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Steve Ryan's TV game show career has spanned five decades and includes writing, producing, development and the creation of TV game shows. Steve is recognized as a creative force in the TV game show industry with credits that reach beyond the television industry to include radio, newspaper, books and magazines.
Steve was a long standing employee of Mark Goodson & Bill Todman Productions and Mark Goodson Productions. Steve's first television hit came with his concept for the game show Blockbuster's hosted by Bill Cullen. This show gave Bill Cullen his first Emmy nomination for best game show host. Blockbusters would have two separate runs on NBC. The second run was hosted by Bill Rafferty.
Early in Steve's career with Mark Goodson Steve created and developed the concept for the NBC TV game show pilot Puzzlers which was hosted by Pat Sajak. This game show was inspired by Steve's background as a syndicated puzzle columnist.
Later at Mark Goodson Productions Steve was responsible for creating all of the rebus puzzles for the TV game show Classic Concentration hosted by Alex Trebek. Steve is also the author of Classic Concentration The Game The Show The Puzzles which documents the entire history and run of NBC's longest running game show.
Other work also includes Steve's expertise as a TV game show historian. Steve frequently assisted Mark Goodson in preparing for documentary lectures and interviews. With Steve's great knowledge of the game show industry it was only natural that Steve would go on to write The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, the most comprehensive book of its kind with his co-authors David Schwartz and Fred Wostbrock. This encyclopedia is often referred to as the Bible of the game show industry. As a reference book it documents every game show that has ever appeared in a national market whether it be in cable, syndication or network. Three updated editions have been published to date.
Steve's expertise as a TV game show historian has also called upon Steve to research and testify as an Expert Witness in various game show related lawsuits.
On various occasions Steve's talents have been called upon to write for various Mark Goodson game shows. Those shows include Password Plus, Body Language and Trivia Trap. Steve was also the studio judge for Trivia Trap and was also part of the creative team that created and developed the show. Steve served as part of Mark Goodson's creative team developing many shows until Mark's passing.
Steve also has the distinction of creating all the puzzles for the TV game show Catch Phrase. Catch Phrase was the very first game show to introduce computer animated puzzles generating thousands of Catch Phrase puzzles during it's run.
As senior games executive at Goodson's lottery division Steve created games with million-dollar payoffs for many state and international lottery game shows, including The Big Spin for California, Bingo-Lotto for Lithuania Lottery, Bonus Bonanza for Massachusetts Lottery, A Chance de Ouro for Brazil Lottery, Flamingo Fortune for Florida Lottery, Illinois Luckiest for Illinois Lottery, Instant Riches for Illinois Lottery, New York Wired for New York Lottery, PowerBall: The Game Show for Multi-State Lottery, Second Chance Sweepstakes for Ohio Lottery, Telelotto for Estonia Lottery, Win'n Spin for South Africa Lottery, Zama Zama for South Africa Lottery, and 25th Anniversary Game Show for Pennsylvania Lottery. Some of his many game creations for these lottery shows include "Beach Ball," "Camelot's Riches," "Capsize," "Coney Island Coaster," "Force Field," "Gold Rush," "High Roller," "Knockout," "Niagara," "PowerBall Express," "Skyscraper," "Splashdown," "Steeple Chase," "Thunderball," "Treasure Quest," "Vortex," "Wrecking Ball," and "Zero Gravity."
Steve has also served as creative consultant to Hasbro Studios assisting in the creation and development of such game shows as "Family Game Night," "The Game of Life," and "Scrabble Showdown" for the HUB cable network.
Additionally, credits include consultant and team member for the Innovation, Invention & Design division at IGT (International Game Technology), the world's largest creator, manufacturer and distributor of slot machines. At Shockwave.com, where more than 20 million people play games each month, Steve served as a developer for Internet online games and puzzles.
For Copley Radio Network, Steve created the Wireless Flash Game Pac which allowed radio DJs in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to instantly become game show hosts. The product included a variety of Q&A type games complete with a script to be played with lucky callers on a daily basis.
At Educational Insights, box games, handheld puzzles and classroom teaching aids, in the form of "Stix & Stones," "Twistomania" and "Science Challenge of the week" Steve has entertained and challenged both young and adult minds.
Ryan launched his TV game show career by being recognized as one of the world's most prolific creators of puzzles with thousands of puzzles to his credit. He began his career as a puzzle columnist at Copley News Service where he created several puzzle and game features for readers across America and other English speaking countries. Those features include "Puzzles & Posers" which is a mixed grill of cerebral calisthenics designed to explore player's powers of reason, logic and ingenuity. And, "Zig-Zag" the original word maze-puzzle which challenges players to search for words from given categories. Both features have run non-stop from 1973 and 1975 to current day. Both of Ryan's features have the distinction of being Copley News Service's longest running features in the history of the news organization. Creators Syndicate absorbed both features when Copley News Service sold in 2008.
In addition, dozens of Steve Ryan books have evolved from his puzzle features and his work in television. Worldwide, many Steve Ryan puzzle books have been translated and published for Chinese, Russian, Czechoslovakian, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Malaysian and Indonesian markets. His puzzles have also appeared in such magazines as Games, Nick, Nickelodeon, Nick Toons and World of Puzzles in the U.S. and Games & Puzzles in the United Kingdom.
Steve is an alumni of California State University at Long Beach where he studied art and design. Steve currently continues has passion for puzzles and games and divides his time living in Long Beach and Palm Springs.
