Card Sharks Format Question

[calliaume]

I'm putting together a bowdlerized version of the game for my son's Cub Scout troop. (Family Feud would actually work better, since they'll be playing in two teams, but the Card Sharks question format fits what I'm going to ask them, and the only props I'll need are the two decks of cards.)

This got me wondering - was there ever a reason given for only having three cards on the board in the rubber game of the match?  The logical reason is the small possibility of going through an entire deck of cards if all three games were playd with five cards on the board, but the more logical reason is to just move the third game along to get to the Money Cards.  (We won't be playing the Money Cards, no real need.)

Thoughts?

[Adam Nedeff]

I'm putting together a bowdlerized version of the game for my son's Cub Scout troop. (Family Feud would actually work better, since they'll be playing in two teams, but the Card Sharks question format fits what I'm going to ask them, and the only props I'll need are the two decks of cards.)

This got me wondering - was there ever a reason given for only having three cards on the board in the rubber game of the match?  The logical reason is the small possibility of going through an entire deck of cards if all three games were playd with five cards on the board, but the more logical reason is to just move the third game along to get to the Money Cards.  (We won't be playing the Money Cards, no real need.)

Thoughts?

I don't think they ever explicitly gave a reason one way or the other on the show. If the kids ask, just give some suspenseful explanation like "you have less room for error now" or "we're really going to put your skills to the test here."

/I do vividly remember having a "Mind BLOWN" moment when I did the arithmetic during a GSN rerun years and years ago and realized that the maximum number of cards a contestant could use in a single match was exactly 52.

[PYLdude]

My guess would be it probably would have had to do with the way the show was timed (your "logical reason", right? at least I think it's the same) more than anything- I'd imagine that if they played three games with five cards, things could tend to drag out and you might be lucky to get a Money Cards round in before the end of the show.

[SRIV94]

And by that same token, the reason for the reduction of questions from 4 to 3.

[Card Shark]

Based on pure speculation, I'd say it was a timing thing. In the pilot, the tie breaker had 4 cards and I guess the producers felt it might take too long to get through.