Jokers wild game show

During the special weeks where kids played, the kids did not risk any prizes won while going for future prizes. When this bonus first premiered, the jokers had the word "Wild" underneath them just like the main game. Three Santas won a prize, one Scrooge lost everything. But if at any time a devil appeared, the contestant would lose all the accumulated money up to that point.

Starting in January , a "Lucky Hundreds" promotion was run. By early March, no one had yet won the prize. The show decided to institute a week of "audience games" following each run of the bonus game. This would allow a pre-selected audience member the chance to play for the same prize package that the current champion had just tried to win.

For more details and the actual run length of these games, see "Audience Games" below. The first person selected to play was Carmen Borione. In the early years of the CBS version, contestants played for an accumulating cash jackpot called the Joker's Jackpot. After each bonus game before the bonus during a brief period , the champion could decide to either keep the money won in the main game in addition to the prizes won in the bonus game and leave the show, or play another game knowing that if the champion lost that game, the grand total of the main game winnings were lost and added to the jackpot the bonus game prizes were not in jeopardy.

Champions who won three games in a row originally four , won the Joker's Jackpot. Weeks later, after reducing the number of wins to three, breaking the jackpot also won a brand new car. When the Face the Devil bonus game was instituted, the Joker's Jackpot was removed entirely and champions now played for just a car.

To win it, contestants had to win five games in a row, and there were no more risks involved, win or lose. In the syndicated run, champions played until they were defeated; the exception being between , when Joker aired on WCBS in New York. For the first three years of the syndicated version, "Tournaments of Champions" were held annually, featuring eight of the biggest winners from the previous year for the and tournaments, the tournament field was sixteen; also, for the tournament, the bulk of the champions were from the CBS run.

Different rules applied to Tournament of Champions play: the contestants played for points, and in the championship game, two wins out of three were needed for the top prize three out of five for both the third and fourth tournaments. Contestants drew numbers to determine who would spin the wheels first.

If the contestant who spun first in the challenger's podium spun three jokers and answered a question correctly, that player's score would go to points.

Then the one who spun second in the champion's podium would get one final turn to tie the game in that case, or win the game if trailing by less than points; so therefore in any case, both players would get an equal number of turns. The player who was ahead after each completed round after the target score of points was reached or exceeded was declared the winner.

Also, no bonus game was played. Frank Dillon won the tournaments in and , respectively; Eileen Jason captured the tournament in defeating Dillon in the finals. It was the total purse for this Tournament of Champions, whose players would split their earnings with 16 nominated charities. Also, by the time this tournament came into effect, contestants started to wear nametags, and they would continue to wear them for the rest of the series.

Rob Griffin won the tournament, defeating Cassandra Dooley. During the final season of the CBS run, two different audience games were played. Hitting a Devil on the first spin meant no audience game was played. After this, Jack presented the player with a choice of three envelopes, each containing the name of an audience member. A Devil took away both players' money, but gave the audience member a consolation prize.

From to , at the end of every show originally the Friday show , an audience game was played. This was where audience members got a chance to win money for themselves. Originally they could take up to two spins; if they liked what they saw on the first spin, they stayed with it; if not, they could reject the amount and spin again. In either case, whatever they won was theirs, and the audience player with the highest amount of money went on to spin against the devil for more cash and a bonus prize.

In case of a tie, a spin-off was played to determine the winner. Any money won from the spin-off spins was added to their totals. In the eighth season when Bill Cullen took over, the rules were modified. Since Bill wasn't able to go to the studio audience due to his limpage from polio crippling him, two audience members came up on stage to play the game. Other than that, most of the rules stayed the same.

This was a short-lived spinoff of the show with children playing instead of adult contestants which ran briefly in syndication from until This version was entirely different from the original. Three contestants competed instead of two, and the questions were all words, phrases, and names with the contestant having to come up with a definition or the meaning of the clue. Correct answers earned money and answered another clue. One mistake caused the opponents to buzz in and steal the money and control by answering the same clue.

The game always began with a toss-up for control of the Joker Machine. The two survivors of Round 1 moved on to Round 2, and the winner of the game moved on to the bonus game. The show had two formats during its season-long run, with the show reverting to the first one towards the end of the run.

Each spin decided the value of each clue. In Round 1 all questions were general knowledge. To start, a jump-in clue was given and the first contestant to buzz in with a correct answer won control of the joker machine and the questions.

The surviving players' scores were also carried over into the next round. In addition to the Joker,, there was an "Opponent's Choice" space on the third wheel, which is just what it sounds like; when landed on, the opponent got to decide the subject.

The rules were changed to have elements of the classic Joker's Wild inserted into the game, but with the definitions format remaining.

This time, up on the wheels were categories, and the Joker could appear in all three windows. Like the title says, the Jokers were wild, and the contestant in control could match it up with any category shown, but there was no right to go off the board. Also unlike the original, the categories were not announced at the start of a round. As before, values were determined by how many of that category appeared. All correct answers began with the same letter given at the start. Host Pat would give a maximum of three definitions, and the player had to give the correct word to the definitions.

When time ran out, the contestant took the number of spins earned to the joker machine. Read all. See more at IMDbPro. Episodes Browse episodes.

Photos 4. Add photo. Top cast Edit. Pat Finn Host as Host. Michael McKay Self as Self. More like this. Storyline Edit. The winning contestant could then move on to a bonus round, where they would play a slot machine for a chance at even bigger prizes, but with the risk of losing everything.

Add content advisory. Did you know Edit. Trivia Two black and white pilots were made, in and in with Allen Ludden as host. Quotes [Farewell speech on the June 13, finale] Host : Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last "Joker's Wild" program.

Connections Featured in The Cable Guy User reviews 7 Review. Top review. Thank you very much, and a most cordially welcome to a brand-new and, we hope, very exciting show for you. A correct answer automatically won the game, regardless of the contestant's score or whether a full round had been played or not.

If unsuccessful, however, the opponent could not steal and the game continued as normal. Using jokers was optional, and contestants occasionally declined to use them if enough money was at stake for their opponent to win the game or take the lead e.

By playing this way, the opponent had less of an advantage if the contestant missed the question and the opponent answered it correctly. Contestants received a new car after every fifth victory. There was only one devil slide on only one of the wheels. If the devil did not appear on a spin, the total of the displayed amounts was added to the pot. If the devil came up, the round ended and the contestant lost the accumulated money. After every "safe" spin, the contestant had the option to stop and keep the money won up to that point.

Contestants who chose this option were often invited to take an unofficial spin to see if the devil would have come up next. Fictionaltvstations Wiki Explore. Wiki Content. Explore Wikis Community Central.