Genre Game Show Directed by Jerome Shaw | Based on Shut the Box | |
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Presented by Alex Trebek (1974–80)
Wink Martindale (1987–88) Narrated by Kenny Williams (1974–80)
Dean Goss (1987–88) Theme music composer Stan Worth (1974–80)
Score Productions (1987–88) | ||
High Rollers is an American television game show that involved contestants trying to win prizes by rolling dice. The format was based on the dice game Shut the Box.
Contents
- Basics
- 197476
- 197880
- 198788
- The Big Numbers
- Personnel
- Music
- Merchandise
- Episode status
- International versions
- References
High Rollers debuted on July 1, 1974, as part of NBC's daytime lineup. In September 1975, an accompanying series was launched in syndication and aired once weekly on local stations. Both of these series ended in 1976, with the daytime series ending on June 11, 1976. Alex Trebek, referred to on air as "the man with the action", was the host for these series. On April 24, 1978, NBC brought High Rollers back with Trebek hosting and aired it until June 20, 1980, when it was one of three series cancelled to make room for The David Letterman Show. The series was produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions.
In 1987 Merrill Heatter, working solo since his production partner Bob Quigley retired, teamed with Orion Television and its subsidiary Century Towers Productions to revive High Rollers with Wink Martindale, this time referred to as "the man with all the action", as host. This series premiered in daily syndication on September 14, 1987, and aired new episodes until May 27, 1988. Reruns aired until September 9, 1988.
Basics
Two contestants competed. The object was to remove the digits 1 through 9 from a game board by rolling an oversized pair of dice. In order to determine who gained control of the dice, the host asked a toss-up question. The answers were usually multiple choice, true/false, or yes/no. The first contestant to buzz in received the chance to answer, and answering correctly won control. If that contestant did not answer correctly, control went to the opponent.
Once in control, a contestant could either roll the dice himself/herself or pass them to the opponent. After rolling, the contestant had to remove one or more digits from the board that added up to the total on the dice. For example, if a 10 was rolled, the contestant could remove any available combination that added up to that number: 1-9, 2–8, 3–7, 4–6, 1–2–7, 1–3–6, 1–4–5, 2–3–5, or 1–2–3–4, providing that none of the digits within the combination had already been removed.
A "bad roll" occurred if the total showing on the dice did not correspond with any combination of the digits still in play. If a contestant made a bad roll and did not have an insurance marker (see below), he/she immediately lost the game. A contestant could win either by clearing the last digit from the board, or by default if the opponent made a bad roll without a marker. The winner of each game received any prizes he/she had banked, or $100 if he/she had banked none. The first contestant to win two games won the match and advanced to the Big Numbers bonus round.
1974–76
The original series featured a prize or cash amount hidden under every digit on the gameboard, revealed and added to a contestant's bank only when that digit was removed. Two digits each contained one half of a large prize, usually a new car, boat, or a luxury vacation. To bank this prize, both cards had to be uncovered by the same contestant. If the contestants each revealed one of the two cards, the prize was taken out of play for that game.
During the final seven weeks of the first daytime version (April 26 – June 11, 1976), the main game was known as "Face Lifters". Digits were arranged in a 3×3 grid and concealed a picture of a famous person. A contestant won the game by correctly identifying the person in the picture. A contestant could take a guess after making a good roll. If a contestant made a bad roll, the opponent was allowed one guess for each remaining digit in the picture. A successful guess won the game plus the prizes belonging to the digits still on the board. If neither contestant guessed the identity correctly, Trebek gave clues until one contestant buzzed-in with the answer.
A co-hostess (Ruta Lee, daytime and Elaine Stewart, nighttime) rolled the dice for the contestants. The contestants sat along the long side of the dice table opposite from Trebek. No insurance markers were given in the main game; a bad roll meant an automatic loss.
A syndicated version with almost identical rules ran weekly in 1975–76. Each episode featured the same two contestants competing for the entire show. After the first few episodes the rules were changed so that rather than requiring contestants to win a two-out-of-three match, the winner of each game played the Big Numbers, and the losing contestant returned for another game. The contestants played as many games as possible until time was called. If this happened during a game, the one who had removed more digits won the final game and any prizes accumulated. Under the two-out-of-three game format used in the first few episodes, the contestant also had another chance at the Big Numbers. Like other weekly nighttime game shows at that time, this version had no returning champions.
1978–80
When the series was revived in 1978 (and originally titled The New High Rollers), the board consisted of three columns with three randomly assigned digits apiece. Each column contained one or more prizes, which were only banked by the contestant who removed the last digit from a column (regardless of who removed the others). The prizes ranged from typical game show gifts (furniture, appliances, trips, etc.) to more unusual items such as a collection of musical dolls or one year's worth of Sunday fried chicken dinners. One new prize was added per column at the beginning of each game, to a maximum of five. When the prizes in a column were won, a new one was placed in that column for the next game.
At least one column in each game was designated as a "hot column," meaning that all three of its digits could be cleared with a single roll of the dice. Insurance markers could be earned by rolling doubles in the main game. If a contestant made a bad roll while holding a marker, he/she turned it in and rolled again. Making a bad roll without a marker lost the game. Markers earned in the main game did not carry over to the Big Numbers or to the next match.
Contestants on this version rolled the dice themselves, instead of having a hostess roll for them.
1987–88
This version followed the rules of the 1978–80 version, but with only one prize available in each column. If any prizes were not won during a particular game, they were replaced for the next one. Frequently, one column would not offer a prize, but rather a chance to play a special bonus round if the contestant claimed it and won the game. Only one die was used to play these rounds, as described below.
The Big Numbers
The champion rolled the dice and attempted to remove the digits 1 through 9 from the board, with a large prize awarded for clearing them all. A larger gameboard was used, except on the 1978–80 series, which used the same board as the main game. Insurance markers were awarded for doubles, giving the contestant the opportunity to continue playing after making a bad roll. These markers did not carry over to the main game.
Contestants were awarded $100 for each digit removed from the board. In the earliest episodes of the 1974–76 version, contestants could stop and take this money after a good roll. A bad roll with no insurance markers, or eliminating all digits except for the 1, ended the game and forfeited the money. The contestant won a car for removing eight digits, and $10,000 for all nine. The rules were soon changed to eliminate the car bonus and allow the contestant to keep the accumulated money after making a bad roll.
The 1978–80 version offered three top prizes at different times: a car plus $5,000 cash, the car alone, and the $5,000 alone. The 1987–88 version offered a prize of $10,000 and was played using a pair of gold-colored dice.
The Big Numbers bonus round was also used on Las Vegas Gambit, which was hosted by future High Rollers host Wink Martindale and was also produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions, in 1981. The round used the same dice table as the 1978–80 version (complete with sound effects) and had the same rules, but the top award was an accumulating jackpot of prizes known as the Gambit Galaxy.
Champions stayed on the show until they were defeated or until they won five matches (seven on the 1978–80 version). On the 1987–88 version, winning five matches originally won a new car but was later dropped by the time a contestant finally retired undefeated, which led to more cars being awarded in some of the mini-games played during the main game.
Personnel
As noted above, Alex Trebek and Wink Martindale served as hosts for High Rollers, and each was introduced as "The Man with (All) the Action." For the original series and its revival, Heatter-Quigley staff announcer Kenny Williams served as announcer. The 1987 series used Dean Goss as its announcer.
The 1970s editions of High Rollers were recorded at NBC's Burbank studio complex while the 1987 series taped at Studio 43 at CBS Television City in Hollywood (though the 1986 pilot was taped instead at the ABC Television Center).
Actress Ruta Lee and Gambit card dealer Elaine Stewart were the prize models on the first High Rollers series, with Lee performing those duties on the daytime series and Stewart the weekly syndicated series. As noted above, both women were also the dice rollers for the contestants. Becky Price, Linda Hooks, and Lauren Firestone rotated as models during the 1978 revival while Martindale was assisted on his version by models Crystal Owens and KC Winkler.
Music
Stan Worth composed the theme for the 1974–76 and 1978–80 versions. In 1985, Score Productions composed a theme titled "Bubble Gum," originally for a failed Heatter pilot called Lucky Numbers (intended as somewhat of a revamp of this show with altered gameplay mechanics), that was reused for the 1987–88 version.
Merchandise
Two editions of home games were released in 1975, as Big Numbers: The High Rollers Game. The first edition was released by E.S. Lowe, while the second edition was released by Milton Bradley. Both versions have Trebek on the cover. A board game based on the 1987 version was released by Parker Brothers in 1988. The cover shows Martindale and two contestants during a game.
A computer game also based on the 1987 version was released for the Commodore 64, Apple II, and DOS by Box Office in 1988. The cover has Martindale holding a pair of Golden Dice in his left hand while pointing to them with his right.
Episode status
A studio master copy of the June 11, 1975 episode and the Warhol collection copy of the July 4, 1975 show are available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media; the latter surfaced on YouTube in 2016. The status of the 1978–80 daytime episodes is unclear, as NBC was still wiping its daytime series at the time. A total of ten episodes circulate among private collectors, several of which have resurfaced on YouTube in the past several years; the pilot, taped on February 14, 1978, is held at UCLA. All episodes of the 1987–88 version exist in their entirety, and were rerun on USA Network from September 19, 1988 to September 13, 1991; the 1986 pilot also circulates.
International versions
An Australian version aired on the Seven Network for a brief period in 1975, hosted by Garry Meadows with Delvene Delaney and Suzanne Fox as the dealers. The announcer was Max Rowley. A Japanese version called SuperdiceQ, hosted by Masaru Doi, aired on TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) from 1980 to 1984.