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Card Sharks
Card Sharks is an American television game show. It was created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Contestants attempt to predict the outcome of survey questions to gain control of a row of oversized playing cards, then determine whether the next card drawn is higher or lower. The title Card Sharks is a play on the term "card sharp", a person skilled at card games.
The concept has been made into a series four separate times since its debut in 1978, and it also appeared as part of CBS's Gameshow Marathon. The show originally ran on NBC from 1978 to 1981 with Jim Perry hosting. The show returned and ran from 1986 to 1989 on CBS with Bob Eubanks as host, accompanied by a syndication production with Bill Rafferty. Gene Wood was the announcer in both the 1970s and 1980s. Another syndicated production aired in 2001 with Pat Bullard as host and Gary Kroeger as announcer. A revival hosted by Joel McHale aired on ABC from June 2019 to July 2021. Each production has featured various assistants to handle the playing cards.
Reruns of the older versions currently air on Buzzr.
Two contestants are assigned separate oversized decks of 52 playing cards, which the contestants themselves cut before each game (offscreen prior to 2019), and are dealt the first several cards for their row. The champion (or champion-designate if there were two new contestants) played the red cards on top, while the challenger played the blue cards on the bottom. Each contestant's row of cards had a bracket atop it with their name on it, which was used to mark their "base cards". The goal is to complete a row of cards by correctly predicting whether the next is higher or lower in value, similarly to acey deucey.
Contestants alternately respond to questions to gain control of the cards. In all versions from 1978 to 1989, the returning champion was usually selected to go first; if there were two new contestants, a backstage coin toss determined the player who sits in the champion's position. The 2019 revival instead has both contestants cut their decks onstage and show the resulting bottom card; the contestant with the higher card goes first.
Similarly to another Goodson-Todman game show, Family Feud, survey questions are posed to groups of 100 people, all of whom are typically in a common demographic group. (For example, "We asked 100 teachers, 'Has a student ever given you an apple?' How many said they have?"). Contestants are asked to predict how many of those 100 people responded in a specific manner. Their opponent is then asked whether they think the actual number is higher or lower than the previous contestant's response. The actual number is then revealed, and if the opponent is correct, they play their cards first; otherwise, the contestant to whom the question was posed plays first.
The contestant who wins the question is shown the first card in their row of seven (five from 1978 to 1989 and ten in the first season of the 2019 revival) and can either keep it or replace it with the next card off the top of their individual deck, which is then required to be played. The contestant then guesses whether the next card in the row is higher or lower and continues to do so as long as the guesses are correct. If the next card is the same rank as the previous, or if the contestant makes an incorrect guess, that contestant loses control, and whatever cards they have played are discarded and replaced. The opposing contestant then has a chance to play from ther base card, without the opportunity to exchange first. Either contestant can also elect to "freeze" their position if they are unsure of the next card. This prevents the opponent from playing and resets the contestant's base card to the frozen card, and whatever cards that were turned in that instance are not discarded.
If neither contestant has guessed all the cards in their row correctly, or if one has frozen their position, play continues with another toss-up question, with the opposing contestant providing the initial numerical guess. In all versions from 1978 to 1989, as well as the Gameshow Marathon episode, the first two games consisted of a maximum of four questions each, and the third tie-breaker game contained a maximum of three questions; since 2019, only one game is played per match, with a maximum of five survey questions. If the contestants still have not cleared their row of cards prior to the last question of the round, that question is played as "sudden death." The winner of the sudden death question can either play their cards—and change their base card if they desire—or pass to their opponent, who has to play without the option to change the base card. If either contestant guesses incorrectly, their opponent automatically wins the game.
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Card Sharks AI simulator
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Card Sharks
Card Sharks is an American television game show. It was created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Contestants attempt to predict the outcome of survey questions to gain control of a row of oversized playing cards, then determine whether the next card drawn is higher or lower. The title Card Sharks is a play on the term "card sharp", a person skilled at card games.
The concept has been made into a series four separate times since its debut in 1978, and it also appeared as part of CBS's Gameshow Marathon. The show originally ran on NBC from 1978 to 1981 with Jim Perry hosting. The show returned and ran from 1986 to 1989 on CBS with Bob Eubanks as host, accompanied by a syndication production with Bill Rafferty. Gene Wood was the announcer in both the 1970s and 1980s. Another syndicated production aired in 2001 with Pat Bullard as host and Gary Kroeger as announcer. A revival hosted by Joel McHale aired on ABC from June 2019 to July 2021. Each production has featured various assistants to handle the playing cards.
Reruns of the older versions currently air on Buzzr.
Two contestants are assigned separate oversized decks of 52 playing cards, which the contestants themselves cut before each game (offscreen prior to 2019), and are dealt the first several cards for their row. The champion (or champion-designate if there were two new contestants) played the red cards on top, while the challenger played the blue cards on the bottom. Each contestant's row of cards had a bracket atop it with their name on it, which was used to mark their "base cards". The goal is to complete a row of cards by correctly predicting whether the next is higher or lower in value, similarly to acey deucey.
Contestants alternately respond to questions to gain control of the cards. In all versions from 1978 to 1989, the returning champion was usually selected to go first; if there were two new contestants, a backstage coin toss determined the player who sits in the champion's position. The 2019 revival instead has both contestants cut their decks onstage and show the resulting bottom card; the contestant with the higher card goes first.
Similarly to another Goodson-Todman game show, Family Feud, survey questions are posed to groups of 100 people, all of whom are typically in a common demographic group. (For example, "We asked 100 teachers, 'Has a student ever given you an apple?' How many said they have?"). Contestants are asked to predict how many of those 100 people responded in a specific manner. Their opponent is then asked whether they think the actual number is higher or lower than the previous contestant's response. The actual number is then revealed, and if the opponent is correct, they play their cards first; otherwise, the contestant to whom the question was posed plays first.
The contestant who wins the question is shown the first card in their row of seven (five from 1978 to 1989 and ten in the first season of the 2019 revival) and can either keep it or replace it with the next card off the top of their individual deck, which is then required to be played. The contestant then guesses whether the next card in the row is higher or lower and continues to do so as long as the guesses are correct. If the next card is the same rank as the previous, or if the contestant makes an incorrect guess, that contestant loses control, and whatever cards they have played are discarded and replaced. The opposing contestant then has a chance to play from ther base card, without the opportunity to exchange first. Either contestant can also elect to "freeze" their position if they are unsure of the next card. This prevents the opponent from playing and resets the contestant's base card to the frozen card, and whatever cards that were turned in that instance are not discarded.
If neither contestant has guessed all the cards in their row correctly, or if one has frozen their position, play continues with another toss-up question, with the opposing contestant providing the initial numerical guess. In all versions from 1978 to 1989, as well as the Gameshow Marathon episode, the first two games consisted of a maximum of four questions each, and the third tie-breaker game contained a maximum of three questions; since 2019, only one game is played per match, with a maximum of five survey questions. If the contestants still have not cleared their row of cards prior to the last question of the round, that question is played as "sudden death." The winner of the sudden death question can either play their cards—and change their base card if they desire—or pass to their opponent, who has to play without the option to change the base card. If either contestant guesses incorrectly, their opponent automatically wins the game.