Extraordinary or Fickle Luck On A Game Show

[dmota104]

Here's another good conversation thread...

What's the most memorable moment of luck, good or bad, you've seen on a game show?

Some moments of great luck I've seen are...

\TJW: Hal "Lucky Suit" Shear needing to spin three jokers and answer a question correctly or else his reign as champion is over.  The jokers come through in the clutch and he wins with a correct answer.

\TPiR's Dice Game: Walter wins a $13,455 Mercury Tracer in a 1996 episode.  He wins after they spot him the 1, then he rolls a 3, 4, 5 and another 5 in that order.  In other words, he rolled all the right digits at the right time (see this for yourself at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/8580/dicegame.htm -- no video clip, just a screen grab).


...and now, for some rotten moments...

\CS Money Cards (Perry run): Contestant's first base card is a Jack (sorry, can't think of the player's name).  So, she bets all $200 lower.  Jim flips... (buzz!) ...another Jack.  (No push rule was in effect at the time.)  So, he moves the second Jack up to the $200 spot on the middle row and she does the same thing -- bet 200 lower.  Jim flips over... (buuuuzzzzzzzzz!!! TPiR losing horns minus the first two notes) ... *another* Jack!   Oh, and what's worse, while the suits of the Jacks may have been different, it was otherwise deja vu *all over again*.

\Treasure Hunt '81: Contestant (again, name escapes my memory) keeps $899 at her husband's insistence and inside the box was... the grand prize check of $46,000.  Sure, similar incidents happened during "The New" TH in the '70s.  Since the grand prize always stayed at $25K was never a "progressive jackpot" like TH did in the early '80s, the $46,000 incident supercedes all those others (at least, that's how I see it).


I can think of more memorable and fickle moments of luck.  But, I turn it to the rest of the forum.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'dmota104\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 09:51 AM\'] \CS Money Cards (Perry run): Contestant's first base card is a Jack (sorry, can't think of the player's name).  So, she bets all $200 lower.  Jim flips... (buzz!) ...another Jack.  (No push rule was in effect at the time.)  So, he moves the second Jack up to the $200 spot on the middle row and she does the same thing -- bet 200 lower.  Jim flips over... (buuuuzzzzzzzzz!!! TPiR losing horns minus the first two notes) ... *another* Jack!   Oh, and what's worse, while the suits of the Jacks may have been different, it was otherwise deja vu *all over again*. [/quote]
 I've seen a number of two-card busts (the first on the original was a 4-4-3; the first Bob Eubanks saw was J-K-A), but my contribution to this thread is Risha Golby.  Despite retiring as an undefeated champion in 1979, her seven Money Cards rounds averaged only $825, including king-ace busts on her first two!  On her third attempt, she went double-or-nothing on her first card, a queen, only to turn over another queen (buzz).  Her fourth MC round started the exact same way, with a double-queen bust!  Jim even said the same thing almost verbatum, about losing the play of the next two cards.

Oh yeah, don't forget Toby, the first (and AFAIK only) player to get four in a row in the MC.  As one three after another turned up, that may have been the round that convinced the producers to institute the push rule.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 10:35 AM\'] I've seen a number of two-card busts (the first on the original was a 4-4-3; the first Bob Eubanks saw was J-K-A), but my contribution to this thread is Risha Golby.  Despite retiring as an undefeated champion in 1979, her seven Money Cards rounds averaged only $825, including king-ace busts on her first two!  On her third attempt, she went double-or-nothing on her first card, a queen, only to turn over another queen (buzz).  Her fourth MC round started the exact same way, with a double-queen bust!  Jim even said the same thing almost verbatum, about losing the play of the next two cards.
 [/quote]
 So how much did she walk away with in total?

[ChuckNet]

CS Money Cards (Perry run): Contestant's first base card is a Jack (sorry, can't think of the player's name). So, she bets all $200 lower. Jim flips... (buzz!) ...another Jack. (No push rule was in effect at the time.) So, he moves the second Jack up to the $200 spot on the middle row and she does the same thing -- bet 200 lower. Jim flips over... (buuuuzzzzzzzzz!!! TPiR losing horns minus the first two notes) ... *another* Jack! Oh, and what's worse, while the suits of the Jacks may have been different, it was otherwise deja vu *all over again*.

Was this the unlucky Lois Lambert, who appeared on the show sometime in mid-79?

Treasure Hunt '81: Contestant (again, name escapes my memory) keeps $899 at her husband's insistence and inside the box was... the grand prize check of $46,000. Sure, similar incidents happened during "The New" TH in the '70s. Since the grand prize always stayed at $25K was never a "progressive jackpot" like TH did in the early '80s, the $46,000 incident supercedes all those others (at least, that's how I see it).

Her name was Michelle something, and as they went to commercial, her husband got up and walked out of the studio...I guess he didn't wanna have to face her afterwards. :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[parliboy]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 11:25 AM\'][quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 10:35 AM\']her seven Money Cards rounds averaged only $825[/quote]
So how much did she walk away with in total?[/quote]

(825 + 200) * 7 -- barring any bonuses that might have been in effect

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'parliboy\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 01:21 PM\'] [quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 11:25 AM\'][quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 10:35 AM\']her seven Money Cards rounds averaged only $825[/quote]
So how much did she walk away with in total?[/quote]

(825 + 200) * 7 -- barring any bonuses that might have been in effect [/quote]
 Risha's run predated all bonuses, so her final total was $7,175.

[bandit_bobby]

Here's extreme bad luck: Earlier this season on TPIR in 3 Strikes, someone pulled out the strike chip THREE STRAIGHT TIMES.

[zachhoran]

TPIR(1996): Contestant gambles $5K in Punch a Bunch to win $10K
TPIR(late 90s): Contestant misses first two small prizes in Spelling Bee, then gets the third one exactly one right, winning all three small prizes and all the cards. On his five cards: C-A-R-CAR-CAR(the only player to spell car three times)
All-Star Blitz: Though there was a bit of skill in the Blitz Bonanza round, it required some luck to get the wheel to land on spaces that would give helpful enough clues to solve the puzzle. Two players managed to win all four bonus rounds(four matches was the limit on that show). One of those quartet of wins was a clip du semana on Klauss's legendary tv-gameshows.com theatre. Conversely, two or three players had all four of their spins(not counting the extra spin if they chose to take it) land on the same square.
High Rollers(1988): A contestant wins the Big Numbers, then manages to win all the prizes on the board in the first game of the next match. I think a similar occurrence happens in the 1978 Trebek episode on the trade circuit.
WOF(1985): "Thrill of Victory" round(most people are familiar with the contestant who earned $62,400 in the bank and then could not solve the puzzle with just four letters unrevealed)

[tvrandywest]

PYL 9/29/83:
The returning champ appears to be losing in the 2nd round. The opposing lawyer has the last spins of the game and has a hot streak that brings him over $6,000 ahead of the champ with only one spin left in the whole game. After the successful run the lawyer fears a Whammy is "due" and passes the very last spin to the champ knowing that getting MORE than $6,000 seems impossible with one spin. With the last spin the champ has incredible luck... he lands on a CAR worth over $6,000 and wins!

Replaying the VHS it seems as though the car didn't even appear in that square to the right of "Big Bucks" any other time in the round. The champ wins and the lawyer is so pissed he snarls at the champ and refuses to shake hands with him after the taping!

My all-time favorite moment of extraordinary game show luck!!


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[whewfan]

I wonder whatever happened to that lucky PYL winner? :-)
Didn't he become a porn star or something? (No, that's the OTHER guy) :-)

[Monarx]

It would have been awesome, Randy, if you were in that very studio when that occurrance happened. (wink wink)

Anyway, I liked Mikey Larson's last spin, with over $100,000 riding on a 50/50 chance (the slide changed from $700+a spin to a prize, but it could've been a Whammy.).

[GSWitch]

Here are my favorite lucky moments!

CARD SHARKS (CBS)/HOLLYWOOD SQUARES (John Davidson)/JUST MEN!

All three of these shows had a winning streak of 4 cars in a row won!   The Witch (my mascot) cackled over one of those streaks!

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

December 8, 1988; "Hurricane" Arlene not only wins $10,000 on the Grand Game, but $11,000 on the BONUS SPIN, earning her a BI-SLAM!  She was $800 away from a DOUBLE SHOWCASE that would've earned her a GRAND SLAM!!!

May 3, 2000; "Hurricane" Lilia also gets a BI-SLAM only it was $10,000 on Punch-A-Bunch as well as $11,000 on the wheel!  Another lady also won $11,000 that day on the same Showcase Showdown!  Lilia was way off of a GRAND SLAM by $14,000!

Whoop-whoop-WHOOP!!!   Woo woo woo woo woo!!!  Moe, Larry, The Cheese!  Moe, Larry, The Cheese!

I ALWAYS do the Curly cry when someone gets sirened!

************************************************

Now I'll explain my TPIR terminology.  These are all examples & can be done in any combination, keeping in mind it's strictly for those who play Punch/Grand/Bag/Triple Play!

SEPERATE DOUBLE:  One player wins BOTH SHOWCASES, another player wins $11,000!  I've seen 5 Seperate Doubles, including the Lilia episode!

BI-SLAM:  The SAME contestant winning all three cars on Triple Play & $11,000 on the Wheel (almost happened in Las Vegas!).  That contestant would be upgraded to a HURRICANE (or HIMACANE; 4 men were denied the HIMACANE!).

SEPERATE TRIPLE:  One player winning $16,000 on bag, another player winning $11,000 on the wheel & another player (not the same) winning BOTH SHOWCASES!

GRAND SLAM:  The SAME contestant winning $10,000 on Grand Game, $11,000 on the Wheel AND A DOUBLE SHOWCSE WINNER!  That contestant would be upgraded to an EARTHQUAKE!

[Strikerz04]

*taking an episode from the ''Card Sharks'' Playbook*

If we look back at February 1979, they had this character of the name Tony Geyser (sp?) who had a impressive run of the cards (his first match--he ran the board in G1 Q2, and Ran in G3 Q1). His first trip to the money cards weren't bad (at first), since he managed a good $2400 up to the big bet. However, during that part, he struck bad luck with a DOUBLE 2!!! (thats an insult).

His second match, well, he faced someone who's good, but he managed to get his fix.

His card playing in his second match:
G1 Q1 (5-->4)
G1 Q2 (2-->3--->3)
G1 Q3 (didn't play-his opponent barbara took the game)

and now, Game 2 was a disaster
G2 Q1 (K--K)
G2 Q2 (K--A)
G2 Q3 (K-6-7-A-4) <--he ran it, and everyone laughs and applauds the run! Jim even mentioned "if he keeps it up, he's going to break the bank at the main casino in the black hole of calcutta!"

He was defeated in G3, and his opponent Barbara won $1300 in the 1st MC, won 2-1 in her second match (G3 went all three questions, BTW), and her 2nd MC wasn't that successful:

Jclubs-->Kclubs---Aclubs--->A hearts (so thats a 1st line bust)

(she later makes a move to win $1050 in the MC)

Barbara gets defeated by her opponent Patty, and she goes to the money cards, where she busts on the second level (to what? Double Deuces!!!) She had about $1500 at that point.

So, in closing, double deuces or Aces (or any good card, before the push change) are the kicks to the groin, especially with a high score up to that point.

[GameShowFan]

Regarding ugly Money Cards deals... pull out your episode with the only perfect run ($28,800). Watch the first Money Cards, which involved either a two- or three-card bust because of the no-push rule.

Speaking of ridiculous luck with cards: The only episode of Gambit on the trading circuit has a couple pulling A-A-A-3-5 in an end game.

I also recall an episode of 1990 TJW where a champion trailed by a ton, only to spin $50-$50-JOKER. What caught my eye was the Joker about to leave the window, only to be pulled back to the window as the final position. (Dan Enright, white courtesy phone.) The champ reeled off 4 consecutive answers for a come-from-behind miracle.

Wheel Luck: On the first episode of the 1995-1996 season, a woman in the Blue position got exactly one spin of the wheel -- Lose A Turn. Awful. Two episodes later, the Red player got shut out until the speed-up round. The spin was $5,000, and Red had the turn. He called a letter and caught three of the letter. He solved the puzzle for $15,000 and the win.

'Brian

[ClockGameJohn]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 9 2003, 07:29 PM\']TPIR(late 90s): Contestant misses first two small prizes in Spelling Bee, then gets the third one exactly one right, winning all three small prizes and all the cards. On his five cards: C-A-R-CAR-CAR(the only player to spell car three times)[/quote]
Zach,

Was this contestant for sure a male?  I remember in the mid 90's when a female did the same thing, and I thought it might have happened twice, but not positive.  Just confirming with you.

P.S.  My extraordinary luck came when I was chosen as one of the first four contestants on my first and only trip!  I can't ask for better luck than that!  ;-)