Press Your Luck
| Press Your Luck | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by |
Bill Carruthers Jan McCormack |
| Directed by | Bill Carruthers Rick Stern |
| Presented by | Peter Tomarken |
| Narrated by | Rod Roddy |
| Theme music composer | Lee Ringuette |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 758 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bill Carruthers |
| Producer(s) | Bill Mitchell |
| Location(s) |
CBS Television City Hollywood, California |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | The Carruthers Company |
| Distributor | FremantleMedia |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | 480i SDTV |
| Original release | September 19, 1983 – September 26, 1986 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Second Chance (1977) |
| Followed by | Whammy! (2002–03) |
Press Your Luck is an American television daytime game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on CBS on September 19, 1983 and ended on September 26, 1986. In the show, contestants 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 highest total in cash and prizes kept his/her winnings and became the champion. 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. Press Your Luck was videotaped before a studio audience at CBS Television City, Studios 33 and 43, in Hollywood, California. The show was a revival of the earlier Carruthers production Second Chance, which was hosted by Jim Peck and aired on ABC during 1977.
The show was known for the "Whammy", a red cartoon creature with a high-pitched voice. Landing on any of the Whammy's spaces on the game board reset the contestant's score to zero, accompanied by an animation that showed the Whammy taking the loot, but frequently being chased away, blown up, or otherwise humiliated in the process. The Whammys were created and animated by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp, and voiced by Carruthers. Approximately 85 different animations were used.
Three contestants competed on each episode, usually a returning champion and two new challengers.
Each game began with a trivia round where the contestants tried to earn spins, which was then used on the show's gameboard, referred to as the Big Board. A question was posed to the contestants, who tried to be the first to buzz in with a correct answer. Once a contestant gave an answer, his/her opponents were given a choice of that answer or two additional answers provided by Tomarken and selected one. If the contestant that buzzed in with the answer gave the correct one, he/she earned three spins. A correct multiple choice answer was worth one spin. If none of the three contestants buzzed in with an answer within five seconds, three answers were given to the contestants and they earned one spin each if they chose correctly. If a contestant buzzed in but failed to give an answer, that contestant was locked out of the question and it was treated the same way as if nobody had buzzed in.
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