PRESS YOUR LUCK LEGEND: MICHAEL LARSON

[yinzjagoffs]

Yeah, lets all pay dumb so the rest rest of the dumb asses out there can still enjoy their dumb ass game show.

[DrSurprise]

if he got a whammy after getting all that money, it would've been hilarious!

[mondaywar]

beasst

[jeopardy60611]

The only cheating that was going on, which isn't against the rules, was to appear on the show knowing he was going to take advantage of the patterns.

[fredfinks]

@jeopardy60611 

Which means no cheating.

EVERYONE: If he cheated, they wouldn't have paid.

[hubuly]

I don't know this just reminds me of the casino counting cards rules. Having that against the rules is sort of like, not being allowed to throw with your strong arm in baseball or football. He's not breaking the game he's just being smarter than the competition.

[neuralburn]

The pattern is extremely obvious - first of all after watching the board a few times, you already know the big square, #4, always has 3k, 4k, 5k+spin. you just backtrace it 2 or 3 squares and you can tell when its going to light up: i knew the pattern when i was like 10.

[SickShizta]

Lol, there was no pattern. That square always had a high value and an extra spin attatched to it. Hardly a pattern if you can call it one. But that guy is a fucking genius for waiting instead of pushing the button like a random idiot would do.

[jeopardy60611]

@SickShizta There actually was a pattern, or really 5 of them, that Michael was able to memorize and therefore anticipate when the 4th square would come on. The GSN documentary "Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal" highlights one pattern that goes "2-12-1-9-4," but there were other patterns. They show the control panel, and the patterns somehow corresponded to 5 buttons on the console.

[mbrooks415]

@jeopardy60611 Amazingly enough, he didn't memorize all five patterns in their entirety. One of the patterns (which is seen here around the 1:00 mark) bounces in squares 4-12-17-8. Square 8 is one of the two safe squares. Michael never used that pattern to land on square 8. He waited for the 9-17-8 sequence a few seconds later to strike.

[PGOLDEN88]

The DOD is looking for computer hackers. This guy is a genius, it's sad the way he died.

[OBSESSIVE1914]

y2k thinking with 80's tech its not cheating if you let in counters lol remember back in the days they were only paying out at most 10 grand im sure the producers were having sh(* fits in the back

[TASconfidential]

I see NOTHING wrng with what he did, especially, since the game was initially programmed to exploit human error and ensure that people wouldn't get but so far.

[ppwalk05]

fallout new Vegas brought me here, anyone else?

[MichasQGP]

@ppwalk05 same here :) cheers mate

[MichasQGP]

@ppwalk05 same here - cheers

[ppwalk05]

@MichasQGP cheers to you too

[Morphicc]

This guy is the man.

[crazyknight2008]

nah he didnt cheat....theres no law saying you cant watch the program over and over again and exploit its weakness...he did just that and all i can say to him is well done..pity he was robbed later on and most of his money stolen...:)....

[lloyddobblerNJ]

For anyone who is interested, NPR had a really good radio story about this guy's rise and fall. You can search for the website for This American Life and look in it's archives from July 2010. Pretty interesting story.

[SamJay57]

man...

im pretty sure sure this game is still going on somewhere int his world. he's had no whammies and his cash right is $92048902802409849028094820849­028402984029809482902480928409 and going strong.

[Ragnarok3000]

did he keep the money or lose it?

[cyclemadness]

Although he didn't cheat the game show, which is why he was paid, he did cheat many individuals in the first Internet scam to be investigated by the FBI. He was wanted by the FBI for many years and died while on the lamb.

[MrNiconiconico]

ITS OVER 9000!

[GetMagnet]

He recorded shows and played them back in slow motion and figured out that there were only 5 different patterns that they used, and that there were 2 squares that never had a losing card. The crazy thing about this is that on one of his last spins, he messes up and it lands on a potential losing square, that could have taken all his money away, but it turned out to be a winning square (it was the same square he lost on his first spin of the game)

[pridesblood]

i agree with everyone else, he wasnt a cheater, he was just a mastermind. Thats like playing football with a man that is 7ft 400lbs. Even CBS gave him the money, he did what anyone wouldve done if they could make an easy 100grand and CBS even press confrenced that they thought he was more genius then cheater.

[kendraclover]

This was my uncle and I never got to meet him, but I get to see him shine in this. My dad (his brother) passed away in November. I think its cool that he got his 15 minutes. Most never get that chance.

[istartedthetrojan64]

i want that much money

[WalkAroundDude]

To notice patterns like this and to memorize them is genius. This guy didn't deserve to have a crappy life like he did. For doing such a feat he deserved much more.

[invadercheeze]

GODLIKE

[happboy1]

To Manwit2thums and miamicanes222, he memorized a patern. He is not lucky, he is not cheating, he mearly mastered the game. He was sitting at home one day watching when he realized a patern. This was supposed to be a random show, but there are 5 paterns. he practiced by pausing on the prizes using his VCR, a new tech back then. He then flew to cali, bot a cheap button down shirt at a thrift store, auditioned, and raked in his well earned winnings. Thats about it, no cheat, no luck, just skill.

[ManWit2Thumbs]

but i do see the pattern in the moves

[ManWit2Thumbs]

lol this guy is one smart and, a little lucky

[bomberboy99]

cool. it looks like cheating but he didnt break any official rules. can u say loop hole?

[TwinCitian07]

the craziest thing about this is how old do you think this guy is? He looks to me to be in his 50s? Nope. He's barely 35 when this is taped.

[miamicanes222]

yeah hes definitely the oldest 35 year old ive ever seen

[NeoSpearBlade]

This proves that if you shut up, you win.

[southplnk]

i love how he cheated on national tv

[dray97]

how is he cheating?

[paulpag777]

its not cheating. He just figured out the pattern thet the square runs in. He figured out that there is only 5 (i think) possible paths that the square takes. Then with accurate timing he pressed the button. And there is no law against that

[TheRyanExperiment]

OMG!!!!

[hankwheels]

I never would have guessed the board wasn't random, I'm glad he figured it out though!

[footup7342]

He should've kept a low profile winning $30k in three shows. Hard time living his life after this.

[08lakers08]

f that shit man lol i would have milked that game for all that it was worth

[miamicanes222]

couldve at least done something to look like he wasnt cheating. even then i heard somewhere that nobody found out he was cheating for about 10 years after this show. and yeah his life after that was pretty bad. he invested his winnings and it turned out to be a ponzi scheme ALA Bernie Madoff. that wasnt his fault. then he became sort of certifiable after that and ended up losing almost everything due to stupidity. he was a fugitive when he died at 50.

[ticalcmaster]

So whats the pattern that the game follows.

[Ralkila]

there are six patterns, that guy had memorized each one and violated the show XD

[devonray75]

I did the Larson pattern on my own game of PYL and I beat his record with $3,269 more above Larson's record which is $110,237!

My record on the Larson Pattern: $113,500

Michael Larson's record: $110,237

[CHAINGANG717]

it's just like counting cards. it's cheating plain and simple

[ticalcmaster]

Card counting is not cheating. There is nothing wrong with it.

[Ralkila]

there is not cheat cause the rules dont say nothing about that , inclusive the show wanted to stop him but he wasent doing nothing illegal

[DorvellTStewart]

I'm sick of people saying this guy cheated! Since when exactly was it considered cheating if one memorized the patterns of a computer-generated game board! There's nothing wrong with someone being smarter than the people who designed the board or designed anything period. How do you think we get people like computer hackers and what not?

[devonray75]

i'm not saying he cheated!

I'm just saying they redesigned the board with a different pattern so no one will do what Michael Larson did!

[DorvellTStewart]

I know that's what they did, and I don't believe that comment was necessarily a reply to you. If it was, my appologies.

[DorvellTStewart]

Ok. I guess that did come out as a reply to your comment, LOL!

[beansmikebreak]

@DorvellTStewart i don't really care at all about the controversy, but in my opinion i see it as the same thing as counting cards in vegas.

[NixonIn2008]

@beansmikebreak which, incidentally, is not cheating, no matter what any pit boss tells you. Cheating at a casino game is a felony. Ever hear of anyone committing a felony and being told "well, don't come back ever again?"

[beansmikebreak]

@NixonIn2008 You're completly irrelevent. Fucking tard. Counting cards gets u thrown out.....whatever u have to say gets thrown right out the window

[MzTJones80]

Did he SAY he studied the pattern? No. THE PRODUCERS ASSUMED he did. Larson never admits to learning the pattern until an interview on Good Morning America in 1994. Furthermore, if you study for a test and pass...is it cheating? No. That's all Larson did. He knew when the lights would land on the big money. That's like people who know how to spin the wheel just enough to land on $1 on the Price Is Right. Denying payment is the same as admitting that the GAMESHOW is the real cheater.

[crock703]

@MzTJones80 -- Actually his common law wife at the time said he studied. They ended badly, but she still regards his win as one of his few honest endeavors. He beat the system. More power to him. He went on to be a csrreer scam artist (and did soem scamming before this), but oh well.

His story and his former girlfriend/wife were featured NPR's This American Life this week. You can listen to it on their website or Facebook page.

[MzTJones80]

@crock703

Yeah, maybe he was a scam artist. But THIS game, he played fair. Most people just push buttons. He actually studied WHEN to push the button. I just thought that as clever as he was, he ended up doing something totally stupid in the end, and never got to enjoy his earnings.

[MzTJones80]

@DorvellTStewart

I agree. Saying that the guy cheated is admitting that this game had a "system." Which defeats the so-called fact that it's supposed to be fair.

[xchibikyubix]

@DorvellTStewart Basically, its like counting cards. It's not cheating, its not illegal. It's just frowned apon and kinda morally wrongish

[DzekoVelez]

@DorvellTStewart Hackers are considered bad, and they are considered as cheating in games. You gave a bad example, although I do agree with the part that he did not cheat, because he did not give himself an advantage in any way, the show was stupid enough not to randomize this.

[101NiceNick]

@DorvellTStewart You are right. I think the same about this guy. He was smart and clever. What stinks thow is a rober broke into his house and stole all of the money he had won. He should have kept it in the bank. RIP Michael Larson.

[devonray75]

good thing the board's pattern was redesigned so no one would do the same thing as Micheal Larson did.

[crystalc6]

as for how this story ended, Larson ran through his game show gains $110,237 in less than 2 years and afterwards became an assistant manager at a local Wal-Mart.

[Webberjo]

He deserved all the money he won for figuring out the pattern. Just shows ya "It pays to be smart!"

[cne08]

What this guy did was amazing.

[jeopardy60611]

I think that the show screwed up big time by designing the board to have fixed patterns and have it change as slowly as it did. The show "Second Chance," which came before Press Your Luck and had a similar board, made the light change positions much faster so you couldn't possibly stop it on the same square every time if you knew a pattern. I don't know why Press Your Luck didn't either make the board totally random or make it run faster.

[mrjohnson253]

first he wasn't an ice cream driver, just a fat ass who sat around and did nothing,then he found PYL. memorized the codes applied to be on the show and got on. won $110,237.00 fair in square, which personally i think he shouldn't of got it then the cheapskate asked for it all in 1's since a radio station was running a "same serial number" contest and was unsuccessful. him and his wife went out to dinner one night and almost all of it was stolen. his marrige fell apart, then he dies in the90s

[FoxyGrandpa]

curious - why don't you think he shouldn't have gotten it?

[mrjohnson253]

i just cant explain it. he did win it fair in square, but i think CBS shouldn't of given it to him. he cracked their code

[jwatson626]

It's kind of like the Vegas card counting stuff (which is 100% legal - but the casinos can ask you to leave). He didn't cheat, and he didn't do anything to change the behaviour of the board or the terms of the game. He used knowledge of the game to his advantage. Also, he did more for the ratings of that game than any other contestant. And sure $100K is a lot of money in 1983, but it's not like he ran off with millions.

JW

[mauleriscool]

that 100 grand today would be worth like 10 million

[jwatson626]

Dude, if you can find a savings account that will give you a 10,000% return over 25 years let me know. If he invested in an aggressive market he might have 1/2 million or so.

JW

[mauleriscool]

I was just using inflation of the dollar as a reference. A little exaggerated with 10 million but back then the dollar was stronger because of the all time low nation debt. Now after 14 trillion dollars of debt money is probably worth 30-50% less then 1980's dollar

[moriya2k2]

they looked freaked out.

[leslielove]

son a bitch this mother fucker is rich has hell

[nateman79]

look him up on wikipedia....they tried to keep the money from him. he memorized it with using his vcr... after he got it he wasted it away and died flat broke...

[verbusen]

E! Entertainment (I think) did a show based on him, I was such a big fan of Press Your Luck (even the newer version), when I watched the tell all tale it blew me away! His is an unreal story, people are so industrious, who'd have thought? I guess a card cheat, he's way out of my league, balls of brass for sure!

[dtviper89]

he did memorize the patterns

[jeffe77]

Notice that he cheers before the light pattern stops

[LaddyDongdegs]

That would suck to be one of the women playing against him.

[onorebakasama]

The one on the left (his right) is a dude. And yep, the chick on the right (his left) was absolutely pissed.

[Templar613]

If you noticed, squares 4 and 8 NEVER have whammies on them, Larson knew this.

[vanni9283]

@Templar613

There were also other squares that never had whammies in them too; it's just that those 2 squares were the ones that contained money + extra spins.

[Templar613]

According to Wikipedia it said he memorized the light patterns on the 18 lighted grid. I understand that wiki is not a credible source but it goes into incriminating details about how he got to 110089 (i think that was the number).

[therealnick103]

110237.

[tasquire]

Not really incriminating details...as they decided it wasn't cheating.

[SanasSweetMode]

He memorized the light patterns.

[KyraPixie]

lol, they ran out of digits on the scoreboard

[darkyoda]

I remember watching this on TV. I feel so old, but the guy was just amazing.

[conradragzoff]

I remember when this happened, I think my brother and I still have it on VHS buried somewhere in a box...

[prodigyxl3600]

he memorized the order of the lights and he died though

[MzTJones80]

He gave himself away by celebrating before it was clear what amount of money he landed on.

[Scorpion755]

I must have like, super powers that let him turn normal time into slow motion, so he can land on the right one everytime.

[ghngd]

WAY TO FIND THA LOOPHOLE.R.I.P.

[DrSamuels305]

Didn't they want to make a movie about this with Bill Murray?

[shadesofreadiness]

the guy was only 35? he didn't age to well.

[kendraclover]

He looked better in the family photo we have of my grandma, him, my two uncles, and my dad. Its one of him taken not long before he died.

[Caitsith810]

There was a special about this one particular episode, saying how this one episode was a rigged game

[darklordojeda]

the game wasn't rigged, he just figured out the pattern of the winning square. he spent countless hours watching the gameboard and he even build one with the same pattern that he practiced on.

[yolichka1]

@darklordojeda took him 6 months to memorize the patterns he said

[oaken444]

two words: holy sh*t!

[c8a6lvin]

What a very greedy man. He took his winnings and had cashed them in all $1 bills so he could find a bill that had the correct serial number and win an extra $30,000. What's worse is that he left all that cash at his house and someone broke in and took the money. I'm pretty sure that if he didn't win the $110,237he'd still be alive today.

[YToob3]

he died of throat cancer

[deathboy126]

Michael Larsen was da 1st one in da 20th Century 2 win $110,000

[chrisjordan4life]

Your memory sucks then, he kept it all.

[hawkeyefan2k6]

He's not really a legend. he cracked the code and cheated by timing it just right. if memory serves, they didn't let him keep the money.

[cbappa1]

You're an idiot.

[deviant3232]

They sued him for cheating, but the court claimed it to be legitimate, so when Michael threatened to countersue, they were forced to pay him.

[mydrunkard28]

idiot, he got all the money. but he did blow it all and ended up dying alone in Florida of throat cancer

[bige300]

I am sure you would have went on the show and promptly tried to get four quick whammys so that you could be out of the game.

What a moron!

[darklordojeda]

i don't see how cracking the code is cheating, so does that mean when two countries are at war and they figure out the others order codes that's cheating? so we cheated to win WW2 everybody, sorry. enigma.

[CarCrashClutter]

Yeah, not like he made money off of that time or anything >_>

[cbappa1]

I meant to do it now would be fucking ridiculous

[CarCrashClutter]

Well, it that cause, you're right since I'm sure Wammy's random.

[cbappa1]

It is son

[CarCrashClutter]

Don't call me son, I'm older than you.

[smavey]

Whammys are actually pseudorandom - a big difference from random which is how larson "beat" the game

[CarCrashClutter]

The show Wammy (Press Your Luck changed it's name), not the character from the show.

[vous1tube]

if you watch early episodes of the show (before this incident and during this incident) you will eventually notice a pattern to the board like he did.

[pieman19]

michael larson never even know this game existited until one day his ice cream truck broke down so while he fixed it he turned on his t.v and a marathon of this show just happend to be on.he started to watch the show and he started to like it.a while after he spent hours memerizion the patterin of the board. this dude is great.

[jdohe]

Shortly after he got the 100k, 40k of it was stolen. Even sadder is that by the time he died of throat cancer in 1999, he was on the run from the law and most of his family stopped speaking to him. Ironically, the show was called Press Your Luck, and luck seemed to be one thing that Michael Larson never had. All in all, a very sad story.

[TheSonicGod]

This man shattered the game.

Hey, if a certain guy can hit the books to win on Jeopardy, then this guy can study to win the PYL board.

Notice that he never says "No Whammy." He totally avoids it. ^^

[FreQuenczy]

He did not cheat. He spent months searching for a perfect pattern. Once he found it, he knew he could win a fortune! When he did win it, CBS tried to sue him because they thought he cheated somehow. In the end, he got paid. Then he brought it all home in $1 bills because there was a contest to see if someone brought in 2 $1 bills with the same serial number on them, then that person would win like $10,000 - $30,000 or somewhere around there. In the end, he got robbed and died of a heart attack.

[Xjulieeeee]

that really sucks.

[samus7321]

I thought it was cancer that he died from.

[samus7321]

I thought it was cancer that he died from.

[cardigensweater]

if you didn't notice, he seems to stop on the same sqaure almost everytime, and that square either at 4,000 or 5,000 in it.

[thejunkman]

Squares 4 and 8 never have Whammys in this particular board arangment.

[smavey]

Yeah but that doesen't matter at all because the light moves so fast that it would be impossible to know when it lands there

[kendraclover]

Isn't my uncle awesome?

[RayburnPower]

UNCLE???

[kendraclover]

yeah...he was my uncle.

[SmoothKalyn414]

Wasn't he an ice cream guy? Anyway, it's kinda odd just the way he is playing the game because usually people go "No whammies, no whammies.. STOP!" and he was like staring and then "Stop!" You can tell something is up just in the way he was playing.

[TheSonicGod]

Sad that he endured a scandal thereafter, and died of throat cancer.

Just watch him stare at the board.

This man was a crazy genius.

[HoneyNVinegar]

I remember when this happened, and how he came out later and revealed his secret. It was awesome.

[baezoteroe]

He didn't cheat. He spent many months figuring out the pattern of the game and found out that there are 5 different patterns. CBS threatened to sue him by saying he cheated but in the end, the courts ordered the network to pay him.

However, Larson invested in a Ponzi scheme and lost a large portion of his money. He then lost the remaining of his earnings by trying to commit to a get rich quick scheme he heard on the radio. He died of throat cancer in 1999.

[waddafxupwidat]

what he also noticed is that if you coutn from the top of the square and count 4 over theres never a whammy there same rof the 8th box thats on the rite side

[loki635]

how was this cheating? Hes just smart... dumbasses

[TravisTarlton22]

Where's the final spin in which the phrase "Stop at a mexican cruise, what's the difference..." occured?

[Tpanther775]

Yes it did air in early summer. It actually was on a Friday then it concluded on Monday of the next week.

[katmusic2006]

love love love this!! when would it *stop*!!!! was this broadcast during the summer when i was out of grammar school? because i remember watching this crazy 2-parter . . . ks

[SilentBob20]

I do wonder why it took this long for someone to do this their board patterns were EASY to figure out.

[tediz12]

if tou seen the pyl documentery Micheal Larson

 cheated. and got arrested for breaking the system

[darkpowrjd]

And he was arrested...WHEN?!

[wallaceteddy]

He was never arrested for breaking the system. He was in 1999 on the run from the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission. But it had nothing to do with breaking the system of Pree Your Luck.

[RoofFiddler]

"if tou seen the pyl documentery Micheal Larson

cheated. and got arrested for breaking the system"

God. Absolutely, totally, 100% false.

[zamboni007]

I know George Clooney was going to make a movie about this guy, and how he cheated. It was subsequently turned down by all the studios. I don't think he was ever arrested for this, cheating on a game show isn't illegal, besides he was allowed to keep the money by CBS

[guylaroche5]

retard, he was on the run for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT reason, u were probably misinformed and look at the facts, this occured in 84, why would they accuse him 15 years later?

[OpenArms81]

Yeah he won all that money,lost it in A series of bad investments,and died of cancer in his 50's.Sad really.

[kendraclover]

He died of throat cancer from second hand smoke at the age of 49.

Mother: Ruth Larson

Father: Robert Larson

Brothers: Robert, James,and Gerald

Spliting hairs really.

[thugU91]

CBS gave him a lot of shit for figuring out the pattern. they let him keep the money, though he lost it all in taxes, real-estate investments, and the rest of the $50,000 was stolen from him. talk about ironic.

[tktru]

Talk about KARMA, rather!

[Jabbadahut72]

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" - Mark 8:36, KJV

[Luigifan1091]

he should have kept going until he was a millionaire!

[happy7117]

He should of!

[jrosalez]

Et Deus dicit, fiat Larson natus esset. And God said, let Larson be born.

[MissingnoMan]

99,999 dollars... HOLY FREAKIN CRAP

[wildcat3415]

Youtube had each part of this episode 1-9 what happened to them?