Break the Bank (1976 game show)
Nine celebrities, twenty boxes, and a chance to break the bank.
Break the Bank was an American game show from Jack Barry and Dan Enright, produced by their company Barry & Enright Productions. It marked their first joint game show project after the 1950s quiz show scandals damaged their careers.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Game Show
- Director
- Richard S. Kline
- Presenter
- Tom Kennedy (ABC); Jack Barry (Syndicated)
- Announcer
- Johnny Jacobs (ABC); Ernie Anderson (ABC & Syndicated)
- Theme music
- Stuart Levin
- Producer
- Dan Enright
- Runtime
- 22–26 minutes
- Location
- ABC Television Center; Hollywood, California
Facts from the source article.
Game play
Break the Bank brought together nine celebrities and matched a male contestant against a female contestant, much like The Hollywood Squares. The players took turns picking numbers from a board of 20 numbered trilons arranged in four rows of five. The celebrities were seated along the top and left edges, so each number sat at the intersection of one celebrity’s row and another’s column. The board contained three sets of three money boxes, each set connected horizontally or vertically. A single Wild Card appeared on the board, marked with a large “W” on a rainbow background. Once claimed, it could stand in for any dollar amount or a Money Bag. Five Money Bags were scattered across the board, not linked to each other. When a contestant uncovered a Money Bag, they could either keep it and end their turn or reject it and pick another box. Collecting three Money Bags, or two Bags plus the Wild Card, broke the bank and won the game automatically. Five Blanks were hidden on the board, never touching each other; uncovering a Blank ended the contestant’s turn. When a money box or the Wild Card was revealed, a question was asked to the two celebrities connected to that number. Both gave an answer, but only one was correct. On rare occasions, both celebrities bluffed, forcing the question to be thrown out for a new one. If the contestant chose correctly, they claimed the box and kept control; if not, their turn ended. Originally, a missed question returned the space to neutral, but the rules were later changed to speed things up by awarding it to the opponent, unless that would cause a default win. A game could be won in two ways: claiming three money boxes of the same value, or two matching boxes plus the Wild Card, which tripled the cash amount and added a bonus prize.
Broadcast history
Break the Bank appeared on American television in two distinct runs. Eastern and 1:30 Central. Despite its popularity, ABC cancelled the series to lengthen the soap operas One Life to Live and General Hospital, which aired after it, from half an hour to 45 minutes each. In the daytime version, games could carry over between episodes; if time expired, play halted and resumed on the next broadcast. The syndicated version, following the practices of its era, kept each episode self-contained. Two contestants played multiple games per episode, and the one who broke the bank first or won the most games became champion and entered the bonus round. When time grew short during a game, contestants took turns picking squares without answering questions, and the first to get three of any symbol won.
More in First-run Syndicated Game Shows
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