Seven Keys (game show)

Seven Keys
Host Jack Narz with twin contestants.
Genre	Game Show
Presented by	Jack Narz
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	KTLA (1960–1961, 1964–1965) ABC (1961–1964)
Original release	September 12, 1960 – January 15, 1965

Seven Keys is an American game show hosted by Jack Narz and based on Snakes and Ladders that aired from September 12, 1960 to January 15, 1965 on KTLA and ABC.

The first KTLA series is one of the few non-syndicated television game shows to air daily in nighttime. The ABC version aired in daytime.

One contestant attempted to advance along a 70-square board by identifying the pictures on certain squares. The contestant hit a button to stop a spinning dial and moved the number of spaces shown, from 1 to 10.

The content of the boards varied. Some had pictures of celebrities and others had word puzzles. One board required the contestant to determine which celebrity in a pair was missing, while another dealt with the United States and their capitals.

Each stop took one turn, and contestants had 15 turns to get to the last square, kept track of by a counter on top of the board. If they answered a question incorrectly, they went back to the last safe square reached. If a question was landed on more than once, it was treated as a free move.

Reaching the final space earned one of the "Seven Keys", each of which corresponded to a particular lock that a prize was behind. Six of the keys unlocked various smaller prizes while one unlocked a large prize package that changed with each new contestant. Unlike Chutes & Ladders, contestants were not required to reach the final space by exact count.

Contestants could stop at any point and take any keys accumulated and whatever prizes they opened (including the grand prize, if that key was collected). If the contestant failed to reach the final square within fifteen turns they lost all of their earned keys.

Between the first and second games of the day, home viewers had the chance to play for a $1,000 mink stole. Viewers sent in postcards with their name, address, and the key they would like to use, from 1 to 7. If any of these three elements were missing, the card was rendered void and another was picked.

Once a properly-filled postcard was selected, host Narz moved over to a board showing, much like the main game, seven keys and their respective locks. Narz would show the card to the camera, then select the key specified by the home viewer and try to unlock the stole. If unlocked, the stole would be sent to the home viewer; otherwise, Narz would continue trying to open locks until the one associated with the key was found, with that prize being sent to the home viewer. After the prize was described, Narz would show the audience which key was the correct one and unlock the mink stole as proof.