Four Questions

[golden-road]

1. Did anybody win $10,000 on YBYL, and was it added to previous winnings?

2. Did Groucho do any special on their last episode?

3. I watched John Ricci's "Easy Money" video (very nice BTW), and I noticed a clip from a Lingo episode in which a team apparently cleared the No Lingo Round, as the podium read "$74,250". What exactly was the payoff format for the NLR?

4. Were the prize & Jackpot balls added to the team's grand total?

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'golden-road\' date=\'Jan 14 2005, 03:48 PM\']1. Did anybody win $10,000 on YBYL, and was it added to previous winnings?

2. Did Groucho do any special on their last episode?

3. I watched John Ricci's "Easy Money" video (very nice BTW), and I noticed a clip from a Lingo episode in which a team apparently cleared the No Lingo Round, as the podium read "$74,250". What exactly was the payoff format for the NLR?

4. Were the prize & Jackpot balls added to the team's grand total?

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3: I believe it was $16,000 your first try ($500 base), $32,000 your second try ($1000 base) and your third and final try was for $64,000 ($2000 base).*

4: One was a trip, another was $250 in travelers checks and antother was a cash jackpot that incresed $500 every game not claimed (I don't know where it started at)*

* - Contestants were paid in Monopoly Money, if they were lucky.

-Joe R.

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'golden-road\' date=\'Jan 14 2005, 03:48 PM\']1. Did anybody win $10,000 on YBYL, and was it added to previous winnings?

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A number of couples did win the $10,000; in one of the episodes in the old syndication package, Groucho remarks that they had had $5000 winners before (one of the two players in a couple could keep the $500 while the other risked their half, in the "four in a row right before two in a row wrong" days), but that the couple that had just won the $10,000 was the first couple to do so.  $10,000 wins are more likely in the later years, when they switched to the $100/200/300 question format, as the couple didn't lose anything if they missed the final question.

I know that in the first $10,000 format, the $10,000 (or $5000 when they added the second number choice) was instead of the $1000 won in the main game, not in addition to it; I think that's how it worked in the later format as well, but I'm not entirely sure.  (I don't remember Groucho ever saying that a couple had won more than $10,000, though.)

-- Don

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'golden-road\' date=\'Jan 14 2005, 03:48 PM\']1. Did anybody win $10,000 on YBYL, and was it added to previous winnings?

2. Did Groucho do any special on their last episode?

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1.  It was always $10,000 total, IIRC.

2.  If he did, it was edited out of the "Best of Groucho" syndication package, since the station would just be recycling back to 1953 on the next show.  I would assume that something was stated on the last show in the original air version, particularly considering that they'd been at it for 14 years, counting radio.