Card Sharks

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.

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.

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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 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.)

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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.

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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.)

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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).

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Sudden death

The fourth question in each round was always a "sudden death" question. 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 sydnicated version, in which case s/he wins any prizes accumulated from the prize cards that s/he accumulated upon winning the match).

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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).

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