This album contains images never again seen since original airings in 1979. The name’s the same, but the rules are different! Do YOU remember this version of Penny Ante?
The first five times it was played, Penny Ante had completely different rules than the ones we’re used to. The two prices could each be anywhere on the board, and the goal was to find them both before your wrong guesses totalled a dollar or more (i.e. 100 pennies).
Instead of the contestant having gigantic, fake pennies, real pennies shot down the board into catchers at the front whenever a wrong guess was made; a Sportstype-font scoreboard at the top of the prop kept track of how many pennies had been accumulated.
The board also had a very different color scheme in this era, which explains why the game’s name was originally in red instead of something that fit better with the green and blue on the rest of the prop.
Notice anything different?We’ve moved our logo in this picture so that you can take note of the “penny catcher” at the base of the prop. The clear plastic area used to be in place to catch flying pennies that would roll down the tracks when an incorrect price was selected. In this original version, there were not 3 oversized pennies given to the contestant for mistakes, but rather real pennies flying out of the price flaps!Here’s one of today’s products – some fine Mott’s Apple Sauce!When these were featured, I’m not sure anyone thought that the word “Date” would be so important to TPiR fans everywhere!Is 79¢ a correct price?…and the camera would ZOOM in to the price as those fun chaser lights lit and the nifty sound was played…79¢ was a correct price! In the original version, the 2 correct prices were placed anywhere on the board of 8 possible prices. This arrow would signify that this was the correct price for the Cookies. Theoretically, you could get lucky and price incorrectly for one product and correctly match the other.A nice close up. Take note of the neon tubing around the price that will light up if this is a correct price.The flap is still flyin’ open! A 2nd correct price means we have a winner!Here’s a nice picture of Bob in front of a perfectly played win on Penny Ante. This was the first time the game was ever played!What a cool angle!For an incorrect answer: Instead of the familiar “NO” sign, this original panel would be revealed and pennies would fly out as the flap opened.This board at the top of the prop would signify how many pennies the contestant had collected from wrong answers. The contestant could continue to play until he or she collected 100 pennies. The values of the guessed prices represented the amount in pennies the contestant would rack up if he or she was incorrect.Look closely to the top. You’ll note that this contestant has accumulated 151 pennies, signifying a loss.Which of these remaining prices was the correct answer?It was 63¢!Just for kicks, a picture of Bob in front of the first Penny Ante loss in history!
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