By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
At the museum’s recent Play Ball fundraiser, the silent auction featured treasures from all realms of play, including game shows. Among the goodies that went on the block were actual show-used card decks from the game show Card Sharks—blue card decks measuring 12”x18”, and gold decks measuring 17”x24”. That raises a reasonable question…
How do you shuffle cards that big?
Whether it was Jim Perry, Bob Eubanks, Bill Rafferty, Pat Bullard, or most recently Joel McHale, the host of Card Sharks began every game by telling the viewers that the cards had been shuffled and cut beforehand. While the show once jokingly brought out a stagehand wearing massive false hands, the technique actually involves a piece of furniture that goes unseen on the show: a specially-built table.
To start, a network representative counted a deck to make sure that all 52 cards were accounted for. A crew member then took the deck to a special table divided into three sections. The outer thirds were raised, with a “pit” in the middle third. The crew member cut the deck onto the outer halves, then alternated side to side, pushing cards one, two, or three at a time into the pit, shuffling the deck. Once shuffled, the cards were placed in a massive envelope and sealed, with the network representative signing the seal. When the show was on ABC, an extra bit of security was added. Before going into the envelope, an adhesive ribbon was wrapped around the deck, with several witnesses initialing the ribbon. At game time, the cards were unsealed, and contestants cut the deck however they liked.
The whole process ensures a legitimate, tamper-proof game where fate truly is in the contestants’ own hands.
DO YOU REMEMBER…THESE OTHER GIANT-DECK GAME SHOWS?
Pay Cards! (1968-69, syndication): Art James hosted a memory game in which contestants tried to remember which cards were hidden behind the numbers on the board, and tried to build the strongest poker hand with the concealed cards. It returned in 1981 as Super Pay Cards.
Top Card (1989-93, TNN): Jim Caldwell, and later Dan Miller, hosted a game in which the categories on the board concealed cards that contestants used to build their blackjack hands. It was originally a general knowledge quiz but later changed formats and focused on music trivia.
Catch-21 (2009-11, 2019, Game Show Network): Alfonso Ribiero hosted this game which combined trivia and blackjack. Creator Merrill Heatter had previously overseen the classic blackjack trivia series Gambit for CBS and NBC.