I received this question:

My son is loving the Latin course! He’s programming a game show to review the concepts and vocabulary learned in each lesson. It’s so fun! And it’s especially helpful for me. 😀

He’s trying to determine the best way to say “game show” in Latin. Ludus? Ludus Ostende? Ludus Fabula? Certamen? 🤷🏼‍♀️ We need an expert to tell us.

Here is my reply:

I am happy to hear your son is enjoying Visual Latin.  Please tell him I said, “Salve!”

Sooo, his question threw me for a loop.  The Romans didn’t have such a thing as a game show, so I was stumped.  In this situation, I always take a look at the Romance languages for insight.

Here’s what I found:

• Italian: spettacolo di gioco
• French: jeu télévisé
• Spanish: programa de juegos
• Romanian: spectacol de joc
• Portuguese: game show

Portuguese made me smile.  They didn’t even bother.  

Italian and Romanian used a form of the old Latin word, spectaculum (spectacle), so I went with that.  

Italian gioco, Spanish juegos, and Romanian joc all come from the Latin word ludum, so I went with that.

In the end, I came up with, Spectaculum Ludi.

Thanks!  This was fun!

Hope you are having a great day!