"No Whammy!"

Television was so much simpler when my brother and I were growing up. Remember early 80s television shows? Sitcoms with laugh tracks and game shows ruled. There were very few choices too. One of our favorites was, as we called it The Whammy show. I now know it is/was called Press Your Luck

I remember sitting there with my brother yelling at the tv. I was the one yelling "no whammy!" right along with the contestants. He was yelling "come on whammy!" I don't know if it was because it was opposite what I wanted or he really just wanted to see the whammy. Either way we both would laugh when the little animated guy came across the screen and took all the contestant's money.

As an adult I've learned this game show was figured out by one smart and patient contestant, Michael Larson. He figured out, something we always tried to, that there was a pattern to the Press Your Luck board. All he had to do was be patient and watch the pattern. It gave him over $100,000. Not bad for a few hours taping a game show!

They remade Press Your Luck in 2002. It wasn't as good, of course. But they learned one thing from the original. Use a computer to randomize the patterns of the board!

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