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.

Michael Larson

On one episode of Press Your Luck in 1984, a self-described unemployed ice cream man named Michael Larson made it onto the show. With the use of a VCR, Larson was able to memorize the presumed random patterns of the game board, to help him stop the board where and when he wanted to. On the episode he appeared in, Larson spun over 40 times without hitting a 'Whammy', and took away $110,237 in cash and prizes, most of which was earned via "cash plus a spin" spaces. His total was a record by far for a single appearance on a game show up to that time. The Press Your Luck board's patterns were significantly reworked after this incident, increasing from the original five patterns to thirty-two, and such a run was never repeated on Press Your Luck again.

Related Topics:
1984 - Michael Larson - VCR

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Larson episode was split into two half-hours that aired on June 8th and June 11th of 1984, but it was not rebroadcast for nearly two decades after that. Game Show Network (who had purchased the rights to air Press Your Luck but with the stipulation that the Larson episode could NOT be aired) was finally allowed to air portions of it in 2003 as part of a two-hour documentary called "Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal".

Related Topics:
June 8 - June 11 - 1984 - Game Show Network - 2003

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now, the Larson episode is part of the rotation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~