Double Whammy [Carl Hiaasen]. I've met several out of sequence so, for me, reading Double Whammy (Skink. Book 1) has been a fun retrospective. Game Show With Double Whammy Book. This HBO TV schedule is updated regularly with the most current air dates and premiere dates available anywhere on the web. Game Show With Double Whammy. Press Your Luck Handheld Game 2008 Game show Video Game Electronic Whammy. Double Whammy by Gretchen Archer Paperback Book.
The All-New Press Your Luck Genre Created by Directed by R. Brian DiPirro Presented by Narrated by Country of origin United States Original language(s) English No. Of seasons 2 No.
Of episodes 130 Production Executive producer(s) Michael Weinberg Producer(s) Michael Malone Location(s) in Hollywood Running time 20–21 minutes Production company(s) Release Original network Original release April 15, 2002 ( 2002-04-15) – December 5, 2003 ( 2003-12-05) Chronology Preceded by (1977) (1983–86) External links Whammy! (subtitled The All-New Press Your Luck for its first season) is an American that aired new episodes on 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, which originally aired on in 1983–86. The series was taped at and was hosted by, with announcing. Contents.
Notable Contestants
Gameplay 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 reduced that contestant's score to $0 and eliminated that contestant from further play in the round. Play continued until all three contestants froze or hit a Whammy. Cash values ranged from $100–$1,500 in round one, and prizes of similar values also appeared. 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 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. 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. Accumulating four Whammies eliminated a contestant 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 or dropping ping pong balls on them). 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 farthest to the left went first. Spins earned in this round could be passed to the opponent with the higher total (if they were tied, the contestant passing the spins could choose the recipient). Contestants were required to use all spins passed until they used their spins or hit a Whammy; in the latter case, any remaining passed spins were transferred to their earned spin total. If a contestant using passed spins hit a space that awarded a spin (e.g., $3,000 + One Spin), that spin was added to the earned total. 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 In round one the board featured a 'Pick-a-Prize' space.
Contestants who landed on it could choose any prize on the board at the time. In round two, one space labeled '$2,000 or Lose-1-Whammy' gave the contestant a choice of a cash prize of $2,000 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 an earned spin), in season two, it was changed to '$555 or Spin Again.' Contestants also had an opportunity to win a 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.
Double Whammy Book Review
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, 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, running at a speed of 200 MHz. This resulted in a very large number of patterns for gameplay, which prevented memorization of patterns as did on Press Your Luck. Also, Whammies were animated in, rather than being hand-drawn as on Press Your Luck. Production. Host in January 2010 (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 and the other hosted. 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 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. Richard elliott organist. 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, which completed its run 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 in 2007–08. The series, entitled, was hosted by and.
Special episodes The show aired four holiday specials: a Mother's Day special (featuring an all-cash board and with and 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 that featured Graham Elwood (from ) as the episode's 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. Litras and Long originally appeared on the episodes airing June 8 and 11, 1984, competing against, 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 as a bonus prize in addition to their grand total winnings. Reception Whammy! Lasted on GSN for only two seasons, leading Garin Pirnia of to deem the series 'not a huge hit like its predecessor.' At the sixth, 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 and Fred Wostbrock's The Ultimate TV Game Show Book in a list of GSN original programs.
References.
Version of Bill Carruthers', which became famous in its second iteration,. Whammy!, a revival of the latter, was hosted by Todd Newton on from 2002-03. The main difference between this and its predecessors was that Round 1 gave each contestant $1,000 and the opportunity to press or 'freeze' before each of their spins.
After each contestant had a turn, more Whammies were added to the board, and hitting a Whammy eliminated you from the rest of the round. Round 2 was the Question Round, containing contestant interviews and five questions, while Round 3 was just like normal Press. Season 2 added a 'Big Bank' to the game, which began at $3,000; every time a player hit a Whammy, his/her winnings were added to the total. Hitting a Big Bank space gave that player a chance to win the entire bonus by correctly answering a question. Ended after 26 weeks in a move by GSN to branch out past game shows into other fields, such as video games, although repeats have aired for most of the period since.
Since 2003, all franchise-related merchandise, foreign versions, video games, etc. Have been adaptations of this or Press Your Luck. In use:.: '$x00 + One Spin' spaces, as before. There were none in Round 1, due to the format above.
The board also had Pick-A-Prize (which usually had about 10-12 choices at any given time) and returning favorite $2,000 Or Lose-A-Whammy.: An Argus digital camera in Season 1, a Croton watch with a Whammy on it in Season 2.: The occasional result of a Double Whammy.: The '$x00 + One Spin' spaces.: One-and-done, which didn't really work out too well when people were the 'big winner' with less than $3,000. The only contestant to win with $0 due to her opponents Whammying-Out was invited back on a later episode, while 12 contestants were invited back for the very last week of shows.: The Big Bank. (See below.).
Personnel:.: Gary Kroeger.: Todd Newton.: The Big Bank, which started at $3,000 and grew by whatever was lost to the Whammy. If a player landed on a Big Bank space, s/he was asked one question. Answering it correctly (and it had to be exact), which was usually enough to put them far ahead of everyone else.:. The GEM Car.
Did anyone actually want that thing?. Same could be said for a lot of the prizes. Who wanted a $300 year's supply of M&Ms when that was also the lowest cash amount on the board? The 'His & Hers Roller Skates' were also a prime example, as well as every prize worth $300 or less on — all 100+ of them.: Same as before, but in 3-D.
This show provides examples of:.: In 2003, guest-hosted as part of GSN's host switcharound. For each of the first three spins in Round 1, the space landed on was turned into a 'Newton' (represented by Todd making a face resembling that of the Big Tongue Whammy from Press), which awarded the contestant an outlandish (and fake) prize before saying 'April Fool's!' And giving them another turn.: The game board on the original Press Your Luck featured eighteen screens with values that almost always changed at the same time, but would occasionally have half of the screens changing out of sync with the other half. Whammy actually implements—and even amplifies—this behavior in the second round. Not only do each of the eighteen screens change independently from each other, but their values also change at semi-random intervals.: The first round's dollar values included, both of which were present on Press Your Luck.: Mostly the above, but on the last day of taping then-Fremantle employee Mandel Ilagan (probably best known for creating Half Off for ), giving the rules from memory.:. 'Big Bucks, no Whammies!'
. Todd Newton had a couple for questions and answers:. 'Where's Whammy?' .
'Time now for a Whammy Flashback.' .: Todd could be this when dealing with a Whammy's aftereffects.: Winning the car required contestants to collect both 'pieces' ('Gem' and 'Car' in Season 1, two halves of a key in Season 2) and win the game. In Season 1, hitting a Whammy at any point in the game took the car out of consideration note (the Whammy would take the GEM/Car card(s) away from the player, and hitting a Whammy in Round 1 would also eliminate the player from further participation in that round, making it impossible for them to obtain the GEM card); this was fixed with the Big Bank.: One episode had a contestant rack up over $25,000 with one passed spin left (meaning she had to take it).
She hit a Double Whammy with that last spin and lost the game, but that memorable loss led to her return for the Tournament of Losers episode.:. The first two taped episodes lacked the $1,000 rule at the start of Round 1. The first 12 taped episodes featured a smaller font for the big board, plus had different coloring on the contestant podium and no yellow background on the Whammy indicators that popped up in front of the players. Also, at least one of these episodes featured a regular Whammy that would later be repurposed for use as a Double Whammy.: In Season 1, winning the GEM car (or any prizes in Round 1), required the player to win the game without hitting a single Whammy along the way due to the rules regarding participation in Round 1. Although this happened with regular prizes, no GEM car was ever awarded; as a matter of fact, every single player who won the GEM card in Round 1 ended up hitting a Whammy later in the game, losing the card.: At least once, two contestants Whammied-Out (eliminated themselves from the game), leaving one player to use their remaining spins playing against the house, as had been the case on Press (and, presumably, Chance before it).