Born Lucky

PILOT OPENING SPIEL: I'm Mark Sweet and we're here at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles, CA, and we're about to meet four lucky people to play for $2,000 right here today on Born Lucky!

''SERIES OPENING SPIEL: Today from (insert mall), it's time for the only game show in America that comes to your local mall, BORN LUCKY! Now once again, the host of Born Lucky, Bob Goen!''

This game show took place in shopping malls all over the country.

Premise
Four contestants competed in a stunt game show for "Mall Money".

Main Game
To start, four contestants were selected from the mall crowd and each was given an item or items which will be used in the stunts that they will play.

Round 1
In the first round, each contestant played his/her own stunt for up to $100. The stunts can be anything from trivia games, matching games, physical challenges among other things. The player performing the stunt won $10 or $20 for a fraction of success. After each stunt, player performing it had a choice of prize cards. Whatever they picked, that's prize(s) they kept win or lose. At the end of the round, the two players with the highest scores moved onto round two. In case of a tie, the tied players all picked their own envelopes with "Mall Money" inside each. The player(s) with the most "Mall Money" moved onto the next round.

Round 2 (Challenge Round)
In the Challenge Round, the two survivors of the first round bid against each other as to how many of what item they can need get within the time limit to win the next stunt. As soon as someone was challenged, the challenged player then played that stunt. The goal of course was to complete the bid within 30, 45 or 60 seconds. If that player was successful he/she won the game, otherwise the game went to the opponent. The winner of the game went on to play the bonus round for $2,000 in "Mall Money".

Championship Round
The winner of the game was faced with five stunts that share a common theme. Each time he/she completed a stunt, the player moved on the next. The day's winner can pass on a stunt, but he/she can only do it once and must come back to it if there's time left on the clock. Each completed stunt was worth $100, and completing all five stunts in 90 seconds (1½ minutes) or less won the winning contestant $2,000.

Music
Gary Scott

Inventor
Tony McLaren

Trivia
The pilot theme was the same theme used in the FOX version of Fun House.

This was Bob Goen's first of two cable game shows, the other being That's the Question. After Born Lucky, Bob took time off from hosting game shows and hosted the venerable entertainment news show Entertainment Tonight.

Links
Rules for Born Lucky

Jay's Born Lucky Page

YouTube Video
Test Pilot Episode with Mark Sweet as the Host

Premiere Show