The Diamond Head Game

The Diamond Head Game is an American game show that aired from January 6 to July 4, 1975 in five-day-a-week syndication. Borrowing its name from a long dormant volcano on the island of Oahu, the series was hosted by Bob Eubanks and assistant Jane Nelson, and is the only game show ever to have been taped entirely on location in Hawaii. Alan Thicke composed the memorable theme music.

Premise

The Diamond Head Game had two formats. The first format was used for the first 13 weeks.

Format #1

Front game

The audience was divided into four sections, each representing "one of the islands of Hawaii." Two contestants were selected from each section at a time to compete in a best-of-three faceoff for the right to play the second round. Eubanks asked a series of general knowledge toss-ups that were either true/false or multiple choice. Buzzing in with a correct answer earned a player a point, but answering incorrectly gave the point to the opponent. The first to two points advanced to the next round and the process was repeated with the other three sections of the audience.

In the second round, the four remaining contestants stood at the bottom of a three-step podium referred to as the base of Diamond Head. In this round, the contestants had to recall items from a list of twelve read by Eubanks. One at a time the contestants took turns giving answers, stopping only when either one of them answered incorrectly, failed to answer within three seconds or (in rare cases) completing the list. The first player to miss was eliminated from the game and the other three won $50. If a list was completed without a miss, all four players won $50 and a new list was played.

On the second step, one more player was eliminated, the two survivors won $100 and faced off for a chance to face the money volcano in the bonus round. One last list was played with the last player standing winning the game. All contestants kept their winnings.

Money Volcano

In the bonus round, the contestant was given 15 seconds inside a modified wind tunnel called the Money Volcano. There were various prize cards and cash in the Volcano and the contestant wore a pouch around his/her waist, into which these items were placed as they were plucked out of the air. The contestant could not bend down to pick the items up or use his/her body to trap them. Among the dollar amounts in the Money Volcano was a $10,000 bill, and there were several $1 bills as well.

When time expired, the contestant came out of the Volcano and Eubanks pulled out up to ten of the items from the pouch. One at a time, he revealed them to the contestant and as long as a $1 bill was not one of them, the contestant had an option to stop and take a bailout prize or keep going. If any of the items pulled was a $1 bill, the contestant lost the round and won nothing.

Format #2

The second format began on April 7, 1975 and continued for the rest of the series.

Front game

Two teams of three contestants competed in three question-and-answer rounds. A category was announced, along with five possible answers. A correct answer earned a team points (10 in round 1, 20 in round 2, and 30 in round 3), while an incorrect answer or failure to respond allowed the opposing team to answer.

The team with the most points after three rounds advanced to the base of Diamond Head and competed against each other for the right to play the Money Volcano. In this part of the game, anything other than a right answer earned a player a strike and two strikes eliminated a player.

Money Volcano

The first half of the game was played as before. However, Eubanks drew a maximum of only five bills and offered opportunities for the contestant to quit and keep their current winnings, or trade for one of five bonus envelopes. Three of the envelopes concealed $100, another $5,000 and the fifth a grand prize. As before, the penalty for having a $1 bill drawn meant the contestant won nothing, and the game ended.

Episode status

All episodes exist. The series was rerun on GSN from October 1997 to April 1998.

References

External links

• The Diamond Head Game at the Internet Movie Database