The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: ActualRetailMike on April 26, 2011, 08:27:57 PM
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How many game shows have or had moving floor objects? That is, where an set piece on the floor, or the floor itself, moves -- onscreen, without any apparent human intervention. (not counting flat, sliding prize doors)
TPiR: The prize turntable
Match Game ‘7x: Turntable, with contestants on one side and Super Match on the other
60s/70s Dating Game: Twin turntables, including a wall section that conceals the bachelors or bachelorettes from the one asking the questions
60s/70s Newlywed Game: Contestant seat sections slide together at beginning, slide apart at end. Also, exactly once I saw the prize platform make a surprise 180-degree turn (washer and dryer in front, bonus dishwasher on other side).
Let’s Make a Deal: The large “boxes” on the stage floor, the ones that “open” by moving, unattended, to the side. Also, wasn’t there some prize turntable with a light blue vertical wall section early on in the show’s run? I distinctly remember seeing it emblazoned with a 4 once, and Monty identified it as “Door Number Four”. (April Fools gag, perhaps?) It also showed up, sans the 4, on some of the earlier Family Channel episodes.
New Treasure Hunt: The entrance at the top of the stairs where the prize boxes live. These appears to be dual 3D set pieces, rather than doors per se.
Musical Chairs: The contestant chairs slide in and out.
Some talk shows had moving set pieces. I think the Pat Sajak show had the band platform slide in slightly during the opening sequence. And I seem to remember some evening talk show from 1971 or so in which some 3D structures moved to either side as a guest walked in (???).
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Some talk shows had moving set pieces. I think the Pat Sajak show had the band platform slide in slightly during the opening sequence. And I seem to remember some evening talk show from 1971 or so in which some 3D structures moved to either side as a guest walked in (???).
I know parts of the set of The Dick Cavett Show on ABC moved during the introduction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YIf09yhzM
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The moving contestant chairs on Remote Control (the MTV version, at least) come to mind.
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I'm surprised the OP omitted "Card Sharks" with its myriad moving elements [contestant area moving away for Money Cards, etc.].
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How many game shows have or had moving floor objects? That is, where an set piece on the floor, or the floor itself, moves -- onscreen, without any apparent human intervention. (not counting flat, sliding prize doors)
TPiR: The prize turntable
Match Game '7x: Turntable, with contestants on one side and Super Match on the other
60s/70s Dating Game: Twin turntables, including a wall section that conceals the bachelors or bachelorettes from the one asking the questions
60s/70s Newlywed Game: Contestant seat sections slide together at beginning, slide apart at end. Also, exactly once I saw the prize platform make a surprise 180-degree turn (washer and dryer in front, bonus dishwasher on other side).
Let's Make a Deal: The large "boxes" on the stage floor, the ones that "open" by moving, unattended, to the side. Also, wasn't there some prize turntable with a light blue vertical wall section early on in the show's run? I distinctly remember seeing it emblazoned with a 4 once, and Monty identified it as "Door Number Four". (April Fools gag, perhaps?) It also showed up, sans the 4, on some of the earlier Family Channel episodes.
New Treasure Hunt: The entrance at the top of the stairs where the prize boxes live. These appears to be dual 3D set pieces, rather than doors per se.
Musical Chairs: The contestant chairs slide in and out.
Some talk shows had moving set pieces. I think the Pat Sajak show had the band platform slide in slightly during the opening sequence. And I seem to remember some evening talk show from 1971 or so in which some 3D structures moved to either side as a guest walked in (???).
Don't forget Super Password and Press Your Luck!
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Can't forget the Perry and Eubanks Card Sharks. Perry's version had turntables on both sides of the stage while Eubanks' version had a turntable for the contestants and sliding doors for the cards. Both also had "G2T2" move into place.
Wipeout also had a turntable with a wall that revealed the car.
On Million Dollar COAL a wall on the turntable turned to reveal the isolation booth.
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Whew!: Set pieces pull apart to reveal the Gauntlet of Villains
Pitfall: Main game set opens up to reveal the pitfalls
Split Second: Main game set opens to reveal the cars
Scrabble: The game board moving in at the opening of the show, and also its rotating around for the Sprint
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The podium where contestants for the Gold Run on Blockbusters (Cullen era, at least) moved into place.
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I know parts of the set of The Dick Cavett Show on ABC moved during the introduction.
The set piece in the back does a complete 360 for, as near as I can tell, no reason whatsoever. :)
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Well, there was Russian Roulette. Oh, no, wait, on that show, the contestants moved without apparent human interaction.
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Robin Ward's version of To Tell The Truth had the imposters' desk slide into place, (at least in the first round) and Trebek/Elliott/Swann version had the imposters' desk pivot into place.
Both the Jack Narz Now You See It and Trebek's Double Dare had the main game board rotated for different facets of the game.
And on Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak, the end game team table at center stage would rise up out of the floor.
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The one that immediately came to my mind, for some odd reason, was Bullseye (the Bonus Island).
Technically, the turntable on 80's Wheel would also fit the initial description too. Didn't $oTC's Winner's Big Money Game also have two sorta circular stands come from opposite sides of the stage to the center at the beginning of the round, as well?
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First one to come to mind for me was the Bonus Island from Bullseye.
Edit: And I see what happens when I sit and ponder my post!
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"Play the Percentages" had the giant percent sign that would rise out of the floor, though it only worked a handful of times.
"Press Your Luck" had the rotating contestant area.
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Don't forget Super Password!
Super Password's main game area was pushed into place by 2 stage hands.
Tyshaun
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Does the house in the Nickelodeon version of Finders Keepers count?
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Super Password's main game area was pushed into place by 2 stage hands.
Arguably, a ton of the other ones cited very likely had human power behind them. too. Why mechanize Bonus Island when you can hand a stagehand a rope?
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Technically, the turntable on 80's Wheel would also fit the initial description too. Didn't $oTC's Winner's Big Money Game also have two sorta circular stands come from opposite sides of the stage to the center at the beginning of the round, as well?
Yep.
-I think the early seasons of GSN's Newlywed Game feature a rotating set
-The contestant island on Classic Concentration slid out the way for the car round, and back in for the rebus portion.
-And for the Hollywood Squares half-hour of the MG/HSq hour, an upper tier slid onto the stage...although as Chris mentioned, it was probably stage hands giving the illusion of a magic desk*
If there's something I truly miss from the good ol' days, it's moving set pieces, whether it's a door or turntable.
*And I'd rather keep it that way ;-)
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I always thought that the dice table on High Rollers had a moving piece on it. Not sure if I first saw it on the Trebek version or the Martindale version. It seemed that the dice moved by themselves when they came back towards the contestants.
The piece on Stumpers worked sorta like the MG'7x set piece as far as the contestant/celebrity area goes.
Million $ Password is probably the most recent example. Before the main game begins, where the players, celebrities & even Regis stand, the "stage" rises up.
Family Feud back in the Dawson years had a moving board. It seemed that it was a 3-sided board(or was ir 4?) that make it seem like the board changes from survey board to what it was at the beginning for Fast Money & vice versa.
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Would Pitfall with Alex Trebek count? The elevator shafts were stationary though. Hot Potato's set? (can't recall)
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I always thought that the dice table on High Rollers had a moving piece on it. Not sure if I first saw it on the Trebek version or the Martindale version. It seemed that the dice moved by themselves when they came back towards the contestants.
Conveyor belt I believe on Martindale's. On the original Trebek version, he used a stick.
Family Feud back in the Dawson years had a moving board. It seemed that it was a 3-sided board(or was ir 4?)
It was 3.
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Hot Potato's set? (can't recall)
Yes, the Yer Out couches slid back and forth depending on if they were in use / how many people were sitting on them.
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[Conveyor belt I believe on Martindale's. On the original Trebek version, he used a stick.
The conveyor belt was in place on the 78 revival, and Alex controlled it. I believe Ruta/Elaine had the giant croupier deal on the original.
Because of the design, the conveyor on Wink's version would sometimes do an abrupt pull back if the dice ended up on the extreme end of the table, where the higher walls could partially or fully obscure the roll.
-Jason
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The conveyor belt was in place on the 78 revival, and Alex controlled it. I believe Ruta/Elaine had the giant croupier deal on the original.
This is correct, it was a big acrylic croupier stick on the original.
(You guys I will discuss this with. I don't bother with the Karlberg Black Hole anymore.)
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Because of the design, the conveyor on Wink's version would sometimes do an abrupt pull back if the dice ended up on the extreme end of the table, where the higher walls could partially or fully obscure the roll.
I believe the same kind of table was used on Las Vegas Gambit when the bonus game was switched to the one from HR. I recall sometimes the conveyor belt table would get stuck.
Speaking of Gambit, the "Big Board" on the original version had sliding doors that revealed the numbered "cards" from which the couples chose their prizes.
Second Honeymoon had the parents' seating sections rotate halfway towards the back during the kids' questioning round.
Cordially,
Tammy
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I believe the same kind of table was used on Las Vegas Gambit when the bonus game was switched to the one from HR
I'm nearly certain they used the exact table, dice and insurance markers from the then-recently-cancelled revival.
-Jason
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-I think the early seasons of GSN's Newlywed Game feature a rotating set
The first season's turntable had the Goldywed bonus round on the other side. It has been replaced by a large backlit logo, and the contestant island rotates at the beginning and end of every show.
The screen that showed the gameboard on Wordplay rotated to reveal the bonus round.
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Can't forget the Perry and Eubanks Card Sharks. Perry's version had turntables on both sides of the stage while Eubanks' version had a turntable for the contestants and sliding doors for the cards. Both also had "G2T2" move into place.
Wipeout also had a turntable with a wall that revealed the car.
ISTR that both Perry Card Sharks and Wipeout had semicircular walls that rotated around a stationary circular platform. I wouldn't necessarily call those turntables (at least not in the sense that TPIR and MG 7x have/had turntables where the top of the platform moved), but I don't know of a good short description for them.
Also, how many independent movements were there on the CS '78 set? It seemed like the two walls hiding the main game and money cards boards moved independently of each other and anything else, but I suspect that G2T2 and the main game/money cards lecterns were all on the same drive.
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It was always a visual treat to watch the entire set of "Shopping Spree" rotate to reveal the bonus round.
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Scrabble: The game board moving in at the opening of the show, and also its rotating around for the Sprint
The contestant area did likewise, (the area with the blue background and the contestant desk was used for the crossword round, then before they cut to commercial you could see it start to rotate to the pink background where the sprint round was played.
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Could we count the Wheel of Fortune wheel itself, back in the days when it spun on its own at the top and bottom of every show? It definitely qualifies for the 'without human intervention' part, at least.
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Could we count the Wheel of Fortune wheel itself, back in the days when it spun on its own at the top and bottom of every show? It definitely qualifies for the 'without human intervention' part, at least.
Nope, actual mechanical game elements don't count.
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Just thought of a moving set piece that was never shown moving all the way into its new position: the set of GO.
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Just thought of a moving set piece that was never shown moving all the way into its new position: the set of GO.
I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to come up with this one. :)
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Just thought of a moving set piece that was never shown moving all the way into its new position: the set of GO.
I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to come up with this one. :)
That's right...both the island and the sign/scoreboard moved, didn't they?
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That's right...both the island and the sign/scoreboard moved, didn't they?
I don't think the scoreboard did, in fact, going back and looking on YouTube, I'm pretty sure it didn't. I believe the Jackpot Round readout just lowered down from behind it a little bit to be visible.
(Which makes sense, as making it turnable would be a COMPLETELY unnecessary expense.)
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Just thought of a moving set piece that was never shown moving all the way into its new position: the set of GO.
I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to come up with this one. :)
Glad to oblige; sorry to disappoint if it took too long. ;)
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ISTR that both Perry Card Sharks and Wipeout had semicircular walls that rotated around a stationary circular platform.
Wipeout's, at least, was a turntable. Actually two: the game board was on one, with sixteen monitors on one side and twelve on the other, and the car was on the second one, with a semicircular wall around the edge. If you watch, you'll see the car is also rotating.
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Glad to oblige; sorry to disappoint if it took too long. ;)
No worries, mate; I just didn't want to say it myself 'cuz I wanted to see who would get their first. Congratulations. :)
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the "slot machine" on TJW '90 was on a turntable that was only seen during the opening.
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Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the "slot machine" on TJW '90 was on a turntable that was only seen during the opening.
You're not wrong.
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50 Grand Slam was probably the ne plus ultra of spinning game show sets for no particular reason.
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50 Grand Slam was probably the ne plus ultra of spinning game show sets for no particular reason.
Au contraire! There was a perfectly good reason: Because we can!
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Because we can!
Any reason that can also be used to explain why a dog licks his balls is not a good reason. :)
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In 50 Grand Slam, the spinning cube on the right was an isolation booth. If you look carefully, the one on the left also had an isolation booth, but it was never used. Did they originally isolate the player not playing in the other booth, and for some reason found it more practical to send them offstage?
My guess is, they didn't want the show to look like Twenty One and have the audience question the authenticity of the game.
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[Conveyor belt I believe on Martindale's. On the original Trebek version, he used a stick.
The conveyor belt was in place on the 78 revival, and Alex controlled it. I believe Ruta/Elaine had the giant croupier deal on the original.
Because of the design, the conveyor on Wink's version would sometimes do an abrupt pull back if the dice ended up on the extreme end of the table, where the higher walls could partially or fully obscure the roll.
-Jason
I remember in the Martindale pilot, the stage that held the dice table/emcee/contestants would move to another position, for the end game.
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"Play the Percentages" had the giant percent sign that would rise out of the floor, though it only worked a handful of times.
...and ultimately was retired in the end. The pneumatic hardware that raised and lowered the sign caused several issues throughout its use. The score displays were knocked out frequently, from the circuitry getting jolted. The big issue was the speed of the sign raising up. The hardware and the framing that handled those mechanics, were right underneath the center stage. One time during one of the pilot runthroughs, the sign shot up too fast and the stage teeter tottered. Luckily it wasn't strong enough to cause any real damage. Another time during an episode tape day, the sign shot up WAY too fast. According to one Barry & Enright staffer who was on set, everyone literally ran for their lives. Podiums were toppled over, carpet was torn, lights were broken, and production was shut down. Bob Hilton was sent out to entertain the crowd, as damage control went underway. Dan Enright, who already knew the day was over, kept Bob in the dark of this news, just to see how long he could keep people in their seats. Days later...Once the set was repaired to resume production, the raising mechanism for the percentage sign was no longer used.
Rumor has it, the format change from couples to one-on-one was implemented, as a quick turnover to finish the production.
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Because we can!
Any reason that can also be used to explain why a dog licks his balls is not a good reason. :)
Dogs use their tongues because they don't have opposable thumbs. ;-)
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"Play the Percentages" had the giant percent sign that would rise out of the floor, though it only worked a handful of times.
...and ultimately was retired in the end. The pneumatic hardware that raised and lowered the sign caused several issues throughout its use. The score displays were knocked out frequently, from the circuitry getting jolted. The big issue was the speed of the sign raising up. The hardware and the framing that handled those mechanics, were right underneath the center stage. One time during one of the pilot runthroughs, the sign shot up too fast and the stage teeter tottered. Luckily it wasn't strong enough to cause any real damage. Another time during an episode tape day, the sign shot up WAY too fast. According to one Barry & Enright staffer who was on set, everyone literally ran for their lives. Podiums were toppled over, carpet was torn, lights were broken, and production was shut down. Bob Hilton was sent out to entertain the crowd, as damage control went underway. Dan Enright, who already knew the day was over, kept Bob in the dark of this news, just to see how long he could keep people in their seats. Days later...Once the set was repaired to resume production, the raising mechanism for the percentage sign was no longer used.
Wow, great story! What was your connection to the show? I was in high school when the PtP was rerun on USA, and I loved it for all of its cheesiness. I knew they had issues with the sign operating, but I didn't know it did that kind of damage. I remember on the premiere episode, it seemed to shoot up pretty fast as they broke for commercial, but on later episodes it seemed to take forever, like they couldn't get the timing right. I figured that's why they ultimately scrapped it.
Rumor has it, the format change from couples to one-on-one was implemented, as a quick turnover to finish the production.
Can you clarify? I thought the main game format change was a desperate effort to boost ratings.
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It might've been... considering the numerous changes made throughout the run. The couples format had issues with the jackpot bonus... first they put it in the bonus game, when the percent sign worked. Once it malfunctioned, they moved the jackpot bonus to the main game. A couple won $36k and even Geoff acknowledged in the bonus game that playing the bonus game was anti-climactic. The bonus game itself underwent many changes, one wonders if the viewers might've given up considering the format changed every week.
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Whew!: Set pieces pull apart to reveal the Gauntlet of Villains
Pitfall: Main game set opens up to reveal the pitfalls
Split Second: Main game set opens to reveal the cars
Scrabble: The game board moving in at the opening of the show, and also its rotating around for the Sprint
WOF puzzle board after a puzzle was solved. Mind you the board was rarely seen moving on air. if ever except for the pilot and a few reflections seen in the contestant backdrops so it was probably just rolled off manually.
Jeopardy 78 (the flower sprouted when Art walked in, and the walls open to reveal the contestants and answers)
Now You See It: Narz (Letter boards) - Henry (them things that went up and down lol. May have been neat looking but definately unnecessary IMHO).
Password Plus ? (sign and the alphabetics doors)
Also, since TPIR is mentioned that should include Cullen's too
Mark
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Kennedy NTT '78 - '81. Two set pieces separating center stage from the two bands. The rotating cube at center stage, housing the logo, Melody Roulette wheel, and Golden Medley Showdown clock.
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I suppose that Numberwang doesn't count, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the topic title was, "Let's rotate the board!"
And I have you guys to blame for that... I'd never heard of Numberwang before I started reading this board.
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Didn't $oTC's Winner's Big Money Game also have two sorta circular stands come from opposite sides of the stage to the center at the beginning of the round, as well?
Not to mention the rotating car platform (that Wheel also has) and the Instant Bargain/Fame Game turntable.
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Does this count (if not mentioned yet):
On Play the Percentages, the endgame screen moves behind the podium.
On the High Rollers Pilot (which I saw in full last weekend), the table rotated towards the Big Numbers, I thought it would be good idea and wondered why it didn't catch into the series, until I saw how the camera shot the rolls.
On Hoosier Millionaire, there were two turntables in the endgame in the mid-1990s--one that had the host and contestant, and one that had the game board. It was similar to how the podiums rotated on Stumpers!
What about the Face-Off game in Nick Arcade?
Or the big doors of Fun House, College Mad House, Whew! and 85-86 Break the Bank?
Or the podii from the Winner's Big Money game on $ale of the Century?
Don't Forget Your Toothbrush had turntable (I actually remembered that from the UK version; I'm not sure about the US version)
Or I'm Telling!, in which the whole game was played on a turntable?
Or Child's Play, where it's one side flower and the other side the Triple Play/Turnabout board?
Or We've Got Your Number, where basically the whole set (not the podiums) turns into a game room with chandeliers and dice table?
Or Think Twice, where the round of Imagination opens up?
Or You Don't Know Jack, where Troy is on a moving floor as he cheats, I mean greets the contesti?
Or Catch Phrase, where the two monitors, podii, etc rotate?
Or Camouflage, where the set splits up to reveal the car?
Or the early episodes/pilots of 3's a Crowd where the seats combine at the intro?
Or the keyboard and isolation booth of The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime?
Or the boards of Trivia Trap?
Or the isolation booths of Win Ben Stein's Money?
Or the stands and podiums of Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak (and pilots)?
Or the contestants' podium on Whammy!?
Or that ugly Dragon for the Dragon Finder game on Tic Tac Dough?
Or the Chain Reaction board from the pilot?
Or the contesti podium and Gold Run handle from Rafferty's Blockbusters?
Or the poduims and category board from The Hollywood Game?
Maybe I said too much and some may be invalid, but one thing I like about a game show is how something moves/rotates without visible force.
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I suppose that Numberwang doesn't count, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the topic title was, "Let's rotate the board!"
And I have you guys to blame for that... I'd never heard of Numberwang before I started reading this board.
For a brief moment, I had thought the same thing, but decided to leave that one alone. :-)
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Once the set was repaired to resume production, the raising mechanism for the percentage sign was no longer used.
Rumor has it, the format change from couples to one-on-one was implemented, as a quick turnover to finish the production.
That doesn't make much sense: they'd stopped using the sign for anything but decoration well before dropping the couples, and continued raising it for a while after going to individual contestants.
WOF puzzle board after a puzzle was solved. Mind you the board was rarely seen moving on air. if ever except for the pilot and a few reflections seen in the contestant backdrops so it was probably just rolled off manually.
There was at least one time: an end-of-show Pat and Vanna moment demonstrating how the puzzle board worked. Rotating one space around all the way from letter to green to blank to letter again, switching out that letter for another.... and then Pat said something like "and it moves, too" and pretended to start the thing like a car, then it slid away.
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if ever except for the pilot and a few reflections seen in the contestant backdrops so it was probably just rolled off manually.
Actually there was a time when it wasn't uncommon for the board to roll out after a bonus round win where the prize was something too big to fit on the main part of the stage, like a boat. You'd see Vanna walking off of it as it moved and everything.
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they'd stopped using the sign for anything but decoration well before dropping the couples, and continued raising it for a while after going to individual contestants.
I'm just going off the stories told to me from talking with a Barry & Enright staffer. If it was used over the one-on-one format, then that's when it broke.
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if ever except for the pilot and a few reflections seen in the contestant backdrops so it was probably just rolled off manually.
Actually there was a time when it wasn't uncommon for the board to roll out after a bonus round win where the prize was something too big to fit on the main part of the stage, like a boat. You'd see Vanna walking off of it as it moved and everything.
I couldn't find it, but there is/was a Youtube clip from the mid-80s, where IIRC someone won an RV, and the board indeed rolled offstage. I remember being somewhat wowed by it all...
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Oooh, I got one *raises hand*
Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour: the conversion of the Match Game panelists set to the Hollywood Squares set by adding the third tier. ETA: already mentioned, but still makes for a really cool transition of a show that had mediocre execution.
Also, the Match Game contestant podiums sliding off set once the game was done (and the Hollywood Squares podiums sliding into place, though that was rarely, if ever seen).