Card Sharks, Jim Perry

"Ace is high! Deuce is low! Call it right, and win the dough! On..."

"And, here's the host of Card Sharks..."

JIM PERRY!

HOST: Jim Perry
ANNOUNCER: Gene Wood, Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, Charlie O' Donnell, Jack Narz, Jay Stewart
AIRDATES: April 24th, 1978 - October 23rd, 1981
PACKAGERS: Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Prod.
CHANNEL: NBC

Card Sharks is a card game of skill and strategy, where you could win a fortune on the turn of a single card

MAIN GAME

Two players

competed, one a returning champion. Each player has a giant deck of 52 playing cards, shuffled and cut before taping begins. The champion plays the red cards

on the upper tier, while the challenger plays the blue deck on the lower tier. Each tier can hold up to 5 cards. To win control to play them, the players must answer a high/low toss-up question, based on a

poll of 100 people that judges human nature. A designated player tries to think of how many people answered that according to the question, while their opponent says

higher or lower, hoping the actual

number is their answer. Whoever has the right prediction goes on to play their cards first, with Ace being the high card, the Deuce being the low card. The winner of the question has the right to change their card if they feel unsafe about it, though they have to play it. That player can continue calling cards across, hoping the next

card is higher or lower than the one that precedes it, and when they come across to a card they're unsure of, they can freeze and protect their position. The risk here is that if they make an incorrect call (even with a push), they

lose the cards all the way to the base card. When that happens, their opponent tries out their cards, but cannot change the base card because they didn't win the question. If the one who won control freezes, their opponent cannot play the cards and another question is played. The fourth question is a "Sudden Death" question, where someone has to win on that play of the cards. This means that if the one who plays the cards makes one wrong call, the game goes to their opponent. Every game won is worth $100, and it takes 2 games to win the match. If both players win a game, they go to a tiebreaker, where there are only 3 questions played with 3 cards. The first player to win 2 games wins the match and becomes the champion.

MONEY CARDS

The champion now has a chance to win a lot of money with the money cards. The first 2 levels

hold up to 4 cards, though 3 are dealt at the start, and the top tier holds 2 cards, though one is dealt. The player is given $200

and has the choice to change their base card if they wish. They continue

calling "higher" or "lower", hoping that it's right. Doing so wins the bet, while incorrect ones lose the bet. Minimum bets are $50. When the contestant gets to the second level, another $200 is added. Once the winner makes their way to the top tier called the "Big Bet", they must bet at least half of the money that they've won. "Bust"ing can happen as well, when a contestant loses all their money in the Money Cards. If that happens on the bottom tier, they're moved up to the second level to start all over again, but not playing the possible remaining cards on the bottom level. However, if a contestant busts

anywhere on the second level or Big Bet, the game ends immediately and no additional money is won. The maximum amount of money that can be won in the Money Cards was $28,800, which was won ONCE! Pushes meant they

lost the bet. Champions could play for seven matches

NORMA BROWN

Norma Brown came to Card Sharks against Diana Jared, who lost in the Money Cards on the second tier (A-A), and beat her 2-0, making a call higher than a 10, which WON in the first game of the match! Norma went to the Money Cards, and shot the works from $200 to $400, to $800, to $1,600. She then got $200 on the second tier, taking her to $1,800. She doubled it to $3,600, then got $7,200, and finally got to $14,400. The right call on the Big Bet netted her the big

win of $28,800! She lasted

until the next day, when she won an additional $3,200 on the Money Cards and lost in the following match. She left with $32,200.

RULE CHANGES

A few weeks into the run, Card Sharks added a stipulation that you can change the base card on every level. A few months later, a Money Cards stipulation was that if you made a push, it was not considered a win, but no considered a loss, so they kept the same total (this probably was because a contestant uncovered all four 3s in the deck, in a ROW!!). And then later, a $500 stipulation was added if you could sweep the main board at once. You also won $500 if you could nail an answer on the nose

THE FINALE

On October 23rd, 1981 after many time changes and then being placed in the noon death slot after 864 shows, Card Sharks with Jim Perry left the airwaves. Prior to the first commercial break, Jim said he introduced his children, Sean and Erin during the run, but never introduced his lovely bride, June. She closed it out to the commercial (we would not get to see June again until the Sale of the Century finale in 1989). After the last Money Cards, right after the new challenger was brought in, Jim said that because time was short, whoever won the match would win $5,000, and as a buzzer sounded into question 3 of the match, every question became Sudden Death. As the show closed, the entire staff was shown on camera while Jim stepped out of the way for them. And also, Gene Wood was shown on camera to say, "This is Gene Wood, speaking for Card Sharks, a Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Production.

"This is (announcer) speaking for Card Sharks..."

-The first of the two pilots of Card Sharks had game show pilot contestant, Jack Campion. Jack had appeared on the pilots for Jeopardy!, Press Your Luck, Second Chance and many others. The second pilot had a $28,800 win, though in pilots, no one wins what was shown
-Jim Perry

was noted as a singer as well. He also is noted for hosting Definition in Canada. After hosting Card Sharks, he would be back on NBC hosting Sale of the Century for 6 years, and after it was cancelled, he retired from hosting altogether. His son, Sean resides in California with his wife and children, while daughter Erin now lives in Europe as a singer and songwriter. Jim has appeared in a few infomercials, and was last seen on public television in the late 90s to discuss one of his books. June also operates her own pottery gallery. Jim and June Perry celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 29th, 2009 and divide their time in-between their residences in Florida and North Carolina
-Gene Wood was the voice of most of the Goodson/Todman library, including the 1980s revival of Card Sharks, but is probably a more-noted announcer for Family Feud, which is probably where the concept came for the polls of Card Sharks. Wood also announced Family Challenge with Ray Combs, and no longer announced it when Combs commited suicide and Michael Burger became the new host. Wood died in 2004

Click HERE to advance to the 1980s revival of Card Sharks