Round 1

In the first round, a word was given to the home audience, and a video clip of a child defining that word was played (e.g. a child stating "it's something you use to unlock a door to a house or a car" to define "key"). If the child said the word or any form of it, or any other words that were judged unsuitable for broadcast, the audio was bleeped out and an oval marked "OOPS" was superimposed over the child's mouth to prevent the contestants from trying to guess the word through lip reading.

Once the clip ended, the contestant had a chance to guess the word; a correct response earned one point. If the contestant was incorrect, a clip of another child defining the same word was played and the opponent could offer a guess. A miss resulted in a third clip being played and gave the first contestant one last chance to guess. If the contestant was still wrong, no points were awarded.

The champion had initial control for the first word, and control alternated between the two contestants on each new word until the round ended at the second commercial break. Originally, the contestant who guessed each word won control for the next one.

Round 2: Fast Play

A video clip of a child defining a word was played, and either contestant could buzz in at any time to stop the playback and guess the word. A correct guess awarded two points, while a miss allowed the opponent to see the rest of the clip before offering a guess. The round continued until a school bell rang, whereupon the contestant in the lead won $500 and advanced to the bonus round.^[3] If the game ended in a tie, one additional word was played to determine the winner.

In the first three episodes, Fast Play was played in two halves, each of which ended at the bell. Correct answers were worth one point each in the first half, and two points in the second; in addition, if a contestant guessed incorrectly, the entire clip was played for the opponent.

Format 1: Triple Play

The champion attempted to guess words based on definitions written by three children, identified only as A, B, or C. Once the champion selected a child, the corresponding definition would be displayed on a screen and read aloud by Cullen, after which he/she could either guess or select again. If the champion was unable to identify the word after hearing all thee definitions, it was thrown out and play continued with a new word.

The champion won $5,000 for guessing six words before time ran out, or $100 per correct guess otherwise.

Format 2: Turnabout

This format replaced Triple Play starting with the April 25, 1983 episode. Five of the children who had appeared in the film clips used during the main game joined the champion onstage, and the champion had to describe seven words for them to guess, addressing one child at a time in sequence. Words were displayed for the home audience. Each correct answer from any child won $100 for the champion, plus $100 to be split equally among the children. The champion could pass on a word and return to it if time permitted; an illegal clue, such as saying the word or any form of it, eliminated that word from play.

If the children guessed all seven words before time ran out, the bonus round winnings for them and the champion were respectively increased to $1,000 and $5,000.

Australia

Australia ran their version for a brief period in 1984, hosted by former pop star and host of Happening 71–72 Jeff Phillips.

Germany

Germany ran their successful version of Child's Play under the name Dingsda ("Gizmo/Whatsit") on Bayerischer Rundfunk from 1985–2000 with Fritz Egner from 1985–1994, followed by Werner Schmidbauer from 1994–2000. Then a year later, a revival of the show ran on kabel eins with Thomas Ohrner for a brief period from 2001–2002. Sixteen years later, the show has now been remade for Das Erste with Mareile Höppner since 2018.

Greece

Their short-lived version titled Tα παiδíα παíζεi (Children Play) originally ran on ERT2 from 1987–1988 with Lefteris Eleftheriadis as host. Ten years later, its revival ran on ANT1 for a brief period in 1998 hosted by Isabella Vlassiadou.

Indonesia

The Indonesian version of Child's Play ran from 1996–1998 on antv under the name Kata Si Kecil ("The Little's Says"), hosted by Kepra. In 2001-2005, Indosiar reincarnated the show again under the name Celoteh Anak ("Child's Talk"), with Dewi Hughes as the host. Then back to the "host of the show", antv again revival this shows with a new concept and atmosphere with the name Apa..?? Apa..?? Apa..?? ("What...?? What...?? What...???") with host Harsya Subandrio from 2010 to 2011.

Netherlands

Netherlands had two different versions of Child's Play running on NCRV, the first version was called 't Is Kinderspel ("It's Child's Play") running for a brief period in 1984 hosted by Fred van de Graaf. One year later, the show was revived under the new name of Dinges ("Whatchamacallit") which had a much more successful run than its precursor from 1986-1995. the original host was Martine Bijl from 1986-1988 followed by Frank Masmeijer from 1989–1993. Its third and final host of the series was Jo de Poorter (of Familieraad fame) in 1995.

Russia

Уcтaми млaденцa (Mouths of Babes/Baby Lips) hosted by Alexander Gurevich originally ran from 1992–1996 and 1999–2000 on RTR and on NTV from 1997–1998. Thirteen years later, the show had a short-lived revival on Disney Channel Russia hosted by Maxim Vitorgan in 2013–2014. Two years later, the series was revived again on channel NTV now hosted by Alexey Kortnev from 2016 until 2017 then he was later replaced by Alexander Oleshko from 2017 until 2018. In 2020, the series was revived on Russia-1, hosted by Olga Shelest who was later replaced by Evgeniy Rybov since season 2.

It was the first game show officially licensed in Russia.^[4]

Spain

Their version is called Juego de niños ("Child's Play") running on TVE from 1988–1992. unlike previous international versions, when a contestant guesses a word correctly he or she earns a "Gallifantes" (a puppet like creature) and at the end of the show, whoever gets the most "Gallifantes'" was the winner of the day also unlike the other previous international versions, this one in particular had four host the first host was Amparo Soler Leal from 1988 then he was replaced by Tina Sainz from 1989 then Ignacio Salas from 1989–1990 and finally, Javier Sardá from 1991–1992 and on 2019.

Sweden

Their version is called Lekande lätt ("Swimmingly/Light as") aired on Sveriges Television from 1987–2001, hosted by Kjell Lönnå then from 2002 until 2003 hosted by Erik Nyberg.

Spanish (US)

On September 15, 2008, FremantleMedia, owners of the Goodson-Todman catalog of games, revived Child's Play in the Spanish-speaking market as Dame la pista ("Give Me a Clue"), hosted by Alessandra Rosaldo on Univision-owned TeleFutura. This show was the lead-in to ¿Qué dice la gente?, a Spanish-language version of Family Feud, during its run. The show was eventually cancelled.

United Kingdom

see under:

the long-running 1984-1988 British version, hosted by Michael Aspel. Clips from this version were seen in the 1985 special called TV's Funniest Game Show Moments #2.

Vietnam

The Vietnamese version, called Chuyện nhỏ (Small Story) was aired in two separate runs (2005–2007; 2010–2014) on HTV7 at 7 p.m. every Saturday and hosted by Thanh Bạch in both runs. Repeats of the 2005–2007 episodes had been aired on HTV3 (Entertainment for Kids and Families channel) since 2013.