Added: 3 years ago
From: NVGameShowFan
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  • An awful game show in an equally awful quality.

  • "The Magnificent Marble Machine" cleverly took advantage of a 1970's pinball resurgance as new digital counters, themed sound effects, and layouts providing more speed, action and challenges came to a new generation of Bally, Midway and Williams, a long way in just two short years from the old bells, spinning counters, and only one or two flippers at the base of the table course. The cost of reassembling the pinball table and some rule changes forced by NBC that killed ratings doomed the show.

  • Not too surprising a creation from Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, who were known for occasionally coming up with game show sets on the grand scale. A huge town square ("Video Village," still the largest game show set ever constructed in the U.S.; the original "$ale of the Century" ran a close second), and a huge tic-tac-toe scaffold with celebrities ("The Hollywood Squares"). The original "Gambit" set may very well have been the smallest of any Heatter-Quigley game show.

  • I loved this show...just the pinball part, but no one ever really won much, as far as I remember. Here's some cool trivia for you:  In the movie "CHINA SYNDROME", there is a clip of this show in the movie, toward the end! No, I'm not lying...I have the movie saved in my DVR, and it's right there, when Jane Fonda is reporting from the tragedy at the nuclear sight.

  • I loved this show...just the pinball part, but no one ever really won much, as far as I remember. Here's some cool trivia for you: In the movie "CHINA SYNDROME", there is a clip of this show in the movie, toward the end! No, I'm not lying...I have the movie saved in my DVR, and it's right there, when Jane Fonda is reporting from the traged at the nuclear sight.

  • @ artytoons: I remember you from YL. I went by my first name, Laura, on YL and many of its spinoff sites.

  • The main thing I remember is that when I was a kid, I had a pinball machine, and even before this show came out, I made up a pretend game show with it. (I cut out magazine pictures of cars, etc.; those were the prizes.) So this show stole my idea! LOL! I still liked this show, though

  • @LeotheTiger1776

    The gold money ball was not as tough as the regular chrome silver ball

    and had weak seams. They were homemade affairs and were prone to splitting.

  • did florence actually shove that woman?!

  • Does anyone else remember the lousy show " Fun Factory" that replaced MMM? IT was a real STINKER!! Nbc never gave Magnificent Marble Machine a chance!!

  • this was a great game show! and yes a great theme song! thanks for the post.

  • WOW!!!! I have never seen or heard of this show, and I am a BIG fan of the obscure game shows. I even know about PHEW! and Dream House.

  • when did this air

  • This show was so bad, it was good!

    Probably the ultimate example of a "cult classic" game show!

  • This was one stupid show. No wonder it wasn't around long.

  • @tritonrocks What was unique, is that NBC kept promoting this failure. i would take The Price Is Right over this failure.

  • Thanks for the memories! I could only see this on my days off school...in those days before VCR's existed. (well, affordable ones, anyways). What I wouldn't give for those days to go back and tape...everything!

  • Seems like the only network in the 1970's saving these shows was CBS.

  • First I find "The Big Showdown". Then I find an episode of Tattletales with William and Marcy Shatner. Now I find this!

    This has been the greatest YouTube day of my life!!!

  • This is a pilot episode. Alex Trebek became the host during the rest of the short-lived season.

  • @MountainHawkPYL No, this aired. Alex never hosted this show; he was busy with "High Rollers" at the time.

  • @2005dave Oops, my bad. Art James was the host. Alex was, however, a celebrity guest on the show. And I'm looking at a picture in my 1987 edition of "The Encyclopedia of Television Game Shows" that proves it.

  • Wow, this show was an abomination. The music is annoying.

  • @MatchGameDude74 I got one word for this show: TILT!!!!!!!

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  • I remember the strange sound effects as the letters came across the marquee. There were about 3 different versions of the sound used throughout the series. The other two were a bass-like dum-dee dee-dum-dee dee-dum, and the other sound a high pitched squirmey, squishy sound from a synthesizer.

  • Wow! Like so many others, I thought I would never see this show again. I watched a lot of the episodes. I remember when the ball would roll out (drain) behind the lower flippers, especially if you tried to trap it.. Thanks again.

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  • This show was on when I was in kingergarten. This was the first pinball machine I ever saw. Because of this show, when I did see an actual pinball machine in a game room for the first time, I hollered "Hey - a marble machine!" Also, I called a slot machine a "joker machine". This was my life during my headstart days (and a little later).

  • I remember this show. What a cheap gimmick.

  • Who did the animation- Dolphin Productions?

  • The Magnificent Marble Machine, I've never seen it. How do you play it?

  • Two teams of a contestant and a celebrity partner attempt to solve word puzzles shown on a flashing marquee above them (the number of letters in the word with a clue sentence moving above in the marquee).  5 correct answers enabled the winning team to play the pinball machine. Each team member operated each flipper. Bumpers lighted up represented prizes won. Bumpers 2 and 3 may represent halves of prizes in which both need to be lit to win the full prize. 60 seconds is given to play 2 balls.

  • If a ball falls into a hole, the clock stops and the 2nd ball is played with the time remaining. The goal is to hit all 7 bumpers to win prizes corresponding to the bumper number. When 60 seconds are up, the flippers go dead but the ball is in play until it drains.

    If a certain point total is hit (15,000 points with each bumper hit equalling 200 points and anything making noise as 100 points) during 60 seconds with two balls played, only 1 gold ball is played for points converted to cash.

  • If the two balls fall in the hole before 60 seconds, the pinball play ends and the contestant wins the prizes corresponding to the lit bumpers. If the one gold ball falls in the hole before 60 seconds, the contestant wins the cash/point total and returns to play the next marquee word guessing game against a new opponent.

  • i've only heard about this recently from a co-worker who is a game show fan.

  • Never thought I'd see this again (especially in Color!)

    I used to fake being sick to stay home from school and watch this and the Money Maze.

    Great memories!

  • Absolutely Brilliant!!!

    I'm from the UK and have never heard of this show, never mind seen it...WOW!!!

    WHY was this cancelled?

    OK the 1st part was pointless but Bonus Game using the Marble Machine itself is amazing!!!

    It's a real shame only a couple of episodes exist on tape.

    KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!

  • 1) it was probably an expensive show to produce. 2) It had a terrible time-slot- the competition was The Young and The Restless 3) The mid-70's had some weird game show- this doesnt hold a candle to the Money Maze.

  • ... or Diamond Head which I believe had contestants trying to grab catch being blown around them in a plexiglass volcano.

  • It's always heartwarming to see Art James in any of of his many shows. Does anybody out there remember "Say When?"

  • @PolkRidgeAesthete

    I don't remember "Say When" but I remember the "Who, What and Where game" and "Blank Check". It's a shame many of the game show hosts of the 1970's have passed on, but the memories still remain..

  • 0:34 "You'll Love It, Trust Me"??? That just strikes me as hilarious.

  • I liked TV better when they did a stopset early in the show, instead of a huge opening segment, followed by too many too-long commercial clusters.

    I believe this was a Heatter-Quigley show. A guy I used to work with a radio station in east Idaho said they stole his idea.

  • wow i never heard of this show, its insane! if this was around when i was a kid it wouldve overstimulated the hell outta me

  • I was a kid then, and it worked on me. :)

  • I just loved the Intro of this Game Show!

  • Hi!

    MMM may have been the corniest gameshow according to some, but I absolutely loved this show when I was a kid and was glued to the TV anytime it was on. I've searched high and low for years for copies of any of the MMM episodes with no luck. Tonight, I searched YouTube as I do once or twice a week and there it was.  THANK YOU ever so much for sharing this and allowing me the opportunity to relive a part of my childhood!!!

  • I think there was a episode of the Magnificent Marble Machine (I think it might be this one) at the Museum of Broadcast Communications website. It's a shame that due to the high cost of videotape, only a few if any episodes of most 1970's game shows exist..

  • Thank you!!!! I was about 5 when I was watching this back in the day of half-day kindergarten.

    A couple of years ago, all of my friends wanted to commit me to an institution for they did not believe my story of the MMM. I have been looking for footage for a while.

    Thanks again.

  • A very ambitious attempt here to make Pinball into a game show. The machine looks beaufiful and reminds me of todays bingo sphere on Bingo America. The opening speil is not the same without a good announcer and just shows off the fundementals of the machine; "you'll love it trust me" well we didn't at the time. While Art James and the contestants interact well with the celebraties I don't feel they were really needed; it worked on pyramid because of the different roles. This is weird so far.

  • The show was WAY ahead of its time.  It should've waited until the 1980's. The main part of the game was pointless and stupid. The bonus round was impressive. I rather have partners like brother/sister or husband/wife as oppose to celebrity/contestant. Art James done a good job, including on "Catch Phrase" ten years later.

  • By the 1980s the pinball craze was dwindling, as video games were becoming all the rage in arcade entertainment. The 1970s was probably the best era for this show.

  • "We're out of time for now, folks..."

    Oh, I'm glad he was just joking, considering this is the only existing.

  • Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting this! I never thought I would see MMM ever again... NV, you've made my day!

  • As far as the atomosphere of the show, as Press Your Luck encapsulates the 80's culture, this show cencapsulates the 70's culture, with it's theme song, electronic dotted scorebords, and the light prism filters (as seen in 0:22 ). the Gameplay is not the best, but the huge production design was very top notch, along with the jump cuts in the opening themes, for 70's standards.

  • Gawd but I LOVE this show. It's been so long! Thanks!

  • As a kid growing up a short drive from NBC Burbank, I used to go to a lot of tapings. I, too, remember being in the audience when the ball broke. My memory is that David Brenner pulled the plunger, it broke and they had to stop tape. He also make a comment like, "I just broke my balls!." The set really looked great in person. I remember Johnny Gilbert was really nice and took time to talk with me. I still have an autographed photo from Art James in my collection! Nice find!

  • WOW WOW WHEE! I never thought I'd ever see this again! I grew up with TV game shows as a kid in the 70's; the Heatter-Quigley games were my faves, especaially Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Gambit, and the Magnificent Marble Machine. Although MMM wasn't as popular as the other HQ games, it was a smash hit to me because I was also into the pinball machine craze of the 70's. BRAVO to you NV for bringing back this part of my childhood memories.

  • Thanks for getting this on here...I've been waiting for years...can't believe Video Village made it to YouTube

  • You did it!! You finally gave me an outlet back to my early teen years. This game show tried to take advantage of the pinball craze. The concept just did not quite take a hold. We miss you Art James!!

  • I'm going to be perfectly honest with you and I might get beat up for this, but I like it. I saw the whole episode and I love it. It had excitement, great hosting, and gameplay, which is what every gameshow is suppose to have. Everytime the contestant or Roddy McDowall hit a bumper, I got excited and hoped they'd hit them all, which they did.

  • What a great theme song! Thanks for the memories--I rememember how popular pin-ball machines were in the 1970's!

  • @Bruneye123 It sounds a little like "Mele Kalikimaka"...

  • I love the intro. The sayings during the intro reminds me of The Price is Right.

  • I know we're not supposed to use capital letters, but this deserves a heartfelt THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!!

  • I was in the audience in 1975 for this show. Ruta Lee was one of the celebs and the gold money ball broke at the seam after she pulled back the plunger. The tape was stopped and Art James came out and said: "This isn't the first time Ruta Lee has broken someone's balls."

  • I have a question. If you remember that day, did they ever stop tape to repair the machine since from what I know the machine had numerous technical problems.

  • that was a great pun.

  • @freeeemo1 show off. I only got to see it on TV. One of my all time favourites. Awesome that someone could post it. 1970s technology. Gotta love it.

  • @freeeemo1 wow - you were actually THERE? i guess it was taped in los angeles? did you have to buy a ticket, or was the audience let in for free (some shows i think would do that to get bodies). was it a long taping? were you instructed to laugh on cue?

  • Hey you've got a good copy of this show!

  • Theme music by Mort Garson who composed many electronic music themes for Heatter Quigley ("Baffle", "Runaround", "Gambit")

  • Wow! I can't believe I'm seeing this again after 33 years! Thanks for the memories!

  • I remember seeing a bit of this in the movie "The China Syndrome"

  • Johnny Gilbert was the announcer of this show. I think GSN should revive this forgotten game show the way they did with Gambit (Catch 21).

  • This was the 4th episode aired.

  • I've seen this on another site, but let me tell you, you're in a for a treat!

  • This was the only Heatter=Qigley game show not announced by Kenny Williams.

  • REALLY??? Most H/Q shows were announced by Kenny Williams except this one?? LOL LOL He must be their resident announcer!!!

  • There's actually another HQ game show not announced by Kenny Williams-- 1967's "Temptation" on ABC (Carl King was announcer). Coincidentally, Art James hosted that show, too.

    BTW, thanks for the clip! :-)

  • @1cpw Here's the reason: Kenny Williams, the voice of H-Q, was SO busy with CBS' "Gambit" and NBC's "High Rollers" and the top-rated original "Hollywood Squares" (17 hours total) that Johnny Gilbert had fill that spot.

  • Wow... this show is um... weird. I don't know which game show is funnier: this or The Money Maze.

  • "We're out of time for now folks..." I remember Art James making the same joke on Catch Phrase when a contestant gave a long description of his career.

  • Thanks for posting this...I have a copy of this episode on tape, but this looks about 20 times better.

  • We finally get to see it here on YouTube.

  • HIP-HIP HOORAY!!! I first heard of this game show a few years ago, and always wondered if any episodes existed. I'm glad to see this one posted here. In my honest opinion, they ought to make a new version of this show. You got any other surprises?

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