While many will snort "Chance! Nothing but chance!" when asked about the game show "Press Your Luck", the rules of the game turned the big board bonus round into a true exercise in strategy.
To refresh your memory, after the 3 contestants earned spins by answering 4 general knowledge questions, it was time to face the 18-square big board, with its changing prize values, score-zeroing Whammies and flying cursor. In motion, the big board was possibly one of the most hypnotic devices ever created for a game show. The contestants stopped the cursor on one of the squares by mashing an over-sized button (the same button used to buzz in and answer a question to earn 3 spins instead of answering it as a multiple-choice question for 1). It was also customary to chant "No Whammies. . .big bucks. . .no Whammies. . .big bucks" before shouting "STOP!" and hitting the button.
After the contestants earned a few thousand dollars in cash and prizes, strategy came into play. If you're in the lead, do you pass your spins and hope the second-place contender can be wiped off the board? If you're trailing, do you give your spins to the leader, hoping to topple his or her empire? The four-Whammies-and-you're-out rule forced one to make even shrewder decisions. Two players who had Whammied their scores to zero passed their spins to the only one with any prizes, and since she, too, had hit a Whammy, all three were eligible to return to play again.
It isn't until you've experienced the game yourself that the strategy angle really becomes apparent. Short of trying out for "WHAMMY: The All New Press Your Luck" on Game Show Network, you can download a remarkably accurate computer simulation of the original "Press Your Luck" at:
http://www.crossbearer.com/software/press/pyl.html
