Good news, married folks! You can still play The Dating Game.
The legendary game show debuts Wednesday on all major social media sites -- including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Sadly, it does not star Bob Eubanks.
Other than that, however, it's a lot like the cheese-tastic TV show. Three players will answer a series of questions to try to win a 'date' with a fourth. (Developer 3G Studios notes the game is meant as just that -- it's not a dating site.) Players play with friends, of course, but whoever is sitting in the bachelor/bachelorette virtual chair won't know who gave which answer until the end of the game.
Like the show, there are three rounds, though they've been slightly tweaked for the game. First up is Q&A, where players answer four questions related to their preferences on a variety of topics. That's followed by a word association round. And finally Ad Lib, which takes the Mad Libs formula of supplying key nouns and adjectives to ultimately create an off-the-wall story. Players who score the most points (won by having an answer closest to those of the bachelor/bachelorette) will win a virtual date.
To avoid the potential wrath of significant others, the game uses avatars to represent the players -- not real faces -- and the 'dates' are shown with the avatars on a romantic getaway.
There's a free version of the game, but if you play more than a few times the questions will start to repeat themselves. To counter that, 3G is offering several thematic content packs (including '80s, sports and adult) for prices ranging from $1 and $5 each.
The Dating Game isn't the only TV game show on Facebook these days. Wheel of Fortune has an active community of players, with nearly 1.2 million active users each month.
Surprisingly, Jeopardy has not yet jumped onto the social media bandwagon, though the show does have iPhone and iPad apps along with versions for Nintendo's gaming systems and the PlayStation Network.
