The Big Showdown

The short-lived game show where contestants compete to roll the dice for $10,000 in cash.

Broadcast
ABC - December 23, 1974 – July 4, 1975

Packagers
Don Lipp-Ron Greenberg Productions/MCA Television

Host
Jim Peck

Model
Heather Cunningham

Announcer
Dan Daniels

Premise
Three contestants compete in a question & answer game for the right to roll the dice for $10,000. Along the way, their objective was to reach a series of "payoff points" to win some money; they must be hit right on the nose.

The Big Showdown
The contestants were shown six categories with different point values (indicated by the die above each one) from 1-6 points. Then a payoff point was revealed afterwhich host Peck pressed a button on his podium to reveal one of five money amounts ($25, $50, $75, $100 and $500). When all said and done, Jim read a one point toss-up question to all three players. The first player to buzz-in with a correct answer not only earned the point but also earned control of the board. All questions from the categories were also toss-ups with the first player to buzz-in with a correct answer earning the selected point value & control of the board. Each time a player answered incorrectly, the opposing players tried to sneak in & steal the points & control. Occasionally, one or more such point values would put one or two contestants over the payoff point; when that happened, those player(s) were blocked (indicated by the "X" on their podiums) from those questions. Each time a contestant hit the payoff point exactly, they win the landed money amount for that payoff point.

Midway through the round after the second payoff point was hit, six new categories were placed on the board.

Near the end of the round, the contestants played a 90-second speed round in which every payoff point after the last one played before the speed round (if it wasn't reached yet) was worth $100. When the time was up, the two players with the highest scores advanced to the Final Showdown. If the first round ended in a tie for second place, host Peck read a series of one point toss-up questions until somebody buzzed in with a correct answer, thereby advancing to the next round. Should a player buzz-in and answer wrong, the opponent automatically advances.

Final Showdown
In the Final Showdown, the remaining two players compete to reach the final payoff point of seven exactly. They faced a board of this time three categories worth 1, 2 & 3 points respectively. The player with the highest score at the end of the previous round picked a category first. As always, the questions were toss-ups with the contestant buzzing in with a correct answer earning the points. The first player to reach seven points won the game, $250 and the right to roll the dice for $10,000.

Bonus Round
In the bonus round, the winning contestant stood at a dice table with a well at the end, and a mini hole for Jim to remove the dice. The winning contestant rolled a pair of dice which had the sixes replaced with the words "Show" & "Down". The winning contestant's job was to roll "Showdown" to win the big money.

The winning contestant had one roll to start, and if he/she rolled "Showdown", he/she won $10,000. If the winning contestant doesn't roll "Showdown", the number he/she rolled (from 1-10, Show & Down were worth nothing) became the payoff point for that round. The winning contestant had 30 seconds to roll as many dice as he/she can. Each time the winning player rolled the payoff point, he/she won $250 plus five bonus seconds of rolling time at the end. If the winning player can roll "Showdown", he/she won $5,000 plus any money accumulated by rolling the payoff point.

If the 30 seconds ran out but "Showdown" was not yet rolled, the winning contestant then used the accumulated bonus time earned to roll "Showdown" and win the $5,000. The payoff point was dead by that time.

If the winning contestant cannot roll "Showdown", he/she returned on the next show to play again and face two new challengers. But if the winning contestant did manage roll "Showdown", regardless of what grand prize that contestant won, he/she retired undefeated.

Trivia
This was the very first show hosted by Jim Peck.

The show was best known for the infamous Big Falldown on show #67. What happened was that after being introduced, Jim walked down the stairs as he usually does; but he encountered a single step that cause him to slip & fall. Causing uproarous laughter, and cheers. A few seconds after he reached his podium, Jim said "Sure! You people would applaud a lynching!" After the second commercial break, Jim walked back up to the staircase & kicked the tainted step.

Music
Score Productions

Links
Rules for The Big Showdown The Big Showdown @ Game Shows '75 David's Big Showdown Page Full Episode of The Big Showdown on Veoh

YouTube Videos
Jim's Big Fall Down Clip of the Bonus Round