Games - Press Your Luck

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	Games - Press Your Luck

Press Your Luck was an American television game show where contestants collected "spins" by answering trivia questions, and then used the "spins" on a 18-space gameboard loaded with cash and prizes. The person who amassed the most in cash and prizes at the end of the game won.

The show was most memorable for the "Whammy," a red cartoon creature of indeterminate species wearing a cape. The Whammy's spaces on the game board took away the contestant'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. Throughout the show's run, approximately 60 different animations were used, with new ones being added from time to time.

Broadcast history

Press Your Luck ran from September 19, 1983, to September 26, 1986, on CBS. Peter Tomarken hosted the show, and Rod Roddy was the regular announcer (John Harlan and Charlie O'Donnell substituted on separate occasions).

Press Your Luck replaced Child's Play
on the CBS schedule. It ran at 10:30 AM EST between The $25,000 Pyramid
and The Price is Right for its first two and a half years, but on January 6, 1986, it was moved to 4:00 PM EST to make room for Card Sharks
, replacing Body Language
. CBS gave that time slot back to its local affiliates after canceling the show (several affiliates were already preempting the 4 PM hour with syndicated programming anyway by that point). Reruns of Press Your Luck have aired on the USA Network from 1987 to 1995 and on GSN since 2001.

The original incarnation of Press Your Luck was the short-lived game show Second Chance
, which aired on ABC in 1977 with Jim Peck hosting.

On April 15, 2002, GSN brought a new updated version of the series as Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck; Todd Newton hosted the show, which was in production for two seasons.

In 2006 Press Your Luck will be among the seven game shows that will make up Game Show Marathon, which will air on CBS. Ricki Lake will serve as host for this seven-week run program in which PYL will be used as one of the shows she will emcee.

The game

Three contestants compete on each episode of Press Your Luck. The game consists of two rounds. A round started with a question session, each with four questions. Contestants could buzz in, and if they got the answer right on the buzz in, they earned three spins (none if wrong). The other two contestants could answer using multiple choice (the first contestant's answer plus two others being offered) and, if right, earn one spin. Up to 20 spins could be earned per question session among all three players, the maximum an individual player could earn being 12.

The second part of a round was the spinning portion. Contestants now used spins earned in the question session on the "Big Board" which consisted of 18 windows (each containing 3 slide projectors, for a total of 54 possible spaces) arranged inside the perimeter of a 6x5 unit rectangle. The contestants took their spins in inverse order of the number of spins they had earned answering questions; if two contestants earned the same number of spins, the player seated further on the left from Peter Tomarken's desk would spin first. Contestants used their buzzers to stop the board.

The contents of the spaces on the "Big Board" changed every few seconds (alternating among the three possibilities per square), as well as the highlighted square (which bounced around as well). Most game spaces contain either money, a prize (the dollar amount of which would accrue to the contestant's score), or a Whammy. Some special spaces had a money amount '+ 1 Spin' (meaning, in practical terms, the spin being used wasn't lost), and others worked as 'go back/advance two spaces', 'move one space' (to either side, which the contestant would then choose) or 'pick a corner'. One special space, added about midway through the show's run, was known as "Add-A-One." This space—which appeared in the first spinning round only—would place a "1" in front of the contestant's pre-existing total (that is, $0 became $10, but $1,000 became $11,000). The second round had a space marked "Double Your Money," and hitting it did just that; to solve the obvious problem created by contestants landing on this space when they had no money at all due to a recent Whammy, this was changed to "Double Your Money + 1 Spin." In addition, both rounds featured a space bearing the legendary "Big Bucks." When hit, it awarded the contestant the dollar amount found directly opposite it on the board, which contained the highest cash awards in that round (hence its name). In the first round this would be either $750 (on the pilot episode), $1,000, $1,250 or $1,500 (replaced $750 from the 1st episode on), and in the second round it would be either $3,000 + 1 Spin, $4,000 + 1 Spin, or $5,000 + 1 Spin. It was the existence of this space that resulted in Press Your Lucks now-famous contestant "battle cry" of "Big Bucks, no Whammies!" or some variant thereof.
[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Press Your Luck ]

Games - Press Your Luck

Broadcast history

The game

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