From Television City in Hollywood, it's...

And here's the host of Card Sharks,

Bob Eubanks!

The theme to Eubanks' Card Sharks (724 KB, 1:32)

Broadcast History

Airdates: January 6, 1986-March 31, 1989, CBS

Host: Bob Eubanks

Announcers: Gene Wood, Bob Hilton, Charlie O'Donnell, Johnny Gilbert

Card Dealers: Lacey Pemberton, Suzanna Williams

Music: Ed Kalehoff

Origination: Studio 33, CBS Television City, Los Angeles, CA

Packager: Mark Goodson Television Productions

 Main Game

This versions rules were virtually identical to the NBC version. 4 questions and 5 cards in the main game. There were more variations on the High/Low toss ups though. While most were the 100 people polls, they added a question in each game where they would poll 10 people sitting in the audience and were all members of a group or occupation. Also, there were "educated guess" questions, where they would answer odd questions like "How long does it take the world's fastest spider to crawl a mile?" Late in the run, the third game tiebreaker was one sudden death question with three cards on the board.

 Money Cards

There were many rule changes, for the better actually, in the Money Cards. There were still three levels. The player started with $200 and bet the money on three cards. On the second level, they were given an additional $400. The third level was still the "Big Bet" (although Bob never reffered to it as the Big Bet, even though the board said it was that) which you had to bet half the money. Minimum bets were still $50. In the beginning a player could change a limit of three cards ANYWHERE on the board. That was changed after a few weeks to one card per line, anywhere on the line, from three spare cards dealt. The maximum possible win was $32,000 (never won.)

Car Round

A few months into the run, a new bonus game to win a new car was introduced. The game would be played by the contestant regardless of their Money Cards winnings. The first game had the contestant to find a hidden "CAR" card behind 7 numbered cards. The contestant was given a "Joker" to put on the card they thought had the card. They could win more Joker's during the Money Cards also because three more were dealt into the Money Cards deck.

A new car round was introduced during the last season. No Joker's in the deck. This time, the contestant had to predict how the group of 10 people sitting in the audience would respond to a question. Getting the answer on the nose won the car, missing by 1 won $500.

Facts

-Bob Eubanks is probably most famous for hosting "The Newlywed Game" which ran at various times from the '60s all the way through to 1999, on ABC and mostly syndication.

-Mark Goodson originally wanted Bruce Forsyth, the host of the British version to host.

 

A board game was recently made of Card Sharks! Read and look at it here!

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