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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Press Your Luck

On Sept 19,1983 one of the greatest gameshows in history premiered.  The name of the gameshow I'm talking about is Press Your Luck which was on CBS.  This game was hosted by Peter Tomarken who is one of the greatest gameshow hosts ever in my book.   Contestants competed for cash and prizes.  The object of course was to have the highest total at the end of the game.   Press Your Luck consisted of a question round which had four questions.  In these four questions a contestant could buzz in and if given the correct answer would earn 3 spins while the players who didn't buzz in answered correctly earned 1 spin.  If none of the answer buzzed in a buzzer would sound and the host would provide three choices.  This would mean that a contestant would only earn 1 spin if correct.  After the 4 trivia questions were done then the players would get to take there spins and play on a big giant board that had 18 squares.   When the big board round started the player with the least amount of spin would go first.  If there was a tie the player at the farthest to the left would go first.  All players use there spins in one turn.  Each time a player can choose to press his or her luck or pass his or her spins.  Passing your spins sometimes brought interesting strategy espeically if your opponent has three whammies.   Usually you would hear during a spin big bucks no whammies stop.  If a player got four whammies they were out of the game.  In the first round the highest amount on the board was $1,500.  In the second round the highest was $5,000 and a spin.  You can now play Press Your Luck on PC, wii or handheld.  I wish they had it on XBOX 360, PS3 and PS2.  If there was a revival for Press Your  Luck and I think there should be here is how I think it should be done.  The question rounds stay the same.  The big board is what's different.  The first round the top three amounts are $5,000, $3,500 and $2,000 on big bucks.  In the second round the top three amounts are $10,000 and a spin, $7,500 and a spin and $5,000 and a spin.  Unlike the classic version players stay on until they lose.  I personally think that in spite it was on CBS.  NBC should try and do this show and get Jimmy Fallon to host it.  If CBS were to revive this they should get Mark L. Walberg or Todd Newton to host it.   One of the greatest moments in Press Your Luck happened in 1984.  Contestant Michael Larson memorized random pattern on the big game board and ended up taking home $110,237 in cash and prizes.  He hit a whammy on his first spin and then for the next 45 spins he didn't hit a whammy.  He kept hitting big bucks alot and prizes.  CBS investigated Michael Larson because they thought he might have cheated.  Later they found out he didn't and he got to keep his winnings.  Press Your Luck to me is and will always be one of the best gameshows of all time.  CBS should revive this and put it on in the mornings or after Let's Make a Deal.