Author Topic: PYL's big board (Read 8181 times)

Bryce L. · « **on:** December 21, 2010, 03:42:21 AM »

There is a Yahoo user who I have spoken with, who claims to have inside contacts with someone at Television City, and he says he is trying to build a replica of the Press Your Luck game board. I, for what it's worth, am not making this up. However, I have reason to doubt the veracity of his claims. Does CBS (or any other network, for that matter) grant permission to access props from old shows to the general public? My instinct is that this guy's full of it, but I could be wrong...

chris319 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2010, 07:52:44 AM »

The Press Your Luck game board from the '80s is long gone so there's nothing for him to access. Perhaps the plans are still around. One wonders if this guy knows what he's getting into with the sheer size of it, the array of projectors, custom control electronics, etc.

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2010, 11:28:49 AM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'252926\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 07:52 AM\']The Press Your Luck game board from the '80s is long gone so there's nothing for him to access. Perhaps the plans are still around. One wonders if this guy knows what he's getting into with the sheer size of it, the array of projectors, custom control electronics, etc.[/quote]
I do recall around the time when the Press Your Luck movie was being bandied about at the beginning of the decade that Ed Flesh, the designer of the board, was quoted as saying he was digging out his blueprints for them to rebuild the board. That is the person your friend would need to get in touch with, if possible.

Tyshaun

/still, goodluckwiththat

WarioBarker · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2010, 02:53:28 PM »

[quote name=\'Bryce L.\' post=\'252920\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 03:42 AM\']There is a Yahoo user who I have spoken with, who claims to have inside contacts with someone at Television City, and he says he is trying to build a replica of the Press Your Luck game board.[/quote]
Is he wanting to make it full-size? If so, he should look at the Gameshow Marathon episode as an example of how not to do it; the squares were rather small and the "slides" hard to read, despite using the same frontal shot for each spin as the 1980s.

If the man's serious about replicating the Big Board and its many slides (even if it's a scale model), I wish him nothing but success. Who knows, this endeavor may just get people in power to start thinking about a revival -- even if it's just an "unauthorized" attempt like What's My Line? On Stage originally was.

dazztardly · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2010, 04:25:06 PM »

[quote name=\'Bryce L.\' post=\'252920\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 03:42 AM\']There is a Yahoo user who I have spoken with, who claims to have inside contacts with someone at Television City, and he says he is trying to build a replica of the Press Your Luck game board. I, for what it's worth, am not making this up. However, I have reason to doubt the veracity of his claims. Does CBS (or any other network, for that matter) grant permission to access props from old shows to the general public? My instinct is that this guy's full of it, but I could be wrong...[/quote]

The only elements that I know exists from the old show, is the console that operated the board, and the video source of the whammy animatics. Everything else was scrapped for parts, or given away as souveniers when the show first went off the air.

If he wants to attempt a replica of the big board right down to the original hardware, he's wasting his time and money. If anything, use cgi.

chris319 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2010, 06:47:02 PM »

How many slide projectors did that contraption have? Just imagine the fan noise and the heat from one projector times whatever number it is, plus the size, plus the storage. This guy doesn't know what he's getting into.

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2010, 06:48:36 PM »

[quote name=\'Bryce L.\' post=\'252920\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 12:42 AM\']My instinct is that this guy's full of it, but I could be wrong...[/quote]
I think you're pretty safe following your instinct here.

TLEberle · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2010, 11:58:55 PM »

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'252960\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 11:53 AM\']Who knows, this endeavor may just get people in power to start thinking about a revival[/quote]Here's hoping it doesn't.

Every game show concept from years past doesn't need to be revived.

Bryce L. · « **Reply #8 on:** December 22, 2010, 12:45:06 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'252981\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 06:48 PM\'][quote name=\'Bryce L.\' post=\'252920\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 12:42 AM\']My instinct is that this guy's full of it, but I could be wrong...[/quote]
I think you're pretty safe following your instinct here.
[/quote]

yep, since he also said he had gotten hold of the comlink that Michael Knight (of Knight Rider) wore in the series... somehow I doubt that one...

William_S. · « **Reply #9 on:** December 22, 2010, 04:38:01 AM »

o_O Really? Ok maybe not all but howabout some?

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 22, 2010, 05:04:37 AM »

[quote name=\'William_S.\' post=\'253036\' date=\'Dec 22 2010, 01:38 AM\']o_O Really? Ok maybe not all but howabout some?[/quote]
The point is, around here it's never "some." 99% of the time, you mention an old show and SOMEONE is gonna pipe up and suggest that it be revived.

dale_grass · « **Reply #11 on:** December 22, 2010, 08:52:03 AM »

I envision Big Bucks! The All New Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck to be similar to GSN's revival but stretched into an hour during prime time. On the last spin of the game, the contestant slamming the plunger causes the board to go black; the host turns to the camera and says "Did he hit a Whammy, or $250,000 and a spin? Find out right after this!"

Seriously though, weren't there 18 projectors? Any time a square went black, only one went black, which leads me to believe they were separate. As for what slides were projected, was a carousel loaded with multiple slides resulting in a pattern of length equal to the capacity of the carousel? Or were they able to rig a projector with three slides and randomize via computer?

If the recreationist is anything but an eccentric millionaire jonesing for a unique hobby, he won't get very far.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #12 on:** December 22, 2010, 09:03:20 AM »

Quote

Seriously though, weren't there 18 projectors?

Actually there were 54 - 3 per square. The ones which contained prizes could rotate to a new prize once one was hit. The money squares basically remained static.

Don Howard · « **Reply #13 on:** December 22, 2010, 12:17:53 PM »

[quote name=\'Bryce L.\' post=\'252920\' date=\'Dec 21 2010, 03:42 AM\']There is a Yahoo user who I have spoken with, who claims to have inside contacts with someone at Television City, and he says he is trying to build a replica of the Press Your Luck game board.[/quote]
For what purpose, pray, to what end?

That Don Guy · « **Reply #14 on:** December 22, 2010, 12:39:43 PM »

Of course, it also depends on what is meant by "replica". I wonder how hard it would be to do with 18 LCD computer monitors.

(Didn't Whammy! use just one computer to drive all of the monitors? How do you drive 18 monitors simultaneously from a single computer, anyway? I can see, say, a master computer sending signals to 18 "slave" laptops with separate connections to monitors, but can it be done from just one computer?)

-- Don