Break the Bank (3)

Hosts
Gene Rayburn 1985 Joe Farago 1985-1986
Hostesses
Kandace Kuehl (1st three shows) Julie Hayek
Announcer
Michael Hanks
Broadcast
Syndicated: 9/16/1985 - 5/23/1986
Packagers
Kline & Friends Productions Storer Communications Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.
Distributor
Blair Entertainment

OPENING (1ST FORMAT A): "This is our Prize Vault. Inside the vault is a fortune in cash, fabulous prizes, and television's fun filled bonus game! (insert events & prizes) All this, and a brand new car! Time is the key that will open our vault for one of these lucky couples as they try to...BREAK THE BANK!! And now here's the star of Break the Bank...GENE RAYBURN!!!!

OPENING (1ST FORMAT B): "This is our Prize Vault. Behind this door is a fortune in cash, fabulous prizes, a brand new car, and television's most fun filled bonus game! (insert Prize Vault clips of past shows) A test of knowledge will open this vault door for one of our lucky couples as they try to...BREAK THE BANK!! And now here's the star of Break the Bank...GENE RAYBURN!!!!

2ND OPENING SPIEL: "These are our returning champions (insert couple's names). To date this (insert relationship) team has won in cash and prizes over $XX,XXX! They are back today to try and beat their new challengers for another chance in our fabulous Prize Vault, here on...BREAK THE BANK!!! And now here's your host on Break the Bank...JOE FARAGO!!!!

The third game show to use the title "Break the Bank".

Premise

Two couples competed to answer questions and solve puzzles for the right to break the bank.

There were two formats to this series.

Format #1

In this format, couples competed for seconds to the bonus game.

Main Game

In the main game, two couples were asked up to six questions. On each question, when a couple knew the answer, they must press their buzzer. A correct answer earned the number of seconds offered for that question, but an incorrect answer gave the opposing couple a chance to answer. The seconds values went like this:

Question #1 - 5 seconds
Question #2 - 10 seconds
Question #3 - 20 seconds
Question #4 - 40 seconds
Question #5 - 80 seconds
Question #6 - 100 seconds

Btb85puzzle — What solution goes with these six clues?

Each answer was a clue to a puzzle. A correct answer also gave the couple a chance to either solve the puzzle, or answer another question for more seconds. Solving the puzzle won the round, but an incorrect solve gave the opposing couple the right to answer the next question unopposed. If the puzzle wasn't solved after all six clues, one last question was played in which the answer to it was the puzzle's solution. Answering that question correctly won the round.

The first couple to solve two puzzles won the game. If there was a tie at one puzzle apiece, one last puzzle was played but without questions. The clues were revealed one at a time, and the first team to buzz-in and solve the puzzle, won the game plus a bonus of 30 seconds. Answering incorrectly revealed all the other clues together for the other couple, and they then got to guess.

Assuming a couple answered all six clues & solved the puzzle both times, the maximum time possible would be 510 seconds (8:30), if they missed one of the first two puzzles but solve the tiebreaker, it's 540 seconds (9:00), but in the case of a tie where both couples each answered all six clues and then solved the puzzle in the first two rounds, the max would only be 285 seconds (4:45), counting the tie-breaker.

Prize Vault

The winning couple then took their seconds to the bonus round area called the Prize Vault. The Prize Vault was loaded with eight or nine skill/knowledge based events/games, with fifty "bank cards" distributed among them. One card, if chosen, would "break the bank." The bank in question was a growing jackpot which started at $20,000, and grew everyday by $500 in cash and a prize (later two prizes) until won. The jackpot also included a new car (initially a Mazda GLC, later a Mazda 323, but sometimes a Suzuki Samurai was offered). The winning team used their earned time to play as many of those games as possible. Each event was worth a prize & a bank card, successfully completing an event won the prize, and selected one of 5-10 bank cards. For most of the first format, the players on the winning team took turns playing each event; near the end of that format, both players played all the events.

Among the Prize Vault stunts/events featured were:

Answering true or false questions from a celebrity look-alike
Trying not to laugh for a certain amount of time with a comic routine given by a celebrity comedian
Identifying smells or noises while blindfolded
Identifying songs played on musical instruments
Reciting a faux photo news roundup
Reciting a long tongue-twister
Playing a game of tic-tac-toe with a person in a gorilla suit
Identifying charades from a mime
Finishing lines to popular songs, comic punchlines or TV and movie quotes

During this bonus, one of the randomly selected events can be played for extra bank cards. Choosing that event had one member of the winning team (the controlling member for most of the first format) run to the "Number Jumbler" which jumbled numbers from 0-5. That player then pressed a button to stop the Number Jumbler, and determine how many bank cards they get for free.

Initially, the clock ran throughout the round, but after a few weeks and to save the couple some time, the clock froze while the host explained the stunt. As time began to wind down, announcer Hanks informed everybody how much time was left. Play continued until time ran out. Also, for the first few shows, the timer, always displayed in a white vane font, was inside a blue rectangle, later changed to a black-pink gradient rectangle, and finally, to not being in a shape at all. (When the third clock was introduced, that's when they began to "freeze" any remaining time while the host explained how the stunt worked.)

The winning couple then took their earned bank cards to a giant neon bank vault (with the show's logo on top), for a chance to "break the bank". One at a time, the couple stuck each one into a slot, which revealed a numerical code in a digital readout. If that code was the one that cause the card to break the bank, everything in the bank was theirs. Along the way, even when the couple started to run out of bank cards, they had an option to trade them in for a cash and/or prize bailout, or continue trying to break the bank. If a team failed to break the bank, the next time they made it to the vault the bank cards that were selected the previous day were taken out of play.

Format #2

Shortly after Farago took over as the new host, the format was altered.

Main Game

The main game was played the same except the couples now played for money instead of seconds.

Correct answers in round one were worth $100, and correct answers in the second round won $200. In addition, couples who solved the puzzle in the first two rounds won a prize. Round three was played just like the tiebreaker in the first format. A series of puzzles were played without questions. Each puzzle solved was worth $400, and the first couple to reach $2,000 or more won the game. Only the winners got the keep the cash.

Bonus Game

In the new bonus game, the winning couple was given one bank card to start, and tried to solve one more puzzle which was dubbed, the "Master Puzzle" for up to nine more for a total of ten. Each clue had an assigned number of bank cards (either 1, 2 or 3), they tell how many it would cost the couple just by seeing the clue. They were shuffled via a randomizer, and stopped when the winning couple hit a buzzer in front of them. Solving the puzzle won the remaining bank cards. Then it was time to go into the Prize Vault to win cash & prizes, and of course "break the bank".

Forty bank cards were displayed on a stand. Thirty-eight of the cards contained cash or prizes, one was the card that will break the bank, and another was the "Bankrupt" card. The couple selected the number of bank cards earned one-by-one, and whatever cash amounts and/or prizes came up, those prizes and the cash was theirs unless they picked the Bankrupt card, so-named because choosing that card lost all the cash & prizes earned up to that point. To prevent this from happening, the couple had the option to stop & take the cash & prizes or play on. And of course if the break the bank card was chosen, the winning couple of course broke the bank. Every day the championship couple returned to the vault, bank cards that were selected the previous day (minus the Bankrupt card), were taken out of play.

Champions' Limit

Originally, champions stayed on the show till they won more than $75,000, with any money exceeding it going to charity. Later, championship couples retired from the show if they broke the bank.

Music

Hal Hidey

Studio

Hollywood Center Studios

Rating

French Version

Despite its failure in America, the 1980s Break the Bank found its way to France as La Porte Magique (The Magic Door) from September 14, 1987 to November 12, 1988 on the now defunct French channel called La Cinq (The Five). The series was hosted by Michel Robbe and used a set similar to that of the American series with the original bonus round format for at least part of the run. The number of seconds earned per correct answer also used the 5-10-20-40-80-100 layout.^[1]

Additional Trivia

At the time, Gene Rayburn was promoted to host a revival of his signature game show Match Game not only once, but twice. First in 1985 in order to be paired up with the nighttime syndicated revival of The Price is Right hosted by Tom Kennedy. Then again in 1987, after he was fired from the show 13 weeks ago.
When Joe took over as host he would read off the clues not used in the puzzle just solved. Gene never did that.
For a brief period, the show used the Family Feud Face-Off buzzer sounds for the main game buzzers and later also for a brief period, it was used as the shuffle stopping sound. (In most episodes, a "warble", previously used as a "time's up" sound on Barry and Enright shows, was used.) In addition, other sound effects previously used on Barry and Enright shows were also used, including Tic Tac Dough's shuffle sound and also for a brief period, two sound effects from Hot Potato.
The largest bank ever won was $53,323, by Gene and Sandy (last names unknown), from the Farago run.