Press Your Luck

Press Your Luck was an American television game show where contestants collected "spins" by answering trivia questions, and then used the "spins" on a board with dollar amounts. The person who amassed the most in cash and prizes at the end of the game won.

Press Your Luck trivia

• Before becoming a successful stand-up comedy champion on Star Search and a talk show hostess, Jenny Jones was a contestant on the show in late January 1985. She won $18,706 over the course of three episodes.
• On February 26, 1985, a man named Jim Hess did fairly well in round 1, until the Whammy came and messed things up. After hitting his second whammy, he passed his spins to the would-be champion on this episode, Pamela Flawn. However, since Pamela still had some earned spins, she passed the spins back to Jim, and he hit a whammy, prompting him to utter the words, "Oh, shit!" under his breath after his third whammy. By the end of the game, Jim racked up a total of $7,734 to Pamela's $7,278. However, the returning champion on this episode, Sam Kehoe, passed his remaining spin to Jim. On the ensuing spin, Jim promptly screamed "No whammies, stop!" However, Jim was not so lucky, and when he hit the whammy, he was heard saying, "Jeez, fucking shit!" as the foghorn went off. Pamela won the game with $7,278 instead. Neither CBS, USA, nor GSN edited out his swearing, so while watching the episode, he can be heard faintly cursing.
• In another 1985 episode, Peter Tomarken asked contestants which cartoon character had the catch phrase, "Sufferin' succotash!" All three contestants answered Sylvester, but Tomarken said that the correct answer was Daffy Duck; thus, no spins were given. The game ended earlier than usual and before the credits started rolling, Tomarken answered a telephone call from Mel Blanc in his Sylvester voice. "Sylvester" told Tomarken that Daffy Duck "steals from me all the time." All three contestants were brought back to the show in later episodes.
• There have been two games where three players won $0 and returned the next day. This occurred during the fall of 1984 and the spring of 1986.
• The animated Whammys were created and animated by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp, and voiced by the show's executive producer/director, Bill Carruthers.