Let's Make a Deal

Let's Make a Deal is a television game show aired in the United States. The original and most widely known version aired from 1963 until 1977. Other short lived versions aired in 1980, 1984, 1990, and 2003. The show's attraction was its deals - audience members were challenged to maximize their winnings by matching wits against the host, usually Monty Hall, who also co-produced the show from the '60s through the '80s with his partner, Stefan Hatos.

Format of the show

The show opens with a series of deals between Monty and contestants he picks.

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For example: Monty Hall picks a studio audience member at random to become a contestant. He gives him a plastic egg.

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Monty: 'You have a plastic egg that may have a thousand dollar bill hidden in it, or it may have a lot less. You can either keep that, or trade it for what's behind the large box on the display floor that (model) Carol Merrill is showing us.'

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Now the contestant is forced to make a difficult choice: keep the egg he's been given in the hope that a thousand dollars is contained within, or pick the box and its contents instead. Either may have a prize of value; the egg could contain $1000, or the box might reveal a new kitchen appliance. However, either location may also contain something worthless, called a 'zonk' on the show.

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Zonks became as outrageous as the audience:

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• Giant shoes, a garbage can for each day of the week.
• Giant stuffed toys.
• A ton of watermelons.
• Carol Merrill modeling a room of furniture ... junk furniture, appliances, etc., that is.
• Every type of live animal imaginable (they were rented from local zoos or farms).
• Junk antique automobiles (frequently rusted out shells with steaming radiators, flat tires, broken windshields ... you get the idea), or sometimes, a collection thereof.
• Carol and/or Jay dressed as comedy characters (e.g., Merrill as the mother "disciplining 'Baby Jay'" for throwing a tantrum in an oversized crib).

The goal, of course, for contestants was to increase their winnings by making the right choices as given by Monty Hall.

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Other deals

Other typical deals included the following:

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• Keys which unlocked anything from boxes (containing money, trip tickets, etc.) to cars, usually from a choice of three. Hall always offered cash or a curtain/box as options. Variant: A couple chooses one key from a choice of three, with a car offered as the grand prize (and a sure-thing buyout offered once Monty demonstrated one of the "dud" keys).
• Deciding whether an announced prize was real or fake and choosing a cash amount or the box/curtain as a substitute.
• Choosing an envelope, purse, wallet, etc., which concealed dollar bills. One of them concealed a pre-announced dollar bill (usually $1 or $5), which awarded a car or trip. The other envelopes contained a consolation gift of $500, $1,000 and $1,500. The player had to decide whether to keep his/her choice or trade.
• Choosing four of seven envelopes, each containing $1 and $2 bills, whose contents they hoped added up to at least $7 for a grand prize.
• Monty's Cash Register, wherein a couple had to punch keys on a 15-key register. Exactly 13 of the buttons hid amounts of either $50 or $100, and getting to a stated amount (usually $500-$1000) won a grand prize. The couple could stop at any time and keep what they have (always then being tempted with a follow-up keep-or-trade deal) but hitting "no sale" at any time ended the game; if the unlucky button were struck on the first try, hitting the second "no sale" button the very next time also won the grand prize. Otherwise, Monty allowed the couple to take home whatever dollar amount they hit with the next key punch.
• Three unrelated traders act as a team on deals. Sometimes, only one was allowed to speak for the team without consultation of the others; other times, a "majority rules" format was used. Usually after a series of deals, Hall broke up the team and could individually decide on one or more options on a final deal.
• Beat the Dealer: three contestants would choose envelopes to start the game; two of them contained $500 cash, the other $50. The two dealers who chose the $500 continued on to try to win a middling prize by picking the higher-suited card out of nine off a game board. The one who won could then risk the prize and the cash by picking two more cards - one for themself and one for Monty. If the player picked the higher card for themself, they added a new car; otherwise, they lost everything.
• At the start of the show, a contestant given a large grocery item (e.g., a box of candy bars), always containing a cash amount. Throughout the show, he/she is given several chances to trade the box and/or give it to another trader, in exchange for the box or curtain. Only after the Big Deal of the Day was awarded (or if the last trader with said item elects to go for the Big Deal) was the cash amount or prize given. Variant: A "claim check" given to a trader at the start of the show for any prize shown during the regular deals and chances to trade throughout the episode. The prize ranged from cash and cars to zonks. Variant: The "claim check" was played as the very last regular deal with one sure deal offered in lieu of its contents.

Skill-based games

Several games, however, were skill games testing a contestant's consumer knowledge or memory (a la The Price is Right). Games of this nature included:

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• Arranging items by dollar value.
• Choosing which item was a pre-announced price (e.g., 55 cents), or added up to a certain amount (e.g., $1).
• Recalling which grocery items were concealed beneath the letters of a car model (e.g., P-O-N-T-I-A-C) or trip destination (G-E-R-M-A-N-Y).

Several times during the game, Monty would offer a "sure-thing" prize to call off the deal. Even if the contestant failed, Hall offered a consolation prize (usually, the small items and/or $50).

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