Press Your Luck

Press your luck is so great to watch I love it when the contestants spin the big board it keeps me on the edge of my seat, and the whammies are very funny. I read gameshow network is planning to make a new press your luck I can't wait to see it!

CBS, Daytime, Mid 80s. An exciting game show is played on the television screen. That game is called "Press Your Luck!!!!!" It's a show where, at first, three contestants HAVE to go through and answer trivia questions. After commercial, the fun begins: a giant, blooping, colorful video board (looks like a board game) has prizes, cash, and WHAMMIES switching places while lights flash on the squares, hoping NOT to get whammied!!!!!

And yes, I've seen that ice cream man two-parter, on "The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time" on GSN. It was exciting, seeing how all the cash and three prizes went to him. It might ruin the excitement for some, but it's still good.

This was an exciting show, and I can see this on 11:30 on GSN.

10 stars

This the THE BEST game show ever. I used to watch this game show as a kid. I fell in love with the show immediately. I liked the little whammy cartoons, my favorite being the bad dance whammy. And I loved the concept of the game. I wish it was this easy to win big bucks.

Now that I am an adult, I am still in love with the show becuase of the silly questions, and the crazy, but memorable contestants. I am currently taping all of the episodes on the Game Show Network.

To sum it up, this is a game show that people of all ages can enjoy.

While many will snort "Chance! Nothing but chance!" when asked about the game show "Press Your Luck", the rules of the game turned the big board bonus round into a true exercise in strategy.

To refresh your memory, after the 3 contestants earned spins by answering 4 general knowledge questions, it was time to face the 18-square big board, with its changing prize values, score-zeroing Whammies and flying cursor. In motion, the big board was possibly one of the most hypnotic devices ever created for a game show. The contestants stopped the cursor on one of the squares by mashing an over-sized button (the same button used to buzz in and answer a question to earn 3 spins instead of answering it as a multiple-choice question for 1). It was also customary to chant "No Whammies. . .big bucks. . .no Whammies. . .big bucks" before shouting "STOP!" and hitting the button.

After the contestants earned a few thousand dollars in cash and prizes, strategy came into play. If you're in the lead, do you pass your spins and hope the second-place contender can be wiped off the board? If you're trailing, do you give your spins to the leader, hoping to topple his or her empire? The four-Whammies-and-you're-out rule forced one to make even shrewder decisions. Two players who had Whammied their scores to zero passed their spins to the only one with any prizes, and since she, too, had hit a Whammy, all three were eligible to return to play again.

It isn't until you've experienced the game yourself that the strategy angle really becomes apparent. Short of trying out for "WHAMMY: The All New Press Your Luck" on Game Show Network, you can download a remarkably accurate computer simulation of the original "Press Your Luck" at:

http://www.crossbearer.com/software/press/pyl.html

I won't get into too long of a review, but I want to say that I love this show! It's a good, old game show. As good as "Jeopardy!", and considerably better than that other has-been game show . . . er, I mean "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" (which I did like in its heyday). I haven't watched the new "Whammy!", but no reason to, IMO, since it's just this with more up-to-date graphics and technology. Love the Whammies, BTW.

Seven stars.