Press Your Luck is an American television game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. Contestants answer trivia questions to earn "spins" on a randomly cycling game board. The board's spaces display cash, prizes, extra spins, special items, or the show's mascot, a cartoon creature known as the Whammy. Landing on a Whammy eliminates any cash and prizes accumulated while also displaying a short comedic animation. Its format is a revival of an earlier Carruthers production, Second Chance, which was hosted by Jim Peck and aired on ABC in 1977. The original version of Press Your Luck aired on CBS between 1983 and 1986. This version featured Peter Tomarken as host, Rod Roddy as announcer, and Carruthers as both director and voice of the Whammy. The original incarnation of the show gained significant media attention in 1984 for a scandal of contestant Michael Larson, who won over $100,000 after memorizing the original pattern of the game board.
Following the show's cancellation by CBS in 1986, it aired frequently in reruns, first on USA Network and then on Game Show Network. Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, a revival of the series, aired from 2002 to 2003 also on Game Show Network with Todd Newton as host and Gary Kroeger as announcer. A weekly primetime version (reverting to the name Press Your Luck) began airing on ABC in 2019, with Elizabeth Banks as host. Neil Ross served as both announcer and voice of the Whammy until 2023, when he was replaced in both capacities by Chris "Money Fairy" Ahearn (also of Let's Make a Deal), with The Bachelor host, Chris Harrison, as the voice of the "Bachelor Whammy". Adaptations of Press Your Luck have also aired in other countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany, while an adaptation of Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck also aired in the Philippines. The show has also been adapted into a number of video games for computers and video game consoles.
Gameplay
Three contestants compete on each episode. Gameplay consists of four rounds: two question rounds and two "big board" rounds.
In a question round, contestants earn spins by correctly answering a series of trivia questions asked by the host. Each question is initially presented as a toss-up open to all; after a contestant buzzes in and answers, the host reads that response and two more to the opponents as a multiple choice selection. Contestants earn three spins for buzzing in and giving the correct answer, and one for choosing it from the three options. If no one buzzes in, the host reads three answers and each contestant can earn one spin by choosing the correct one. There is no penalty for an incorrect answer at any time. However, if a contestant buzzes in and fails to respond, they are frozen out of the question and the host reads three answers to the opponents.
After the question round is completed, the "big board" round begins, with the contestants using their accumulated spins in an attempt to win cash and prizes. The game board consists of 18 spaces laid out in a rectangular loop that is six spaces wide and five high. Each space cycles through two or more items, which can include cash amounts (sometimes with an extra spin), prizes, spaces which offer a change in direction or alteration to score, and the show's mascot, a mischievous red cartoon creature known as the Whammy. A light randomly flashes around the board, encircling one space at a time, and the contestant in control uses a spin by hitting their buzzer to freeze the board and collect whatever is lit at that moment. Landing on a cash or prize space adds its value to the contestant's total, while landing on a Whammy resets the total to zero and plays a short animation involving the Whammy for the viewing audience. Any contestant who lands on the Whammy a total of four times (known as "Whammying out") is immediately eliminated from the game and forfeits all remaining spins. When a prize is hit, a new one is put on the board to replace it.
Specialty spaces on the board include:
Big Bucks: awards the highest cash amount on the board at the time to the contestant Pick a Corner: appears in one corner of the board and allows the contestant to choose one of the items in the other three Add a One: adds enough cash to place a one next to the contestant's score as its new leftmost digit (e.g., $500 becoming $1,500) Double Your Money + One Spin: adds enough cash to double the contestant's entire score and awards an extra spin Money or Lose a Whammy: contestant can either take the displayed cash amount or remove a previously hit Whammy, if any Take the Lead + One Spin: awards an extra spin, and adds enough cash to move the contestant into the lead by $1 if they are trailing (2019 revival only) The Big 40: awards 40 of a mystery prize or cash amount (introduced in 2023 in conjunction with the series' 40th anniversary; changed to The Big 50 in 2024 to mark 50 episodes of the revival, and Banks’ 50th birthday, awarding 50 prizes) Big Banks: Awards a prize from Banks' personal collection; appears during the second Big Board round in 2026
Except for Money or Lose a Whammy, Big Bucks, and Pick a Corner, all of these spaces are removed from play after being hit once.
For the first "big board" round, initial control is awarded to the contestant who has earned the fewest spins in the question round (or is seated farthest away from the host in the event of a tie). If the contestant in control has any spins remaining after stopping the board, they may choose to either spin again or pass those spins to the opponent with the higher score (or the opponent of that contestant's choice in the event of a tie). Passed spins must be played by their recipient, but are converted to earned spins in the event of hitting a Whammy. Play during the "big board" round ends when all accumulated spins have been exhausted or forfeited.
The second half of the game also consists of a question round followed by a "big board" round. Initial control for the latter is given to the contestant with the lowest score, and the cash and prize values are higher than in the first round. Once all spins have been exhausted, the contestant with the highest score becomes the champion and keeps everything they have accumulated, while the other two receive parting gifts. The 1983 version of the program allowed the champion to return for the next day's episode; champions retired after appearing on five consecutive episodes or reaching/exceeding CBS's winnings limit (originally $25,000 before being raised to $50,000), whichever came first. The 2019 version does not feature returning champions but allows the day's champion to play a bonus round.
If two contestants Whammy out and the third has spins remaining, that contestant may play any remaining spins one at a time. The game then ends when the remaining contestant uses up all spins, chooses to stop voluntarily, or hits a fourth Whammy.
Bonus Game The 2019 revival features a Bonus Game not present in the original, in which the day's champion plays the "big board" for a chance to win up to $1,000,000. The champion plays through five rounds, taking a set number of spins in each round: five in the first, four in the second, and three in all others. The board displays cash, prizes, directional/specialty spaces, and Whammys as in the main game, and cash/prize values increase from one round to the next. Some prizes are tailored to the champion's particular interests. Landing on a Whammy eliminates all winnings within the bonus round, but main-game winnings are not affected. If the champion ends a round with a bank total greater than zero, they may either end the bonus game at that point and keep all winnings, or continue into the next round with any personalized prizes lost to a Whammy being returned to the board. The game ends immediately upon collecting a fourth Whammy.
The champion wins the entire bank for completing all rounds; however, if the bank reaches or exceeds $500,000 at any point, the game ends and cash is added to increase the champion's final winnings to $1,000,000. Beginning in Season 4, a "Prize-a-Palooza" space appears on the board during the final round, awarding every currently displayed prize if hit. Starting with the 2026 season, a "Pick a Square" space is added to the board for the third through fifth rounds, allowing the contestant to choose any displayed non-Whammy space if hit.
To date, no contestant has won the $1,000,000 top prize in the Bonus Game; Ryan Basch, who won $483,480 during his Bonus Game, is the closest contestant to reach the top prize, falling $16,520 short of reaching the $500,000 target on July 12, 2020. Basch would walk away with a combined total of $565,682 in cash and prizes, which coincidentally also makes him the biggest winner in the history of Press Your Luck.
History
Press Your Luck is a revival of an earlier game show format created by producer Bill Carruthers, known as Second Chance. This show was hosted by Jim Peck and aired on ABC in 1977. Like Press Your Luck, it also featured contestants answering trivia questions to assume control of a board with cash and prizes. This game board also featured spaces labeled with a devil, who would take away all cash and prizes if the contestant landed on one. Carruthers and Jan McCormack began developing Press Your Luck in 1983.
Peter Tomarken, prior to working in television, was an editor for Women's Wear Daily magazine. His first major television role came earlier in 1983 on the NBC game show Hit Man, and he was chosen to host Press Your Luck after the former was canceled. Press Your Luck began both tapings and airings in September 1983. The show premiered on September 19, 1983, on CBS at 10:30a.m. ET (9:30 CT/MT/PT), replacing Child's Play. Serving as announcer on the show was Rod Roddy, also the announcer on Hit Man and later known for announcing The Price Is Right. John Harlan and Charlie O'Donnell filled in on a few episodes when Roddy was unavailable. In addition to creating the show, Carruthers served as both director and the voice of the Whammy. The animations featuring this character were created by animator Savage Steve Holland; Carruthers personally selected Holland to design the character and immediately liked Holland's first concept, which Holland had sketched out on a napkin. Holland animated the character via computer software, thus making Press Your Luck one of the first game shows to use computer-designed graphics. Author David Baber noted that the Whammy animations were "popular with the viewers". Some of the animations featured the Whammy taunting the contestant and becoming injured or harmed in a manner which Baber compared to a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Others featured satires of then-contemporary pop culture figures such as Boy George or Tina Turner. Ed Flesh designed the show's set, and Lee Ringuette composed the show's music.
On January 6, 1986, CBS moved Press Your Luck to a different timeslot in order to make room for a Bob Eubanks-hosted revival of Card Sharks. Press Your Luck replaced Body Language in the network's 4:00p.m. afternoon time slot. Tomarken stated that by the end of 1985, the contract for The Price Is Right was up for renewal, but CBS was unable to pay Mark Goodson Productions the kind of money they wanted to continue that show on their network. Goodson came up with the solution of taking over the 10:30a.m. timeslot.David Baber, Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008, pp. 255 The last episode of the CBS version aired on September 26, 1986. The final tapings took place in August of that same year, when its cancellation was first announced. Following the cancellation, Tomarken went on to host other game shows including the syndicated show Wipeout in 1988-89, as well as a number of infomercials. He and his wife both died in 2006 when a private plane he was piloting crashed in Santa Monica Bay.