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Press Your Luck is an American television daytime game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on September 19, 1983 on CBS and ended on September 26, 1986. In the show, players collected "spins" by answering trivia questions and then used the spins on an 18-space game board to win cash and prizes. The person who amassed the most in cash and prizes at the end of the game won. Peter Tomarken was the show's host and Rod Roddy was the primary announcer. John Harlan and Charlie O'Donnell filled in as substitute announcers for Roddy on different occasions.

The show was known for the "Whammy," a red cartoon creature wearing a cape. Landing on any of the Whammy's spaces on the game board took away the player's money, accompanied by an animation that would show the Whammy taking the loot—but frequently being chased away, blown up, or otherwise humiliated in the process. The Whammies were created and animated by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp and voiced by Carruthers. Approximately 80 different animations were used. The show was taped before a studio audience at CBS Television City in Hollywood.

Gameplay

On Press Your Luck, three players competed for cash and prizes, with the objective being to accumulate the highest money total. Each episode consists of four rounds: A question round, a Big Board round, a second question round and then a second Big Board round where the stakes are higher.

Question round

In each question round, the host reads four trivia questions. The first player to buzz in gives an answer. The host finishes the question if necessary, then gives three possible answers (including the buzzed-in answer if one was given). Each player (who did not buzz in) then picks from these choices (although if a player buzzed in and failed to give an answer at all, they would be ineligible to pick). A correct buzz-in answer earns three spins for use in the Big Board round, while a correct multiple-choice selection earns one spin.

A maximum total of twenty spins can be earned in a single round among all of the players. In the pilot, five questions were asked, yielding a possible total of 15 spins for one person and 25 combined. This was the only change in rules between the pilot and the actual show.

Big Board round

In the Big Board round, players use their spins to win cash and prizes on the "Big Board". The board consists of eighteen spaces, each of which can display three possible items.

In the first Big Board round, the player with the fewest spins plays first. Each player uses all of their spins in one turn. Before each spin, the player can choose to either "Press Their Luck" (play the board) or "Pass" (give all of his or her remaining earned spins to another player, forcing them to play). Spins are always passed to the opponent with the highest money total at that time. If both of the player's opponents have the same score, the passing player can choose the recipient.

If the player chooses to play, a lighted "spinner" begins moving around the board, while the individual squares on the board cycle through a series of items. Items include cash, spin bonuses, non-cash prizes, special squares and Whammies. The player must press a plunger to stop the board (and is also encouraged to yell "Stop!"), and is awarded the item within the square. Cash and prizes are awarded immediately (with the cash value of each prize counting toward the player's total and a new prize replacing the old one in the same square). Spin bonuses are added to the player's earned spins (transferring over from passed spins if applicable).

Hitting a Whammy causes an animation to play, in which a Whammy steals or otherwise destroys the player's money. The player loses all of their winnings up to that point and any remaining passed spins are converted into earned spins. If a player hits four Whammies, then that player is eliminated from the game.

In the first Big Board round, prizes are relatively small, with cash amounts ranging from $100 to $1,500 and prizes typically worth no more than $2,000. The second round features prizes of significantly higher value, with cash amounts from $500 to $5,000 and prizes potentially worth $6,000 or more. Some of these prizes include exotic vacations and small cars.

Directional Squares

• Move One Space allows a player to choose between the contents of two adjacent squares, usually a high amount of cash versus a low amount of cash with a spin, or cash and a prize.
• Go Back Two Spaces, appearing in Square #6, and Big Bucks, appearing in Square #12, both directed the player to Square #4, which contained the top dollar values on the board.
• Pick A Corner, located in Square #6 in Round Two from March 1984-July 1986, gave the player the choice between the contents of the corner squares of #1, #10, and #15.
• Advance Two Spaces, located in Square #11, moved the player forward to the contents of Square #13.
• Across The Board, located in Square #17 in Round Two from February 1986 to the show's cancellation, took the player across the board to the contents of Square #8.

Other special squares

• Double Your $$ was a square in the second round that doubled the player's score. The amount added was all in cash. It was treated as a prize and replaced by a new prize when hit.
• Double Your $$ + ONE SPIN, also seen in the second round, also doubled the player's score, but also added an extra spin to the player's total. When hit, it too was replaced by a prize.
• $2,000 or Lose-1-Whammy gave the player the choice between $2,000 or removing a Whammy marker.
• Add-A-One was a square in the first round that added a one in front of the player's score (e.g.,$100 became $1,100 and $1,000 became $11,000).

Elimination from the game

If a player hits a total of four Whammies at any point in the game, that player is automatically eliminated from the game. The player's remaining spins are lost and their scoreboards are turned off. Contestants who "Whammy out" in this way cannot return on the next show, even if all other players end with a score of $0.

On rare occasions, two players were eliminated from the same game. In these cases, if the surviving player had any spins left, they could choose to play "against the house" to earn additional cash and prizes and choose to stop spinning at any time. At this point, the game would end and the surviving player would be declared the winner. However, if he or she also "Whammied out", three new players would compete on the next show. In every situation this occurred, the surviving player ended the game early before exhausting their spins.

Although the Whammy animations were picked at random, one of three special Whammy animations would appear anytime a player was eliminated from the game beginning in the second season. One featured a Whammy in a baseball umpire's uniform announcing "You're out!", another featured a Whammy on a cruise ship bidding the player farewell in different languages, and the third featured a barbershop quartet singing the phrase "You're out" in harmony.

Winning the game

The winner of the game is the player with the highest money total after the last spin of the second Big Board round is taken. Only the winner is allowed to keep his or her earnings and return to the next show. In the event of a tie, each of the tied players gets to keep their winnings and return.

During the show's first season, any player who won over $25,000 would retire undefeated, with the full amount won in his or her appearances. This was due to a CBS policy, which set a winnings limit of $25,000 for its game shows at the time. The earnings cap was officially raised to $50,000 or 5 appearances on November 1, 1984, and any amount past $75,000 that was won could not be kept, though no player had reached past that amount since.

There have been two games where all three players won $0 and returned the next day: one on the November 26, 1984 broadcast, the other on the episode that aired on February 3, 1986. Several other champions won their games with nothing while one or both of their opponents had Whammied out.

The Big Board

The board consisted of 18 squares, arranged in a rectangle surrounding the PRESS YOUR LUCK logo, upon which the player was superimposed during a spin. Behind each square were three slide projectors, each displaying a different slide (a monetary amount, a Whammy, a prize, etc.), one at a time. Every second or so, the first projector would turn off as the second projector illuminated, changing the display on the square. A band of lights surrounded each square, illuminated one at a time to indicate which square would be selected when the player stopped the board. This was called the "spinner" by the production staff. As the board shuffled, the spinner would jump from tile to tile in a seemingly random pattern. In fact, the spinner initially followed one of only five pre-programmed spinner patterns, and a Whammy only appeared in 9 of the 18 tiles on the board.

Computerized boards

Both the 2002 revival Whammy! and the 2006 Gameshow Marathon episode featured a computerized version of the Big Board. Whammy!, however, featured an almost completely different game board than that of Press Your Luck—an irregular scattered board in the shape of an oval. The same number of squares (18) and their overall pattern were intact, and the highest dollar value was still seen at the top of the board. A computer controlling the board generated random prizes, whammies and light patterns.

Home Player Spin

During Press Your Luck's three-year run, the show had "Home Player Spins" for 3 sweeps months, in May–June 1984, January–February 1985 and October–November 1985. The spin number of the Home Player Spin was revealed before the final money round began (i.e., if the number was "5", then the fifth spin into the round would be the Home Player Spin). The Home Player Spin always sounded with an assortment of unusual sound effects (similar to the double showcase win effects on The Price Is Right). The player who was about to spin the board played the Home Player Spin and read the name of the home player who would play along; names and addresses were on postcards situated in front of the players. In the Home Player Spin, if the player hit a money or prize space, the home player would get the money or the prize. If the player hit a Whammy, the home player received a $500 consolation prize, and if the player hit a money-and-a-spin space, the home player received the money and the player received the money and the spin.

The home players associated with the players who did not take the Home Player Spin received a Whammy t-shirt. The May–June 1984 and January–February 1985 home player contest took place over 20 days each (the final Home Player Spin of May–June 1984 was part of the infamous Michael Larson episode) and in October–November 1985 it lasted for 25 days.

At the close of the October–November 1985 contest, that episode's in-studio winner drew a card from a bowl containing the names of each of the 75 at-home participants featured over the five-week period. After drawing the name, the contestant took one spin on a modified board that showed only cash values and directional squares (no whammies, prizes, or squares that offered additional spins), with the value landed on multiplied by the total number of spins earned by the three players in the second question round. The player whose name was drawn received this bonus cash amount. The in-studio champion was Jon, and he spun for Ed Kolzac of Portage, Indiana. Eighteen spins were earned in the second round resulting in a $36,000 win for Kolzac.

Broadcast history

Press Your Luck's history dates back to the 1977 ABC game show Second Chance, a similar game produced by the Carruthers Company. The show premiered on September 19, 1983 on CBS at 10:30 AM ET (9:30 CT/MT/PT), replacing Child's Play, and placing it between The New $25,000 Pyramid and The Price Is Right.

Press Your Luck usually edged its NBC time slot competitor Sale of the Century in the Nielsens from its premiere until January 3, 1986. The show's ratings reached its peak in mid-1984, unsurprisingly after Michael Larson's run against the Big Board. However, with daytime viewers declining in general, Press Your Luck's numbers began to slip in Summer 1985, when Sale of the Century gained the upper hand in the Nielsen ratings.

On January 6, 1986, CBS relocated Press Your Luck to 12:00 noon ET/11:00 AM CT/PT or 4:00 PM ET/3:00 CT/PT (depending on the local market) to make room for the Bob Eubanks-hosted revival of Card Sharks at 10:30/9:30 AM, replacing the Tom Kennedy-hosted Body Language. This move caused the ratings to decline further and the series ended on July 25 with four weeks of shows left unaired. While a number of CBS affiliates had dropped the show entirely after its timeslot change, some stations in the Eastern Time Zone aired Press Your Luck at 9:30 AM, preceding The $25,000 Pyramid, which it had previously followed.

From July 28 to August 29, CBS aired the 1985 College Week shows followed by episodes from Summer 1984. On September 1, the series returned in first-run to air its last four weeks. The final episode, aired September 26, was not announced as such.

Press Your Luck was the last major network daytime show to air in the 4:00/3:00 time slot, two years after ABC ended its last program (The Edge of Night) and seven years after NBC aired its last show (Hollywood Squares).

Reruns of Press Your Luck aired on the USA Network from September 14, 1987 to October 13, 1995 (with the exception of a brief period from February 6 to April 14, 1995). GSN aired the show from September 1, 2001 to March 29, 2009.

On June 8, 2006, Press Your Luck was featured as the fourth round of Gameshow Marathon on CBS.

The theme used in the show's pilot and console game is titled "Flash", composed by Keith Mansfield, and the series theme is a loosely-based remix composed by Lee Ringuette, but credited to Score Productions. That music later resurfaced in the 2009 video game adaptation.

Notable players

Michael Larson

On an episode aired June 8 and 11, 1984, a self-described unemployed ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson made it onto the show. Watching the show at home and with the use of stop-motion on a VCR, Larson discovered that the presumed random patterns of the game board were not random and was able to memorize the sequences to help him stop the board where and when he wanted. On the single game in which he appeared, an initially tentative Larson spun a Whammy on his very first turn, but then played 45 consecutive spins without hitting a second one. He earned a total of $110,237 in cash and prizes, a record for the most money in cash and prizes won by a player in a single appearance on a daytime network game show. Although this record lasted until 2006 when Vickyann Chrobak-Sadowski won $147,517 in cash and prizes on the Season 35 premiere of The Price Is Right, it still remains the record for highest single-day winnings on a series with returning champions.

Although CBS investigated Larson, they determined that figuring out the patterns was not cheating and let him keep his winnings. The board was subsequently reprogrammed with up to 32 new patterns to help prevent another player from being able to memorize the board like Larson had.

Later, in 1994, TV Guide magazine interviewed Larson and revealed the background of this episode including his decision to pass his remaining spins after he lost concentration and missed his target squares.

The story was told in a two-hour documentary on GSN titled Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal in March 2003. GSN also aired a special rematch edition of Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, featuring the two runners-up from the show, host Tomarken and Michael Larson's brother James (Michael had died of throat cancer in 1999). It is GSN's highest-rated show of all time, the only program to exceed 1 million viewers in a single airing.

In July 2010, Michael's brother James, and his former wife at the time of winning, were interviewed for PRI's This American Life.

Others

Aside from Michael Larson, the show had other notable contestants. Among them were:

• Jenny Jones: Talk show hostess who won $18,706 over the course of three episodes from January 28 to 30, 1985.
• Michael "Myke" Horton: Appeared on the February 6, 1985 episode and lost the game. Horton later became well-known as "Gemini" on the original American Gladiators.
• Steve Bryant: Member of the Houston Oilers football team when he won $16,655 on July 12, 15 and 16, 1985. During the big board rounds, on his turn, he would call for "Big Bucks and no Whammies" (with "Whammies" being yelled for a long period of time). On his second day, Bryant became one of the few players to play "against the house" after both of his opponents were eliminated from the game.
• Ralph Strangis: Later became play-by-play announcer for the Dallas Stars.
• Sam Schmidt: Won $16,350 over the course of three episodes between January 2 to 4, 1985. Went on to become an Indy Racing League driver before an accident paralyzed him and ended his career. Later founded the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.
• Dennis Haskins: Actor who played Principal Richard Belding on the popular television series Saved By the Bell.

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck

In 2002, a revival titled Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck (shortened to Whammy! in 2003) hosted by Todd Newton premiered on Game Show Network. New episodes initially aired through 2003, and reruns continue to air on GSN.

Several changes to the rules and aesthetics of the game were made. No returning champions were on this version, much less cash was available, the board was entirely computerized (as well as redesigned), the first question round was eliminated and (in Season Two) "Big Bank" spaces were added to the board. If a player hit the Big Bank space and answered a trivia question correctly, they won $3,000 plus everything taken away by the Whammy.

International versions

 Australia

The series was presented by Ian Turpie with John Deeks as announcer on Seven from 1987-1988. Grundy Worldwide packaged this version, with Bill Mason as executive producer. This version used the same Whammy animations as the original, as well as a similar set (a Grundy tradition); however, the Big Board used considerably lower dollar values.

 Germany

A version entitled Glück Am Drücker ("Luck at the Push-button") aired on RTLplus in 1992 with Al Munteano was the host. It had vultures instead of Whammies.

Another revival, Drück Dein Glück ("Press Your Luck"), aired daily from 1999-2000 on RTL II with Guido Kellerman hosting. Instead of Whammies, a shark called Hainz "ate" the player's money. This version also had a unique rule where landing a car won the game automatically, regardless of the scores.

 Philippines

GMA Network aired a version entitled Whammy! Push Your Luck, using the same (redubbed) Whammy animations as the 2000s updated American version.

 Taiwan

A version aired on Taiwan Television in 1988 without animated whammies. See also 強棒出擊.

 Turkey

A version called Şansını Dene airs on Kanal D.

 United Kingdom

Sky1 aired the United States version in the mid-1990s.

Another version ran for two series from June 6, 1991 to September 20, 1992 with Paul Coia as host, but only aired in the HTV West ITV region. The series was made on a small budget, using a point-based system with the day's winner receiving £200. This eliminated much of the excitement present in other versions, and declining ratings led to a switch from prime time to Saturday afternoons. When the show returned for a second series in 1992, it was moved to Sunday afternoons.

Episode status

All 757 episodes exist and were purchased by FremantleMedia, who also owns the Goodson-Todman and Reg Grundy libraries. The company will also handle any future revivals (as they did with Whammy!).

Most of the series was rerun by the USA Network; the exceptions were September 1983, April 10-June 11, 1984 (as promotion began of the first home player game, and the home player game included Larson's run), December 16, 1985-January 3, 1986 (promoted its time slot change), and September 1986. CBS and Carruthers only banned the two Michael Larson episodes from being rerun; however, USA took this a step further, not airing any episodes of the first Home Player Sweepstakes the episodes landed in.

Over its eight years of repeats on GSN, the network only aired episodes from February 21, 1984 to November 15, 1985, with a few skips due to tape glitches. From 2001 to 2003, the Larson episodes were banned from airing on GSN until clips were incorporated in Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal – including footage not aired during the original CBS broadcast. Later, the episodes themselves aired on GSN.

Home versions

Video game

In 1988, GameTek released a home computer game of Press Your Luck for IBM PC compatibles and the Commodore 64. Ludia Inc. and Ubisoft released an adaptation (called Press Your Luck - 2010 Edition) on October 27, 2009 for PC, iPad, Nintendo DS and Wii, and on the PS3's PSN download service on August 24, 2010.

DVD game

In 2006, Imagination Entertainment released a DVD TV game with Todd Newton hosting and Peter Kent announcing. The DVD game included three Question Rounds and three Big Board Rounds.

Handheld game

An electronic handheld game was released in 2008.

References

2. The Intelligencer - September 14, 1987
3. The Intelligencer - October 13, 1995
4. The Intelligencer - February 6, 1995
5. The Intelligencer - April 14, 1995
6. The Intelligencer's TV Time - August 26-September 1, 2001
7. The Intelligencer's TV Time - March 29-April 4, 2009
8. "THE DAY THE GAME SHOW GOT WHAMMIED", TV Guide, Nov. 1994
9. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/412/million-dollar-idea
10. Steve Bryant Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com
11. Ralph Strangis' website
12. Press Your Luck: UK Version
13. "Press Your Luck" for DOS
14. "Press Your Luck 2010"
15. Coming Tuesday to PSN: Press Your Luck for PS3
16. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00170LRFE iToys Inc "Press Your Luck" Handheld Game

External links

• Press Your Luck at IMDb

• 1983 television series debuts
• 1986 television series endings
• 1980s American television series
• American game shows
• Australian game shows
• CBS network shows
• English-language television series
• Television series by FremantleMedia
• Television series by CBS Paramount Television