Originally, the six categories for each round were revealed early to both the contestants and the audience. Before the start of the show, one could see the categories for round 1. And after the commercial to start round 2, the categories are revealed.

But a few seasons ago, the category names started to appear in a scrambled format and would only be unscrambed at the start of each round when Alex reads off the category names. Then eventually, it was hidden entirely and would only be revealed when Alex reads of the categories to start every round?

Was there any specific reason to keep the categories hidden until the start of each round? I doubt that knowing the categories three minutes in advance like before would really help out the contestants.

One reason I can think of is that if you see the next round has categories that you are strong in ('70s Sitcoms, Modern Authors, or whatever) you may back off in the early round knowing you can accumulate money later. Especially if the first round seems too tough to you.

Basically, it could stagnate play.

But I thought that either way, contestants don't know the categories of round 2 until after round 1.

Under the old system, the categories of round 2 would be revealed after round 1 finishes and the new categories appear during the commercial. That would give about a four minute head start on knowing the categories. And does knowing the categories four minutes in advance really make any difference?