Banko - Rare Game Show Pilot

One day someone came into the Barry & Enright offices and said, "I have the rights to Bingo." Which is like saying, I have the rights to air! But it didn't stop Dan from giving him money and making this pilot.

[@YamiSatoshi]

I love seeing these rough cuts; it's so fascinating seeing what goes into making a TV show like this, and I enjoy "peeking behind the curtain," so to speak. I'm kinda hoping to see more of these at some point. Thank you for sharing this, Tom Kennedy -- I mean, Wink Martindale! (I just couldn't resist.)

[@daffers2345]

I agree :) I really like stuff like this.

[@ArtPennington]

Portions not effecting the outcome of the game have not been edited :-)

[@mauricesnell5886]

Banko is an interesting combination of "Tic Tac Dough" and "Press Your Luck." Thanks for sharing!

[@WolfpackEntertainmentYT]

it gives me Chain Reaction 80s mixed with Press Your Luck

[@TheZotmeister]

26:18 Man, the stagehand had NO sense of humor. I mean, Wink saying "This is Tom Kennedy" is comedy gold.

[@ThatTransMuffinOfficial]

"Portions of this program not effecting outcome have been edited for broadcast" makes more sense to me after watching this

[@jldel615]

Enjoyed greatly. This could have been a great little game show... I really enjoyed the front end game of word connections. As always Wink M. bring a pile of professionalism and class to whatever he does. Thanks for sharing.

[@QHMCQ]

What a ride THIS was...lol...interesting for sure, a good concept. Needed work though. Great to see the "rough cut" here. Thank you!

[@JonesDylan874]

Love seeing raw unedited clips from game shows. Thanks, Wink!

[@brianshelton1583]

I absolutely love this! Looking behind the curtain is so rare.

[@joshw6993]

Wink....loved you my whole life since I was a little boy watching Tic Tac Dough.....too bad this didn't make it....thanks again for everything

[@jam237]

I love that this was a rough cut this is so cool! Thanks for sharing Wink!

[@Football-Sidelines-NO]

Thank you for posting Mr. Martindale, I think this show would have worked, but I guess that's showbiz, it definitely put a smile on my face

[@brianschwartz1372]

Interesting how this was a rough cut with mistakes.

[@joshw6993]

I like it...we get to see the mistakes and how they move on and get better

[@gladfan1989]

Glad you kept the bloopers intact.

[@andyleclerc3600]

I always wondered how pickups, re-takes and technical glitches were handled during a live taping. Hosting really is harder than it looks.

[@AGourrier]

Hey Dick, you used an illegal clue... you can't use France for French. :)

[@LogoMan7777]

@@AGourrier Portugal!

[@AldusValor]

I appreciate that it was a rough cut. Very cool.

[@ronflatter1235]

The cue-card guy is really working that chewing gum.

[@kelperdude]

The gum never had a chance.

[@lynettepalecek3141]

@Ron. That's funny.

[@interactii]

A really fun watch! I love the behind the scenes stuff!

[@tangentslayer]

Interesting that Kimberly didn't get "Rose" before the tech glitch, but she got it on the re-edit. :)

[@ManekiNeko1972]

pretty easy when someone gives you the answer. It didn't matter though because the opportunity had passed.

[@keithprivett3878]

During a pilot - at least in this era, the contestants are actors paid a flat rate and do not win prizes. Some events are scripted or set up to show specific mechanics. In a normal episode, the question would have been thrown out or skipped.

[@01chippe]

Or how the first contestant just happened to land on Tahiti again in the retake 😂😂😂

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

"Banko" is a Jack Barry-Dan Enright Production.

[@RJSchex]

"Bank-O", I'd heard, was originally the working title for what would eventually go on air as "Jackpot!".

[@RadioDon1]

Jackpot first aired in the 70s and was produced by Bob Stewart. This looks like 80's Barry-Enright.

[@BenJabituya]

Thanks for sharing this, Wink.

[@NickMarotta]

Fascinating seeing the rough cut! Thanks!

[@Rusty3659]

I would've changed one thing on the bonus round. The winner should've gotten the amount for each box that was eliminated. Another words, if she eliminated 3 $600 boxes, it should've added $1,800 to the total - not just the original total of one box.

[@jorgefigueroa4437]

At 5:24 a blooper, what happened on this case Wink? It's good to explain if this occurs on a live game show? And a difference with the pre recorded show?

[@numbereleven2449]

Wink, so awesome of you to post this will all the rough edges ... and for preserving so much game show history. The game board graphics look like the ones on Hot Potato™ [another B&E production]. Was the technology lifted from that show? And if anyone here knows, what kind of computers were running the board? [And one more thing: me about 18 years ago asked you for an autograph pic. I drew your name on the envelope to look like the High Rollers™ logo, and a couple weeks later came a signed pic of you on the set of Debt.™ Still have it. Thanks for making a game show fan happy. :) ]

[@ChrisLunde]

Interesting that you read Tom Kennedy in the ending rehearsal. Was he the original pick I wonder?

[@jrjgames]

Just a joke. Eubanks uses a similar joke, "if you like what I did, I'm Bob Eubanks, if not, I'm Bob Barker."

[@marcpower4167]

@James Lacerenza I'm sure Wink was just joking. Impressed he did it so straight faced though.

[@Richard74205]

I remember when Wink was on Password Plus with Tom Kennedy and Gene Rayburn. He showed a shirt that said "I'm not Tom Kennedy." Lol

[@JohnWatsonPuppetChannel]

It’s odd that the prizes aren’t shown while Charlie was describing them

[@harlanparker2632]

Exactly!

[@andyrose5616]

I’m sure they intended to edit in the visuals later. Maybe the art wasn’t ready when they were taping?

[@DakotaReeves-v7e]

This is 1 of only two pilot episodes of the American unsold game show "Banko" aired in December 1985. On this first pilot episode, Greg plays against Kimberly. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

[@sha11235]

The screens looked like the Tic Tac Dough screens from Wink's wonderful hosting of it.

[@joewebb4495]

I noticed that, too

[@CloseCallSports]

That was awesome, Thank You!

[@johnp4008]

18:51 Whadda we have to do to get Charlie to tell us about those prizes !?

[@LudoRex]

I found the "Press Your Luck - Stumpers" hybrid interesting but you lost me with the home bingo cards.

[@thecannonball1000]

Forgive my ignorance, but I was under the assumption a pilot episode would have been the first show taped and aired. But in this pilot, there's a defending champion that lost the game and goes home with over 14 thousand in cash and prizes. How is that possible? With that said, this was an interesting game show!

[@andyrose5616]

Unlike sitcoms and dramas, game show pilots usually were designated not to be aired so that they had the freedom to produce the show in a way that would look exciting for the people to whom they were trying to sell the show. Having pretend returning champions, staging big wins, etc. This sort of rigging would be illegal on an actual TV show, but by making sure the pilot never aired, the laws about game show broadcasts didn’t apply.

[@vinniemystery563]

Kinda has a TIC TAC DOUGH Stage like presence but i love it Wink :-)

[@ryanstrnad1852]

I wonder if you can in any way categorize this as a prelude to all of those interactive game shows Wink would host in the 90's on that cable channel?

[@chrisarseneault5617]

Thank God this show never continued. They used the same screens from tic tac dough and tried to be a press your luck show

[@theodorehsu5023]

As long as they pay the host for the pilot (as well as the series when it airs) that's no problem. (Alex Trebek told the cautionary tale of "Pitfall!" where that was the only job he took where the paycheck bounced on him)

[@Syko4life]

when I watch these pilots i never understand why there are returning champions when the show isnt even on tv

[@WinkMartindaleGames]

TV is all pretend...it's to show the buyer a "typical" episode.

[@lynettepalecek3141]

@@WinkMartindaleGames Thanks for explaining that.

[@jamesp8255]

​@Wink Martindale Love your posts Wink Martindale. These old shows are so fun to watch.

[@terracottapie]

Really curious about the mechanics of that re-cut at 6:06. He got Tahiti **before** the break, then there was a screwup. They came back and re-enacted it, he hit the plunger again, and... he hit Tahiti again. Did they just tell him to act it out, and then rig the board? If so, wouldn't that give people the impression that the whole thing is rigged?

[@ronflatter1235]

Because it is a pilot not meant for air, “rigging” was as much for show as the game itself, since the contestants are usually hired or made to act in their r roles as part of their jobs for the production company.

[@terracottapie]

@@ronflatter1235 I get it, but there's still an audience there watching it, so they could come away with the impression that the show is rigged when a new one actually airs. If the prizes don't matter anyway, why not just let him spin the board again and get whatever comes out?

[@WinkMartindaleGames]

Audiences are told at pilots what is happening if things are planned. And there are many reasons to "recreate" things during a pilot or show.

[@shawnquinn9534]

Just now getting around to watching this. I liked the concept, it's a shame it didn't sell. Would Sony Pictures Television (which bought the post-scandal B&E library) still have the rights to this?

[@journeymanproject1756]

Only an observation here, but it seems to me that Dan Enright didn't have the eye or the ear for spotting concepts that would work that his partner Jack Barry did. It likely didn't help that Enright was notoriously difficult to work with (Play the Percentages would have lasted longer if Enright hadn't tinkered with it so much, and going with Bill Cullen when Jim Peck was available for Joker was a GIANT mistake as Peck had been groomed for the role). This could have worked with some tweaks that others have mentioned, but I still have problems seeing how it would last even 26 weeks.

[@foxmccloud7055]

Personally, had "Banko aired I think Bill Caruthers would have gone sue crazy on Dan Enright for copyright infringement because "Banko" was way too close to "Press Your Luck".

[@WinkMartindaleGames]

One had nothing to do with the other.

[@raymondswenson5529]

I guess there wasn't enough in the budget to bring in a sound technician.

[@someguy23475]

Front game needed a sound effect for the board running, and maybe a cartoon character with a weird voice for the bad spaces... I do like the word game idea, the rest not so much. The bonus is the standard avoid the bad guy seen way too often with B&E. $250,000 in cash available to home players a week? How in the world could they afford that, especially with the cards free? Did they expect merchants to chip in that much for the right to offer cards? Was the plan for this to be in syndication? If so, would the phones have been manned 24/7, for those stations choosing to run this at 3AM? So many questions that make it completely understandable why this did not sell.

[@terracottapie]

I assume it's because "$250K available" is a longshot, and had no chance of being hit in full every single week. And they were really anticipating giving away much less than that.

[@milesmorris9333]

To answer your question on if it was to air in syndication, the answer is yes. 20th Century Fox Television was to be the distributor. As for the phone thing, I'm sure they would have announced a set number of hours indicating when you could call. Wipeout did that for their contestant and ticket hotlines. B&E and 20th would've had to bank, if you'll excuse that pun, on getting the show cleared in some really good time slots. I doubt they would've let some station air the show at some ungodly hour, but even if that did happen, there really wouldn't have been any point in getting the show on air anyway. What with the syndication field getting crowded as it was then, especially with King World getting the good slots for Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and Orion clearing Hollywood Squares at the same time Banko was set to air, the only chances it would have for any survival, especially for home viewers to play, would be daytime or prime access. On another note, if it aired late at night, people would've had to record the show and watch it later, which could become a chore from the onset, along with a lot of cards being unused and thrown out. That, along with the other factors you mentioned, definitely made this easy to give the show a hard pass.

[@DBR00]

Pretty interesting game. To bad it wasn’t picked up.

[@dougghiz8339]

This pilot game show must be a blooper.

[@richardhudson1006]

Please, more gambit

[@MichelleBradley]

Love that 80s 8 bit game show technology.

[@knightrdrx]

How far away is the computer that controls the monitors ? Where does the controller sit and what does he have to do? Is the plunger really wired to the computer? Because didn't it stop once before he hit it..then awkwardly said banko?

[@erikdraven1731]

Here's my opinion... thanks for the post, BTW. With a few tweaks, especially to the end game, I could see this working. Front game, I would've changed it to start the player with 5 spins and show them the first clue. For each additional clue the player needed to solve the puzzle, s/he would lose a spin. The opponent could buzz in and try to steal the spins at any time with the rule that if they were wrong, the player in control would automatically get control. The star rule was great, although it could cause problems if hit too early with no prizes on the diagonal. The end game: give the contestant 60 seconds to solve as many puzzles as they can, with clues appearing approx. every 1-2 seconds. Each successfully solved puzzle gives them one turn. The object is to complete a Banko. Ten random squares will be filled in to give them a head start with the star in the center still being an automatic win, but needing at least two squares in any other direction. Things that worked well... the pacing was good, the emcee kept everything moving well (definitely keep him around for the series), and the home player concept was intriguing, but I would be worried about how many possible thousands of winning combinations could be hit at once. (The same problem Monty Hall's Bingo at Home had.) And that's my rant... thanks Wink, always a fan!

[@rodney1279TheFlip]

With hitting the star the get a Double Diagonal win automatically

[@4jp]

The risk is too few winners. The shows are taped and you can print the tickets after the week of shows is recorded so you know exactly how many people can win. The problem is that you need to balance winners to account for tickets no one uses while also avoiding worst case scenario where you need to mail 157,000 people a check for $1.27. I do not know how many people who took tickets would actually watch, but I do not think it could exceed 20%. The claim rate would be a portion of that. Most of the tickets would have ended up in the trash because people missed shows and could not look to twitter/facebook to find the results. VCRs were still really expensive in 1985. The contest would have to run for a long time for the economics to work, so the number of weekly winners would be small. 20 weeks (100 shows) is $2500 per show to cover just the prize money. That would need a huge number of tickets to be distributed so lots of them would go to people who do not watch making claim rates even lower.

[@milesmorris9333]

The way you would've done it works better than the actual show, I think.

[@testpattern701]

Who commissioned this? Was it for a network or syndication? The board-game portion of the main game required no skill or knowledge from the contestants and did not lend itself to home-audience play along. Enright should have kept his money.

[@RadioDon1]

It was probably for the syndication market. The distributor was probably the one B-E used in the 80's, Colbert Television Sales, no relation to Stephen.

[@marcpower4167]

Interesting idea. I think the bonus game needed to be tweaked. The home viewer game needed to be scaled back. $25,000 at most. No network would have supported $250,000 at that time.

[@LogoMan7777]

It was syndicated, so 20th Century Fox or Colbert could have picked up the tab somehow.

[@gamblincabbie9505]

LOL tell Wink doesn't want to be there.... "This is Tom Kennedy...."

[@aschoenPERT]

The contestant looks a little like Kristen Wiig.

[@williambone5678]

Shades of Knockout and Press Your Luck.

[@M200XL]

The game was ok, the set was GORGEOUS. Btw, was that same board used for Jeopardy!!???? It's so identical!

[@BlaqC]

Banko likely used the same computer monitors as Bumper Stumpers-it's the same font. Trebek J! likely used TV monitors switching between a handful of possible inputs: the answer (question) Chyron, the row's dollar amount, an empty blue still…

[@c3po626]

@@BlaqC Actually the board computers are apple 2 monitors. Same as the Tic Tac Dough board. Font was the same as the category displays.

[@NickMarotta]

How did he end up on Tahiti again during the retake? Can't be random.

[@mykalimba]

It's a pilot, so it can be scripted, and most likely was.

[@KevinJL]

Wonder if Greg or Kim watched this again lately?

[@wns808]

Interesting show. I’m wondering if the Banko gameboard also ran on Apple computers as the 70s/80s version of the Tic Tac Dough board did

[@trekadam30]

Probably.

[@mykalimba]

Commodore 64s.

[@jorgefigueroa4437]

Wow Wink, with the one and only Charlie O'Donnell from Wheel Of Fortune

[@mikel8367]

that was so cool.

[@terryleemangrumii8566]

Wink should never have sold Headline Chasers. He should've replaced Bill Cullen instead of Jim Peck taking the job for host of the 1985-1986 season of The Joker's Wild.

[@troyschwarz3965]

I got the feeling Wink really didn't like the whole show...a lot of glitches....no sound effects on different actions(plunger,round buzzers,at home thing flimsy) didn't catch my palet as a game show...love ya Wink.

[@RJN0607]

What is this, the master tape?

[@xavierandrews5774]

Please do the 2nd pilot of whammy

[@JonesDylan874]

We got it now.

[@knightrdrx]

the word banko should have been above the board

[@Marc010]

Wink, thanks for the old game clips. I was always a game show geek growing up. Did this pilot sell?

[@dagdogg]

It didn’t.

[@LogoMan7777]

No. After watching the pilot, I can see why. It wouldn't have mattered, it would have been before my time anyway.

[@01chippe]

It’s kind of unfair that the home players can win more than the players in the game.

[@pem1974]

I thought you already posted this.

[@WinkMartindaleGames]

You'll see…

[@Wheeloffortunefan999]

I believe that was actually just a clip,

[@pem1974]

OK Wink I stand corrected. You definitely did not post this before! 😊

[@jessyleppert2]

1988

[@claybarnett6350]

It sure feels shallow with no music and sound effects.

[@RadioDon1]

The technical term is "we'll fix it in post (production)."

[@willjarmon4418]

YES YES YES YES!!!

[@MrShortWhiteGuy]

If this is the pilot, how did Greg win the $14,800?

[@SigmaRho2922]

No one was paid.

[@willmack5909]

More than likely he didn't, as they probably just made up a random winnings total.

[@ajk]

It's a simulation type thing. Lot of pilots, unsold and sold ones have done this. They use that to sell the idea of how the show will play if it makes air. No one actually gets anything for doing these, sans a set pay for their time. Most of the time, the games themselves are scripted out too, kinda like what you see here with the Tahiti thing when they redid that part of the game.

[@reedberry]

Honestly, not a fan of this game. But this was the same year I appeared as a contestant with my then-wife on "Headline Chasers." I enjoyed that show more , not just because were on it and won some money, but the game itself was more fun.

[@ZACHERYalderton-s3h]

Tell sandy hello

[@WolfpackEntertainmentYT]

They should try something like this now. I think a game like Banko would work now.

[@Blackwiddowspider]

Was this a real game show or just a promo

[@DarthTaz]

The other thing that kept bouncing around in my mind while watching is the most famous "NKO" game... PLINKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@intellivisionmaster7999]

This has to be the absolute worst game show I’ve ever seen! Right in the middle of the guy’s turn at 10:40 Wink randomly says “hey you want to give Kimberley her turn now or later?” What a dud of a show! Still cool to watch!!!

[@cookiedylangamesnmore]

hi wink

[@alfonsogreen2722]

In the Barry Enright game shows The jokers wild had THE DEVIL Tic tac dough had THE DRAGON Bullseye had Lightning Play the Percentages had a ZERO. In this game show there was no way she could lose. Which is a great thing

[@anthonybirkholz6104]

i can see why this failed.

[@pieluvr7362]

Zack Morris hairdo

[@devares2006]

Press Your Luck+Tic Tac Dough+Minesweeper+Bingo=an interesting '80s game show.

[@Retrotv]

Did some of these pieces come from The (Tic Tac Dough) board or other Apple II Computers?

[@boardgameman6298]

Game was horrible. But I love WINK!

[@whammy3323]

Meh this was okay... don't care for the yelling of Banko nor the dynamite plungers... tweaks here n there and it would be a good game

[@terracottapie]

I definitely like the premise and the outlay of the game. The technical production aspect is **awful**. There needs to be music or something while the lights are flashing around the board. And some kind of loud effect when they hit the plunger. It's way too silent.

[@trekadam30]

Like having a container in the middle of the set, filled with 25 balls, numbered 1-24; the 25th ball would have a star on it. When a contestant won a puzzle, they go to the container & draw their balls. In the bonus game, the numbered balls would be replaced with money amounts. It would make the game run more smoothly to, I think.

[@WinkMartindaleGames]

It was the line cut, all that is added later.

[@yaphettvazquez9796]

$250,000!!!!!

[@lauragriffin6512]

Another game show that never took off because it was too needlessly complicated. If the host has to spend most of the game explaining how it works it's doomed to fail. Boring!!

[@lakebay972]

"If you can't explain an idea in one sentence, it'll never work." -- Mark Goodson

[@jamesklatt]

Like everything else dan enright did after jack barry died.