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3 For the Money


Packager: Stefan Hatos-Hall Productions.
Airing History: NBC Primetime 9/29/75 - 11/28/75
Host: Dick Enberg
Announcer: Jack Clark
Producer: Stu Billett
Director: Hank Behar
Taped at NBC Studio 4, Burbank
Source of above information: Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows Volume 3.




An underrated and prematurely cancelled show, this 25-minute Dick Enberg game lasted only 9 weeks.
Two teams of two contestants and one celebrity competed all week in a rapid-fire game of identifying people, places, and things from the provided clues.


The Game:


The first round is comprised of 3 categories each with 3 questions. At the start of the show, one of the teams is selected to begin; throughout the week, the teams alternate as to which will begin the game.



On this premiere episode, Linda Kay Henning's team is chosen to go first.

A category is shown, and the celebrity captain of the starting chose which member of her team will answer the questions and which members of the other team will be challenged. The value of each question depended upon how many members of the opposing team were challenged. Correctly answering a question while challenging only one member was worth $100 per correct answer, $200 if 2 team members were challenged, and $300 if all 3 opponents were challenged.



The second category of the game is Funny Movies...




Linda Kaye has selected her partner Tony to play against 2 members of the opposing team, making each correct answer worth $200. The first clue is "Made of Woody." Tony thinks he knows if off of the second clue and correctly identifies the movie "Play It Again Sam" scoring another $200!

If a member of the challenged team jumped in and answered correctly, they earned $100. At the end of the third question, the game progressed to a 2-minute speed round.


Catch Up Time

The trailing team is now up and the celebrity captain selected which team member will play and which opponents will be challenged. This round was a potpourri, they had 2 minutes to answer as many general identification questions as they could. The challenging team had one "time out" to change strategy.



Dick Gautier selects Art to play against all 3 opponents to catch up in a hurry.


The clue is "an Object starting with the letter P." Gallery...Brittle...Tony from the challenging team jumps in an scores $100 by correctly answering "Peanut."


With 1:05 left, Dick uses his Time Out and changes his strategy, pitting Kim against 2 opponents.

The team ahead at the end of 2 minutes won that day's game and proceeded to the bonus round.


Bonus Game

< img src="http://www.gameshowvault.com/3ftm/3ftm3.JPG">
The winning team is presented with 3 categories. In this case, the team selects "At the Circus," involving things found at the circus. They had 45 seconds to identify 7 answers that were displayed one letter at a time. The round started with one team member, and they went down the line after each answer. A team member who supplied a wrong answer sat down and was eliminated.


Tony correctly answers "menagerie" after the 2nd "E". Dona had to wait until the whole answer was revealed to get "Emmett/Kelly."

The jackpot started each week at $1,000 and increased ever day by $1,000 even if it was won.


At the end of the week, each civilian of the winning team received a new car! Models not included.


Gone in 45 episodes

I must refer to a sentiment echoed by Curt Alliaume at his Games of '75 site: how is it that the Magnificent Marble Machine was kept alive over 3 for the Money? This was a very clever game and could've most certainly been decent timepassing fare. Unfortunately, 3 For the Money was just put on at the wrong time and rather than adjust the schedule by nixing that aggrandized pinball anomaly, the new game on block found its way at the chopping block after 9 weeks.

Episode #1, from which the screen grabs have come, exists in very nice quality. Other additional episodes known to exist are one with Jim MacKrell & Barbara Feldon, episode #30, episode #35, and 2 pilots.