Beat the Odds

A word-forming game from California while trying to avoid "Sammy the Whammy".

Gameplay
Two contestants took turns stopping the two spinning letter wheels in front of them. When the wheels stopped, the player in control had give a word that begins and ends with the letters showing.

When spinning the wheels, if at any time Sammy the Whammy appeared in either one of the two wheels, that player would lose all his/her points and control of the wheels. That's why before each spin, the player in control could decide to freeze on his/her current score and pass control to his/her opponent. The first player to reach 1,000 points won the game.

There were two formats in the game.

Format 1
This was when Mike Stokey hosted the show.

Main Game
The words the contestants made had to be four letters or more. When the wheel stopped on letters, the contestant in control had ten seconds to give a word. All words given had to be deemed acceptable by a word authority. If they ran out of time to give a word, the points they had at that point would automatically be frozen.

When a contestant gave three acceptable words all in the same turn, every acceptable word thereafter in that turn would be worth a bonus prize if they won the game.

When the contestant reached 900 points, they then had fifteen seconds to give a word that is five letters exactly. If they could, they won the game and played the Champion's game.

Champion's Game
The winning contestant would letter in the word CHAMPION. Seven of the letters had a picture of Sammy hidden behind them, while the last one had the name of a grand prize. Champions stayed on the show until they found the grand prize or won eight games.

The same grand prize remained in play until it was won; after which it was replaced with a new one.

Home Game
At the end of the show, viewers would have a chance to win a prize. Stokey would draw eight postcards from a revolving drum, and put each of them under the first appearances of each letter in the show's name, from left to right. To be eligible, a postcard had to have one of those letter instances circled. If the postcard had a repeated letter circled, it was deemed void.

After the first eight postcards were drawn, a ninth postcard would be drawn, and the circled letter would be the letter in play. If that viewer's postcard had that same letter circled, they won a prize. Otherwise, they won a consolation prize.

Format 2
This was from when Warren Hull took over.

Main Game
From this point onwards, words not only had to start and end with the visible letters, but they also had to be a requirement of a certain number of letters determined randomly (either five or more, five exactly, or six or more). In this format, any word could be accepted unless the opposing player challenged a word. Each acceptable word without a challenge earned that player 100 points and they kept control, but if the player's word was challenged and was successful, he/she lost 100 points and control went to the challenger. If the points they lost went past their frozen point, they would still be frozen, but at 100 points less.

Again, 1,000 points won the game. The winner of the game received a prize and faced a new challenger. If the champion managed to win four games, they would get to play one final game against the board for an increasing cash jackpot.

Jackpot Game
In this game, the contestant would attempt to reach 1,000 points by giving words that had to be five letters exactly and accepted by the judge. Unlike the main game, if Sammy appeared on either or both wheels, he would give the contestant another 100 points, instead of taking points away; however, when the contestant reached 900 points, hitting Sammy on the next spin, automatically lost the game. In other words, the contestant had to land on only letters and give an acceptable word to win the jackpot.

In either case, if both wheels stopped on Sammy, the contestant would win a bonus prize.

In this format, champions stayed until they played the Jackpot Game, or were defeated.

Home Game
This was now played at the mid-point of the show. The postcards still had to be elegible in the same way; however, there were now seven prizes that could be won. Whichever letter was circled, that was the prize the viewer won. Most of the letters each applied to one prize; however the eight letter was the "Lucky Seven" letter, which if circled, won the viewer all seven prizes.

1975 Pilots
The 1975 pilots were mostly the same as the post-Stokey format, except with these differences:
 * Contestants played for money instead of points. They can choose to play for any value up to their current scores with the first word worth $100.
 * After each spin and announcement of the letter & requirement, the word became a toss-up. The player to buzz in first got first chance at coming up with a word using the requirements. If they didn't come up with a word, the opponent would attempt to give a word.
 * Incorrect challenges lost $100, while the opponent gained the word's value. Otherwise, the challenged contestant would simply lose the $100.
 * A contestant can only freeze twice on any amount during the game. If losing a challenge took away one of their freeze points, it was lost, and any unfrozen money would be vulnerable to the Whammy.
 * Sammy the Whammy was replaced by a boring bolt of lightning (originally, Sammy was a ghost-like creature), but the effect was the same.

The game was now played as a best-of-three match. Each game had the the following word requirements:
 * Four or more
 * Five or more
 * Six or more
 * Five exactly (tiebreaker only)

The first player to reach $1,000 won the game, indicated by a $1,000 trophy. The first player to win two games won the match and the right to play for $5,000.

Bonus Round: Hidden Words
In the bonus round, the winning player attempted to guess ten words in 60 seconds or less. Each word was five letters long, and as in the game, they began & end with the letter showing, but they now were answers to clues posed by Chuck Henry. Each correct word was worth $100, and solving all ten words won $5,000.

Links
Game Show Pilot Light article on 1962 pilot

Game Show Pilot Light article on 1975 Pilot #3

David's Beat the Odds (1975) Page

YouTube Videos
First segment of a 1963 Dennis James episode

Pilot #3 (taped February 7, 1975) in full

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4