Pay Cards!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pay Cards! was an American syndicated game show that first aired from 1968-69. A revival, called Super Pay Cards!, came 12 years later, taped in Canada, and also ran one season. Art James hosted both versions.
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[edit] Original Format
[edit] Five Card Draw
Three players, one of whom was a celebrity playing for a studio audience member, faced a board of 20 hidden cards and attempted to build a high poker hand.
In the first round, the first player would call out 3 cards to reveal. If a pair or three of a kind came up, the player must keep those cards. If not, the player may either keep the cards or turn them back. If the cards were kept, that player called out a fourth card. If the cards were refused, control passed to the next player in turn. If a player kept a card, that player may then turn over another card and either keep it or refuse it. After two players have each completed a five-card hand, the remaining player must complete his or hand by keeping whichever cards he or she revealed.
At the end of each round, the players were paid as follows:
- $10 for each pair
- $30 for Three of a Kind
- $50 for full house (three of a kind + a pair)
- $100 for Four of a Kind
The player with the highest hand at the end of each round earned a $50 bonus.
[edit] Strategy Round
The four corner cards were revealed. On their first two turns, each player called out two more cards and selected two cards for his or her hand from the six which were showing. After a player collected four cards, that player would select one last card to complete his or her hand.
[edit] Wild Card Round
This final round was played similarly to round one, but with a few "wild cards" hidden on the board. These cards allowed for a player to make Five of a Kind and thereby earn $150. The player with the most money at the end of this round played the bonus round.
[edit] Jackpot Game
The player would attempt to memorize 12 cards and their positions for 12 seconds. The player would then spin a wheel which determined which card the player must locate on the board. If the player could recall where that particular card was located on the board, he or she would win a bonus prize.
[edit] Super Pay Cards!
Two contestants (male vs. female) competed.
Each player faced a board of 16 playing cards and tried to build their best hand out of them.
[edit] Five Card Draw
The players were shown four cards at the start of the round and where they were located. After they were hidden again, the player in control called out 3 of the cards and tried to build the best possible five card hand with them. If a pair or three of a kind was revealed, the player automatically kept it and tried to build on the hand.
After each card was revealed, the player could either keep the card and control, or refuse it and pass control. This continued until one of the players completed their five card hand, with the opponent having to make do with whatever cards they had called.
At the end of the round (and each subsequent round), players were paid off depending on what they had in their hand. Here are the payouts:
- Pairs - $20
- Three of a kind - $50
- Full House - $100
- Four of a kind - $200
- $50 was also awarded to the best hand in the round.
[edit] Round Two
Round two was played one of four ways:
- One variant was called "Four of a Kind", with four sets of 4 of a kind on the board.
- Another variant that was rarely used was "Seven Card Stud" where Mary Lou gave each player a choice of two sets of two cards to use and see for themselves and place infront of their podium. The players used their own two cards with the five additional cards they want to keep. The two cards are not revealed to their opponent until they keep all five cards.
- A third was "2,3,4,5", where one set of cards had a fifth duplicate, in addition to two sets of pairs, a three of a kind set and a four of a kind set. Finding the five of a kind set is paid off with $300.
- The fourth was called "Strategy" and was played with three cards being revealed at the start of the hand. The players would take two turns calling off cards (2 each) and would pick two cards from the cards showing as to what they wanted in the hand. Each player on their third turn would call off one card and pick one card from the four displayed cards.
[edit] Wild Card Hand
The third round, called "Wild Card Hand," was played similar to round one, but with jokers shuffled into the cards to make five of a kind possible (once again, with a $300 payoff).
At the end of this round, the player with the most money won the game and advanced to the bonus round for a chance at $5,000. The losing player left with a copy of the Super Pay Cards! game in addition to whatever money they had earned.
[edit] Bonus Round
In the first phase of the bonus round, a player was given four cards to memorize and four seconds to do it with. They would then pick a card from the assistant and try to find where it was on the board. Doing so won $50.
The second phase involved eight cards and eight seconds of memorization time. Success here increased the player's winnings to $500.
If a player got to the third and final phase, they faced a 12 card board. After having twelve seconds to memorize the cards, they'd make one final choice of card. Correctly recalling its location won the contestant the top prize of $5,000.
If the player made a mistake during one of the first two levels, the player loses the chance to win the $5,000, but could play that stage again. A wrong guess on the third level meant that the contestant lost a chance @ $5,000, but kept the $500 for success on the first two levels.
