The Big Showdown

"Welcome to THE BIG SHOWDOWN! Now here's your host, JIM PECK!"

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

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; they cannot be exceeded.

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 after which host Peck pressed a button on his podium to reveal one of five money amounts ($25, $50, $75, $100 and $500). When it was 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, the player(s) involved were blocked (indicated by the "X" on their podiums) from those questions. Each time a contestant hit the payoff point exactly, he/she won the landed money amount for that payoff point.

In the pilot, the first payoff point was worth $50; the value went up by $25 for each new 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 time was up, the two players with the highest scores advanced to Final Showdown, while the last-place player was eliminated and kept any cash he or she accumulated during the round. If the first round ended in a tie for second place, Jim read a series of one point toss-up questions until somebody buzzed in with a correct answer, thereby advancing to the Final Showdown round. Should a player buzz in and answer wrong, his/her opponent automatically advances.

Final Showdown
In the Final Showdown, the remaining two players compete to reach the final payoff point of seven. 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 ($200 in the pilot) and the right to roll the dice for $10,000; the runner-up took home whatever cash he/she accumulated in the front game.

Bonus Round
In the bonus round, the winning contestant stood at a dice table with a well at the end, with 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, however, if "ShowDown" was rolled, he/she won $5,000 in addition to any money accumulated from payoff point rolls.

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

Pilot Rules
In the Showdown pilot, even though it wasn't achieved, the clock stopped and five additional seconds were added whenever the payoff point was rolled; plus, the $10,000 grand prize was not mentioned throughout the show up until the first special roll for the point. The secondary grand prize ($5,000) was the one that was mentioned. Other than that, the rules were mostly the same.

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; however, when he got close to his podium, he encountered a single step that caused him to slip & fall, causing an uproar of 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 offending stair.

Music
Score Productions

Links
Rules for The Big Showdown

Rules for The Big Showdown @ Loogslair.net

The Big Showdown @ Game Shows '75

David's Big Showdown Page

Full Episode of The Big Showdown on Veoh

Flash game for The Big Showdown

YouTube Videos
Jim's Big Fall Down

Clip of the Bonus Round