As for the infrequency of winners, I'd say it was cool for the large prize they offered (in 1983). However, I think they could've used a different road to winning, say five straight wins. The "find the code and win!" was just a bit too random IMO.
Agreed. Looking back, maybe there should have been some formula for guessing the number. Let's say the host would read a mathematical question and the code would have been numbers from the answer to that question. Just basically guessing was too much of a stab in the dark.
Having said that, they actually gave away quite a number of houses on that show - I want to say over 25. The show debuted in April 1983, and they had two or three automatic winners (7 shows) before someone finally guessed the right combo in June. After that, they seemed to have a winner or two a month. By fall, they even ran graphics at the beginning of the show stating how much they'd given away (thanks to Matt's "megamix" tape for that!) For the record, they also gave away a house on the show's final episode, with the couple guessing the right combination.
