I remember watching several episodes of this show back when it was on TV growing up. It was such a awesome show to watch people competing playing games I played at the arcade myself.
Starcade was produced by the JM Production Company to air on TBS and later syndication by Turner Program Services (TPS). Starcade was the first video arcade game show, and set the blueprint for similar game shows like Video Power, Nick Arcade, and Arena. The show was used to showcase brand new arcade games. Shortly after the series' cancellation, a second JM-produced video arcade game show, The Video Game, was aired for a brief period from 1984 to 1985.
Starcade aired in repeats on the G4 network from its inception in 2002 to 2004, shortly before its merger with Tech TV.
Format
Two players (or teams; age-regardless) competed. Three rounds were played. Each round began with a video arcade-game related toss-up question. The player who buzzed in and answered correctly chose one of five free-standing arcade games in the studio and was given 40 seconds (later 60, then 50) to amass as high a score as possible. The opponent then played the same game, and whatever points the players earned were added to their overall scores. If a player's game ended before time ran out, the turn ended immediately and the player was credited with whatever points they had earned.The second and third rounds were played identically, with 40 seconds (later 50) game playing time for the second round, and 30 seconds (later 40) for the third. Once a game was chosen for play in any round, it could not be chosen again. At the end of the second round (and third when the series began), the player in the lead played "Name the Game," attempting to identify four arcade games by viewing short video clips. The player won a prize for correctly identifying at least three of the games, with a second prize awarded for correctly naming all four.
One of the five games was the "mystery game," which awarded a prize (originally 500 extra points, in very early episodes) to the player who chose it in any of the three rounds. The player in the lead at the end of the third and final round won the game and a bonus prize, and moved on to the bonus round.
Bonus Round
The player selected one of the two games that had not yet been played, and was given 30 seconds to beat the average score of 20 other players on that game. If the player did so, he/she won the day's grand prize, which consisted of either an arcade game, a home entertainment robot, a jukebox, or even a vacation (in certain "invitational" episodes).
One of the classic episodes...