hidden the 'Star Prize' tag, which the audience at home would be shown but no-one else. If a contestant collected it a rooster would show in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to let us know.
Only one member of the team was allowed in at a time and could only stay in until s/he had collected three prize tags, after which they would have to make their way back out of the fun house and tag their team mate, who would then dive in and get three more.
When the time ran out, the team member who was in the Fun House would come out and Pat Sharp would go through each tag collected and read out each prize. If the star prize had been collected, the rooster would crow once again.
Was it enough that the star prize had been collected? Of course not, as the lights were dimmed in the studio and the team would be asked a ludicrously easy multiple-choice question. If they got it right they won the prize. (commiserations to the team who lost by saying the AA was an emergency service)
It is interesting to note that unfortunately Pat Sharp never got gunged, as he always used the excuse that he had to go straight to Capital FM to DJ after the recording of Fun House.