Spin-Off

A Yahtzee-like game show where couples stop spinning numbers to win thousands of dollars in cash & prizes.

Broadcast
CBS - June 16, 1975 – September 5, 1975

Packager
Nicholson/Muir Productions

Host
Jim Lange

Announcer
Johnny Jacobs

Inventors
Nick Nicholson & E. Roger Muir

Premise
Two couples competed to make the best Yahtzee-typed hand of spinning numbers behind them.

Main Game
Host Lange asked a question to both couples and the first team to buzz-in with a correct answer won the right to spin five spinners behind them. Each one spins numbers from 1 to 6. The couple in control started the spinners by pressing a large button in front of them, and then stopped the spinners by pressing the five buttons in front of them that correspond to each spinner. Once the spinners stopped, the couple in control had a choice to make, they could either freeze with their current hand or reject some or all five numbers and play again. When playing again, the couple must answer another question to spin again. Each couple would have up to three chances to make the best hand, and as soon as one couple used up all their chances or froze before that, the opposing couple had one final chance to increase their hand and beat the first couple. The couple with the best hand wins the round and money according what their hand was.

Payoffs
Here are the payoffs for each hand:

The first couple to win $250 or more wins the game and the right to play the $10,000 Super Spin-Off.

Super Spin-Off
Super Spin-Off was basically the same as the main game except without questions. The winning couple had up to three chances to make the best hand possible. Here are the payoffs for each hand:


 * What the bottom position is trying say is that the Straight has to appear consecutively in order to win the $10,000. Regular straights were worth nothing.

Scheduling
Spin-Off first premiered in 1975 replacing the CBS version of The Joker's Wild; in fact host Jack Barry announced the premiere of the replacement show on the final show. Spin-Off itself was replaced by another Jim Lange hosted show Give-N-Take.

Episode Status
For many years since its original run ended, the series was presumed to be destroyed as per network practices of the era (although CBS was far less prone to wiping than ABC and NBC). In 2000, the entire run of Spin-Off (plus the first two seasons of The Joker's Wild) was discovered in a tape storage room at WCBS-TV in New York.

Links
DPJohnnson's take on Spin-Off Spin-Off @ Game Shows '75

YouTube Video
CBS 1975 Game Show promos (Spin-Off Included)