HIGH ROLLERS
airdates: 7/1/74-6/11/76 & 4/24/78-6/20/80 on NBC daytime, syndicated 9/8/75-9/19/76 one night a week by Rhodes Productions & 9/14/87-9/9/88 daily by Orion Television Syndication
hosts: Alex Trebek ("the man with the action" from '74-'80), Wink Martindale ("the man with all the action" from '87-'88)
announcers: Kenny Williams ('74-'80), Dean Goss ('87-'88)
Two players competed in this game which was based on the dice game "Shut the Box". The host popped a multiple-choice question to both players. The player who buzzed in with a right answer earned the option to either roll a pair of jumbo dice on a craps-style table or have the other player roll the dice. Failure to answer correctly gave the other player the option. The dice were rolled and the player must take off numbers from a board of numbers 1-9. The player must ditch any combination of numbers which added up to the exact total rolled. After numbers were removed, another question was asked. This continued until the board was cleared, or until one player rolled a bad number where numbers couldn't be removed. Removing the last numbers won that player the game. Rolling a bad number won the opponent the game, unless the roller had an "insurance marker". These were earned by rolling "doubles" and taking off numbers on that roll. If a bad roll was made, (s)he handed over a marker and rolled again. Only the winner of that game kept the prizes in his/her stash. If there were no prizes in that player's stash, (s)he won $100. The first player to win two games became the champ, played the Big Numbers, and faced a new player. On the syndicated '70s run, two new contestants competed for an entire half-hour, with the winner of each best-of-3 match playing the Big Numbers.
In the Big Numbers round, the champ rolled them bones and tried to clear all numbers 1-9. The "insurance markers" were also available here. Rolling a bad number ended the game, but paid the champ $100 for each # removed, while clearing the board won $10,000! On the '78-'80 run, the Big Numbers offered $5k in cash and a new car. During the last few months of that run, Big Numbers offered only $5k. On Wink's version, the champ rolled a snazzy pair of golden dice. SWEET!
On the '74-'76 version, seven numbers each hid a prize. The other two numbers each hid half of a big prize, such as a car or boat. The hostess (Ruta Lee on NBC, Elaine Stewart on the nighttime show) rolled the dice for the players in the front game. During the last 2 months of the original daytime run, each number also hid part of a famous face, with the first player to identify the person in the picture winning the game. The insurance markers were only available in the Big Numbers round.
From '78-'88, the numbers were randomly arranged 3x3. There was a prize for each column. If a player cleared a column, those prizes were won if that player won the game. On the '78-'80 run (known as The New High Rollers during its first season), if that prize wasn't claimed, another prize was added to that column, up to a maximum of 5. However, on Wink's version, each column would always offer one prize. On those last two versions, each game featured one or two "hot columns", which consisted of numbers that added up to 12 or less and, ergo, could be cleared on one roll.
Some columns on Wink's version gave players an opportunity to play a mini-game, such as:
LOVE LETTERS: Played for a car. Six blank spaces were shown representing a six-letter word. Only one die would be used. Each time a number was rolled, that letter was revealed. If that number was rolled again, that roll was no good. After four rolls, the player must guess the word within 5 seconds to win the car.
IT TAKES TWO: The player could win one of six prizes by rolling one die until repeating a number, thereby ending the game and winning the prize represented by that number.
WINK'S GARAGE SALE: Each number represented a prize. A number was rolled and that prize was won. Rolling a six, however, won a gag prize!
MAP GAME: Each number represented a fabulous trip. Whichever number was rolled earned the player that trip. Later renamed "Around the World" in which a roll of a six won a trip around the world!
DICE DERBY: Played for one of two prizes. The game involved two horses named Odd and Even. Even always represented the bigger prize. Three spaces separated the starting gate from the finish line. Rolling 1, 3, or 5 moved Odd one space. Even moved a space each time a 2, 4, or 6 came up. The first horse to cross the finish line won the player the prize it represented.
OTHER TIDBITS:
Elaine Stewart, who rolled the dice on the mid-'70s syndicated show, also served as the card dealer on Gambit. She is married to creator Merrill Heatter.
Speaking of Gambit, the Big Numbers round was also used as the second bonus game for NBC's Las Vegas Gambit.