Gambit (game show)

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Gambit was a game show, created by Wayne Cruseturner, produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions, and aired on CBS from September 4, 1972 to December 10, 1976. A slightly retooled version, Las Vegas Gambit, aired on NBC from October 27, 1980 to November 27, 1981, originating from the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Both versions of the show were hosted by Wink Martindale, and announced by Kenny Williams. Elaine Stewart was the card dealer for the CBS version. On the Las Vegas Gambit version, the card dealer was Beverly Malden; she left half-way through the series' run and was replaced by Lee Menning.

A British version of the show was produced by Anglia Television for ITV. It ran from 1975 (It started as a programme shown in the Anglia region only, it became a networked show in 1978) to 1985, and was originally hosted by Fred Dinenage and later by comedian Tom O'Connor, the card dealer on the British version was Michelle Lambourne, The programme returned briefly in the early 1990s but only in the Anglia region and was hosted by Gary Thompson.

A pilot of Gambit was videotaped in the early-1990s. It was hosted by Bob Eubanks and featured single players instead of couples. That version never made it to the air.

Contents

[edit] Rules of the game

[edit] Main game

2 married couples competed. Host Martindale asked a question, either multiple-choice or true-false, to both couples. The couple who buzzed in and answered the question correctly got to control the next card off of an oversize regulation deck of 52 playing cards. (The first would be shown before the question, the rest would be presented face-down.) Once a couple got control of a card, they had the choice to either add the card to their own hand or force their opponents to take it (unless they're frozen; see below). The objective of the game is quite similar to Blackjack, to get your hand as close to 21 without going over as possible or of course, obtaining blackjack with an ace and a face card or a ten. As in blackjack, the value of cards 2 through 10 are as shown; face cards (Kings, Queens and Jacks) count as 10s and an Ace counts either as a 1 or 11.

After a couple received any card, they could elect to freeze their board, disallowing any more cards to be added to their hand. Once this happened, the other couple answered questions until one of the following conditions occurred:

[edit] Conditions for winning

  • Once an opposing couple "froze" (stood before reaching 21), the unfrozen couple does one of the following:
    • Misses a question, giving the game to the other couple.
    • Busts (went over 21), giving the game to the other couple.
    • Passes the score of the frozen couple (ties didn't count) winning the game.
  • Either couple reaches 21 exactly at any time, winning a jackpot that started at $500 and went up $500 per game that it wasn't won.

$100 plus $50 for each tie game was awarded for each game won. Two wins earns the match and the right to head to the Bonus Round.

[edit] Bonus round

[edit] The Gambit Board (Original version)

The winning couple played the Gambit Bonus Board. They faced a large game board with 21 cards, numbered 1 through 21. Each card concealed a prize; along with each prize the couple won, they received a card added to their hand from the deck.

The game ended in one of three ways:

  • The couple elected to stop before reaching 21 (especially if they feared the next card would push them over 21 or in some instances, if they got a desirable prize they wanted to keep).
  • Going "BUST" (over 21), at which point they lost everything they found on the board.
  • Reaching 21 exactly, wherein they won the Gambit Jackpot (mentioned earlier) and a new car.

One prize occasionally offered during the bonus round was "Beat the House": contestants winning this prize would then have the opportunity to play one hand of blackjack (standard single-deck rules, with the possible exception that there did not appear to be any cases in which contestants "split a pair" or "doubled down") against the house (as personified by Martindale) for a cash prize.

[edit] Bonus rounds (Las Vegas version)

[edit] The Gambit Board

For the first portion of the year this version ran, a bonus round like the original was played, with three differences:

  • The couple selected numbers from an 18-monitor game board instead of 21 cards.
  • Like the dealer in blackjack, a couple could only elect to stop when their hand totalled 17 or above.
  • Only the Gambit Jackpot was awarded for accumulating 21 in addition to all prizes won that round.
  • In the pilot, the couple selected cards from a group of 52 audience members known as the "Living Deck" (this feature was dropped for the actual series).

[edit] The Big Numbers

The second half of the season featured "The Big Numbers", a game based borrowed from another Heatter-Quigley game, High Rollers (Wink Martindale went on to host High Rollers in 1987). The couple was presented with a pair of dice, and was asked to "knock off" the numbers 1 through 9 from a board in front of them. To do this, the couple eliminated numbers that added up to the total they rolled (for instance, if the couple rolled a 10, they could eliminated 4 and 6; 3 and 7; 1, 2, 3 and 4 or any other combination that added to 10.) Each number the couple knocked off won $100 per number, and if all nine were knocked off, an accumulating "Gambit Galaxy" prize package was awarded. In the event a double was rolled (e.g. a pair of ones, twos, threes, fours, fives or sixes), then an insurance marker is awarded and can be used in the event a bad number is rolled.

[edit] Episode status

It is believed very few episodes exist except for one episode of the original series and a few episodes of the Las Vegas version. In the fall of 1977, reruns of the original CBS version of Gambit aired in syndication (primarily on WPIX New York and KHJ-TV Los Angeles), so it is possible that the episodes from the original version may exist.

[edit] Scheduling

The show experienced strong ratings on CBS, particularly in its first 18 months against "Sale of the Century" and "The Wizard of Odds" on NBC. When the network moved it to 10:30 a.m. Eastern/9:30 Central in April 1974, though, it had some trouble against Jeopardy!, but before any damage could be done, NBC put Winning Streak in its place, which performed poorly.

But in January 1975, trouble came again in the form of the smash hit "Wheel of Fortune." Once again, CBS bailed "Gambit" out by returning "The Price is Right" to the 10:30/9:30 slot, returning "Gambit" to 11/10, where it debuted in 1972. Strangely enough, for most of the rest of the year, it faced its sister show "High Rollers", something packagers Heatter and Quigley would likely not have preferred. They certainly would have preferred it to facing "Wheel" again, beginning near Christmas time, when NBC moved its new hit to 11e/10c.

Over the next year, the puzzle game eventually stole most of "Gambit"'s audience, and two weeks before Christmas 1976, CBS canceled the show.

Further, all the glamor and glitz of Las Vegas didn't translate into high ratings for the 1980-81 NBC version. By this time, poor ratings performances by the show's predecessors in the 10:00 a.m. Eastern/9:00 Central slot had prompted local affiliates to put on syndicated programming instead during that part of the day. Talk shows such as "Donahue," "Hour Magazine" and Richard Simmons' exercise show, which often brought better ratings and more local advertising revenue, became attractive for many NBC stations, and this show took the brunt of pre-emptions needed to clear those shows for a mid-morning audience. Even the weakness of the competition, reruns of 1970s situation comedies like "The Jeffersons" and "One Day at a Time," on CBS didn't help things, because, in some instances, CBS stations carried some of the syndicated programming themselves, in place of their networks' offerings (this only applied to CBS; ABC didn't begin its daytime schedule until 11 a.m. Eastern).

[edit] Miscellanea

The British version of "Gambit" had an opening title sequence featuring various casino equipment including playing cards, casino chips, a roulette wheel and a fruit machine.

Two other shows besides "Gambit" premiered on the same airdate on CBS, September 4, 1972: "The Price is Right" and "The Joker's Wild" (1972-1975).

[edit] The Casino Pilots

Originally, Las Vegas Gambit was to have been replaced by a new Heatter-Quigley game show, titled Casino, hosted by Jim Perry. It is believed that nine episodes of Casino were produced, but the series was never picked up on NBC; instead, Regis Philbin hosted a talk show in that timeslot. Another attempt to get Casino on television occurred in 1983, this time hosted by Peter Tomarken, which also did not make it to TV. A third attempt was made for GSN; this was hosted by former Shopping Spree host Ron Pearson, and co-host Tanya Memme.

[edit] External links

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