Games - Break the Bank

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	Games - Break the Bank

Break the Bank is a title that has been used for three entirely separate American game shows throughout television history.

The First Version

The first (and arguably best-known) of these series was a long-running quiz show which aired variously on ABC, CBS and NBC from 1949 through 1957. It began on radio, and generally had Bert Parks as a host. Bud Collyer co-hosted from 1948 through 1953.

The show was always one of the highest-paying quiz shows. The ultimate goal was $250,000, although no one ever won that amount during the run of the show. Even in the early days, though, contestants routinely won $10,000, a large amount during that period. Contestants were drawn from the studio audience. The contestant chose a category of questions to be asked, and received more money for each question answered correctly.

At one time, singer/actress Ethel Waters appeared on the show, and won $10,000 to pay her back taxes.

1976-77

The Break the Bank title was revived in 1976 as part of a celebrity-driven game show that, aside from the name, had virtually no connection to the previous series. This Break the Bank debuted on ABC April 12, 1976 with Tom Kennedy as host, running until July 23 of that year. The show then jumped to syndication on September 18, and ran until September 11, 1977. Jack Barry, co-producer of this show with partner Dan Enright, hosted the syndicated series. It was the first game show produced by the new Barry & Enright Productions. Barry wore tinted eyeglasses during the syndicated series, mainly due to the strong lighting in the studio which hurt his eyes; the only time he would be seen with eyeglasses in his career.

On this Break the Bank, nine celebrity panelists sat on the edges of a 4x5 trilon gameboard, so that each space on the board connected to two different celebrities. Two contestants, one man playing against one woman and playing in turn, called out numbered gameboard spaces from 1-20, which were then turned around to reveal either money ($100, $200, or $300), a money bag, a wild card (indicated by the "W" on a rainbow background), or an empty space. After the reveal, if it was a money space or wild card, the two celebrities "attached" to that space were posed a question by the host. Both gave different responses; one was giving the correct answer, the other was bluffing. The contestant's job was to pick the celebrity that gave the correct answer. Doing so put the player's symbol in that box (a moustache for the male contestant, or painted lips for the female contestant) and the right to pick again; if not, the space was covered back up and control passed to the opponent. Later in the run, the space was given to the opponent.

If the space contained a money bag, no question was asked, instead the player was given the option to claim it, or to give it up and select another number. If claimed, the player's symbol was placed in that box and control passed to his/her opponent. Blank spaces automatically ended a player's turn, while wild cards could be used as a match for any dollar amount on the board.

The board configuration was naturally different with each game, but always adhered to these rules: The $100, $200, and $300 spaces always connected to each other along one side (no diagonals), although two different amounts did not necessarily have to connect. Money bags and blank spaces were never adjacent to each other, although a money bag could be next to a blank. Wild cards could be anywhere. Each board contained three each of the three dollar amounts, five money bags, five blanks, and one wild card. On the syndicated show, the $200 boxes were upped in value to $500.

The object of the game was for the player to uncover and earn three like dollar amounts (winning that amount), or to "break the bank" by finding and claiming three money bags. The bank started at $5,000 and increased by $500 (later $250) for each game until won. On the syndicated version, the bank was always worth $10,000 in prizes.

The ABC version had a straddling format meaning that a few contestants can fit into one show, and games had to be stopped when time ran out in the show and had to be completed on next day's show. The syndicated version was self-contained, for two players competed for the entire show with multiple games per show and whomever broke the bank first or won the most games becomes champion & plays the bonus round. If time ran short in the middle of a game, both contestants alternate turns with no questions being asked and the first player to get three of anything wins.

The Bonus Game

The ABC version featured no endgame, but one was added for the syndicated series. Here, the winner chose celebrities, each of whom concealed a different dollar amount. One of them, however, was holding a "BUST" card, which lost all bonus round winnings. The player could stop at any time and keep the bonus round winnings. Accumulating $2,000 or more before finding the "bust" card augmented the player's bonus round winnings to $5,000.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Break the Bank ]

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