Las Vegas Gambit (October 27, 1980) premiere: Prestons vs Donaths

[@KiddBloo86]

Where's the "living deck" David Letterman promised us?

[@r.d.sussmann9672]

One of the better shows of the era - looking at the prize bank DEFINITELY dated the show well. Still exceptional fun after 30 plus years.

[@JasonRourhier]

I also remember Las Vegas Gambit when it aired on NBC in The Twin Cities Mpls St.Paul Mn after the network switch of 1979.This show aired on WTCN TV CH.11(NOW KARE).This version of Las Vegas Gambit debuted the day before my late morher,s 36th birthday!! My mother Lois Ann Routhier was born October 28,1934 and she died from cervical cancer on May 6 1984 in her hometown Baltimore MD.My parents & myself were still living at 1182 Selby Ave in St.Paul Mn before moving to Baltimore MD May 15 1981.My father Phillip Anthony Routhier was born September 17th 1924 & he died in his home state Michigan from bladder cancer on August 6,2001 where he was living his last 14 years of life after he left Baltimore MD in 1987.When we were living in Minnesota-Dad was working as a roofer at Rainville Carlson Roofing Co.I had started my first & only school year at J.J.Hill School from Sep.1980 -May 1981 when we left Mn to Baltimore MD.

[@willmack5909]

O I wish this show was still around. I own 2 replica Gambit decks! When I leave this world I'm taking them with me!

[@mlubiarz]

I remember this show. Our NBC affiliate in Detroit (Channel 4) didn't broadcast this. Had to get it on the Toledo affiliate (Channel 13) it the days when the old motorized antenna could get Toledo channels before cable and digital TV.

[@Patrick-tx9rh]

mark lubiarz same here in Seattle, KING 5 our NBC affiliate was airing a local show called “Seattle Today” while “Las Vegas Gambit” aired on then independent KCPQ 13 (now Fox) down in Tacoma.

[@supersaver87]

Those backdrops behind the contestants are leaps and bounds better than the ones in the later episodes.

[@briansheil9763]

I wish I had a deck of cards ♠️♥️♣️♦️ with those designs.

[@drummingdanny84]

Wheel of Fortune, Password Plus, Card Sharks, Blockbusters, and Gambit were the games that made up the NBC daytime lineup in 1980.

[@jokerswildfan1972]

What time did this show air?

[@fredmckinney8933]

@@jokerswildfan1972 IIRC, I think it was at 9:00 AM (central time, which is what I grew up in, in the Ozarks).

[@freemandam1]

Couldn't have asked for a better lineup than that.

[@christopherhorsford5658]

🌈 Las Vegas Gambit and Blockbusters Are Both Aired Debuted Premiered Series Premiere Premiered On NBC Daytime On NBC On October 27, 1980 🌈 🌈 #LasVegasGambit #Blockbusters #NBCDaytime #NBC #1980 🌈

[@christopherhorsford5658]

🌈 Las Vegas Gambit Blockbusters and Another World Spinoff Texas Are Premiered Series Premiere Premiered On NBC Daytime On NBC On August 4 and October 27, 1980 🌈 🌈 #LasVegasGambit #Blockbusters #AnotherWorldSpinoffTexas #NBCDaytime #NBC 🌈

[@markofly76]

Wish they used the theme that Harve Mann sang instead.

[@KiddBloo86]

markofly76 Along with the living deck at the end.

[@roysanders7245]

At that time Wink also in his fourth season of hosting “Tic Tac Dough” on cable television!!! I don’t quite remember “Las Vegas Gambit” because when it premiered on NBC on the last Monday in October of ‘80, my twin brother and I were 4 days away free our second birthday (October 31st, 1980)!!!

[@erikpridemore3174]

When Gambit did return to the airwaves in 1980 on NBC's incarnation, almost 4 years after the CBS version ended in 1976, the Gambit Board had 18 monitored screens when the show was taped at Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas after its move from CBS Television City in Hollywood, when the original Gambit Board had 21 Cards on there.

[@norbertoniebres1615]

Love this game. This could easily work with solo players against each other. In other words, one on one. 😎😎😎

[@thegameshowguy]

It did... it's called "Catch 21" on GSN which is the revival of Gambit.

[@davidkendrick4453]

That’s the most 80s thing I’ve ever seen. And if they’re at the Tropicana, I’m Chuck E. Cheese.

[@LogoMan7777]

Where's the Living Deck?

[@KiddBloo86]

Greg Palmer It took me seeing that episode too finally understand your comment. :P

[@KiddBloo86]

I wonder how many Letterman fans wrote in about it, trolling as it were. ;P

[@KiddBloo86]

I definitely wasn't expecting those backdrops behind the contestants.

[@georgemaster6826]

Made a nice touch! Too bad this version was only one season!

[@KiddBloo86]

I like the center sections, but I think the outer borders could be slightly brighter to compliment the desks and winks podium.

[@YuGiOhDude-py7su]

The Tropicana is now long gone, and razed up to be a new baseball field for the Athletics.

[@Tubewings]

I'm glad that they made two changes to the Gambit board shortly after the premiere--getting rid of the "Must Stand on 17" rule and adding a $5,000 bonus for a 21.

[@PREGO1966]

+Tubewings The $5,000 bonus is not bad, considering they gave a car on the original

[@eleanorlorde8944]

Wink Martindale went to work as a host of Las Vegas Gambit in Las Vegas on NBC Daytime since Monday October 27th 1980, but Jack Barry should have work as host of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker's Wild since 1980-1981 because he is a game show host and producer of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker's Wild

[@meyerj75]

The status on both original and Las Vegas Gambit versions is uncertain whereas both CBS and NBC networks had ended their wiping policies at the time before the premiere of both versions under control by Fred Silverman. So Gambit could still be out there, somewhere.

[@damienchance2622]

Is that the same fred Silverman who was executive producer of matlock and in the heat of the night

[@abele.jimenez8713]

@@damienchance2622 : Yep, along with the revival of PERRY MASON, JAKE AND THE FATMAN, FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES and DIAGNOSIS: MURDER, he also EPed a modern version of TWENTY ONE with Maury Povich.

[@damienchance2622]

Imagine if the late Jim Perry was hosting gambit in 1980

[@PREGO1966]

Not possible, since he was hosting Card Sharks on the same network

[@UXB-p5u]

9:00 what used to really piss me off was when a man amd woman were on a game show and when asked a question the man would literally shout out an answer without thinking of asking his wife!!!

[@joefagan6244]

New game show called blockbusters after that.

[@setheriah]

So the premiere started the 21 jackpot at 2500 during the premiere. When did it go back to 500 and up 500 a game until won.

[@joefagan6244]

It's the Las Vegas Gambit show

[@blueconversechucks]

Nice try... but this was the Las Vegas Gambit show.

[@roysanders5970]

I was almost 2 when this show aired on NBC.

[@ryanstrnad8442]

4:03 the answer to that question; that woman didnt go far after the current show she was cohosting that was mentioned.

[@dakotareeves3939]

Here's the very first episode of Las Vegas Gambit, hosted by Wink Martindale and its aired October 27, 1980.

[@damienchance2622]

@6:18 looks at Donna reaction going " you don't know if they were married "

[@tirmyta]

Was that Foster Brooks on the Muntz TV?

[@greggsheaffer2521]

This replaced The David Letterman Show

[@georgemaster6826]

What a flop of a talk show for Mr. Letterman--96 episodes!

[@KiddBloo86]

I'm surprised Las Vegas Gambit didn't do an episode from Cresco, IA too.

[@PREGO1966]

You do realize that your sentence makes no sense. "Las Vegas" was in the name for a reason.

[@drewzuhosky6826]

PREGO1966 He’s making a joke. In its last week, _The David Letterman Show_ aired a remote episode from Iowa.

[@WaltGekko]

@@georgemaster6826 NBC tried to take advantage of Dave having a successful run filling in for Carson and at that point didn't want to mess with "The Tomorrow Show" that followed Carson. It was after the failure of that daytime show that they did late night after "Tomorrow" faltered during 1981 (losing NBC affiliates that in many cases were airing reruns of in particular of the original "Hawaii Five-O" that had just ended its 1968-'80 run on CBS a year earlier and were being seen in some cases for the first time in more than a decade), with Dave in late night a last-ditch effort that struck gold (and saw NBC stations that originally not air Dave after Carson begin doing so in rapid fashion).

[@joefagan6244]

I think that's the date of Tom Kennedy hosted password plus

[@tonyparrish1978]

This has been A Merrill Heater/ Bob Quigley Production

[@craigfoye6674]

Tony Parrish Stay tuned for “Blockbusters” next, over most of these NBC stations!!

[@elektrosoundwave]

Disappointed. No living cards and no Harv Man song

[@georgemaster6826]

Glad this Didn't compete with Hollywood Squares!

[@PREGO1966]

Not to embarass you but considering it was on the same network as Squares, it couldn't "compete" with it

[@someguy23475]

NBC had cancelled Squares by this point. The syndicated version was still around.

[@Rlotpir1972]

@@someguy23475 It was called 'Las Vegas Hollywood Squares" taped at the Riveria Hotel Casino.

[@kenman923]

Squares was long gone by that time. It had a syndicated run for a year.

[@fredmckinney8933]

@@someguy23475 Actually, the original Hollywood Squares was still in production in 1980, but was canceled in 1981, the same year this show was.

[@brenturquhart7090]

And this replace Lettermen.

[@disneyfan81]

Doesn't Mrs. Donath look a little like Zsa Zsa Gabor, or even Tammy Faye Bakker?

[@PREGO1966]

+disneyfan81 no resemblance whatsoever

[@brentrogers4774]

No, the 4th 20 Wink!

[@RJSchex]

Typo at 21:25-"Geo. A. *M*ormel & Co."

[@seanabel3759]

NBC cancelled Letterman for this?

[@fredsmith8642]

I don't remember this game show

[@jokerswildfan1972]

How did this effect taping for Tic Tac Dough in Los Angeles?

[@Tubewings]

They probably taped on separate days so that Wink could travel between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

[@tommyparkerparker]

This is just assumption, but I assumed that Wink probably flew from LA to Vegas on certain weeks in between tapings of both Tic Tac Dough and LV Gambit. LA to Vegas flight time is between 40 and 45 minutes. Another question I wondered was the former Gambit card dealer on the original CBS version Elaine Stewart was she even asked to be the dealer on the LV Gambit version?

[@WaltGekko]

@@tommyparkerparker Elaine Stewart was Mrs. Merrill Heater so I suspect if she wanted to do it again, she could have. I believe she retired after doing the original Gambit and the nighttime version of the original "High Rollers" (she already was in her 40s when she did those).

[@joefagan6244]

This show premier after the cancellation of the David Letterman's show.

[@morgan8757]

i was in 7th grade when this episode debuted

[@VahanNisanian]

The Fun & Games Channel Wink's team featured this episode on Wink's Facebook account. facebook.com/winkmartindalegames/posts/1749966058563846

[@UXB-p5u]

Should stay away from the Colombian marching powder especially the couple on the right!!

[@blueconversechucks]

This show was awkward as HELL.

[@AllRequired]

Not the worst thing I've ever seen.

[@UXB-p5u]

Should stay away from the Colombian marching powder especially the couple on the right!!

[@UXB-p5u]

Should stay away from the Colombian marching powder especially the couple on the right!!