| Host | |
| Jim Lange | |
| Announcer | |
| Johnny Jacobs | |
| Broadcast | |
  | |
| Packagers | |
| Carruthers Company Warner Bros. Television | |
PILOT INTRO: "This is GIVE-N-TAKE, television's most exciting game! And now, here's the man who knows sometimes it's better to give than to receive, the star of our show, JIM LANGE!"
SERIES INTRO: "Today, one of these four players will have a chance to win over $15,000 in magnificent prizes, as they play Hollywood's most exciting new game, GIVE-N-TAKE! Now, here's the star of Give-N-Take, JIM LANGE!"
Give-N-Take was a short-lived game show where women had to accumulate prizes without going over a monetary limit of $5,000.
Gameplay[]
Four female contestants (one of them being a returning champion), competed to accumulate prizes with a total value of as close to $5,000 without going over. The contestants each sat in one portion of an eight-spaced board, shaped like a daisy, with a neutral "advantage space" separating each contestant from the next. Each contestant's bank was staked with a prize, whose value was not revealed.
A prize was described (but not its value) and Lange asked a question. The contestant who buzzed in and gave the correct answer took control of the four neutral "advantage spaces" on the board, in addition to their own, giving them a total of five spaces. The other three contestants controlled the spaces in which they sat. The contestant in control pressed a button to stop a large spinning red arrow in the middle of the board. The contestant on whose space the arrow stopped won control of the prize, could choose to either add it to her bank, or pass it and/or one or more already-banked prizes to an opponent.
After a prize was assigned, a bell or buzzer sounded indicating whether or not that contestant's bank value was below $5,000. The actual value of the bank was never revealed; only whether or not they were below the $5,000 target. Play then repeated in the same manner, with a new prize described.
A contestant could freeze at any point if she thought she was close to the $5,000 limit, preventing her from receiving any other prizes passed to her from her opponents. If a contestant's bank value was over $5,000, that player was "frozen" and unable to accept any other prizes passed to her by her opponents. The player was then required to answer questions in the manner described above to pass some of her prizes and reduce the value of her bank. If the arrow landed on a frozen player, the prize in play would automatically be added to the bonus round.
After seven spins, the contestant whose bank was closest to $5,000 without going over won the game and the championship, kept her banked prizes, and advanced to the bonus round. If three of the four contestants became frozen, the fourth automatically won the game. Defeated contestants received parting gifts.
Bonus Round[]
The champion selected one of the eight spaces on the board and stopped the arrow from spinning. If the arrow landed on the space selected, the contestant won all eleven prizes described that day in addition to what she had already won.
Champions stayed on the show for a maximum of five days, or until they reached CBS' $25,000 winnings limit.
Pilot Gameplay[]
In the pilot episodes, the game was played in two rounds of four prizes each (for a total of eight prizes). There were no toss-up questions, instead player took turns stopping the spinner. Also the neutral areas were simply called "Give-N-Take" areas (in the pilot, these had the show's logo rather than the abstract pattern used in the series). On each prize, control of the wheel was given to a single player, with the first spin starting with the previous day's champion, and control for subsequent rounds going to the next player in counterclockwise order. In this way, each player had two opportunities to stop the wheel, but not necessarily to answer a question or bank/exchange prizes.
The player in control started with control of their area and the four "Give-N-Take" areas, and would stop the arrow in similar manner to the regular game. Once the arrow started spinning for that round, the round's prize was revealed. The player would then hit their button to stop the arrow.
If the arrow landed on a player, that player would THEN be asked a question for the prize, which could be kept or given away to another player to try to push them over the $5,000 limit. If it landed on a "Give-N-Take" space, the player in control would first decide to either give one of their prizes to an opponent or take a prize from an opponent BEFORE being given the question for the round. (In the below-listed pilot, no one gave an incorrect answer to their question, so what happened for an incorrect answer was never revealed.) Also, players could not choose to "freeze" if they thought they were nearing the $5,000 limit; freezing was only a penalty if they exceeded $5,000 in prizes. Finally, the "last woman standing" rule wasn't in play, as everybody must take their required turns.
- NOTE: This pilot's format meant that one lucky player could wind up controlling the entire game if the arrow kept landing on them--which it almost did in the below-listed pilot.
If a player was frozen, they could not be given additional prizes, but they would still get their turn to spin the arrow in a hope to land on a "Give-N-Take" space and give away a prize that would put them back under the $5,000 limit and an opportunity to answer the round's question.
In addition, the totals for each player would be shown to the home audience (not to the players or the studio audience) once either a question was answered or a "Give-N-Take" prize exchange was made.
After the two rounds of spinning, questioning & prizes, the player closest to $5,000 without being frozen won the game, and took the bonus round spin to "break the bonus bank" which consisted of a new car (in the pilot, a Chevrolet Camaro valued at $3,159) rather than the remaining prizes from the front game. In this version, the player's choices of spaces was limited to the four player podium spaces; the "Give-N-Take" spaces were out of play and would win the player nothing.
Rating[]
Studios[]
CBS Television City, Hollywood, California (Pilots)
The Burbank Studios (Series)
Music[]
Pilot - Unknown
Series - Stan Worth
Main – "Red Arrow"
Prize Cue 1 – "Classey"
Prize Cue 2 – "Joe's Right"
Win Cue – "Baby 'G"
The main would later be used for a 1981 pilot called Temptation, as well as a prize cue on Liar's Club along with the first prize cue and the win cue.
Trivia[]
- Give-N-Take replaced another Jim Lange game show, Spin-Off, which in turn had replaced The Joker's Wild.
- The ticking sound heard when the arrow was spinning was later reused on Wheel of Fortune as the first Bonus Round timer.
- Give-N-Take debuted the same day The Price is Right expanded to a full hour for a special week. On November 3, when the latter permanently expanded to an hour, the former was moved to 4:00 PM.
Gallery[]
Links[]
Game Shows '75: Give-N-Take
Jay's Give-N-Take Rules Page
YouTube Videos[]
A full 1974 pilot
A full episode from September 26, 1975: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3