The Magnificent Marble Machine

"And now, here's the man who runs the Magnificent Marble Machine..."

ART JAMES!

Click HERE to download the .RA format of the show's theme

HOST: Art James
ANNOUNCER: Johnny Gilbert
CHANNEL: NBC
AIRDATES: July 7th, 1975 - March 12th, 1976
PACKAGERS: Merrill Heatter/Bob Quigley Productions
THEME CONDUCTOR: Mort Garson

Image of the entire set of The Magnificent Marble Machine with a game in progress

The Magnificent Marble Machine was a game show based off of pinball, and the lucky winner gets to do just that with a giant pinball machine.

THE MAIN GAME

Two contestants competed (one a returning champion), each paired with a celebrity partner. The host would reveal the number of letters

in the answer, and the clue would scroll across the top

of the marquee screen. Sometimes, host James would say part of the clue, and the rest of it being scrolled. Once the entire clue was centered, if no one buzzed in with the right answer, one letter

would be shown at random until someone buzzed in with the right answer, which gave them one

point. Buzz-ins alternated between the contestants and the celebrities, and the ones that couldn't buzz-in could not help. If one side was incorrect, the clue would be centered and the first letter would be revealed. The first team to reach 5 points

would win the game and go on to play the magnificent marble machine.

THE MAGNIFICENT MARBLE MACHINE

The winning contestant paired with his/her respected celebrity would now play the pinball

machine twice, alternating between the plunger and the flippers. The one controlling the plunger

would release the silver pinball into the machine and work that side of the flipper

while their partner controlled the other. The aim was to score as many points as possible, and also hit the 7 numbered bumpers, which won

a prize. Bumpers 2 and 3 had to be hit respectively to win a big prize along with it. After a time of 60 seconds, the flippers would stop responding, though the pinball would remain in effect until it fell in one of the two "out holes" in the machine, one at the bottom and one in the center. The "out holes" were also in effect while the clock was ticking.

THE MONEY BALL

In the early days of The Magnificent Marble Machine, if the contestant scored enough points

by hitting the bumpers and anything that makes a sound, host James would insert the gold

pinball (a.k.a. Money Ball) into the machine

and let the contestant score $200 for anything that made a sound (eventually, $500 for the bumpers). To score the gold money ball, the contestant had to hit the score goal

with the silver ball. The goal started at 15,000 points, and decreased by 1,000 points for every return visit. Eventually, the goal started at 13,000 points. But later on, the point lights were covered and the contestants only played for prizes, dropping money out of the situation

In the last days of Marble, celebrities played for home viewers while someone from the audience played the bonus round, demising the show for good.

FACTS:
-Mort Garson did all the music cues for The Magnificent Marble Machine. He also did music cues for other Heatter/Quigley shows like Gambit and Battlestars. Outside that, he was an electronic musician, more prominently known for Moog synthesizers. He died on January 4th, 2008 at the age of 83.
-Art James

was a well-decorated host. He hosted such shows like Blank Check, Pay Cards, Temptation, but was more well-known for hosting Ron Greenberg's Who, What, Where Game, which futurely became The Challengers in 1990. Art was also involved with the Say When! blooper when promoting Peter Pan peanut butter, when the knife fell through the empty jar and onto the studio floor. James died of natural causes while visiting his brother on March 27th, 2004
-The Magnificent Marble Machine is one of two shows that didn't involve Heatter/Quigley announcer, the late Kenny Williams. The other was Temptation!, also hosted by James. Williams did not announce these two shows, because he was putting in 17 and a half hours of announcing a week. Instead, Johnny Gilbert (announcer of Supermarket Sweep and Jeopardy!) announced this show.
-The episodes of The Magnificent Marble Machine are believed to be destroyed, although two episodes remain in tact, including episode 4 where someone got to play the Money Ball for the first time in the show's short-lived history with celebrities Florence Henderson and the late Roddy McDowell
-Ratings were never good for the show, since viewers and critics panned the show. Soap operas on CBS and other shows on ABC and the game show, Showoff! easily defeated this show, even when it returned in 1976 when the format was revised to a more worse format with the celebrities playing for home viewers.

MY RATINGS:
I grew up playing pinball, so when I heard there was a game show on that, I was like "What?!" I first read about this show on Loogslair, and I was confused for a moment or two because I thought the answer was scrolling somewhere on the screen, but when I saw the clips, I had obviously misread the rules. The music definitely sounds like a circus theme, and I think that sorta fits. Art James, albeit not the star of the show, but the man who RUNS the magnificent marble machine, was a well-decorated host. When I spoke of this show on Game Show Temple LIVE!, I was told the show was kinda panned because the main game format didn't quite click with the others, though I found it to be an all-right twist, like I found a good twist in reversing answers to definitions on the 90s version of The Joker's Wild (if only they didn't do the cash, then they probably would've lasted longer, but that's a different rulesheet). When I look at this show, I see a very underrated show that deserved a better chance, but they shouldn't have removed the money ball late in the run. I think that's what killed the show even more.

3.5 stars

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