Games - Second Chance

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	Games - Second Chance

Second Chance was an ABC game show that aired from March 7 to July 15, 1977. It is considered to be the predecessor to the CBS game show Press Your Luck
. Jim Peck was the host, and Jay Stewart was the announcer.

Gameplay was relatively the same as Press Your Luck, two question rounds and two game play rounds.

Rules

Question round

In the question round, Peck read a question to the three contestants. The players then wrote their answers on a board, and placed them on a shelf at the front of their podium.

Peck then hinted as to how well the contestants did (e.g., "One or more of you may be correct"), then - after giving three possible answers - gave the contestants a "second chance" to supply the correct answer.

If a contestant was correct with his/her original answer, he/she earned three spins to use in the second half of the round, while a correct "second chance" answer earned one spin.

Three questions were played; the most spins any one contestant could earn was 12.

Board round

Each contestant used his accumulated spins on the big board, an 18-space gameboard consisting of various prize and cash spaces and "devil" spaces; the prize spaces were denoted by wrapped gift boxes. During each spin, a lighted cursor would rapidly move about the board at random. The contestant would stop the light by hitting a plunger.

One of three outcomes were possible:

Cash: The value was added to the player's bank.
Prize box: A photograph of a prize was displayed, and its value added to the player's bank.
Devil: The contestant lost all his/her winnings to that point.

Just as in Press your Luck, a contestant could pass any of his/her remaining spins to one of his opponents (usually, it was the contestant in the lead), if he/she feared the next spin would result in landing on the "devil." A contestant who had spins given to him/her were required to use them, unless he/she landed on a "devil" (in which case all remaining spins went into the earned column and could be passed).

As is the case with Press Your Luck, any player that got four devils in the same game was eliminated from the game. His/her remaining spins went unclaimed.

The cash and prize values were more expensive in the second round. Prizes in the first round were generally under $500; second round items included rooms of furniture, furs, trips and cars.

The player with the most amount of cash and prizes at the end of the second round won the game and kept all of his/her cash and prizes. The two remaining contestants go home with only consolation prizes.

Episode status

This show only lasted four months before it was cancelled. It is rumored that all episodes from this series have been destroyed. The only known episode to exist is the third pilot program, taken in 1976 (and has been highly valued on the tape-trading circuit).

Sources

Ryan, Steve, David Schwartz and Fred Wostbrock. "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows," 3rd edition, Checkmark Books, New York, 1999.

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