I was in my area Walmart yesterday, and for the first time I saw the "Gold Edition" Family Feud on the store shelf.  Until now, I'd only seen it available online and that has been almost a year now.

They still had an empty spot for WOF from Goliath/Pressman, so I don't know how long it will be before Walmart gets it in stock, however for the time, I've seen a large illustration of the "Seventh," edition from Pressman at the website of H-E-B, a popular Texas store (they don't have any copys in store).  Note: if you go to the website and try searching for it, it will not work.  But using a different method I got this:

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/wheel-of-fortune-seventh-edition-game/2111104

I got a little chuckle at Walmart re: the Family Feud game.  There were two copies on the shelf, and I had to use the washroom.  When I finished and returned to the salesfloor, one of the two copies was gone!  I am so used to finding so few, if any sell at any time.  Goes to show there are more fans than just me out there!

There has been no updates about the Just Play Products version of WOF and PCJ!, but i am also curious if indeed, like the original press release stated, if Just Play is indeed going to release "card," game versions?

Here's Dallas-Fort Worth:

10 AM:
KTVT - TPIR
KDFI/KDFW - 25WOL (1 hour)

1:30 PM:
KDFI/KDFW - Feud (90 minutes)

2 PM:
KTVT - LMAD

3 PM:
KTVT - FYSA

3:30 PM:
KTVT- J! Rerun

5 PM:
KTXA - Flip Side (1 hour)
KDFI/KDFW - Feud (2 hours)

6 PM:
KTVT - WOF

6:30 PM:
KTVT - J!

8 PM:
KTXA - Perfect Line (1 hour)

4 AM:
KTXA - Scrambled Up!

A few notes, touching on various elements involving preservation:

1) I'm not sure that the missing late NBC programs mean anything with NBC- in addition to the points raised concerning High Rollers and Dream House (though the version I've heard for the latter involves flooding), Sale of the Century seems to be a Reg Grundy issue, as Going For Gold (which aired in the United Kingdom into the 1990s) is similarly missing a pile of episodes.

2) I would be cautious about making assumptions about networks in terms of preservation, based on examples from other genres:

2a) There seems to be an idea that CBS stopped wiping earlier than the other networks due to the survival of the Goodson-Todman programs and the rediscovery of The Joker's Wild. The notes that soap opera fans have compiled concerning what survives in that genre make this suspect- the CBS soap operas of the 1970s do not seem to be particularly well-preserved, further suggesting that it was based on production firms;

2b) That said, even production firms could be inconsistent- there is a general consensus among those who have researched television sports broadcasting that ABC seems to have done a better job of preserving their sports broadcasts from the 1960s and early 1970s than either CBS or NBC, but there are a number of places where gaps are apparent, with their coverage of the NBA from 1964-1965 to 1972-1973 existing (on the basis of the available evidence) in a fragmentary state indeed (total number of NBA Finals games known to exist completely on master-quality tape from this period: one).

Overall, this ties back to considering the survival of the programs in a key regard: while we have some ideas of what is out there, there are still limitations to our information (note that, twenty-five or so years later, we still aren't sure of the total contents of that Hollywood Squares rediscovery, to name just one example) that are such that I would be deeply wary about assuming any general rules existed, rather than a collection of individual circumstances for which consistency cannot be assumed.

15 minutes are enough time to move a living-room set into place and place another $25,000 check if needed. They would have to close the curtains and conceal the gift boxes while all this is going on.

Here is what we know.

As you know Wink & I was developing a new version.

I spoke to Mike Metzger. He told me all 30 boxes had a skit. Emile would place the check in a box removing the props.

No one knew where the check was.

A player picked a box. During the break they would take a 15 minute stop down & everyone went backstage.

They'd discuss the skit. "Geoff this is the one with the Genie box. We need Steve dressed as the Genie. We need the living room set." Etc etc.

Then they'd start the show.

Mike told me the first time anyone knew the check was in the box was when Geoff peeked inside. If the box was picked that had the check, the production still did the stop down & went over the skit that would have been in that box.

Question it all you want, but that's how Mike recalled it.

Hope that clears things up.

John

That's 100% Geoff's account, too.