How could a show like "Masquerade Party," which most people probably don't even remember, make TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest game shows and this one get overlooked? As everyone knows, "PYL" asks players four questions; a correct buzz-in answer gets the player 3 spins on the big board, while a correct multiple-choice answer gets the player 1 spin. After four questions in each round, they take those spins to the board, hoping to avoid the whammy, an animated gremlin that takes away all their winnings and forces them to start over, if they have any spins left. Four whammies puts a player out of the game, and a player can pass his or her whammies at any point.
It's in the second round, when the stakes go as high as $5000+1 spin, that every game becomes a nail-biter; say, for example, that two players have over $10,000. Does the player taking his or her turn gamble on hitting a whammy and losing everything, or pass the remaining spins to the player in second place and hope he or she whammies? And in the event of a pass, the other player has to take the spin(s). Will that player hit a whammy? The suspense literally goes up to the last spin of the game; the outcome is always in doubt until all the spins are used up (unless your name is Michael Larson and you've run up over $110,000 by memorizing the light patterns on the board).
I vastly prefer the original over the newer "Whammy!". Todd Newton seems to be a nice-enough guy but he lacks the late, great Peter Tomarken's enthusiasm (he really gets into the game, especially when it's close), and Gary Kroger is no Rod Roddy when it comes to announcing. In fact, given this show's cult status, I can't understand how it managed to last only three years on CBS.
But I'm a fanatic about this show; I just wish GSN would air the episodes from 1985 and '86.
It's in the second round, when the stakes go as high as $5000+1 spin, that every game becomes a nail-biter; say, for example, that two players have over $10,000. Does the player taking his or her turn gamble on hitting a whammy and losing everything, or pass the remaining spins to the player in second place and hope he or she whammies? And in the event of a pass, the other player has to take the spin(s). Will that player hit a whammy? The suspense literally goes up to the last spin of the game; the outcome is always in doubt until all the spins are used up (unless your name is Michael Larson and you've run up over $110,000 by memorizing the light patterns on the board).
I vastly prefer the original over the newer "Whammy!". Todd Newton seems to be a nice-enough guy but he lacks the late, great Peter Tomarken's enthusiasm (he really gets into the game, especially when it's close), and Gary Kroger is no Rod Roddy when it comes to announcing. In fact, given this show's cult status, I can't understand how it managed to last only three years on CBS.
But I'm a fanatic about this show; I just wish GSN would air the episodes from 1985 and '86.