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Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck

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Genre
  
Directed by
  
R. Brian DiPirro

Country of origin
  
United States

First episode date
  
15 April 2002

Program creator
  
5.4/10
IMDb

Created by
  
Bill Carruthers

Narrated by
  
Original language(s)
  
English

Presented by
  
Writers
  
Jerry D'Alessandro

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck wwwgstaticcomtvthumbtvbanners313514p313514

Theme song
  
Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Theme Song

Similar
  
Press Your Luck, Game show, Card Sharks, Sale of the Century, Whammy! Push Your Luck

Whammy! (subtitled The All-New Press Your Luck for its first season) is an American television game show that aired new episodes on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003. The main goal of the game is to earn as much money and prizes as possible through collecting spins by answering trivia questions correctly, then using those spins on a gameboard to win various prizes and cash amounts while attempting to avoid the show's eponymous character, the "whammy." Contestants who do land on a whammy lose all their prizes accumulated to that point; four whammies eliminates a contestant from the game. The program is an updated version of Press Your Luck, which originally aired on CBS from 1983–86. The series was taped at Tribune Studios and was hosted by Todd Newton, with Gary Kroeger announcing.

Contents

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Whammy The AllNew Press Your Luck Wikipedia

Gameplay

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Whammy The AllNew Press Your Luck Closing YouTube

Gameplay remained largely similar to Press Your Luck, with contestants accumulating cash and prizes and attempting to avoid landing on a whammy, who took away the winnings of any contestant who landed on it. At the start of the game, each of the three contestants was spotted $1,000 and took turns taking one spin at a time on the board. After each cycle of spins, additional whammies were added to the board replacing cash values or prizes, and contestants chose to spin again or freeze with their score at that point. Landing on a whammy in round one not only reduced that contestant's score to $0, but also eliminated them from further play in the round. Play continued until all three contestants froze or were eliminated. Cash values ranged from $100–$1,500 in round one, and prizes of similar values also appeared.

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Whammy The All New Press Your Luck 2011 B2 R2 by designerboy7 on

Round two consisted of five questions posed to the players. The host read a question, and one of the contestants buzzed-in and provided a response. Their response, along with two other choices, were provided to the other two contestants, who selected one of the choices. Correct answers earned with three spins for a buzz-in answer and one spin for a multiple choice answer. After five questions, all three contestants advanced to the final round.

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Whammy All new Press your Luck 2002 Pt 1 YouTube

In the final round, cash values ranged from $500–$5,000, and some spaces offered additional spins in addition to cash. Other spaces offered the choice of up to four adjacent spaces, or directed the contestants directly to another space. Any contestant who accumulated four whammies would be eliminated from the game. Also added to the board were double whammies, which—in addition to reducing a player's score to $0—added a physical consequence following the whammy's appearance (e.g., spraying the contestant with water, dropping ping pong balls on them, etc.). Play began with the contestant with the lowest score at the start of the round, or, in the case of a tie for last place, the contestant with the fewest spins. If there was still a tie in terms of score and spin totals, the contestant to the farthest left went first. Additionally, contestants could also pass any remaining spins to their opponent with the higher total, who was then forced to play those spins until they were either exhausted or the player hit a whammy, at which point any remaining passed spins were added to their earned spin total. If the contestant's opponents were tied, the passing contestant chose to whom the spins were awarded. The contestant in the lead at the end of the game kept any cash and/or prizes in their bank at that time. Unlike Press Your Luck, three new contestants appeared on each episode.

Other features

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Pt 2 Whammy All new Press Your Luck 2002 YouTube

A space labeled "Pick-a-Prize" appeared in the first round only. Any contestant who landed on it was offered his or her choice of any prize currently appearing on the board at the time it was stopped. In round two, one space labeled "$2,000 or Lose-1-Whammy" gave the contestant a choice of $2,000 a cash prize or removing a previously-landed-upon whammy (also seen on the classic show). "$1,000 or Spin Again" offered the choice of a guaranteed $1,000 cash prize or the opportunity to spin again (without using one of their earned spins), although this was later changed to "$555 or Spin Again" for Season 2.

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Whammy All New Press Your Luck Tournament Of Champions Final Round

Contestants also had an opportunity to win a Gem Car during the game. To claim the prize, the contestant needed to land on the "GEM" space in round one, and avoid landing on a whammy for the rest of the round. In round two, the contestant needed to land on the "CAR" space, and again avoid the whammy, and also win the game. In season two, the GEM car was replaced with a Suzuki Aerio SX, and the contestant needed to claim both halves of a car key in order to win the prize.

A new feature called "Big Bank" was added for the second season. The Big Bank on each episode was a cumulative jackpot that began at $3,000, and any cash and prizes that the contestants lost after landing on a whammy (including halves of the car key) were added into the bank. If a contestant landed on the Big Bank square, the host asked an open-ended general knowledge question to the contestant, who could claim the money and prizes in the Big Bank with a correct answer. Once the Big Bank was claimed by a contestant, it was reset to $3,000.

Technological changes

Whammy! made use of technological advances that had been developed since the original Press Your Luck ended its run in the 1980s. For example, the prizes and light patterns for each space on the Big Board were randomly generated using a personal computer, running at a speed of 200 MHz. This resulted in a very large number of patterns for gameplay, which prevented memorization of patterns as Michael Larson famously did on Press Your Luck. Also, whammies were animated in 3D computer graphics, rather than being hand-drawn as on Press Your Luck.

Production

Game Show Network (GSN) acquired the rights to air Press Your Luck in September 2001, and high viewership ratings prompted the network to order a revival of the series. Two pilots were taped on February 13, 2002: one with original Press Your Luck host Peter Tomarken and the other hosted by Todd Newton. Newton was ultimately chosen to host the show. Tomarken explained that he was asked to change his style of hosting, saying, "It was terribly hurtful and I think I was doomed before I did [the audition]. I remember being told, 'No, no. Be nice. Be sure everybody likes you.' I took that advice with the pilot. I made the same mistake." Tomarken also acknowledged that GSN wanted to employ a younger host in an effort to attract a younger audience.

GSN produced 65 episodes for the first season, which began airing April 15, 2002. The series was eventually renewed for a second season, which consisted of 65 additional episodes that premiered March 17, 2003. Following the conclusion of the Tournament of Champions on July 25, a combination of first-run new episodes and reruns continued to air until December 5. Additionally, a short-lived Filipino version of the show aired on GMA Network from 2007–08. The series, entitled Whammy! Push Your Luck, was hosted by Paolo Bediones and Rufa Mae Quinto.

Special episodes

The show aired four holiday specials, including a Mother's Day special (featuring an all-cash board and with Karen Grassle (Little House on the Prairie), Estelle Harris (Seinfeld) and Mimi Kennedy as contestants), a Halloween special (featuring contestants in costume), a St. Patrick's Day special (with the contestants wearing green, and all the whammy animations in green as well), and an April Fools' Day special featured Graham Elwood (from Cram) as the host, with Newton only appearing when a contestant hit a double whammy.

Janie Litras and Ed Long appeared on a special episode coinciding with GSN's documentary Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal. Litras and Long originally appeared on the episodes airing June 8 and 11, 1984, competing against Michael Larson, who had memorized the light pattern and went on to win $110,237. Larson's brother, James, competed in the 2003 episode against Litras and Long, as Michael had died of throat cancer in 1999. Tomarken made a special appearance hosting the question round of this episode, which would be one of his last television appearances. James would win the game with a digital grand piano worth $6,695.

The July 21, 2003 episode featured a "Tournament of Losers" starring three past contestants who had lost their previous games. July 22–25 of that same week featured a Tournament of Champions, with nine of the biggest winners to that point competing for additional cash and prizes. The winners on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday episodes returned to compete against each other on the Friday episode in the finale of the tournament. Friday's episode featured higher-valued spaces in both rounds, and the eventual winner also received a Suzuki Aerio SX as a bonus prize in addition to their grand total winnings.

Reception

Whammy! lasted on GSN for only two seasons, leading Garin Pirnia of Mental Floss to deem the series "[not] a huge hit like its predecessor." At the sixth World Media Economics Conference, Eileen O'Neill and Marianne Barrett listed Whammy! among several television series that used creative methods of advertising in their programs, noting GSN's ability to "encourage viewers to watch the programs live." The series was also mentioned in Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock's The Ultimate TV Game Show Book in a list of GSN original programs.

References

Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck Wikipedia