You have the knowledge! You know the odds! All the rest is in the cards! On
A game of skill fate and fortune. And now from Television City in Hollywood your host
Wink Martindale!
Broadcast History
Air Dates: September 4, 1972-December 10, 1976, CBS
October 27, 1980-November 27, 1981 (Las Vegas Gambit), NBC
Host: Wink Martindale
Announcer: Kenny Williams
Card dealers: Elaine Stewart (CBS)
Beverly Malden, Lee Menning (NBC)
Origination: Studios 41 and 43, CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Fountain Theatre, Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas (NBC)
Packager: Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley Productions
A clean version of the original Gambit closing theme (2.25 MB, 2:27)
Main Game
Two couples compete. The game was
based on the card game "21" (Blackjack). First, dealer Stewart breaks
a seal on a new deck of 
cards and asks one player to cut the cards. To start the
game, the Stewart shows the first card on the top of the deck. Wink
then asks a jump in question to
determine control of the
card. The controlling couple can choose to take the card or pass it.
Then another
question is asked and the controlling couple can take the card or
pass it (after the first question the cards are revealed after they
choose). When a couple reaches 12 or over, they may
choose to freeze which means their opponents must keep answering
questions and getting cards in order to beat their total. If at any
time a couple goes over 21, they bust and lose the
game. Getting 21 will win a cash jackpot which starts at $500 and
increases by $500 in every match until won. Two games wins the match
and goes to the bonus round.
Gambit Board
A board of 21 squares is shown.
Behind each square is a prize. One at a time, the couple selects a
square, and after that, they recieve a card. They may stop at 16 or
higher. 
If they get to 21, they win a new car.
If
they go over,
they lose the bonus round and all their prizes.
Las Vegas Gambit
Clean version of the Las Vegas Gambit opening music (0.99 MB, :32)
Las Vegas Gambit closing! Clean! (RealAudio, 809 KB, 3:20)
Las Vegas Gambit aired on NBC in
1981-1982 and was played the same way as the original. The main game
was 
played exactly the same way.
The bonus game was the difference.
The first version was the same as the Gambit Board on the original,
but had 18 squares and getting 21 did not win a car, but 
only the
Gambit jackpot. Also, the couple could ONLY stand on 17 or higher. Later in the run, the bonus round was played the same
way as the bonus round as another Heatter-Quigley show,
"High
Rollers." Numbers 1-9 were places on a board, and the winning couple
rolled the dice to eliminate numbers. Rolling doubles meant an
insurance marker was given. $100 was won for knocking off each
number. Eliminating all 9 numbers won "The Gambit Galaxy", which was a
growing prize package.
Facts
A pilot for a revival of Gambit was produced in 1990 for ABC with Bob Eubanks as host. It featured two solo contestants, a new question format and a new bonus round. The question format unfortunately slowed up things and the new bonus round needed improvements. Could've been tweaked to work, but I guess they didn't want to. It didn't sell.
The finale of Las Vegas Gambit was not intended to be the finale. During the ending, a box with Wink Martindale was placed in the corner of the screen and he said that it was the last in the current series of Gambit and a new talk show with Regis Philbin would premiere Monday on NBC.