Bumper Stumpers was a Canadian game show in which two teams of two solve a series of vanity typed license plate puzzles known as Bumper Stumpers. It aired in the states on the USA Network from June 29, 1987 - December 28, 1990, and reran on GSN during the summer of 2000. It was produced by Global Television & Barry & Enright Productions. It was the second show created by former Tic Tac Dough host Wink Martindale (the first was Headline Chasers), and was hosted by Canadian TV personalty Al Dubois.

The Main Game

The Jump-In Round
In the jump-in round both teams are shown two plates on the top two game board monitors. Host Al reads a clue (which is usually someone or something the plate belongs to) which pertains to one of those plates. The first player to buzz-in gets to choose which plate (either the left or the right) the clue belongs to. If he/she is correct, then his/her partner gets 10 seconds to solve the plate (originally the buzz-in player gets to decide to either let his/her partner play or challenge their opponents. That rule was scrapped when more people wanted to play rather than pass). If he/she is wrong then the opposing team gets to solve the right plate for 10 seconds. If the partner/opposing team solves the plate, they win the round, otherwise the opposing team gets to solve it. If neither team solves it, another jump-in is played. The winning team gets to solve the Super Stumper.


The Super Stumper
The game starts out by revealing a special license plate in the center monitor of a seven monitored game board called the "Super Stumper". The Super Stumper is a plate with seven blank spaces minus the first one given for free at the start. The winners of each jump-in round gets to choose which of the remaining spaces to reveal a letter or number from. After that the team gets five seconds to solve it and if they do they win the game, otherwise another jump-in is played. Play continues until the Super Stumper is solved or if all seven spaces are revealed but no one solves it (if the latter happens and if the team whom won the last jump-in doesn't solve it the opposing team gets to solve it). At which point the game shifts into a speed round in which teams alternate turns (starting with the team who won the last jump-in) revealing spaces in another Super Stumper until one team solves it (originally another full game is played with a new Super Stumper).


Winning the Match
Originally the match consists of one game with the winning team receiving $500 (plus $500 or double value whichever comes first, for each game not won), with the losing team retiring after two losses. Later it was a best 2 out of 3 with the winning team winning $1,000. In either case the winning team also plays a bonus round for more money.


The Bonus Rounds
This show had three bonus rounds throughout the run.


Bonus Round #1
This bonus is split into two halves. In the first half, the winning team solves seven license plates for the next 30 seconds with each correct answer increasing the odds of winning the bonus round. In the second half, the winning team plays a round called "The Final Stumper" in which the seven monitors spell out the word "STUMPER" S-T-U-M-P-E-R. There were two versions of the Final Stumper.


Final Stumper #1
Behind some of the letters in "STUMPER" are money amounts ranging from $100 - $500 (the $500 goes first with the other money amounts going in ascending order from $100 up to another $500), while the remaining letters hide stop signs (the number of stop signs are determined by how many plates were missed in the first half). The winning team calls out letters one at a time and hope to reveal nothing but dollars. If the winning team racks up $500 or more, the team wins double the money won, and unlike most Barry & Enright shows, if they find a stop sign the game is over but does get to keep whatever money won up to that point.


Final Stumper #2
Later in the first bonus round although the first half remains unchanged, the Final Stumper was altered a bit. For the board has now a "WIN" square along with the dollar amounts still ranging from $100 - $500 (this time going in descending order with the "WIN" going first). Plus in the tradition of Barry & Enright shows, if they find a stop sign the game is over and they lose the money. However the team gets an option to stop & take the money after they uncover a money amount. This time if the winning team reaches $1,000 or more or find the "WIN", they win $2,000.


Bonus Round #2
This bonus is split into two halves again In the first half, the winning team solves up to five license plates instead of seven for the next 30 seconds. If the winning team solve four of the five they win $200 plus a chance to solve up to three more plates if they choose to or not. In the second half for every plate solve the team doubles the amount meaning the most the team can win is $1,600. But if they fail to solve any plate or solve less than four in the first half, the game is over & they lose the money.


Bonus Round #3
In the final bonus round of the series, one member of the winning team is headed off to an isolation booth while the other member solves five plates in 30 seconds. Each plate is a clue to a puzzle and pays off $100 to the contestant for every plate solved. After the 30 seconds are up, the plate solving player gets to decide to have his/her partner solve the master puzzle or keep the money won in the first half. In either case the isolated player is brought back out, and if the plate solving player chooses to go, and if the puzzle solving player solves the puzzle, they triple the money for a maximum total of $1,500; otherwise they win nothing.


Notes
Wink Martindale named some of his pets after the shows he either produced or hosted. He named one of them Gambit after his CBS (and later NBC) game show Gambit, and in honor of Bumper Stumpers he named two of his dogs Bumper & Miss Stumper.

Ed Lojeski was the composer of the show's theme music. He also did music for Trivial Pursuit.


Gameplay
Later episodes include a green light between the top two monitors. It lights up during a jump-in round when it's time to buzz-in. The buzzers don't work until after the clue is read (ala Jeopardy!). 
In both versions of bonus round #1, if the winning team solves all seven plates in 30 seconds or less they automatically win $2,000. But if they fail to solve a plate, the game is over right then & there. 
Winning teams stay on the show till they lose (once or twice) or win five matches in a row.