Originally, the show was supposed to award points for each Password guessed. The points accumulated in a bank a la Family Feud. The value of the puzzle increased as more clues were revealed. But they felt it was counterintuitive to have the value of the puzzle increase as more clues were revealed and it became easier to solve. So it was decided to use a per-puzzle scoring system. The readouts for this early scoring system would have been on the front of the desk. From this week on, they have been faced with scrim and painted blue to match the surrounding carpeting.
