Card Sharks

**Card Sharks** is an American television game show created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Based on the card game Acey Deucey, the game has two contestants compete for control of a row of oversized playing cards by answering questions posed by the host and then guessing if the next card is higher or lower in value than the previous one. The concept has been made into a series five separate times since its debut in 1978, and also appeared as part of CBS's *Gameshow Marathon*. The show originally ran on NBC from 1978 to 1981 with Jim Perry hosting; a revival ran fom 1986 to 1989 on CBS with Bob Eubanks as host, accompanied by another version in syndication with Bill Rafferty. Gene Wood was the announcer on these three versions. Another syndicated revival aired from 2001 to 2002 with Pat Bullard as host and Gary Kroeger as announcer. The latest version has been airing since 2012, and is hosted by Ben Bailey. All versions of the show had various female assistants to handle the playing cards. The current version is produced by Tribune Entertainment, in association with FreMantleMedia.

## Gameplay

Two contestants, one of which was typically the returning champion, were assigned an oversized deck of 52 playing cards and were dealt the first five cards for their row. The champion (or champion-designate if there were two new contestants) wore a red name tag and played the red cards on top while the challenger (with blue name tag) played the blue cards on the bottom. Each contestant's row of cards had a bracket atop it, which was used to mark their "base cards."

### Questions

Contestants alternated responding to questions to gain control of the cards. Survey questions were posed to groups of 100 people, all of whom were typically in a common demographic group (e.g., of the same profession, all male, all over the age of 50, etc.). Contestants were asked to predict how many of those 100 people responded in a specific manner. Their opponent was then asked whether he or she thought the actual number was higher or lower than the previous contestant's response. The actual number was then revealed, and if the opponent was correct, they played their cards first; otherwise the contestant to whom the question was posed played first. A $1,000 bonus is awarded to any contestant who provided the exact number of people responding to a specific question.

### Playing the Cards

The contestant in control was shown the first card in the row of five, the so-called "base card," and could either keep it or replace it with the next card off the top of the deck, which he or she was then required to play. The contestant then guessed whether the next card in the row was higher or lower, and continued to do so as long as he or she guessed correctly. If two duplicate cards appeared (e.g., two consecutive Aces) or the contestant made an incorrect guess, that contestant lost control and whatever cards they had played were discarded and replaced. The opposing contestant then had a chance to play from his or her base card, but without the opportunity to exchange first. Either contestant could also elect to "freeze" their position if they were unsure of the next card; this would both prevent the opponent from playing and reset the contestant's base card to the frozen card and whatever cards that were turned in that instance were not discarded.

The matches were best two-out-of-three, with the third match being played with three cards per contestant and one single sudden death question. The controlling contestant was shown both base cards before being given the option to play the cards and change their base card if desired or pass to the opponent, who had to play without changing. As before, if either contestant guessed incorrectly, their opponent automatically won the match.

## Money Cards

The winner of the main game played the Money Cards bonus game for a chance to win additional money. The Money Cards board consisted of a series of eight cards on three levels. A contestant was able to change the base card on each of the three levels

$1,000 was given to the contestant at the beginning of the first level, and they would use that money to wager on whether or not the next card was higher or lower. Making a correct guess added the value of the wager to the contestant's bank, while an incorrect guess cost the contestant the wager.

When a contestant cleared the first level or if he/she ran out of money ("busted"), the last played card was moved up to the second level and the contestant received additional money ($1,000 in 2001) to bet with. Minimum bets on the first two levels were $100. If a contestant still had money left after clearing the second level, the last card was moved to the top line for the "Big Bet" and reaching this level also added another $1,000, where the contestant had to wager at least half of their remaining bank on one last call. However, if a contestant busted from the second row onward, the game ended. If a contestant turned over a duplicate card resulted in neither a gain nor loss of money.

### Car games

A secondary bonus game was introduced which gave a winning contestant a chance to win a new car., involving Jokers.

A winning contestant received one Joker for winning the match. Three more were added to the Money Cards deck, and if a contestant uncovered them they received an additional chance to win the car. After the Money Cards round was over, a row of seven numbered cards was wheeled out and the contestant placed whatever Jokers they'd earned over the cards in the hopes that behind one of them was the word "CAR".

## Returning Champions

Contestants could return until they either lost a game or won five consecutive matches.

### Tournaments

*Card Sharks* held many themed tournament weeks, including competitions for children, celebrities, and game show hosts.