Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck

infobox television
show_name = Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck


caption = Logo of Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck with "Whammy" on the right side.
format = Game show
runtime = 30 minutes per episode
creator = Bill Carruthers
starring = Todd Newton (host)
Gary Kroeger (announcer)
country = USA
network = Game Show Network
first_aired = April 15, 2002
last_aired = December 5, 2003 (continues to be aired as reruns)
num_episodes = 130
preceded_by = Second Chance (1977)
Press Your Luck (1983-1986)
followed_by = None

"Whammy!" (subtitled "The All-New Press Your Luck") was an updated version of the American television game show "Press Your Luck". The show had initially aired on the Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003, and the network currently airs reruns of the show. Todd Newton hosted the show, with Gary Kroeger announcing.

Gameplay

Gameplay remained largely the same, and the Whammy still took away the winnings of any contestant who landed on it. However, there were some differences between the two shows.

"Whammy!" took away the first question round on "Press Your Luck" and went straight to the first "Big Board" round, with a few modifications. Each contestant was given $1,000 to start the show (in the first two taped episodes of the first season, they started at $0), and took turns taking one spin at a time, until each contestant had either landed on a Whammy (which eliminated them from the rest of the round), or chose to stop by "freezing". Play started with four Whammies on the Big Board and after each round through the contestants, four more were added (although only one Whammy was added in the first two episodes).

The show then had the Question Round and the final "Big Board" round the original show had with a few tweaks. A series of five questions were asked, and players had the opportunity to buzz in with an answer. The host would then add two other answers (or 3 if no one buzzed in) and allow the other players to guess from those answers. A correct buzz-in answer earned 3 spins while a correct multiple choice answer earned 1 spin, giving a contestant a maximum of 15 possible spins. In addition to the original Whammies, there were Double Whammies which simply added a physical element to the animated Whammy character; for example, if the animated Whammy shot silly string in the air, the contestant also got hit by the silly string.

The largest cash amounts remained $1,500 in Round 1 and $5,000 + One Spin in Round 2. The board still featured a "BIG BUCKS" square which advanced the player to the biggest cash square on the board.

Unlike the original series, champions did not get to return for another show. However, if any contestants ended the show with $0 and less than four Whammies, they were allowed to participate again in a future show, although only one contestant actually did so.

During the second round, the dollar amounts and prizes shown on the squares were rotated in a much different fashion. Rather than changing all of the squares' contents at the same time, they changed six squares at a time in one-third of the cycle time, thereby making the second round a bit harder by providing the illusion that the board was moving faster than it actually was (each individual square actually changed at the same rate as in Round 1), something that the classic series never did (except in the case of a minor malfunction). Unlike the original "Press Your Luck", "Whammy!" generated random prizes, Whammies, and light patterns for each space on the Big Board using a personal computer, running at a speed of 200 MHz, as well as a very large number of patterns for game play, to prevent memorization of patterns.

In line with technological changes, The Whammies were animated in 3-D, and the physical Whammy indicators that popped up in front of the contestants were also sculpted in 3-D instead of flat pictures. The new Whammies were created by computer animation studio WIT Animation, giving them a more futuristic CGI-like feel.

pecial Spaces on the New Big Board

Like "Press Your Luck", "Whammy!" had its own special spaces. Some were similar to those on the original, while some were completely new. For instance, since the board was no longer in a strictly square shape, "Pick-A-Corner" was now "Pick-A-Prize." When "Pick-A-Prize" was hit, all of the squares containing prizes lit up simultaneously, and the contestant had their choice of any one of them.

The "+ ONE SPIN" spaces (except for "Double Your $$ + One Spin") remained, and they were also accompanied by "or SPIN AGAIN" spaces; when one was hit, the contestant chose to take either the money or another spin on the board without using up one of their "earned" spins. The first season featured "$1,000 or Spin Again", while the second season featured "$555 or Spin Again."

On most episodes of the first season, a GEM Car was available as a prize. However, it was extremely difficult to win, as a contestant had to hit a special "GEM" space in Round 1, then hit a special "CAR" space in Round 2 (the "spin again" decision was also given on these spaces), then win the game, all without hitting a Whammy. In the second season, the same two-space mechanic was used for a Suzuki Aerio, where the two special spaces showed the front and the back halves of a car key.

A new feature called the "Big Bank" was added for the second season in 2003. The "Big Bank" always began with $3,000 (as each player started the game with $1,000), and any cash and prizes that the contestants lost after a Whammy was hit were added into the bank. If a player hit the "Big Bank" square, the host asked a general-knowledge trivia question to the contestant, who would collect the money and prizes in the bank if the question was answered correctly (referred to by Newton as "whammying the Whammy"). The addition of the "Big Bank" had the side effect of making special prizes slightly easier to win, since if a contestant collected one or both 'halves' of the prize and then Whammied, the special prize pieces collected went into the "Big Bank", and could be retrieved by a player who hit the "Big Bank" square and answered the question correctly. Producers said the "Big Bank" feature was just a way to add more questions into the game, although these questions were significantly harder than the ones in the "normal" question round, and the majority of them were not answered correctly.

Tournament of Losers/Tournament of Champions

Starting July 21, 2003, the series held a week long tournament. Monday was the "Tournament of Losers", featuring three of the past players who had lost in amazing fashions. The winner of that day won a trip to Maui in addition to their winnings. The rest of that week was the actual "Tournament of Champions", in which nine of the biggest winners in the show's history returned. The three winners for each day returned that Friday, facing a board with increased prizes (the largest cash amount in Round 1 was increased to $2,000). The winner of that show also earned a Suzuki Aerio SX as a bonus prize.

The Pilots

The two Pilots, taped early in 2002, featured a few minor differences:

* The board was in an even more irregular "scattered motif" frame, with several spaces being in unusual places (the "Big Bucks" square was to the bottom-left of the top dollar amount square instead of being right under it), and each monitor was slightly smaller and had actual photographs instead of "prize icons" as seen on the actual show.
* Instead of 3-D Whammy indicators popping up in front of the contestants, a vertical row of four white lights was located next to the player's bank; starting from the bottom, one light lit each time a Whammy was hit.
* The center circle on the board had a rear-projection screen which showed the prize/cash the player had won, instead of the later shows, in which the prize slide was super-imposed over a static Whammy image.
* If the player hit a Whammy, the Whammy animation was also seen in the center circle, a change from both the later episodes and the original "Press Your Luck", in which the Whammy was only heard and not seen in the studio.
* There was a special "G" space on the first round board and an "M" space in the second round; if a player had hit both and won the game, they won a Chevrolet Camaro ("GM" standing for "General Motors"). This was a prototype of the "GEM"-"CAR" situation to be seen in later episodes.
* Round One started each player off with three spins instead of the $1,000, making gameplay more similar to the original series.
* In the Question Round there were only four questions, and if a player managed to accumulate all 12 spins they won a special "Whammy Guard" that negated the next Whammy that player hit.

The first Pilot was hosted by original "Press Your Luck" host Peter Tomarken while the second was hosted by Newton. For no apparent reason (rumored to be because Newton was younger) the network chose Newton over Tomarken.

The Pilots were taped at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, home to "Wheel Of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!". While the game was in development its codename was "Project NPYL" (also called "Project " [Nipple] "). [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.game-shows/browse_thread/thread/4b6678075dc3a6d3/f31869139a13b3fc?lnk=st&q=Project+Nipple&rnum=1#f31869139a13b3fc]

Notable Contestants

* Skyler Stone - The host of "Con" on Comedy Central; He was a contestant on the first aired episode (April 15, 2002). Although he lost, Stone was invited back for the special "Tournament of Losers" episode (July 21, 2003). Skyler was also a contestant (and Top Dog) on "Dog Eat Dog" in 2002.
* Sandy Fox - Now a voice actress, she won a grand total of $11,337. She later returned for, but did not win, the Tournament of Champions at the end of the series as she Double-Whammied 4 times.
* Lex Lang - Anime voice actor and husband of Sandy Frank; Lex appeared in 2002 but he did not win his game.
* Comedian Harmon Leon - Appeared on the show in 2003 posing as "Hank", an overexcited contestant who won $11,373. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT219p5Au-M ]
* Jack Benza - Author of "So You Wannabe on Reality TV"; First appeared on the show in 2002 and later won the Tournament of Champions with a grand total of $50,111.

Former "Press Your Luck" Contestants

* Scott Hostetler - Most well-known on the original series' intros for yelling "Hong Kong! All right!" He was also a champion on "Wheel Of Fortune" in 1978, during which he played the Star Bonus.
* Ed Long - A one-day champion on the original "Press", he appeared on the "Larson's Revenge" special in 2003.
* Janie Litras - Appeared on the "Larson's Revenge" special in 2003 after "also" losing on that day in 1984.
* James Larson - Brother of all-time "Press" winner Michael Larson, he appeared (and won) the "Larson's Revenge" special in 2003.

ubstitute Hosts

The April 1, 2003 episode had Graham Elwood of "Cram" guest-hosting. Newton made an appearance as a "Double Whammy-in-training," and his face was featured on Whammy-like "Newton" spaces - which, when landed on, told of the "prize" the contestant had just "won".

Original "Press Your Luck" host Peter Tomarken made a special appearance hosting the question round of a special episode featuring a rematch from the infamous 1984 Michael Larson episode.

Origination

"Whammy!" was a FremantleMedia production and was taped at Tribune Studios.

External links

* [http://www.freewebs.com/game-shows/ GSF|Go Inside the Game, ULTIMATE PYL/Whammy! Page]
* [http://gscentral.net/npyl.htm Game Show Central: "Whammy!"]
* [http://www.xanfan.com/whammy/ SuperShow 8000: "Whammy!"]
* [http://gotwhammy.atspace.com Got Whammy?]

Game Downloads

* [http://members.fortunecity.com/gswarehouse/whammy.htm Download Whammy! From the Gameshow Warehouse]