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Card Sharks was an American television game show in which contestants guessed whether a playing card was higher or lower than the card that preceded it.
Broadcast history
Card Sharks, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, debuted on NBC on April 24, 1978. Jim Perry hosted this version, which lasted until October 23, 1981. The show returned to CBS on January 6, 1986, where it ran through March 31, 1989, with Bob Eubanks hosting. A syndicated version, hosted by Bill Rafferty, also aired during the 1986-87 season. A short-lived syndicated revival, with different rules than the previous versions, aired during the fall of 2001-2002 with Pat Bullard as host.
Gene Wood was the principal announcer of all three 70s-80s versions, with Johnny Olson, Jack Narz, Bob Hilton, Charlie O'Donnell, Johnny Gilbert, and Jay Stewart taking turns filling in for Wood on occasion. Gary Kroeger announced the 2001 version.
The dealers on Card Sharks were Janice Baker, Lois Areno, Ann Pennington and Markie Post on the NBC version. Lacey Pemberton and Susannah Williams were the dealers on the CBS and syndicated versions. Tami Roman (aka Tami Anderson) dealt the cards on the 2001 syndicated version.
For the 1978-81 version with Perry, Wood's voice was heard over the opening visuals reading a poem:
Ace is high, deuce is low
Call them right and win the dough
Onnnnn... Card Sharks!
That custom was soon changed to having Wood intone a poem that changed daily -- one submitted by the viewers. For example:
Shuffle, deal, cut and play
Someone's going to WIN today
Onnnnn... Card Sharks!
Reruns of the Jim Perry version surfaced on several stations across the country between 1982 and 1984 (some pairing it with Perry's Sale of the Century), and later began airing on the CBN network (which is now the ABC Family Channel) from 1984 to 1985. Reruns of all versions except the 2001 revival currently air on GSN. In April of 2005, the cable channel started showing reruns of the 1986 syndicated version regularly, and up until that point, most game show site writers had seemingly forgotten that this obscure edition had happened at all.
A board game based on Card Sharks was made by Endless Games in 2004. Although it used the logos of the failed 2001 revival, the rules were basically the same as those of the 1980s version.
The music to the 1978 version was composed by Score Productions, who had used the theme for an earlier show (the 1976-1977 version of Double Dare). The 1986 theme was composed by the "Liberace of game shows", Edd Kalehoff.
The main game
Two contestants competed to see who could complete a row of five playing cards first. Two rows of cards, one for each contestant, were placed on the game board by the two dealers who assisted the host. Each contestant had a standard 52-card deck (no jokers); the ace ranked highest and the deuce (two) ranked lowest.
Toss-up questions
Control of the board was determined by whoever was more accurate in predicting the outcome of a toss-up question based on a survey of 100 people. (example: "We asked 100 teachers, 'Has a student ever given you an apple?' How many said yes?") The contestant who received the question (with the champion going first to begin the game) had to guess how many people gave the answer that the host gave; the opponent had to guess whether the correct number was higher or lower than that guess. Whoever was closer to the correct number earned control of the board. (Starting in the fall of 1980 an exact guess netted a $500 bonus for the contestant.)
In addition to the regular 100-person survey questions, some questions on the CBS and first syndicated versions were based on a panel of ten studio audience members who shared a common profession or characteristic. (Exact guesses on those questions netted a $100 bonus.) The panel stayed on the show for an entire week. General-knowledge "educated guess" questions that had numerical answers (example: "How fast is the world's fastest snake?) were also asked.
Playing the cards
After the first card in the row of five -- the "base card" -- was revealed, the winner of the question had the option of either playing that card or changing it with the top card from the deck, hoping to play a better card. The contestant then had to guess whether the next card was higher or lower; if correct, he or she had to guess the card after that, and so on. An incorrect guess brought the contestant back to the base card, and it gave the opponent (who was not allowed to change his/her base card) a chance to play. Contestants also had the option to "freeze" instead of guessing higher or lower, thus making the last card that was played the new base card; if the winner of the toss-up question opted to "freeze," the opponent was not given the chance to play the cards. If neither contestant guessed all the cards on his or her row correctly, another toss-up question was asked and the same procedures were followed until someone cleared the row or the fourth question in the round was asked. (In the final months of the NBC run, a $500 bonus was awarded for anyone who guessed correctly on all the cards without freezing.)
The 1986-87 syndicated version included prize cards that were shuffled into the main decks (and replaced with another card from the deck if one came up). The contestant only won the prizes if he or she won the match (2 games).
Sudden death
The fourth question in each round was always a "sudden death" question, in which someone had to win the game on the next turn of the cards. Whoever won control of the board had the opportunity to play the cards (and could change the base card if desired) or pass them to the opponent (who had to play the cards that were given). An incorrect guess at any time caused the contestant to lose the game. The winner of each game won $100 (except for most of the 80s syndicated version, in which case s/he wins any prizes accumulated from the prize cards that s/he accumulated upon winning the match).
Tiebreakers
The first player to win two games won the match and a chance to play the Money Cards bonus round. If the match was tied after two games, a tiebreaker game was played to determine the winner. Contestants played rows of three cards in the tiebreaker instead of five, and three questions were asked instead of four, with the third being sudden death (by 1988 the tiebreaker was changed to only one sudden death question).
The Money Cards
The winner of the main game played the Money Cards for a chance to win additional money. The Money Cards board consisted of seven cards on three rows; three cards were dealt on the bottom two rows, and one card was dealt on the top row.
In addition to guessing whether a card was higher or lower, the contestant had to wager money on that prediction. The contestant was given $200 to bet with and had to wager at least $50 (and in multiples of $50) on each card on the first two rows. The contestant gained money with each correct guess and lost money on each incorrect guess.
After completing the first row -- or if the contestant "busted," i.e., lost everything on that wager -- the last card was moved onto the second row and the contestant was given an additional $200 (changed to $400 in 1986). The contestant had to play three more cards before reaching the last card on the top row, known as the "Big Bet." (If a contestant "busted" after this point, the game ended.) The contestant was required to wager at least half of his or her earnings on the Big Bet.
The most a contestant could win on the NBC version -- by wagering everything on every card -- was $28,800 (adjusted to today's dollars, an amount over $87,000); that was done exactly once by contestant Norma Brown in 1978. Contestants could win up to $32,000 on the CBS and first syndicated versions, but the top prize was never won. However, big payoffs of over $25,000 has been awarded several times. The highest Money Cards win on this version was $29,000.
When a person lost all of their money in the Money Cards on the 1978-1981 version, an abbreviated version of the Losing Horns (from The Price is Right) would play (which followed the so-called "NBC Claxon Buzzer", which was later used on Scrabble and Hit Man). For the 1986-1989 CBS Eubanks version and the 1986-1987 syndicated Rafferty version, when a person lost on the Big Bet or busted in the Money Cards (as well as losing the car game), the full version of the Losing Horns would play. When Gene Wood described the cars on the Eubanks and Rafferty versions, it would also be accompanied by the many car cues used on The Price is Right (the main car cues were Big Banana, Beanstalker, the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour theme, and a 1983 cue mainly used for trucks and vans).
Rule changes
Originally, a contestant could only change the first card on the bottom row. In mid-1978 the rule was changed so that the first card on every row could be changed. In the CBS and first syndicated versions, one card on each row could be changed by choosing one of three pre-dealt cards. Originally, on this version, the contestant was given three opportunities to change a card (thus, a player could change one card more than once).
Duplicate cards (e.g., two eights in a row) originally counted as losses against the contestant. In the fall of 1980, this rule was changed so that the contestant neither won nor lost money if a duplicate was revealed (which were called a "push"). From that point on, hosts encouraged the contestant to wager everything on an ace or deuce since there was no chance that the contestant could lose on either card.
Car games
Starting in the fall of 1986 a second bonus round following the Money Cards, giving players a chance to win a new car, was added. Two different car games were played. The first was played using jokers; the contestant earned one for winning the main game and could win more if any of the three jokers that were placed in the deck for the Money Cards came up. The contestant then placed the jokers in a row of seven numbered cards; if any of the chosen cards revealed the word "CAR" after it was turned over, the contestant won the car. In mid-1988 that game was replaced with a survey question based on the current week's ten-member studio audience panel. The contestant moved a pointer (on a board with a scale of 0 to 10) to what he or she thought was the right answer, winning the car if the guess was exactly right or $500 if the guess was one number away from the correct answer.
Early on in the 1986 syndicated version, Gene Wood would add this catchphrase after describing the car: "This car can be yours if you play your cards right."
2001-2002 version
Card Sharks was revived for a brief run in the fall of 2001, but was not well received by critics due to its gameplay, which was completely overhauled from the 1978 and 1986 versions.
Four players competed, two at a time. The opponents play in a best-of-three match, each playing a common row of seven high-low cards. A correct guess kept that player in control, but an incorrect guess gave the opponent the right to make the next call.
At any time, a player could ask to change the card (by use of one of two special "clip chip" tokens in their possession). The player was shown a video depicting one of the following:
A situation (not unlike Candid Camera or Street Smarts), which was stopped before its resolution. The player had to correctly guess the outcome in order to change the card.
Someone introduces himself/herself and then asks which of two others he/she is associated with.
Someone trying to list answers related to a topic within 10 seconds, or sing the correct lyrics to an obscure song.
The third match, if necessary, was a three-card showdown; "clip chips" could not be used.
The first player to win two games won $1,000 and moved on to a final one-game showdown with the winner of the second game. The winner of that match earned an additional $1,100 (for a total of $2,100), which would be used as betting money for the Money Cards.
The Money Cards was essentially similar as the earlier runs, except just six cards – three on the first row, two on the middle row and the one card Big Bet row – were used and the player was spotted $700 for each row (including the Big Bet row). The maximum amount possible of $51,800 was never achieved.
This new version of Card Sharks was most notable for a special week of shows (which were taped after the September 11, 2001 attacks) where firefighters and police officers played for charities aimed at helping victims and their families recover from the attacks.
Unlike the earlier versions, the games were self-contained; they were not straddled. Also, the show had no returning champions.
Many longtime fans of the old Card Sharks labeled this version "Card Guppies."
Other comments
Card Sharks held many special tournament weeks over the years, including the famous 1980 "Game Show Hosts" week, a three-week tournament which pitted eight game show hosts against each other. In week 1, the first four competitors were Allen Ludden (Password Plus), Gene Rayburn (Match Game), Bill Cullen (Blockbusters) and Wink Martindale (Las Vegas Gambit and Tic Tac Dough). In week 2, Tom Kennedy (Whew! and later Password Plus), Alex Trebek (High Rollers), Jack Clark (The Cross-Wits), and Jim Lange (The Dating Game and Bullseye) participated. In the third and final week, the top four winners would face each other with the winner donating $25,000 to the charity of his choice. Alex Trebek beat Bill Cullen in the finals of the tournament and won the $25,000 for his charity, the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Other tournaments held included "Kids Week", "College Week" and "Celebrity Card Sharks" specials, in which celebrities would play against each other for their favorite charities.
Card Sharks was the only Goodson-Todman game show announced by famed Let's Make A Deal announcer Jay Stewart, who had left Barry & Enright Productions in 1981. Stewart, who was filling in for Gene Wood (who was recovering from injuries in an accident), announced approximately eight weeks worth of episodes during the summer of 1981 (mixed in with repeats of past episodes during that time, including the game show hosts tournament), and he eventually joined host Jim Perry in his next game show project, Sale of the Century, for a five-year stint as announcer and, for a brief time, co-host.
In 1979, future Card Sharks host Bob Eubanks made a special on-stage appearance to promote his new game show project All-Star Secrets. Eubanks and Perry would later appear together as teammates in the "Game Show Hosts" tournament on Family Feud in 1983.
Jim Perry's children Sean and Erin Perry have also made appearances alongside Jim on occasion.
The emphesis of Card Sharks was carried over to The Price Is Right with the pricing game Let Em Roll, a game in which a player has to determine of the price of the next item is higher or lower than the one preceding it to win a roll of five dice.
Versions outside the USA
The British version of the show was known as Play Your Cards Right, the German version was known as Bube Dame Hörig and the Swedish version was known as Lagt kort ligger.
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