High Rollers
Host: Alex Trebek, Wink Martindale
Announcer: Kenny Williams, Dean Goss
PREMISE: Contestants play "shut the box" for prizes and ten grand in the "Big Numbers."
The show had three separate runs, from 1975 to 1975, 1978 to 1980, and 1987 to 1988. The basic game remained constant, and will be explained. The changes for each series will be explained afterward.
Two players listened to the host read a quick multiple choice or True/False question, and can interrupt the question. The first to buzz answers, and if correct takes control of the dice. If wrong, or the player gives no answer, the opponent takes control. The player in control now has a choice: to roll the dice, or pass.
The numbers 1 through 9 were each on the gameboard once. The contestant rolled the dice, and had to remove numbers from the board that added up to the total on the dice. So, if an 8 was rolled, the 8 could be taken off, or 2 and 6, or 1, 3, and 4, or any combination of numbers. After the numbers were used up, they were out of play, and could not be used again. This resulted in more and more totals being 'bad rolls,' which could not be removed if rolled.
The game continued with more jump-in questions, and rolls of the dice. When a player rolled the dice and got a 'bad roll,' the round ended in favor of the opponent. If the player was able to clear the board of all numbers with a roll, that player instead won the game.
Insurance: When a player rolled doubles, he or she got an insurance marker. This could be surrendered in the same game for another roll after a bad one. Insurance markers could not be saved; after the game ended, all Insurance markers went back to the pile.
Each game was worth prizes, or $100 cash if no prizes were claimed by the winner. Two victories meant that player was the winner of the match. The winner got to face a new challenger, after playing the Big Numbers bonus round.
The Big Numbers
The bonus round was more of same, except the champ rolled the dice repeatedly, trying to eliminate every number from the gameboard in order to win the grand prize; or $100 for each number knocked off. In the early years of the program, the bonus money was also at risk for each roll, a bad one meant the money went poof.
1974-1975
For the main game, the numbers each concealed a prize card behind them, and were credited to the player who knocked off that number. Sometimes a car, trip, boat or expensive prize was split between two numbers. In that case, the same player had to knock off both numbers and win the game to claim that prize. The grand prize was $10,000 cash. Very briefly, the program switched the rules around, and put the numbers in a three-by-three matrix. Each piece now hid a piece of a celebrity photo, and to win the game, the contestants had to name the face.
1978-1980
The numbers were now in three columns, with three numbers in each. Each column was seeded with a prize, and all those prizes were credited to the person who cleared the last number from the column. If any columns were not won during a game, another prize was added to the pot for that column, up to a maximum of five, until the prizes were won. Sometimes, the prizes were very nice, and totaled over $30,000 for a column, and that was in the late seventies. The grand prize for a bonus round win was $5,000 and a new car, valued at over $5,000 (a clip of a bonus round win features the Buick Skylark as the car for the day).
1987-1988
The game stayed very close to the rules for the 1978 version. The numbers were in columns again, but this time, one column per game was designated the "hot column," where one roll of the dice at the right time could knock out an entire column. Each column was worth prizes, with new prizes added to each column before a new game. Every other game had one column featuring a 'mini-game' instead of a prize. The mini-games would be played by the winner of the game, for either a bonus prize, cash sum, or possibly a new car. The grand prize for a Big Numbers win was $10,000. Five-time champions retired and won a new car, even if they already had won one from a column or mini-game.