Card Sharks

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This article is about a television game show. For the standard use of the term, see Card shark.
Card Sharks

Logo of the 1980s version
Genre Game Show
Creator(s) Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
Starring Jim Perry,
Bob Eubanks,
Bill Rafferty,
Pat Bullard
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 1709
Production
Running time 30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC (1978-1981),
CBS (1986-1989),
Syndicated (1986-1987, 2001-2002)
Original run April 24, 1978 – 2002

Card Sharks was an American television game show in which contestants guessed whether a playing card was higher or lower than the card that preceded it.

Contents

[edit] Broadcast history

Card Sharks, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, debuted on NBC on April 24, 1978 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Jim Perry hosted this version, which lasted until October 23, 1981 (864 episodes). This version is the best known of all three incarnations of the series.

CBS and Mark Goodson Productions brought back this show with Bob Eubanks as its new host (one story had it that Goodson wanted Jim Perry, but Mr. Perry was already committed as host on NBC's Sale of the Century) on January 6, 1986 at 10:30 a.m. ET. This version ran until March 31, 1989 (845 episodes). An accompanying syndicated version began on September 8, 1986, was hosted by Bill Rafferty, and lasted one season. Another syndicated revival, with different rules than the previous versions, was hosted by Pat Bullard and premiered on September 17, 2001, but was cancelled by year's end after 13 weeks of episodes.

In 2006, the series was among the seven game shows used in the CBS series "Gameshow Marathon." The set was modeled after the Perry version, and its theme music and logo were used, while the use of 'audience poll' questions and the car game after the Money Cards came from the '80s editions.

Gene Wood was the principal announcer of all three 70s-80s versions. The substitute announcers on the 70s-80s versions were Bob Hilton (all three versions), Charlie O'Donnell (NBC and CBS versions), Johnny Olson (NBC), Jack Narz (NBC), Jay Stewart (NBC), and Johnny Gilbert (CBS). Gary Kroeger announced the 2001 version.

The dealers on Card Sharks were Janice Baker, Lois Areno, Ann Pennington (sister of former TPIR model Janice Pennington) and Markie Post on the NBC version. Lacey Pemberton and Susannah Williams were the dealers on the CBS and syndicated versions. Tami Roman (aka Tami Anderson) was the dealer on the 2001 syndicated version.

The dealers on the 2006 Gameshow Marathon version, which aired June 15, were Phire Dawson and Rebecca Pribonic -- two current-rotation models on The Price is Right.

The music to the 1978 version was composed by Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions; it had originally been used for the 1976-1977 version of Double Dare, as was the visual style of the show's open (with four-way split screen, alternating flashing neon logos, and an opening poem). The 1986 theme was also composed by Kalehoff. The theme for the 2001 version was composed by the Alan Ett Music Group.

[edit] The main game

Two contestants competed (one of which usually was a returning champion; in this case the champion had the red podium/cards, and the challenger had the blue podium/cards), each with a row of cards, one for each contestant .Each contestant had a standard 52-card deck (no jokers); the ace ranked highest and the deuce (two) ranked lowest. While the syndicated version began with the same format, eventually special "prize" cards were shuffled into the deck, such as varying cash amounts (which originally were $250, $500, $1000, and $5000, but had been reduced to just the $500 card by the end of the run), televisions, vacations, and other prizes. The champion played the red cards, and the challenger played the blue cards. If there was no champion, a coin toss was determined prior to the start of the show.

[edit] Toss-up questions

Control of the board was determined by playing a toss-up survey question, based on the surveys done on Family Feud. Questions were posed to 100 people of the same occupation, marital status, or demographic. (example: "We asked 100 teachers, 'Has a student ever given you an apple?' How many said yes?") The contestant who received the question (with the red-card player, usually the champion, going first to begin the game) tried to guess how many people gave the answer that the host gave. After hearing the guess, the opponent had to guess whether the correct number was higher or lower than that guess. Whoever was right earned control of the board. Starting in the fall of 1980 an exact guess won a $500 bonus for the contestant, theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome.

Up to four toss-up questions were played; and three on the syndicated versions (later changed back to the original configuration of four).

In addition to the regular 100-person survey questions, some questions on the CBS and first syndicated versions used one of the following formats, as opposed to the straight 100-person survey. The CBS and first syndicated versions were introduced in late 1986.

  • 10 studio audience members: Beginning on September 8, 1986, CS questions were asked about a panel of 10 audience members, each sharing a common profession or characteristic (e.g., mothers-to-be, nurses, students). An exact guess by the contestant won $100, and the panel members each received $10. Originally, a different group of people were in the row on every show; later on, the panel stayed on the show for an entire week. Eventually, nearly every show began with an audience poll question.
  • Educated guess questions: Unlike regular questions on the show, these questions were not surveys, but general-knowledge questions with numerical answers (e.g., "In m.p.h., how fast is the world's fastest snake?). An exact guess by the contestant was still worth a $500 bonus. Introduced in the fall of 1986.

[edit] Playing the cards

After the first card in the row of five, the "base card", was revealed, the winner of the question had the option of either playing that card or changing it with the top card from the deck. The contestant then had to guess whether the next card was higher or lower; if correct, he or she had to guess the card after that, and so on (if both cards were the same, it counted as an incorrect guess). An incorrect guess brought the contestant back to the base card, and it gave the opponent (who was not allowed to change his/her base card) a chance to play. Contestants also had the option to "freeze", thus making the last card that was played the new base card; if the winner of the toss-up question opted to "freeze," the opponent was not given the chance to play the cards. If neither contestant guessed all the cards on his or her row correctly, another toss-up question was asked and the same procedures were followed until someone cleared the row or the fourth question in the round was asked. (In the final months of the NBC run, a $500 bonus was awarded for anyone who guessed correctly on all the cards without freezing.)

The 1986-87 syndicated version included prize cards (such as trips [up to $6000+], furniture, electronics, and cash [$250, $500, $1000, and $5000]) that were shuffled into the main decks (and replaced with another card from the deck if one came up, with no penalty to the player who originally guessed higher or lower on the prize card). The phrase "prize card jinx" was used by Rafferty when a contestant guessed incorrectly higher or lower on the card which replaced the prize card. The contestant only won the prizes if he or she won the match (2 out of 3 games). Three questions were originally played in each round (with 2 in sudden death); this was later expanded to 4 and 3 questions, respectively.

[edit] Sudden death

The fourth question (third in a tiebreaker) in each round was always a "sudden death" question, in which someone had to win the game on the next turn of the cards. Whoever won control of the board had the opportunity to play the cards (and could change the base card if desired) or pass them to the opponent (who had to play the cards that were given). An incorrect guess at any time caused the contestant to lose the game. The winner of each game won $100 (except for most of the '80s syndicated version, in which case s/he wins any prizes accumulated from the prize cards that s/he accumulated upon winning the match).

Late in the CBS run, the third (tiebreaker) game was reduced to just one question. The player winning control was then shown both base cards and given the choice to play or pass.

[edit] Tiebreakers

The first player to win two games won the match and a chance to play the Money Cards bonus round. If the match was tied after two games, a tiebreaker game was played to determine the winner. Contestants played rows of three cards in the tiebreaker instead of five, and three questions were asked instead of four (two during one point in the '80s syndicated version), with the third being sudden death (Starting on January 4, 1988, the tiebreaker was changed to only one sudden death question, this also determined the winner of the match on the finale of the Rafferty version, as well as the final match of that show's Young People's Week).

Also, when the Eubanks version went to the one-question tiebreaker game, both base cards were turned over so the player had an idea of what they were up against when they decided to play their cards and change their base or pass to their opponent, who would have to play from their base card no matter what.

[edit] The Money Cards

The winner of the main game played the Money Cards for a chance to win additional money. The Money Cards board consisted of seven cards on three rows; three cards were dealt on the bottom two rows, and one card was dealt on the top row. On the NBC version, the winner's first base card to begin the bonus game is dealt from the deck after the seven cards are put in place. On the CBS version, however, the first four cards are dealt on the bottom row, with the first card as the base card, followed by three on the middle row, and one on the top row (so in reality, this version dealt 8 cards out at the start instead of 7, 11 if the three reserve change cards are included).

In addition to guessing whether a card was higher or lower, the contestant had to wager money on that prediction. The contestant was given $200 to bet with and had to wager at least $50 (and in multiples of $50, there was an occasional $25 increment on the Big Bet) on each card on the first two rows. The contestant won money for each correct guess and lost money on each incorrect guess.

After completing the first row, or if the contestant "busted," i.e., lost everything on that wager, the last card was moved onto the second row and the contestant was given an additional $200 (changed to $400 in 1986). The contestant had to play three more cards before reaching the last card on the top row, known as the "Big Bet." (If a contestant "busted" after this point, the game ended.) The contestant was required to wager at least half of his/her earnings at the Big Bet.

The most a contestant could win on the NBC version was $28,800, which was done once in the entire show's run by contestant Norma Brown (it was also done on the 1978 version's pilot). Contestants could win up to $32,000 on the CBS and first syndicated versions, but the top prize was never won. The highest Money Cards win on this version (and on any version at all) was $29,000 won by a contestant named Faith in 1986, who had several face cards, but was somewhat conservative and risked all but $1,000 on the final two cards. Two contestants (one during the first month on the air, in Jan. 1986, the other in late 1987) came within striking distance of winning the $32,000 top prize, having racked up the maximum $16,000 going into the Big Bet, but were put off by a less-than-ideal base card on said bet and only wagered the required minimum of half their totals. However, in both cases, the contestants involved made the right calls, and thus, could have won the $32,000. The maximum payoff was increased to $144,000 for a contestant at home during Game Show Marathon.

[edit] Rule changes

Originally, only the first card on the bottom row could be changed. In mid-1978 the rule was changed so that the first card on every row could be changed. In the CBS and first syndicated versions, one card on each row could be changed by choosing one of three pre-dealt cards. Originally, on this version, the contestant was given three opportunities to change a card (thus, a player could change more than one card on a row if they saw fit). The second syndicated run used the NBC change rules.

Duplicate cards (e.g., two eights in a row) originally counted as losses against the contestant. In the fall of 1980, this rule was changed so that the contestant neither won nor lost money if a duplicate was revealed (which was called a "push" by Eubanks/Rafferty, and a "double" by Perry). From that point on, hosts encouraged the contestant to wager everything on an ace or deuce since there was no chance that the contestant could lose on either card. Originally in the 2001 run, the "push" rule was in effect; this later changed back to a loss of wager.

On the Game Show Marathon version, the best-known rules to the Money Cards were brought back. A player started with $1,000 in betting money for the first two rows, and had to wager at least half the money on the big bet. Minimum bets were still $50, and can change one card per line by using one of the three pre-dealt cards in the numbered slots. The push rule was also brought back, but was not needed.

[edit] Car games

In the fall of 1986, a secondary bonus round following the Money Cards was added, giving players a chance to win a new car (this premiered on Bill Rafferty's show first, and within a few weeks made its debut on Bob Eubanks' show). Two different car games were played. The first was played using jokers; the contestant earned one for winning the main game and could win more if any of the three jokers that were placed in the deck for the Money Cards came up. The contestant then placed the jokers in a rack of seven numbered cards; if any of the chosen cards revealed the word "CAR" after it was turned over, the contestant won the car. On the finale of the Rafferty version, all four jokers were given to the player, and he won the car.

Beginning July 4, 1988 on the CBS version and lasting for the remainder of the series, that game was replaced with a survey question based on the week of ten-member studio audience panel. The contestant moved a pointer on a board with a scale of 0 to 10 to what he or she thought was the right answer, winning the car if the guess was exactly right or $500 if the guess was one number away from the correct answer. The show's final car attempt had a chance for a player to win the car, even if they were off by one. This was similar to the "Judge the Jury" round from NBC's Mindreaders (as was the 10-person poll).

On the young players specials, the kids played for a special prize, frequently a Hawaiian holiday or a sailboat. Sometimes, the big prize could be accompanied with an aray of small misc prizes (such as a $500 gift card, an Apple Macintosh, etc) The contestant earned two jokers for winning the main game and an opportunity to add more if either of the two jokers came up in the deck during the Money Cards. The contestant then used the jokers to try and cover up the "WIN" (or "HAWAII") card on the rack.

[edit] Returning champions

On the NBC version, contestants could return until they either were defeated or won seven consecutive games. There were no winnings limit on this version since NBC didn't have cash limits like CBS or ABC; therefore, a maximum amount of $203,000 is possible in total winnings.

On the CBS version, five matches was the limit, but if a contestant topped the CBS winnings limit at any point during their run (originally $50,000, later $75,000 by the end of the show), they would be automatically retired.

The same rules applied for the Rafferty syndicated version, including the winnings limit. However, it was not implied exactly what the limit was. A contestant named Brian Hunt won three games before being forced to retire with $63,105 in winnings, which included a $22,400 win on the Money Cards in his first try and wins in his first two car games (the second of which pushed his winnings over the assumed $50,000 limit in place at the time).

Another rule that applied specifically for the syndicated version involved how many cars a person could win. In the beginning of the show's run, the cars that were offered were high-end GM luxury and sports cars, like the Chevrolet Corvette and various Cadillac models. During this part of the run, winning one of these, which was usually in the neighborhood of $20,000-$35,000, meant the contestant automatically retired.

A few weeks into the show's run, the producers decided to go with cheaper sports cars, usually Pontiacs (the Sunbird, Firebird, and Fiero), with an occasional Chevrolet Camaro being played for. Three cars became the limit.

When the show entered 1987, the GM cars disappeared altogether, being replaced by cheaper AMC models such as the Renault Alliance and GTA and the Jeep Wrangler (some of which were already being used for the Eubanks CS). The limit was changed further, dropping to two cars.

[edit] 2001-2002 version

Card Sharks was revived for 13 weeks after its premiere on September 17, 2001, but was not well received by critics due to its gameplay, which was changed from the 1978 and 1986 versions. Many game show fans consider this to be one of the worst revivals of all time, with some calling it Card Guppies or CASINO (CArd Sharks In Name Only).

Four players competed, two at a time. The opponents play in a best-of-three match, each playing a common row of seven high-low cards. A correct guess kept that player in control, but an incorrect guess gave the opponent the right to make the next call. Calling the seventh card correctly won the game, missing that call meant the opponent won the game. There was no ability to freeze; doing so would have been meaningless.

At any time, a player could ask to change the card (by use of one of two special "clip chip" tokens in their possession). The player was shown a video depicting one of the following:

  • A situation (like Candid Camera or Street Smarts), which was stopped before its resolution. The player had to correctly guess the outcome in order to change the card.
  • Someone introduces himself/herself and then asks which of two others he/she is associated with.
  • Someone trying to list answers related to a topic within 10 seconds, or sing the correct lyrics to an obscure song.

The third match, if necessary, was a three-card showdown; "clip chips" could not be used.

The first player to win two games moved on to a final one-game showdown with the winner of the second game. The winner of that match moved on to the Money Cards.

The Money Cards was similar to the earlier runs, except just six cards – three on the first row, two on the middle row and the one card Big Bet (renamed "Major Wager") row – were used and the player was spotted $700 for each row (including the Big Bet row). The maximum amount possible of $51,800 was never achieved, and if a player busted out, they won $700 as a consolation prize. The highest win on this version was $27,450.

This new version of Card Sharks had a special week of shows (which were taped after the September 11, 2001 attacks) where firefighters and police officers played for charities aimed at helping victims and their families recover from the attacks.

Unlike the earlier versions, the games were self-contained, each show started with the semi-finals and ended with the Money Cards. In addition, there were no returning champions.

[edit] Other comments

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • A board game based on Card Sharks was made by Endless Games in 2004. Although it used the logo of the 2001 revival, the rules were the same as those of the 1980s version.
  • The Money Cards bonus game originated from a failed 1975 pilot produced in New York City, titled King Of The Hill, hosted by Robert Earle, where it was called The Money Hill. Like the Card Sharks version, seven cards were played, but the champion only started with $150, and was not allowed to change any cards, nor was additional money added after three cards were played. The ace was the low card, and the king was the high card, and minimum bets were also $50, with no Big Bets. If the contestant got a duplicate card, it counted in favor of them. The maximum amount possible was $19,200. Chester Feldman, who created Card Sharks, was involved in the production of King Of The Hill.
  • Card Sharks held many special tournament weeks over the years, including a three-week tournament which pitted eight game show hosts against each other. The participants of this tournament were Allen Ludden, Gene Rayburn, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, Tom Kennedy, Alex Trebek, Jack Clark and Jim Lange. In the final week, the top four winners faced each other with a $25,000 prize (won by Trebek) going to the winner's chosen charity.
  • Other tournaments held included "Kids' Week", "College Week" and "Celebrity Card Sharks" specials, in which celebrities would play against each other for their favorite charities. During the "Kids' Week" specials, parents played the bonus game with their children. Future actress Kellie Martin was a contestant during one such "Kids' Week." Children on Kids' Week were only given up to $500 outright; the rest was put in savings bonds.
  • Card Sharks was the only Goodson-Todman game show announced by famed Let's Make A Deal announcer Jay Stewart, who had left Barry & Enright Productions in 1981. Stewart, who announced about eight weeks worth of episodes in the summer of 1981, would eventually join Perry in 1983 as announcer of Reg Grundy's Sale of the Century for five years.
  • In 1979, future Card Sharks host Bob Eubanks made a special on-stage appearance to promote his new game show All-Star Secrets. Eubanks and Perry would later appear together as teammates in the "Game Show Hosts" tournament on the syndicated version of Family Feud in 1983.
  • A number of stations aired reruns of the Perry version during the 1982-83 season, among them WABC in New York, WSVN in Miami and WCPO in Cincinnati; despite supered disclaimers over the "polling group" and contestant plugs reminding viewers the show was no longer in production and not to call or write, it is believed that a number of them did so anyway, thus leading Goodson-Todman to believe there was sufficient interest for a revival (there had actually been plans to continue the Perry version as a syndicated entry during the aforementioned 1982-83 season, but it didn't come to fruition, although a number of sources erroneously list the reruns as a separate version).
  • Jim Perry's children Sean and Erin Perry have also made appearances alongside Jim on occasion, as well as his wife June. Erin later became an associate producer for most Bob Stewart game shows, including The $25,000 Pyramid. Sean joined his father at Reg Grundy Productions as a production staff member for most of the Grundy game shows produced in the U.S.
  • A pilot was produced for a possible revival in 1996, but never made it to air; hosted by sportscaster Tom Green (not to be confused with the late 90s MTV comedy show host of the same name), it completely scrapped both the traditional maingame and Money Cards formats. Instead, the maingame had both players answer a 10-person poll question for the right to try and make it to the end of a single 10-card pyramid (similar to the 2001 revival). Doing so won $250 (doubled to $500 for guessing all ten cards in a single turn) and a chance for $5000 in a bonus round similar to the Shell Game from The Price Is Right. The player was shown four cards (three number cards & an ace). A video was run, featuring a celebrity answering a question (similar to the "dilemmas" used in the 2001 version). A correct prediction as to whether the celebrity correctly answered the question earned the right to pick one card out of the four. After three questions were asked, the player won $100 times each number card, but if they kept the ace, they won $5000.
  • Lacey Pemberton, the dealer in the 1986-89 version, later became a casting coordinator for The Bachelor and Temptation Island.
  • Jim Perry was considered to be the host of the 1980s revival on CBS, but was hosting Sale of the Century on NBC and Definition on CTV at the time. Mark Goodson also had Bruce Forsyth and Patrick Wayne as candidates, but eventually the job went to Bob Eubanks. Since Eubanks was under contract with Chuck Barris hosting The New Newlywed Game during the nighttime, Goodson's choices were Perry, Forsyth and Wayne, who were also considered for the nighttime version, which replaced Perry's nighttime Sale in some markets. The nighttime version, which nearly went to Perry, eventually was hosted by Bill Rafferty.
  • The educated guess questions on the '80s versions of Card Sharks originally had figures that only went as high as the counters on the front of the contestant desk could (no greater than 99). By 1987, the question's figures expanded. To accommodate this change, the contestants' answers would be superimposed on the counter, with the actual answer superimposed on the TV screen after it was revealed.

[edit] Recording locations

From 1978-1981, it was taped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. From 1986-1989 in Eubanks' version on CBS and the 1986-1987 Rafferty's version on syndication, it was taped at Studio 33/Bob Barker Studio of CBS Television City in Hollywood, California. From 2001-2002, it was taped at Tribune Studios. The Gameshow Marathon version was taped at Studio 46 of CBS Television City in Hollywood, California.

[edit] Versions outside the USA

The British version of the show was known as Play Your Cards Right for ITV and hosted by Bruce Forsyth, the German version (1996-1999) was known as Bube Dame Hörig for Sat.1, and the Swedish version was known as Lagt kort ligger for TV4. These versions, like many international versions of American-based game shows, were produced by Reg Grundy.

There was also a Dutch-language version in Belgium called Hoger, Lager with Walter Capiau (known as the host of the Belgian version of Wheel of Fortune) as host. It was broadcast on the national television BRT (now called VRT). A version in Australia, which used the same title as the British version, briefly aired on the Seven Network in 1984 with "Ugly" Dave Gray as host.

[edit] Episode Status

All episodes of Card Sharks still exist. The Jim Perry, Bob Eubanks, and Bill Rafferty versions currently air on Game Show Network. Perry's and Eubanks' Card Sharks air at 2 PM and 2:30 PM on weekdays, and Rafferty's version airs on weekend mornings at 9:30 AM, no word on the 2001 Bullard version.

[edit] External links

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