Gambit (game show)
Gambit is an American television game show based on the card game blackjack, created by Heatter-Quigley Productions. The show originally ran on CBS from September 4, 1972, to December 10, 1976, and was recorded at CBS Television City in Studios 31, 33, 41, and 43.[2] On October 27, 1980, NBC revived the show as Las Vegas Gambit, as a replacement for The David Letterman Show, and kept it on its schedule until November 27, 1981. As the title implied, this edition of Gambit was recorded in Las Vegas at the Tropicana Las Vegas. Both versions were hosted by Wink Martindale and announced by Kenny Williams. Elaine Stewart was the card dealer for the CBS version, while Beverly Malden filled this role for the first half of Las Vegas Gambit, and was later replaced by Lee Menning.
Gambit
Las Vegas Gambit
Jerome Shaw[1]
Elaine Stewart[1]
Beverly Malden
Lee Menning[1]
Mort Garson (Gambit)
Stan Worth (Las Vegas Gambit)[1]
United States
English
Merrill Heatter
Bob Quigley
Robert Noah[1]
CBS Television City
Hollywood, California (1972–76)
Tropicana Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada (1980–81)
22–26 minutes
September 4, 1972 –
December 10, 1976
October 27, 1980 –
November 27, 1981
Gameplay[edit]
Main game[edit]
The object of the main game was similar to blackjack, with two married couples attempting to build a hand as close to 21 as possible without going over (busting). Number cards (2 through 10) were worth their face value, face cards (Kings, Queens, Jacks) counted as 10, and Aces counted as either 1 or 11.
Martindale asked a series of toss-up questions, usually multiple-choice or true-false. The first couple who buzzed-in and correctly answered the question won control of the top card from a deck of oversized playing cards. An incorrect answer awarded control of the card to the couple's opponents.
Once a couple gained control of a card, they had the option of adding it to their own hand or passing it to their opponents. The first card of the game was revealed before the question was asked. Each subsequent card was presented face-down and was turned up once the couple in control decided who should receive it. After a couple received any card (either by choice or by having it passed to them) and could potentially bust with another card, they could elect to freeze, preventing them from receiving any more cards. Freezing was not permitted when the two couples were tied. If one couple froze, the other continued answering questions and received a card after each one.
A couple could win the game in one of four ways:
Personnel[edit]
Both the original version and Las Vegas Gambit were hosted by Wink Martindale, with Kenny Williams, announcer of many other Heatter-Quigley shows, as announcer.[1] Jerome Shaw was the director of both versions, and Robert Noah the producer.[1] Elaine Stewart was the card dealer on the original version, while Beverly Malden served in this role on early episodes of Las Vegas Gambit before being replaced by Lee Menning.[1] Mort Garson composed the original version's theme, and Stan Worth composed the theme to Las Vegas Gambit.[1]
Episode status[edit]
A good chunk of the series is considered lost despite CBS having abandoned their wiping process around the same time. The Joker's Wild which premiered the same day as Gambit (September 4, 1972) also had a majority of its episodes lost to time until the first two seasons of the CBS run were found. Five episodes of the CBS version from 1973 are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[4][5][6][7][8] The pilot for an unsold 1990 revival, hosted by Bob Eubanks, is also present within the same collection. Several episodes including the CBS finale exist on YouTube and Dailymotion.[9] Reruns of the CBS series aired on WPIX-TV and KHJ-TV in 1976 and 1977, with Rhodes Productions handling distribution, but it is not clear what happened to these episodes afterward.[10]