Press Your Luck (Johnsonverse)

Press Your Luck is an American television game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on CBS daytime on September 19, 1983, and ended on September 26, 1986. The format is a retooling of an earlier Carruthers production, Second Chance, hosted by Jim Peck and which aired on ABC in 1977.

The game featured contestants collecting spins by answering trivia questions, and then later using the spins on an 18-space gameboard to win cash and prizes. The contestant who amassed the highest total in cash and prizes kept their winnings for the day and became the returning champion. Peter Tomarken was the show's original host, and Rod Roddy was the primary announcer. John Harlan and Charlie O'Donnell filled in as substitute announcers for Roddy on different occasions.

The show was known for the "Whammy", a red cartoon creature with a high-pitched, raspy voice. Landing on any Whammy space caused the contestant to go bankrupt and start over from $0, accompanied by an animation that showed the Whammy taking the loot, but frequently being blown up or otherwise humiliated in the process. The Whammies were created and animated by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp, and voiced by Bill Carruthers.

Starting on September 13, 1999, a new version, again hosted and announced by Tomarken and Roddy, respectively, began airing on WBC. The current host and announcer are Todd Newton and Neil Ross, respectively. A new weekly prime time version hosted by Elizabeth Banks and announced by Ross began airing on WBC on June 12, 2019, and continued as a limited summer series. The series was renewed for another season which premiered on May 31, 2020.

Main game
Three contestants competed on each episode, usually a returning champion and two new challengers (if a champion retired undefeated, then three new contestants would appear on the next episode).

Each game began with a trivia round where the contestants tried to earn spins, which was then used on the show's gameboard, referred to as the Big Board. A question was posed to the contestants, who tried to be the first to buzz in with a correct answer. Once a contestant gave an answer, the remaining opponents were given a choice of that answer or two additional answers provided by Tomarken and selected one. If the contestant that buzzed in gave the correct answer, it earned three spins. A correct multiple choice answer was worth one spin. If none of the three contestants buzzed in with an answer within five seconds, three answers were given to the contestants and they earned one spin each if they chose correctly. If a contestant buzzed in but failed to give an answer, that contestant was locked out of the question and it was treated the same way as if nobody had buzzed in.

After four questions were asked, play moved over to the Big Board. The board consisted of 18 spaces arranged in a 6×5 rectangle, each of which had a screen in it that displayed one of three items which changed rather rapidly, and a randomizer light which the contestants stopped by hitting their buzzer. The most common spaces offered cash, with an extra spin attached to some of them, and prizes, with some being directional spaces that either allowed the contestant to choose between two or three squares, or moved their position to a different part of the board. Cash amounts and prize values were added to the contestant's score, while landing on any of several Whammy spaces reset the contestant's score to $0.

In the first Big Board round, play started with the contestant with the fewest spins unless there was a tie, in which case the contestant seated furthest left started. For each square the contestant stopped the randomizer light on, the value of that square was added to the contestant's bank and that contestant kept playing ("pressing his/her luck") until running out of spins or deciding to pass. Any passed spins went to the contestant's opponent with the higher amount of money (or, if tied, the opponent chosen by the passing contestant). A contestant receiving passed spins had to take them and could not pass until all the passed spins had been used. Spins awarded from hitting spaces offering them were placed in the earned column, and hitting a Whammy caused the contestant's remaining passed spins to move to the earned column, allowing the contestant to pass. Play continued until the contestants exhausted all of their spins, or earned a total of four Whammies, in which they were eliminated from the game and their remaining spins (if any) forfeited.

Once all spins had been played, a second round of trivia questions followed with the same rules as before. A second Big Board round followed, with much higher stakes in play. This time, contestants played in order of their scores (lowest to highest) unless there was a tie between two or more contestants, in which case the contestant with the fewest spins started the round. Any passed spins, as before, went to the opponent with the higher score.

The contestant in the lead at the end of the second Big Board round became the day's champion, kept his/her winnings, and returned on the next show as long as the show's winnings limits were not reached (see below). If two or all three contestants finished the match tied, they returned on the next show. In the rare occurrence that two contestants Whammied out of the game and the remaining contestant had spins left, the remaining contestant was given a choice to end the game or keep spinning to try to win more money. The choice was given after each spin the contestant took, and the game continued until all spins were exhausted, the contestant stopped the game, or the contestant Whammied out. If the contestant managed to Whammy out, the game ended with no winner and three new contestants played on the next show.