High Rollers

[tednjean]

Check out the 70s pornstache and hairstyle to match!!

[rjflesher]

KEBERT XELA! Bonus points if you get the Family guy reference

[funtyrone]

at least a couple of cues in that intro was also used in the LMAD shows in Las Vegas

[Angie2343]

Alex Trebek is awesome!

[Green18600]

This classic clip of "High Rollers" from 1980 was a suitable program for television viewing. A contestant winning $9500 in a game show alone was a big day for the participant. A Solid 5!!

[9262ABC]

I see that lithograph online for between $3000-4500. So not a huge change from the 1980 suggested value of $2675. In fact, given inflation, it's gone down in value quite a bit.

Still, it's a better return than the RCA "VTR". You couldn't give that thing away now. I guess there might be some collectors of old video recording technology but no way could you get anywhere near $1350 for that. And anyway, $1350 in 1980 is about $3800 today. Imagine buying a VCR for $4000. Crazy.

[juan833cheer]

Alex Trebek was the better HR host, the Winkster couldn't compare to Trebek's hairdo back in the day!!!

[Bonkoz]

Kewl klip! You can tell this is a classy game show if the -loser- goes away with $1,600 in consolation prizes! The two "competitors" also look more like they're relaxed and having fun at a craps table than the typical tension you'd usually find on a very brightly-lit game show (for example...uh..."Jeopardy!"?!!? :-P )

In addition, with the exception of maybe "The Joker's Wild" (slots), this reminds me more of a Vegas/AC casino than any other game show I can remember. :-)

[canbac21]

Yeah, it reminds me of a casino as well! And Las Vegas Gambit might be something to add to the list, because it somewhat had that atmosphere too, but still not as much as High Rollers.

[sesomdt]

@canbac21 the set matched the gameplay perfectly. they need to bring this game back to tv

[deathtoll5000x]

Also a reminder of a better economy

[RJSchex]

Anyone got the rest of this episode? I'd love to see it. (Also, the eps. from 3/2/79, 12/31/79, and 3/25/80.)

[Sharmanator55]

Here comes a Jeopardy moment at 2:20

[Hondo20132]

What are you referring to? The numbers coming up?

[Fartingbellybutton]

What do you mean?

[Sharmanator55]

When the numbers come up it just reminds me of when the $ figures appear on the board in Jeopardy.

[Rlotpir1972]

I believe High Rollers was played at the same NBC studios as in Card Sharks. The alarm was also used in 1984's Hot Potato.

[tnawcwvictoria]

You are right.

High Rollers with Alex Trebek, Card Sharks with Jim Perry and Hot Potato with Bill Cullen were all taped @ the NBC Studios in Burbank, CA which is also the same place where Wheel of Fortune, Blockbusters and Sale of the Century were also taped.

[Hondo20132]

That prize board looks like it can hold up to 10 prizes.

[Hondo20132]

I mean the one behind the contestants.

[robcas123]

more like 15

[BenJabituya]

Wasn't that the time-up buzzer sound also used in the earlier seasons of "Wheel of Fortune" like when the letter is not in the puzzle?

[Rlotpir1972]

Yes, it was. It was also used in the NBC version of "Bullseye" in 1980.

[BenJabituya]

Is this the same format later used in the Wink Martindale version?

[juan833blue]

The only difference on Wink's version was that the prizes did not carry over to the next game.

[gshowguy]

Also, Alex's version never had mini-games.

[gameshowfreak2007]

tjm I think at least one ep. exists because they have been brief (very brief) clips shown before.

[mrynit]

trabeck has an afro

[Sammy4549]

The tapes of this show still exist, don't they?

[ieeeeeeeeeeeee]

High Rollers is a Heatter-Quigley production

that aired on NBC

so very few High Rollers episodes exist

[tjm3774]

Am I correct to assume that none of the episodes featuring Ruta Lee exist anywhere? (I think it was 1974-1976)

[bluebear1985]

I think you may be right. If any footage does still exist, it would be very little. I think it was from the brief format where contestants had to guess the identity of a celebrity photograph. The first incarnation was off the air within a few months after inserting that in the game.

[ieeeeeeeeeeeee]

yeah 'cause HR was going up against a very very very very very tough opponent at the time of the celeb photograph element.

also there was a syn. version with Elaine Stewart as the dice lady. i'm thinking that either all the episodes exist or not; if they do, then they most likely are in an unviewable condition.

[bluebear1985]

Who would they have been up against? One thing I don't understand though, is that even though the celebrity photo thing didn't work in this, Heatter still tried it in the first incarnation of a future production of his, "Battlestars", also hosted by Alex Trebek.

[ieeeeeeeeeeeee]

near the time of the celeb photograph element, it was going up against the 2nd half of TPIR

[disneyfan81]

There is one at the 1974-76 at the Museum of TV and Radio in both New York and Beverly Hills that was apparently donated by Andy Warhol (along with a CBS "Gambit" episode, a "Let's Make a Deal", and believe-it-or-not, a "Moneymaze" episode). There might also be some at the UCLA Film and Television Archives.

[Hondo20132]

2, in fact.

[HuusAsking]

@ieeeeeeeeeeeee I may be wrong, but I believe NBC policy is to archive their shows if they can. So although they may not be out in the open, the odds are good they have been preserved.

[wellesradio]

@ieeeeeeeeeeeee If only they'd had some sort of device that could record your favorite television programs, then High Rollers might have survived. Why couldn't some company like RCA have come up with a video recorder that could record like six hours of Television in one go?

[RJSchex]

Except for two eps. at MT&R, nothing is known to exist of the 74-76 version. There was a weekly syndicated nighttime version during the 75-76 season; status of its 26 tapes is unknown. As for the 78-80 version, there are currently 10 episodes in the trading circuit. According to Peter Marshall, this version *might* still be intact; he claims that the cutoff date for NBC's 1978 tape wipeout was April 21, 1978—the Friday before "The New High Rollers" premiered.

[TATSUFAN]

LOVE IT!

[mdatl38]

An RCA video *tape* recorder for $1350. Remember it!