Creating your own Press Your Luck game only requires a few steps, and can be a great way to customize the game to fit your needs.
If you have ever found yourself excitingly chanting “Big Bucks, No Whammys!” in front of your television screen, chances are that you have wondered what it was like to create a Press Your Luck game of your own.
Press Your Luck without the TV-magic
While it may be quite difficult to recreate the live studio audiences, cameras and lights of the original Press Your Luck in your living room or classroom, the basic format of the game actually translates quite well into a DIY-format, which can easily be used for family game nights, summer camp activities, classroom ice-breakers, and so much more.
How the game works
Attempting to create your own Press Your Luck game can be intimidating, but the process gets much easier when you break the game down into its two main components, which are as follows:
| Part | Description | Rules |
| Part 1: The trivia section | In this round three players (or three groups of players) will compete to answer a series of trivia questions.
Every Press Your Luck game typically consists of three trivia rounds, with three trivia questions each. |
Typically the player or team that presses their buzzer (you can get a set of 4 buzzers here) first gets the first chance to answer.
The players that did not get to their buzzer first will then be able to choose from between multiple choice answers, which include the first player’s answer. If this first answer is correct, the player will earn three spins. Correct answers from the other players will earn them one spin each. |
| Part 2: The Big Board section | The Big Board section is where the Press Your Luck fun really begins.
If you find setting up your own randomized Big Board too tricky, there are plenty of video tutorials and websites that can help you along the way. |
The player with the smallest number of spins or accumulated prize money will get to play first in the Big Board round.
If the player stops on a prize or special tile, this will be added to their total accumulated prizes. Landing on a Whammy will reduce the player’s accumulated prize total to zero. Players can also pass their spins to other players. Landing on a Whammy tile four times will result in the player Whammying out and being disqualified. |
The new version of Press Your Luck ends with a special bonus round, in which the player or team that has accumulated the highest prize total compete on their own to try and push their prize total beyond $500,000.
Doing this successfully automatically earns them the $1 million grand prize.
What you will need to decide before the game begins
There are a few key decisions that you need to make before you can jump into playing your own game of Press Your Luck. This includes:
- Will players be competing individually or in teams?
- How many rounds of the game are you going to play?
- What will the grand prize be?
Keeping score
Another key aspect about playing your own version of Press Your Luck, which can often turn out to be much more challenging than it seems, is keeping the score straight.
Typically, the best way to go about keeping score is to create your own grid, as follows:
| Category | Player 1/ Team 1 | Player 2/ Team 2 | Player 3/ Team 3 |
| Spins | |||
| Prizes |
A whiteboard, chalk board or some other kind of erasable surface is typically a very good choice, as it will allow you to keep track of each team’s spins and prize totals as the game progresses. Be sure to remember to add the spins which have been passed between players or teams as you go too.
Do not forget to add a few extra touches
The great thing about creating your own Press Your Luck game is that you can customize almost every aspect of the game to your specific needs.
And picking a theme for your trivia questions, the design of your Big Board, and even the sound effects and jingles that you use throughout your game can be a great way to individualize the game (this is also a great way to make classroom revision a whole lot more enjoyable).
If you really want to flex your creative, game-maker muscles, you can also play around with some of the “special” tiles that you include on the Big Board.
While an exotic vacation or a brand new car may not always be feasible in a DIY-setup, things like a week without chores or even something like bonus points for the next exam, can certainly encourage a healthy competitive spirit in your players.
