high roller

High Rollers
Logo for the 1978-1980 version of High Rollers.
Genre	Game Show
Presented by	Alex Trebek (1974-1980) Wink Martindale (1987-1988)
Narrated by	Kenny Williams (1974-1980) Dean Goss (1987-1988)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	559 (1978-1980 version) 195 (1987-1988 version)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Merrill Heatter Bob Quigley
Location(s)	NBC Studios, Burbank (1974-1980) Studio 41, CBS Television City, California (1987-1988)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (1974-1980) Syndicated (weekly, 1975-1976; daily, 1987-1988)
Original run	July 1, 1974 – June 10, 1988

High Rollers is an American television game show which aired on the NBC network from July 1, 1974 to June 11, 1976 and again from April 24, 1978 to June 20, 1980. Two different syndicated versions were also produced, a weekly series in the 1975-1976 season which ran concurrently with the original NBC daytime show, and a daily series in 1987-1988. Heatter-Quigley Productions packaged all versions of the series except the 1987 revival, a co-production of Merrill Heatter Productions and Century Towers Productions.

Contents 1 Personnel 2 Music and introductions 3 Gameplay 3.1 1974-1976 3.2 1978-1980 3.3 1987-1988 4 The Big Numbers (all versions) 5 Lucky Numbers 6 Broadcast history 6.1 NBC, 1974-1976 6.2 Syndicated, 1975-1976 6.3 NBC, 1978-1980 6.4 Syndicated, 1987-1988 7 Returning champions 8 Home versions 9 Foreign versions 10 Episode status 11 See also 12 Notes and references 13 External links

Personnel

The first three versions were hosted by Alex Trebek and announced by Kenny Williams, while Wink Martindale hosted and Dean Goss announced the 1987-1988 version. The Trebek versions originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, while the Martindale version originated from Studio 41 at CBS Television City.^[1]

During the first Trebek version, actress Ruta Lee served as the model and dice roller on the daytime edition while Elaine Stewart filled that role on the nighttime edition. Becky Price, Linda Hooks and Lauren Firestone rotated as models during the second Trebek version, while Martindale was assisted on his version by models Crystal Owens and KC Winkler.

Music and introductions

Stan Worth composed the theme for the 1974-1976 and 1978-1980 versions. In 1985, Robert Israel composed the theme for the 1987-1988 version.

The opening of the original 1974-76 version featured an extended drum solo counting up the big numbers, each lighting one by one (sometimes joined by the audience clapping in time to the beat), followed by an approaching animated pair of rolling dice with announcer Kenny Williams shouting:

"Now, a game of high stakes, where every decision is a gamble, and every move can be your last! High Rollers! And here's The Man With The Action--Alex Trebek!"^[2]

In the second NBC version's opening, the animated dice remained, but the drum solo was heavily truncated, and Williams's intro was reduced to, "It's 1978...it's The New High Rollers!", followed by Trebek's intro, for the first year. Thereafter, Williams just said the name of the show before introducing Trebek. When the original intro was revived for the 1987-88 version, the audience shouted the title with the announcer in the 2nd half of the 1980s version.

Gameplay

Two contestants competed. The object was to remove the numbers 1 through 9 from a game board by rolling an over-sized pair of dice. High Rollers was modeled on a traditional board game called Shut the Box.

In order to determine who gained control of the dice, the host asked a toss-up question. A player who buzzed in with the correct answer, or whose opponent answered incorrectly, earned the chance to either roll the dice, or pass and force the opponent to roll. The controlling player usually chose to roll only early in a game. All numbers were good on the first roll of the game. Passing to the opponent became more common as the game progressed, with fewer good rolls left on the board. A player who made a bad roll (one which could not be made with the remaining numbers) lost the game. However, if the odds of making a bad roll were low, such as if the only bad roll were 3 or 11, the player who won control of the dice often chose to take the gamble and roll.

Players removed numbers from the board based on the value of the roll of the dice, either all by itself or in combinations. For example, if a 10 was rolled, the player 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.

Beginning with the 1978 version, contestants who rolled doubles (e.g., 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, etc.) earned an "Insurance Marker," which could be turned in for a free roll if they hit a bad number. However, if the doubles roll itself was a bad roll, the player received no marker but rolled again.

Play continued until a player either took the last remaining digit(s) off the board and won, or (more commonly) made a bad roll and lost. The winner of the game kept whatever prizes were in his or her bank, or a "house minimum" of $100 cash. Two out of three games won the match on most versions.

In addition to the basic gameplay which remained constant, each version had unique rules:

1974-1976

The original series featured a prize hidden under every digit on the game board, which was revealed when that digit was eliminated and added to the bank of the player who removed it.^[2] Two digits each contained one half of a large prize, usually a new car or boat. To bank the car, both "1/2 Car" cards had to be uncovered by the same player.^[2] If the players each revealed one of the two cards, the car was taken out of play.^[2]

During the final seven weeks of the first daytime version (April 26 – June 11, 1976), the main game was known as "Face Lifters"; the digits concealed a picture of a famous person and the contestant won the game for correctly identifying the person in the picture. A player could take a guess after making a good roll. If a player made a bad roll, the opponent was allowed one guess for each remaining number in the picture; a successful guess won the game plus the prizes belonging to the numbers still on the board. If neither player guessed who it was, Trebek gave clues until one player buzzed in with the answer.

During the 1974-1976 version of the show, the hostess and not the contestants rolled the dice. The players sat along the long side of the dice table opposite from Trebek. Beginning in 1978, the players themselves rolled the dice, seated at one end of the table.

A syndicated version with almost identical rules ran weekly in 1975-1976. The only major difference, besides more expensive prizes being offered^{[citation needed]}, was that the same two players competed for the entire show. After the first few episodes the rules were changed so that, rather than requiring players to win a two-out-of-three match, the winner of each game played "The Big Numbers" for $10,000, and the losing player returned for another game. The players played as many games as possible until time was called. If this happened during a game, the one who had knocked out more numbers won the final game and any prizes accumulates. Under the two-out-of-three game format used in the first few episodes, the player also had another chance at "The Big Numbers". Like other weekly nighttime game shows at that time, this version had no returning champions.

1978-1980

When the series was revived in 1978 (and originally known as The New High Rollers), the digits were randomly arranged in three columns of three digits apiece, with each column containing up to five prizes.

The prizes on this version ranged from the usual game show gifts (e.g., furniture, appliances, trips) to offbeat, unusual prizes, such as:

• A collection of musical dolls.
• African masks.
• 12 portable televisions (one for the contestant and 11 for friends).
• A fully-catered gourmet banquet for 50 people.
• A trip to the Kentucky Derby with $100 bets on each horse.
• A fully-equipped built-in home aquarium (stocked with exotic fish).
• A $10,000 antique Chinese fishbowl, which was offered on the 1980 finale.^[3]

Often, the value of a prize package reached $20,000, mostly exceeding that mark toward the end of the 1978-1980 version^{[citation needed]}.

One (or sometimes two) of the columns were called "Hot Columns", meaning that all three digits could be taken off by a single roll of the dice at the beginning of the game, thus claiming the prize(s) in that column. During the 1978-1980 series, each column started with one prize, with another prize added in each game until the package was won, or until the maximum of five prizes per column had been reached. The player banked these prizes by eliminating the last digit from each column, and won the prizes by winning the game.

1987-1988

In 1987-1988, each game featured a maximum of three prizes in each column. In some games, one of the columns contained the right to play one of several "mini-games", including the following:

• Around The World: Each number on a die corresponded to one of five available trips; rolling a 6 won all five trips (i.e., "a trip around the world"). Regardless of the outcome of the game, the winner also receives $5,000 in spending money.
• Auction: The contestant chose a number between 1 and 6, and then rolled the die. A correct hunch won the player a new car.
• Dice Derby: This game mimicked a horse race; one horse was designated with even numbers (2, 4 and 6); the other odd numbers (1, 3 and 5). The contestant rolled the die and the appropriate horse moved one space depending on the outcome. The first horse to move four spaces on the track would win the race and a prize for the contestant. If the even horse won, the grand prize was a new car (or sometimes a trip or $10,000 cash). If the odd horse won, the contestant received a moderately-priced trip or pocketed $1,000.
• Driver's Test: The player controlled a game piece on a 12-position game board, arranged in a 4x4 ring of spaces. He/she had four rolls of a die to make the piece land exactly on the "CAR" space (which was seven spaces away from the starting position). The piece always moved toward the "CAR" space; if a roll caused it to overshoot the target, the next roll would have the piece reversing direction.
• It Takes Two: A different prize was assigned to each number on the die. The contestant continued to roll the die until he/she repeated a number, winning the prize corresponding to that number. Frequently, the prize associated with the 6 was the "kitchen sink", meaning that the player would win all five other prizes if they rolled a 6 twice.
• Love Letters: The contestant rolled a die up to four times to reveal letters in a six-letter word. Solving the word at any time won a new car.
• Map Game: An earlier version of "Around The World", played on the pilot and the series premiere. It was played identically to "Around The World", except in this game a 6 did not win all five trips but rather a sixth, more expensive trip.
• Rabbit Test: This game, which was played sparingly, took place center stage. The models wore fur coats. One coat was a fake, while the other was real rabbit fur. If the contestant could "feel out" the real fur, they won it. In the pilot, the rabbit was the secondary prize with the top prize being a mink coat.
• Wink's Garage Sale: Six prizes, including a worthless gag gift, were available. Rolling a 6 won the junk prize; the others were the usual game show prizes.
• Smiling Wink's Car Lot: In this game a each number on a die represented a new car, except number 6, which represented a "clunker," a used but operational car. The player rolled the die and won the car corresponding to the number rolled.
• Duel of the Dice: Featured on the pilot for this version. The contestant rolled against a monkey named High Rollers. If the contestant's roll was higher than the monkey's, he or she won a trip and $1,000 in traveler's checks.^{[citation needed]}

The Big Numbers (all versions)

In the bonus game, called the "Big Numbers", the champion rolled the dice and attempted to knock off the numbers 1-9 from the board, with a large prize for clearing the board. A bigger gameboard (giving rise to the name) was used, except on the 1978-1980 series, which used the same board as the main game. Insurance markers were awarded for doubles, giving the player the opportunity to roll again after a bad roll; this was the only time insurance markers were used during the 1974-1976 version, not in the main game.

Players were awarded $100 for each number removed from the board. In the earliest episodes, players could stop and take this money after a good roll. A bad roll with no insurance markers ended the game and lost the bonus money accumulated. The player won a car for removing eight numbers, and $10,000 for all nine. The rules soon changed so that the car bonus was removed, but a player who continued to roll did not risk the accumulated money.

The 1978-1980 version offered a prize of $5,000 cash and a car for winning the Big Numbers. The car was temporarily dropped as a prize, with Trebek explaining that it was due to the energy crisis^{[citation needed]}. The Martindale version offered a prize of $10,000, and used a pair of "golden dice" for this segment of the game.

The Big Numbers bonus round was also used on Las Vegas Gambit in 1981, also produced by Heatter-Quigley and coincidentally hosted by Martindale.

Lucky Numbers

A 1985 pilot was produced for a revival called Lucky Numbers. Trebek hosted, John Harlan announced, and Debbie Sue Maffett was hostess.

This version of the game used only the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 on the board. Rolls of 2, 3, 11 and 12 were wild and could be used as any number except the last one remaining on the board. Seven was always a bad roll, and sent the game into the "Danger Zone," where another 7 ended the game.

In the bonus round, $500 was awarded for each of the six numbers on the board, with $10,000 for all six. Rolling a number that was already used earned $100, as did rolling a wild number. When one digit was left on the board, that number must be rolled in order to win $10,000. If a 7 was rolled, the contestant could stop with the accumulated money, or roll again. Rolling a second 7 ended the game and forfeited the accumulated bonus round winnings.

The theme music from this pilot was used on the 1987-1988 version of the show.

Broadcast history

NBC, 1974-1976

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Although Alex Trebek, a Canadian, made his American television debut on NBC a year earlier on The Wizard of Odds, most observers would cite this game as the show that made him into a household name. In fact, High Rollers replaced Wizard at 11:00 AM (10:00 Central) on July 1, 1974 to make Trebek one of a few hosts in daytime history to move from one canceled show on a Friday to a new one on a Monday.

High Rollers did considerably better than Wizard against CBS' Now You See It, although it took the show nearly a year to force its rival off the air (ABC did not begin its network feed until 11:30/10:30 at the time). It also handled Tattletales successfully for several weeks in Summer 1975. However, when The Price is Right returned to CBS' morning schedule in August, another Heatter-Quigley game, Gambit, moved to 11/10 against its High Rollers.

NBC, in a major scheduling shuffle, moved High Rollers to 12:00 Noon (11:00 AM Central) on December 1, 1975 for six weeks. Although facing an ailing Let's Make a Deal on ABC, it went nowhere against CBS' The Young and the Restless which was just beginning a 34-year dominance of that time slot. January 19, 1976 saw the first version occupy its final time slot, 10:30/9:30, where it battled the last half of Price. The time slot changes alone probably alienated a large number of viewers by that point, and coupled with its slotting against the second half of Price indicated that NBC had no confidence remaining in the show.

A seemingly-desperate change to the main-game on April 26 (with contestants now trying to name a famous person's face hidden under the numbers) only sped up the show's demise, and High Rollers' turbulent two-year history came to an end on June 11; NBC replaced the series with reruns of Sanford and Son.

Syndicated, 1975-1976

The original syndicated version of High Rollers ran from September 8, 1975 to September 19, 1976. With Heatter-Quigley's Hollywood Squares performing well as a twice-weekly syndicated series, the company decided to venture on the glamorous tone of Rollers as another winner. However, the market was then saturated with weekly versions of daytime hit games, and this version left the air just three months after the original daytime show.

NBC, 1978-1980

In 1978, NBC's future was bleak. The network's prime-time lineup was dead-last and its daytime lineup fared no better. With numerous games (The Gong Show, To Say the Least, and Knockout) failing to catch on with viewers (with the exceptions of Card Sharks which premiered the same day and ran until late 1981 and Wheel of Fortune which stayed until 1989), network officials probably opted to take a nostalgic tack and revive former favorites.

With a revamped format, NBC called High Rollers and Trebek into service again on April 24 at 11:00 AM (10:00 Central). Although once again placed against Price and facing sitcom reruns on ABC, NBC did not move the program around during this version. It managed respectable ratings against both networks but, in a housecleaning that also involved The Hollywood Squares and Chain Reaction, was cancelled on June 20, 1980 to make way for David Letterman's short-lived talk-variety experiment.

Four years after the show's final NBC episode, Trebek began hosting the 1984 revival of Jeopardy!, a position he has held ever since.

Syndicated, 1987-1988

During a mid-1980s game show boom, many formats of the 1960s and 1970s returned in new versions. Former Gambit and Tic-Tac-Dough host Wink Martindale took the helm of the new version, which was not successful. Jeopardy! (hosted by Trebek) and the nighttime syndicated Wheel of Fortune had become the overwhelming choices for viewers, with other syndicated games getting squeezed out into low-rated slots such as late nights.

A syndicated revival of Family Feud due in September 1988 would be the final nail in the coffin, and High Rollers wound up another in a list of unsuccessful revival attempts, a trend that eventually led to most games disappearing from the airwaves by 1995. However, despite this version's failure, reruns aired on cable's USA Network from September 19, 1988^[4] to September 13, 1991.^[5]

Returning champions

Players on the first NBC version and the 1987-1988 version could win up to five matches; the limit was raised to seven matches for the second NBC version. The weekly syndicated version had no returning champions.

Home versions

Milton Bradley produced two home versions of High Rollers in 1974 and 1975, under the title "Big Numbers: The High Rollers Game". Some first-edition games were actually marketed by "E.S. Lowe, Inc.", a subsidiary of Milton Bradley generally targeted to older customers and gamblers. In 1987, Parker Brothers issued a new version of the game based on the Wink Martindale revival.

Box Office Software released a High Rollers computer game in 1988 for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Apple II.

Foreign versions

An Australian version of the show aired in 1975, and was hosted by Gary Meadows.

A Japanese version, titled SuperdieQ, was filmed around 1983.

Episode status

• NBC Daytime, 1974-1976: The original series is believed to have been destroyed, its tapes recycled for other purposes by NBC. However, the Warhol collection copy of the July 4, 1975 episode and the studio master copy of the June 11, 1975 episode (in which Ruta Lee gets hit in the head by a falling chandelier) can be seen in The Paley Center for Media.
• Syndicated, 1975-1976: Status is unknown, possibly destroyed.
• NBC Daytime, 1978-1980: At least ten episodes exist in personal collections, including the Finale.
• Syndicated, 1987-1988: Exists in its entirety. The 1986 pilot is currently circulating amongst collectors.

Sony Pictures Television, as a successor-in-interest to MGM, owns the rights to any future revivals of High Rollers.

See also

• Shut the Box

Notes and references

External links

• High Rollers at the Internet Movie Database
• High Rollers at TV.com

This article needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (June 2008)

Preceded by The Wizard of Odds	11:00 AM (EST), NBC 7/1/74 – 11/28/75	Succeeded by Wheel of Fortune
Preceded by The Magnificent Marble Machine	12:00 PM (EST), NBC 12/1/75 – 1/16/76	Succeeded by The Magnificent Marble Machine
Preceded by Wheel of Fortune	10:30 AM (EST), NBC 1/19 – 6/11/76	Succeeded by Celebrity Sweepstakes
Preceded by Wheel of Fortune	11:00 AM (EST), NBC 4/24/78 – 6/20/80	Succeeded by The David Letterman Show