Card Sharks with Bill Rafferty Episode Guide

This is the episode guide on the syndicated version of Card Sharks aired during the 1986-87 season.

About the Show
The syndicated version of Card Sharks was hosted by Bill Rafferty from September 1986 until May 1987 (though several weeks of previously unaired episodes without the prize cards and car game were aired in June 1987). The syndicated series was created in the wake of the success of the daytime version on CBS, which was hosted by Bob Eubanks. Rafferty would also host a remake of the game show Blockbusters simultaneously when this version of Card Sharks was in its final months on the air. Card Sharks was created by Chester Feldman, who also created the popular game show Family Feud.

Like Family Feud, Card Sharks involved the use of survey questions. A contestant was asked to predict how many people in a group of 100 people who share a specific role or occupation (i.e. bachelors, married women, firefighters, etc.), and the opponent must predict if the answer is higher or lower. Whoever gets the question right wins control of the cards. When adults are playing, questions involve adult-oriented topics (though not explicit), such as sex, marriage, work, family, politics, to name a few. During the Young People's Weeks throughout the series, questions are modified to more family-friendly questions.

The player who wins control of the cards has earned the right to change or play the card. Once the card is changed, the player is required to predict if the next card is higher or lower. If that player makes a mistake, the opponent gets a free play of the cards, but is required to play the base card (he or she cannot change it). If a player gets a card that doesn't appeal (usually between a five and a ten), the player would normally freeze and protect his or her position. If the contestant goes through all five cards (three in the tiebreaker) in the round, he or she wins the round and $100. If both players finish round two winning one round apiece, a tiebreaker game is played. The tiebreaker game had three cards dealt instead of five, and a maximum of three questions.

Prize Cards
From the series premiere, until the series finale, each player's deck would contain six prize cards in play for the match. Each deck would always contain a trip, and at least some cash. Early in the series, a prize card for $5,000 in cash was revealed. As the series dragged on, and ratings fell, resulting in a shrinking prize budget, the prizes may have gotten cheaper, and the only cash card in each player's deck was $500, and some trips had become cheaper.

Money Cards
The champion is given $200 to start the Money Cards. The player's base card is revealed, and he or she must bet some or all of his or her money higher or lower than the current card. The champion can change one card per line only. Upon moving up to the second level, the player is given an additional $400 of betting money. Minimum bets are $50, except on the Big Bet row, where the champion must bet no less than half of his or her money.

Car Game
Beginning on the premiere episode, a new add-on bonus game was launched, where the champion would win a new car (or a trip to Hawaii during Young People's Weeks). Only the version with the seven numbered cards was used in this version. Luxury cars (i.e. Pontiac Firebird, Cadillac Eldorado, etc.) were offered during the first few months of this series, but as the series dragged on, the cars became cheaper as ratings were falling, resulting in a shrinking prize budget (the final week of the series had a Jeep offered as the feature car).

At the start of the Money Cards, the champion was given one joker free of charge (two free jokers during the Young People's Weeks). Early in the run, Bill Rafferty said that four jokers were placed in the deck at the start fo the Money Cards. Each time a joker is revealed, it gives the champion an extra chance at the bonus prize. After the Money Cards, the contestant takes any jokers he or she has, and is shown seven numbered cards, where one of them says "CAR" (or "HAWAII") and the other says "NO" in a circle. Revealing the "CAR" card wins the car (or "HAWAII" wins the trip to Hawaii). The winning card with the word "HAWAII" was used during Young People's Weeks only.

During the final episode, all four Jokers were removed from the deck, and were given to the final champion at the start of the Money Cards for winning the match. During the final playing of the car game, the champion placed all four Jokers on the cards he picked, and Bill Rafferty revealed three "NO" cards, and finally, the "CAR" card, resulting in a big win to close off the series.