From The TV IV

Card Sharks was a game show that ran on NBC and CBS daytime and in syndication.

Two contestants--one representing red, the other blue--each have a deck of playing cards, and on a rack display, five face-down cards are dealt for each player. A question in posed to the first player as to how many people in a national survey responded to it. The player makes a guess, then the opponent tells if that figure is higher or lower. The correct answer is given; whoever is right controls his/her cards.

The first card in the player's rack is turned up. The player may choose to change the up card. He/she must tell if the next face-down card is higher or lower. He/she may freeze at any time. If he/she is wrong, the opponent plays his/her own card set (he/she cannot change the first card in this instance). A game is won once a player runs the five cards or the opponent fails to turn over his/her cards on the final question (four questions per game maximum).

Two games wins the match (each game worth $100) and the champion plays the Money Cards. On a board rack, four down cards are placed on the bottom, three in the middle (first spot empty) and one on top (first spot empty). Staked to $200 of betting money, the first card is turned up. The player makes a wager ($50 minimum) that the next card is higher or lower. A successful run on the bottom row now places the last card on the second row's first spot and the player gets $200 more to bet with. A successful run places the last card on the top row's first spot and the player must bet at least half of what he/she has that the card is higher or lower. A matching card at any time loses that wager. If a player busts (bets everything at any time and makes an incorrect call) on the first line, then the card on which he/she busts is put up as the first card on the second line. The game ends if the player busts on the second line.

After three years on NBC, the show returned on CBS in 1986. The game play was identical except for a few notes:

• A player in the main game getting a survey question exactly right wins a $500 bonus.

• Ten people in the audience, each with a common interest, are used on certain survey questions.

• In the Money Cards, the contestant gets $400 of betting money for the second row. Also a matching card is a "push" (no money won or lost). Later in the series, the contestant vied for a new car in a bonus game. There were two: the first had the contestant placing a Joker card behind one of seven cards that he/she thought the word "car" would be concealed behind (a player could earn two additional Jokers during the Money Card round). The second bonus round had the player placing an indicator at a number he/she believed was among the ten audience members answering a survey question. The car is won being exactly correct or being one off either way. When kids played, they were vying for a family trip to Hawaii.

A syndicated edition aired concurrently with the CBS show during the first season. The variation here was in the main game: during the drawing of cards, prizes could be racked up, and the contestant won the prizes by winning the game.

Another syndicated version by FremantleMedia aired in 2000. That version aired only five months.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Seasons 3 In-Depth 4 DVD Releases

[edit] Cast

Person	Role	Duration
Main Cast
Jim Perry	Host (NBC)	1	2	3
Bob Eubanks	Host (CBS)				4	5	6
Bill Rafferty	Host (syndicated)				4
Gene Wood	Announcer	1	2	3	4	5	6

[edit] Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
NBC
Seasons 1-3	April 24, 1978	October 23, 1981	—
CBS
Seasons 4-6	January 3, 1986	March 31, 1989	—
Syndication
Season 4	September 8, 1986	September 4, 1986	—

[edit] In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

[edit] DVD Releases