The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: carlisle96 on August 30, 2025, 07:29:57 PM
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Sorry if this as been covered earlier, but if someone finds the $25,000 in the first game, is another check hidden for the second game?
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Sorry if this as been covered earlier, but if someone finds the $25,000 in the first game, is another check hidden for the second game?
Yep.
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Sorry if this as been covered earlier, but if someone finds the $25,000 in the first game, is another check hidden for the second game?
Yep.
(https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/gameshows/images/d/d8/Emile.jpg)
Yes it is.
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This happened on a recently posted episode. I'm guessing they have the audience leave while the second check is placed. I wonder what they sacrifice to hide the second check, maybe a klunk, or a prize that's not part of the announced prizes offered on the show. Geoff told me for the 1980s run, that some boxes were duplicates, since there were 66 on that version. I wonder if they had duplicates also for this version.
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This happened on a recently posted episode. I'm guessing they have the audience leave while the second check is placed.
I would think they have a curtain they could use to hide the boxes from the audience while the second check is placed. Geoff said there has to be a top prize every time they play the game.
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My guess was always that there was a brief stopdown during which the packages were removed from the set, a new $25k check placed, and the packages brought back out.
Although a curtain makes more sense.
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This happened on a recently posted episode. I'm guessing they have the audience leave while the second check is placed. I wonder what they sacrifice to hide the second check, maybe a klunk, or a prize that's not part of the announced prizes offered on the show. Geoff told me for the 1980s run, that some boxes were duplicates, since there were 66 on that version. I wonder if they had duplicates also for this version.
no need to have them leave—pull a curtain or flat around that part of the stage and go to work. Also you would replace the check with the check and shuffle around whatever needs to happen.
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My guess was always that there was a brief stopdown during which the packages were removed from the set, a new $25k check placed, and the packages brought back out.
Although a curtain makes more sense.
But were there still 30 boxes in the second game? If the check was found in Box 18 in game one, the next contestant would likely not pick #18 in round two, so there might as well be just 29 boxes instead of 30...unless Geoff explains that the prizes are placed in the boxes randomly, meaning it could very well be in #18 again....and I think I opened up a box of worms with my original post.
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My guess was always that there was a brief stopdown during which the packages were removed from the set, a new $25k check placed, and the packages brought back out.
Although a curtain makes more sense.
But were there still 30 boxes in the second game? If the check was found in Box 18 in game one, the next contestant would likely not pick #18 in round two, so there might as well be just 29 boxes instead of 30...unless Geoff explains that the prizes are placed in the boxes randomly, meaning it could very well be in #18 again....and I think I opened up a box of worms with my original post.
No, if the check is found in the first round, the box it was in is eliminated for the second game, giving the second player one less box to choose from, which is the case for any game. Geoff had to memorize many bits as it was, adding on one more would be pushing it!
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It is possible that two $25,000 checks are placed simultaneously in different boxes. This changes the odds of picking the check but not by much.
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What if all the boxes are actually empty, then the selected box is filled during the commerial? Functionally the prod company defines and documents the contents for every box prior to the game, and confirm the right contents were loaded.
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What if all the boxes are actually empty, then the selected box is filled during the commerial? Functionally the prod company defines and documents the contents for every box prior to the game, and confirm the right contents were loaded.
This doesn't sound out of the question. Emile would have had to have placed the $25k prior to taping, but setting up the other 29 boxes after the selection would make sense from a production standpoint.
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It is possible that two $25,000 checks are placed simultaneously in different boxes. This changes the odds of picking the check but not by much.
I believe that is the most plausible theory.
Say if box 7 and box 8 both have a $25K check in them and no one picks them: I don't think Standards and Practices don't care if there is more than one box with the grand prize just as long as they reveal and show *either* box 7 or box 8 with the check at the end to prove there was *one* check in *one* box worth $25k. If in the first game the contestant chooses box 7, one check is revealed (win or lose), and thus box 8 will either have to be selected by the round 2 contestant, or that number and box will be revealed by Geoff and Emil and Geoff at the show's end.
I think the bigger concern is that if there were multiple boxes with the 52-day cruise at the start and the first was chosen in round one, they would need to replace the other box(es) that also had the cruise with a back-up prize or klunk. It would look more awkward if both the round one and round two chosen boxes were the same prize or klunk than if there were two $25,000 checks.
So by the end of the show, you either have one check in a box to reveal, or you've already shown that there was a $25k check available in both rounds and both contestants picked the "grand prize". Whether the contestant kept the box or took the initial cash is a moot point.
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But doesn't Johnny Jacobs say, "Hidden inside ONE of these boxes is a check for $25K"? If contestant #1 picks the box with the $25K check but you're the second contestant, well, that's just the luck of the draw.
If Plinko is played first on TPIR and is the only cash PG played that day, and you're the fifth contestant called to come on down, too bad, so sad. You don't get the chance to win $50K.
Besides, didn't Treasure Hunt offer other prizes worth more than $25K?
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Besides, didn't Treasure Hunt offer other prizes worth more than $25K?
No.
Also, everybody here is giving completely plausible theories for how the show worked, but am I crazy for saying that Geoff explained how the show when he was alive?
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But doesn't Johnny Jacobs say, "Hidden inside ONE of these boxes is a check for $25K"? If contestant #1 picks the box with the $25K check but you're the second contestant, well, that's just the luck of the draw.
He does, but there is verifiable proof that if the the first contestant picks the $25k box, win or lose, a second check is placed in a box for the second contestant.
What I dont remember offhand is if in the 80's reboot, once the progressive check (up to $50k) was found, if the amount automatically reverted to the base $25k whether it was won or given up. I suspect the progressive check remained if un-won and placed in a new box until it was actually won..
Besides, didn't Treasure Hunt offer other prizes worth more than $25K?
I had thought so when they were offering the Rolls Royce on the original 70's version, but the model up for grabs wasn't that expensive...yet.
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This happened on a recently posted episode. I'm guessing they have the audience leave while the second check is placed. I wonder what they sacrifice to hide the second check, maybe a klunk, or a prize that's not part of the announced prizes offered on the show. Geoff told me for the 1980s run, that some boxes were duplicates, since there were 66 on that version. I wonder if they had duplicates also for this version.
They wouldn't need to sacrifice anything. They would just select a number, and if it was not the same as the one where it was in the first game, they just move whatever was in the box with that number into the box with the first winning number.
If you look at the boxes, you will notice that the tags with the numbers can be switched from one box to another. This probably makes it easier to set up different shows rather than actually move props from one box to another. In this case, they probably would switch just about all of the numbers around, as if they swapped just the two boxes' numbers, it would be too easy for someone to remember the colors/pattern of the first $25,000 box.
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What I dont remember offhand is if in the 80's reboot, once the progressive check (up to $50k) was found, if the amount automatically reverted to the base $25k whether it was won or given up. I suspect the progressive check remained if un-won and placed in a new box until it was actually won..
In the episodes GSN ran, it stayed at $50,000 until won, then reset to $20,000. There was one episode where a contestant passed up the $50K, but it remained at that level until won a few shows later.
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Besides, didn't Treasure Hunt offer other prizes worth more than $25K?
No.
Also, everybody here is giving completely plausible theories for how the show worked, but am I crazy for saying that Geoff explained how the show when he was alive?
Where is his explanation?
There are other issues involving the movement of prizes behind the curtains. Suppose you have a pair of Porsches, a living-room ensemble and a speed boat and the contestant can pick any of them and you want the contestant to be able to run up and fondle her new toy. Studio time costs money so you can't afford to stop for a long time.
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Besides, didn't Treasure Hunt offer other prizes worth more than $25K?
No.
Also, everybody here is giving completely plausible theories for how the show worked, but am I crazy for saying that Geoff explained how the show when he was alive?
Where is his explanation?
Geoff, to my understanding, was an open book about this stuff on alt.tv.game-shows, and I believe Chuck Donegan's page about the show (https://illustriousgameshowpage.com/treasurehunt.html) cobbles together a lot of Geoff's explanations. Among other things, there was a 15-minute stopdown after a box was picked. Partly to give Geoff a briefing on the skit but also likely for the reason you pointed out--they needed the extra time to set up whatever prize was chosen. On both of Geoff's incarnations, the actual footprint of the prizes needed wasn't as big it would appear. A LOT of the boxes hid checks for smaller amounts (ranging $5,000 to $14,000) and the klunks were usually pretty small, physically speaking--a shopping cart, a pogo stick, a radio. Beyond that...let's say three cars, a couple of boats, a rack of fur coats, some vacation graphics, three rooms of furniture. If every box really was a unique prize/prize package, 30 boxes really needed about as much storage for the prizes as one taping day at The Price is Right. The 66-box version from 1981 would be tougher, but not impossible. It seems to me that version of the show had a number of prizes represented as photographs mounted on cards.
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If you look at the boxes, you will notice that the tags with the numbers can be switched from one box to another. This probably makes it easier to set up different shows rather than actually move props from one box to another. In this case, they probably would switch just about all of the numbers around, as if they swapped just the two boxes' numbers, it would be too easy for someone to remember the colors/pattern of the first $25,000 box.
But why would they need to switch anything? Mr. Autori picks the box for the big check, they’d need to replace the revealed boxes anyway, and nobody’s seen the others.