"Today, these 3 players are after HIGH STAKES/BIG BUCKS! But, they'll have to avoid the WHAMMY as they play the most EXCITING game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood, it's time to..."

"And now, here's your host, the STAR of Press Your Luck..."


PETER TOMARKEN!

HOST: Peter Tomarken
ANNOUNCER: Rod Roddy, John Harlan, Charlie O' Donnell
CHANNEL: CBS
AIRDATES: September 1983 - September 1986
ORIGINATION: CBS Television City
PACKAGER: Carruthers Company Presentations

Press Your Luck was CBS's answer to big money crazes. Sure, The Price is Right was a big money craze, but they mostly give away prizes. Press Your Luck on the other hand doesn't only offer prizes, but high stake money as well, making Press Your Luck a big craze to win some dough.

The Question Round

3 contestantscompete, one a returning champion as long as it's under CBS's cap winning, explained afterwards. Tomarken would toss aquestion to the 3 contestants, and one of them could buzz-in with their response. That response is here-ingiven with 2 other possible choices for the other contestants. A correct buzz-in answer earns 3 spins, correctmultiple choice answer gets one spin. After 4 questions, it's time to take those spins to the big board.

The Big Board

This is where the money and everything really kicks in. The players take their spins to try to win money and prizes along the way. In round 1, player with the fewer spins goes first, to the player in second place of spins, and higher spins plays last. In round 2, player with the least money goes first, and works up from money-winning increments. In case there's a tie in spins or money (depending on whatever round), player on the podium's left goes first. The board consists of 18 squares with a bouncing box, bouncing to whatever square it desires. The players can sometimes chant for money or a prize, and then stop the board by hitting their plunger and yelling, "STOP!" Whatever the box lands on, that player receives. The top money square was square 4 on top of the big board. Round 1's value in that square is $1,000, $1,250 and $1,500 (originally $750, $1,000 and $1,250). Round 2's value had $3,000 + One Spin, $4,000 + One Spin, and$5,000 + One Spin. Squares with cash sometimes had an additional spin attached to them, wheras if a contestant lands on it, they don't only get the money but win an additional chance at the board. If a contestant feels they have enough money to maintain their lead or wish to protect themselves from future references, they can pass their spins to the player with the (next) highest amount of money. If there's a tie in dollars, the contestant decides who gets the spins. There was always a danger side to the game, however. With squares flashing constantly like the bouncing light box, there were also the Whammies. If a contestant happens to comeacross one, CBS would play these awesome animations of the Whammyand then the player's score would be reset to $0. However, if a player accumulates 4 Whammies during the show, they would be eliminated from the game.
After all players have their spins in the first round, whoever is in the lead gets the advantage of playing last in the final round, and another question round is sustained. Whoever is in the lead at the end of the second board round wins the game, keeps their money and prizes, and comes back to play again on the next show, until they go 5 days or cap CBS's limit, which was at $25,000, later increased to $50,000, and then $75,000 respectively.

-Press Your Luck was a remake of its predecessor, Second Chance hosted by Jim Peck. That board was stationary and the light bounced even quicker. The show lasted only 13 weeks on ABC, and the reels were destroyed due to compliances and practices back then.
-The "Whammy" was creatved by "Savage" Steve Holland, a man involved in television
-Over its 4-year span, Press Your Luck met many great contestants, like Maggie Brown, who appeared on the pilot, as well as a future contestant with a different last name.

-Other memorable contestants were Michael McSweeney, Rick Perrie, Lana Jones (on the premiere episode), Scott Hostetler, Karen Martin, and plenty others. But, none could top the next person.
-Press Your Luck's board was not completely random. When the show aired, they began with 5 different patterns on the board, which means visiting one square every pattern. Sooner or later, someone was bound to figure it out, and that's exactly what happened.
-In May 1984, Michael Larson, an unemployed ice cream truck driver of Lebanon, OH came to California to play PYL. However, he was no ordinary contestant. He got passed the auditions, despite supervisor Bobby Edwards had a bad feeling about Larson. Larson's 2 opponents were champion, Ed Long, a Baptist minister with $11,516, and newcomer Janie Litras, a dental assistant today known as Janie Litras-Dakan. Janie also had a bad vibe about Larson, and true to their word, they were right. Larson took his spins to the board, and managed to land on squares 4 and 8, the big money squares that also seemed to offer spins. Larson racked up $110,237, though CBS tried to disqualify him because they felt he cheated. He got his money fair and square, but lost it to real estate ventures, especially $50,000 in a Christmas robbery. Larson passed away on February 16th, 1999 from throat cancer. This video is a cap of proof of exactly what he did:

Larson's story was made into a documentary that aired on GSN, with Janie and Ed returning, people of the Press Your Luck staff, including Peter Tomarken, Michael's brother James Larson, and Michael's common law ex-wife, Teresa DeWitty.
-Bill Carruthers was the man behind Press Your Luck, and was the one to admit Larson into the game. He was also behind Second Chance, the original make of Press Your Luck. Carruthers died one month after taping for Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal. The first airing of the documentary held a plaque at the end of the show to give respects to him and his creation.
-Also during PYL's tenure, they held certain contests. One great contest was the Home Player Sweepstakes, in which there were 3 different tenures of it. Home viewers could send in postcards to CBS. In round 2 of the respected sweepstake, players could draw postcards for the home viewers. One spin was designated the "Home Player Spin" and when it came to that spin, alarms would go off and the contestant would read the name on the postcard. And whatever the contestant landed on, that home viewer would get as well. However, if the player lands on a Whammy, the home viewer receives $500 right out of the Whammy's own pocket. And if the contestants hits money plus a spin, the home viewer would receive just the money. The other people on the unplayed postcards would receive a Whammy T-shirt. In the 3rd and final tenure, the game was played in 25 different shows, as the others were just 20 shows. All 75 home viewers' postcards would be put in a giant fishbowl and mixed up. The day's champion then pulled out one of the postcards and then the board would turn into an all-cash board. Whatever the champion landed on, the value would be multiplied by the accumulated number of spins in the second round. The win went to Ed Kolzac of Portage, IN. The champion landed on $2,000, and the number of spins accumulated in round 2 was 18, so Ed Kolzac earned $36,000 from the CBS Home Player Sweepstakes Spin.
-Although Peter Tomarken hosted other shows, like Hit Man earlier in the year, as well as futurely Wipeout, Paranoia, and the ill-fated horrible show, Bargain Hunters (which Peter called "a piece of ****"), Press Your Luck was the show he was most associated with and where a lot of people remember him hosting. Sad fate that on March 13th, 2006, Peter and his second wife Kathleen died in a plane crash while flying to pick up a patient to fly to UCLA Medical Center, when Tomarken reported engine trouble, and their plane crashed in the ocean off the coast of Santa Monica Bay. Neither Peter nor Kathleen survived. Peter is today buried in Culver City.
-Despite there have been substitutes, especially Charlie O' Donnell from Wheel of Fortune, the main announcer for this show was RodRoddy, which he did before he began wearing his flashy suits while announcing The Price is Right. Roddy died in October 2003 from cancer, and after passing, Craig Kilborn's Late Late Show paid respects to him, as seen in this video posted by tvfavorites:

-USA re-aired the show for 8 years in its tenure. And off and on, GSN would air the reruns of PYL, though not achieving the rights to the 1983, early 1984, late 1985 and all 1986 shows.

This show is a historical show, filled with excitement, fun, and danger at every turn. Though some may not like Press Your Luck (one of them includes game show veteran host, Chuck Woolery), I really did. The Whammy animations were ones that drew attention, and I must say that "Savage" Steve Holland really did outdo himself in one of the most memorable creations of all time. The show was one for the record books, as it gave away even more money than another show could besides prizes. Michael Larson proved the show did have a weak point, and God rest his soul. He deserved every penny. Bill Carruthers, may he rest in peace too as he made a great creation we all adored. Rod Roddy, though I recognize him more on TPIR, I miss him too. ANd to let you all know, I was in school when I learned of Peter's death. Peter was a great man, a great host, and a big legend to us all. But overall, this show is given my great respects and best. This was an AWESOME show!

5 stars

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