Play Your Cards Right (or Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right) is a British television game show based on, and played similarly to, the American show Card Sharks.
Contents
History
Produced by LWT for ITV and hosted by Bruce Forsyth, Play Your Cards Right was broadcast from 1 February 1980 to 22 November 1987. LWT produced a more modern version from 18 March 1994 to 4 June 1999, initially expected to be presented by Brian Conley, who recorded a pilot show before Forsyth was lured back after he unexpectedly quit The Generation Game. In 2002, Forsyth hosted another revival, with slightly modified rules. This version was produced by Thames Television and ended on 20 June 2003.
When Forsyth was guest host on the satirical BBC TV series Have I Got News for You in June 2003, it included a parody based on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards called Play Your Iraqi Cards Right (working title: Play Your Kurds Right).
On 15 October 2005, Play Your Cards Right made a one-off return as part of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, celebrating 50 years of ITV. It made another one-off return in 2007 again part of Gameshow Marathon.
An interactive DVD game of Play Your Cards Right was released in 2007, with an updated sequel released in 2008, both produced by DVDPro.
Format
Main game
Two couples (two single players during the first series) alternated who went first on each question. The questions were based on surveys of 100 people. The first couple would guess how many of the 100 gave a certain answer to the question, and the second would guess whether the actual number was higher or lower than the other couple's guess. (If the first couple guessed exactly the number of people, they would win a case of champagne, as opposed to a cash bonus depending on type of question on the US versions ($100 for 10-person surveys with another $100 split among the panel, $500 for 100-person surveys or general knowledge questions.) Whoever was correct gained control of the cards.
Unlike the US version, the questions usually had some comedic value (for example: The question would be, "We asked 100 tattoo-artists – if somebody came in asking for a tattoo of Bruce Forsyth, would you try to talk them out of it?, how many tattoo-artists said yes, if somebody came in asking for a tattoo of Bruce Forsyth, they would try to talk them out of it?". The first couple would joke around with Bruce, and then decide on a sum of, say, 64. The second couple would say "higher" (and Bruce would pretend to be offended). If the answer was, say, 26, the second couple were wrong in guessing "higher", so the first couple started with the cards.
There were five cards for each team laid out, and they had to guess if the next card was higher or lower — ace being the highest card, and two being lowest. The first card could be changed if the couple wished. If the guess was correct, the couple would continue with the next card, and so on. Correctly guessing all cards to the end won the game, but if the couple guessed wrong at any time or if they got a pair of cards, they would retreat back to the card where they started and the other team would have a free attempt at their own cards. (In this case, the couple could not change their first card.)
After any correct guess, a couple could "freeze", which would protect their cards. A marker would be placed by a dealer beside the frozen card, which meant that on the next question, a wrong guess on their cards would put them back no further than where they froze. This was usually done when the card shown was of a middle rank, such as a seven, eight or nine. After a couple froze their cards, play would continue to the next question. Should the couple regain control of the board on a correct question, they will be allowed to change the frozen card (due to it now being the card the couple would start on.).
2002 version
The rules of the 2002 revival were partly based on the changes made in the 2001 revival of Card Sharks in the United States. All 13 cards from the suit of hearts from the 'Two' to the 'Ace' were put out face down. Four couples would then come on, and the two couples with the two highest cards would go through to the main game (the couple who picked the highest card was red team.). This was just an opening game. After this, Bruce's gag was to say "Well done you winners, and so sorry losers, we really are sorry to lose you so early in the show...tough." – followed by audience laughter. The rules of the main game were exactly the same as in the original version, except the "Brucie Bonus" was £1,000. If one couple won both the games, the losing couple would be sent home with a case of champagne before the break, otherwise, the losing couple would get to keep the £1,000 for winning their one-game (there was no money awarded for the tie-breaker).
In the Cash Cards, Bruce would first ask the winning couple a ridiculously hard, trivial or stupid question. They often pondered for a few seconds over this, then Bruce said "Aren't you glad you don't have to answer a question like that?", to which the audience would laugh – except that on at least two occasions, the contestants correctly answered the question, shocking Bruce, who accused the contestants – though in a humorous manner – of "ruining the show", prompting much more laughter from the audience.
The Cash Cards game was played similar to the United States versions from 1980-81 season and also the entire 1986-89 version's run. The couple was given £1,000 to start with and their minimum bet had to be £100, but they could bet the whole lot if they wanted to. If the couple survived the first three cards, another £500 would be added to the total on the fourth card. On the final card, the couple had to bet at least half the amount they had at that point. If a couple bet on the whole lot the wrong way during the first three cards, that card would be put on the row above and the additional £500 would be added on. If there was a pair revealed in the Cash Cards, "push" rule that had been implemented in the aforementioned US versions was in play, as they moved on to the next card without losing any money. If the last two cards on a row were a pair, the second card would be used as the base card for the row above.
The theoretical maximum in the Cash Cards is £136,000.
Personnel
Among Forsyth's other quips, he would, at the beginning of some shows, say, "What a lovely audience! You're so much better than last week." The joke was that the same audience was used for more than one show, therefore it was the same one. On other shows, he would begin by saying "You have cheered me up", before telling a humorous anecdote of something unfortunate that happened to him backstage. Bruce started each show with his trademark "It's nice to see you, to see you nice" (whereby the audience join in on the last "nice".). When a pair was revealed, he'd say "You don't get anything for a pair, not in this game.", and the audience would join in with the "not in this game" part. On the 2002 series in particular, he would often start the show with a made-up quote.
When Card Sharks was slated for a revival in 1986, Forsyth himself was considered as possible host by creator/producer Mark Goodson (Forsyth, at the time, was in the United States filming the short-lived Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak). The job ultimately went to Bob Eubanks and Bill Rafferty.
Card dealers include Jo Thomas, Yvonne Younger, Zena Clifton, Natalie Shaw, Denise "Denni" Kemp, Lesley Anderson, Gillian Elvins, John Melainey, Camilla Blair, Gillian Duxbury, Alison Bell, Carol Dean, Brenda Haldane, Wendy Marler, Robin Martyne, Denni Kemp, Natalie van de Braam, Alison Bell, Carol Dean, Vicki Brattle, Sophie Allisstone, Carly Carter, Debbie Flett, Sharon Amos, Sheryl Deane, Charlie Maloney, Maxine Restall, Annalise Braakensiek and Vicki-Lee Walberg.
Gameshow Marathon
Play Your Cards Right was one of the games on the series Gameshow Marathon in 2005 and 2007.
Potential revivals
In 2011, a new pilot was made for a planned reboot of Play Your Cards Right on ITV with Vernon Kay as the new host. However, in November 2013, it was later scrapped because it "didn't involve enough skill". In June 2019 it was announced that, as one of the country's five all-time favourite game shows, it would be "supersized and rebooted" in a new series Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow filmed at dock10 studios for broadcast on ITV. Hosted by Alan Carr, the new episode was a celebrity special and was broadcast on 30 May 2020 as the first episode in the series. Carr had been linked to a possible revival of the show in August 2018. In 2020 presenter Ryan Swain revived the gameshow digitally via his Instagram attracting celebrity guests daily; it was to set up to entertain the NHS staff, carers and key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.