Single day winnings record before Larson?

[wxnerd]

Hi everyone.

I'm helping with research for an article about Michael Larson and his PYL victory. I've had no problem finding the amount of money he won, or information about the lady who broke his record in 2006. However, I'm curious as to held the record before. That is, who was the previous holder of the single-day winnings record, and what amount of money did he or she win?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Monica

[Kevin Prather]

Are you looking for the daytime record or the record for both daytime and primetime? (I'm not sure of either, but it'll help someone else.)

[JasonA1]

And more for our group: would somebody who won the $100,000 on Name That Tune not count because they had to win the week prior to qualify?

-Jason

[TLEberle]

I'm going to cast my lot with one-day winners on Dream House, not that I know of anyone who won on day one or what their final take was.

[Strikerz04]

Barbara Phillips won the lot on $ale of the Century (August '83?) before Larsen won his 10 months later.

[clemon79]

Barbara Phillips won the lot on $ale of the Century (August '83?)

Yeah, but technically she did that over the course of several days.

[JasonA1]

I'm going to cast my lot with one-day winners on Dream House, not that I know of anyone who won on day one or what their final take was.

According to Matt Sittel's page, at least one couple achieved that feat - but the total is not provided on the page. Those with his megamix (my copy is back east) might have that answer.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

At the very least, the record would be higher than the $50,000 jackpot on the daily version of Treasure Hunt.

[wxnerd]

Are you looking for the daytime record or the record for both daytime and primetime? (I'm not sure of either, but it'll help someone else.)

Both, if possible. But at this point, I'll take whatever is known.

Monica

[Matt Ottinger]

Barbara Phillips won the lot on $ale of the Century (August '83?)

Yeah, but technically she did that over the course of several days.

But therein lies the problem with any sort of defined "record".  She didn't have all those winnings the day before, and then she played one game and suddenly she did.  And of course technically, even Larsen's feat was presented to us over the course of two days.

There were a surprising number of six-figure winners on several different shows around that time.  Personally, I think the fact that Larson won his booty in a single performance as opposed to multiple shows is just about the least interesting thing about it.

[BrandonFG]

If not Name That Tune, I would guess something from the scandals era. Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many games from the 60s to early-80s that offered more than $50,000 as a top prize. And even during the 50s, winnings were mostly cumulative instead of progressive, no?

[Kevin Prather]

If not Name That Tune, I would guess something from the scandals era. Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many games from the 60s to early-80s that offered more than $50,000 as a top prize. And even during the 50s, winnings were mostly cumulative instead of progressive, no?

You're probably on to something here. What was the biggest pot on 50s Tic Tac Dough? That might be up there.

[clemon79]

But therein lies the problem with any sort of defined "record".  She didn't have all those winnings the day before, and then she played one game and suddenly she did.

Not disagreeing, but that's why I assumed Travis was mentioning the caveat with Dream House of winning on the first day, since subsequent attempts at the house were given advantages based on previous victories. (Not to mention additional front-game winnings.)

[Sonic Whammy]

I'm not sure myself, but for purposes of defining this, Larson's win has usually been credited as the single-day record by a single person on a network daytime game show.

So that nixes any syndicated offerings, including Hunt & Tune, and couple's efforts on Dream House are out (which for THAT category, wouldn't they be a show onto themselves?). And even with the episode split of Larson's run, they defined a single game as one day. It's no one's fault that the game took as long as it did.

With the definition properly narrowed like that, I would say that it would probably be either some double showcase winner and beyond on Price, or if a mega jackpot was won by a first-time champ on Password Plus late in the Kennedy run. (What WAS their highest progressive win, anyway?)

[TLEberle]

I'm not sure myself, but for purposes of defining this, Larson's win has usually been credited as the single-day record by a single person on a network daytime game show

And at some point the codicils and definitions dilute the "record" to something like this.

To the original poster: I would strongly suggest that you take Matt's advice and not focus on the fact that he broke someone else's record, and stick with the fact that he cracked a game, won over $100,000 on a show which to that point had topped out at $35k, and caused no end of consternation to the production staff. Don't worry about the "record" business; that's only of interest to wonks like us.