Wow. I saw a special/documentary about Michael Larson a few years back on one of those game show channels and Peter Tomarken was in it chatting with the other contestants about that game. I assumed it was a newly made special at the time but, based on when he died, it would have had to have been at least a decade old at that time, if not older
He sure didn't look like in his 30s, more if he was 20 years older. And he died which I saw on another video of this telling us was from throat cancer, was only 50, 1949-1999. He might had some kind of condition that made he look much older than his actual age. Could it have been the cancer that killed him?
Something that I don't think gets enough credit is how Peter Tomarken kept it professional and acted like it was just extreme luck. The enthusiasm throughout the show was infectious. When you compare this to how Drew Carey reacted when Ted Slauson had a perfect show case bid on Price is Right, it reinforces Michael's moment being such a magical one. Drew really took something away from Ted's moment by offering no enthusiasm for such a rare event.
I know a lot about pricing bc I like to shop and I am in charge of the grocery budget. So if that's a crime they can lock me up,! I'm always 'winning,' whenever I watch the show. You have to be careful bc your likes to use the MSRP and that can get ya on electronics. Like game console for 397 at Walmart would price at like 410 on the show or more@@Jamessmith-xk3fh
While I don't think he cheated either. I think for what they had, it's too bad the losing options weren't likely to come up ojneger6 section, because that might have hel0ed kee0 h8m from doing that.
Being extremely observant and having the hand-eye coordination to be able to pull this off, is not what I would consider cheating... He should be able to keep all the money no questions. It's an expensive learning experience for the makers of Press Your Luck...
No, he did not cheat. He studied the game carefully, and he figured out an advantage. When the show's producers became aware of his strategy, they made the machine's patterns more complex.
It's really sad that he just didn't invest the money in legit business ventures after that because I believe he was a smart guy and he could have been a millionaire💔
Did Michael cheat? Absolutely not. It would have been cheating if he had something to do with the creation or design of the Press Your Luck board. It's not his fault that he figured out how the board operated.
Not cheating. It’s like counting cards. It’s frowned upon, but not illegal. I remember watching this episode as a kid, and wanting to see him get to $100,000. 😂
'Nobody knew what to do at first!' Well the most obvious thing to me would be to reprogram the board so it was nondeterninistic, because the entire strategy was based on being able to predict getting specific results at specific times. I actually speculated at one point about the possibility of someone breaking the game by memorizing the board, my brother said it wouldn't have been possible. So Michael Larson proved my brother wrong.
You gotta love how these networks all try to claim someone is cheating just because that person out smarted then. Their all so damn disgusting. It's not his job to ensure that the game can be figured out by someone, they should have done their job better.
@@ericnelson9100 Does a football coach give the opposing coach his playbook and tell the other team when he's gonna do a QB sneak? What he did was 100% within the parameters established in the game, it's all on the showrunners for failing to properly randomize the game board.
As with a casino,the intent is to either take one's money or minimize Their success and when that intent is turned against them,they try to save face by accusing Him or Her(in most cases Him) of cheating.
Good video, but here's the whole story in one sentence: A guy memorized the patterns and stopped the moving box at the best times, never cheating, but rather being smart and disciplined.
it's amazing how this story gets more attention with each passing decade. i saw part 2 of this game back in the 80s on CBS one morning as a youngster. there was no internet then, accessing media coverage of hollywood was limited to newspapers and magazines, and a little entertainment tonight with mary hart. somehow this story garners increasing fascination... and it's a brilliant topic to drum up traffic to a youtube channel. i retold the story years ago when i launched my podcast. it helped that i had recently seen a locally produced stage play about larson's life. seriously. it was a lot of fun to see his story reenacted before a live audience. when you suggest larson discovered that the whammy never appeared in squares 4 and 8.... that was no discovery. any of us who watched the show knew exactly what was in square 4 in each round... that's the big bucks square, after all. and it's not hard to notice that a few other squares, including 8, don't have a whammy. not a discovery.... simple observation by any viewer for more than 5 minutes is all you need to "discover" that. but yes, being able to hit 4 and 8 repeatedly was critical as not only were there no whammies, but they always included an additional span, so he wouldn't deplete his spins as he built up an astronomical amount of cash. $25K in prize money wasn't common, but given people periodically played for $25K on CBS' $25,000 pyramid, i wouldn't say it was "very rare." winning $40K or $50K in cash on a game show would never happen? talk to NBC and ask NBC about sale of the century and they'll tell you a different story. looking forward to seeing the big screen adaptation of his story. i was hoping it would be at my local film fest in late october, but no such luck.
I'm not sure how you define game show winnings in a single day. We know people won over $100,000 on game shows including tic tac dough and sale of the century during the '80s, but those took multiple days, and certainly more than one actual taping day to accomplish. I would argue that there were people who won more than Larson before 2006 on who wants to be a millionaire and other primetime game shows circa 1999, and I'd wager some of them won it all in a single taping day, even if their winning was spread over two episodes.
Thanks! The first few videos I posted were made with my phone. Once I moved to a computer, that helped tremendously. 😂😂 but honestly, thank you. I’m getting ready to take a course in adobe premiere pro and up my game another level.
He didn’t cheat. He put more effort in than other contestants. I had thought the same idea back in 1984 as a youngster, but I had no ability to appear on the show. Thank you for adding this biographical information I had been curious about. I been wondering what he meant by possible ways of beating Jeopardy.
Nothing cheating about it. The execs at CBS even determined that. Simply put, there was a flaw in the programming of the board, Larson took notice of it, and he was put in position to take advantage of it. In no way is any of that his fault.
He definitely did nothing wrong. His downfall was that he may have had a gambling addiction. He couldn’t stop beating the system and it finally bit him in the @$$ when he got in trouble with the law. I do love when someone finally beats the house though. I do find it pathetic that they tried to find a way not to pay him. I remember watching that documentary on the game show network. I don’t like how they tried to portray him as a bad guy. They say that it was a scandal, but the only people that did anything wrong was the network not realizing there was a loophole.
I miss that show. Loved it so much. Peter was an incredible and funny MC, unlike virtually all of the other game show MCs at the time. Michael didn't cheat, as it was pretty obvious there was a pattern. If you watch it long enough you will see that the pattern repeats itself and if you time it just right you can easily win.
He didn't cheat. He paid attention and learned, and then applied what he had learned. There was literally _nothing_ in *ANY* of the show's rules that he broke.
Micheal may have been a little shady, but he didn’t do anything wrong! The problem was in the game not the player. He learned how to win it, and he did it. Good for him! They said in the documentary that they thought 5 patterns wasn’t enough. They were right. But again, he didn’t do anything wrong.
I found your channel yesterday and as someone born in '82 I don't think I've ever identified more with a UA-cam channel. Thank you and keep putting out these great videos!
If you take an exam, and you hapoen to know every answer within that test, because you studied that subject, and then get 100% on the exam, you are not a cheat. This guy studied the show. He's not a cheat. Being a cheat would mean he rigged the game in his favour somehow by tampering with the system. He didn't. The show's oroducers made the game, not him. They are the ones that plan, create and then play the game out, it is actually rigged in their (the shows) favour, not the contestants. The fact he studied it, figured out their patterns, and played it and won is to be comnended. It's no different from playing claw machines or penny falls or any other skill like game in an arcade. They are rigged against you, so to win, Its a skill, and he worked out the pattern, then had to use skill to stop it when he wanted it to stop. If you go on a fruit machine or one armed bandit, it is rigged against you, but in a lot of those machines you can figure out a pattern, and although its not a guaranteed pattern it will give you a good idea of a desirable outcome. Thats what this guy did, he had an idea on how to acheive a desirable outcome, but it wasnt guaranteed, but he played it. There were no rules that a contestant could not figure out the patterns that the producers had figured would be enough to stop people winning big. He played them at their own game. Legally.
I was deeply honored to be interviewed for this video. It felt so good that I was able to tell a little bit of the story from a game show fans perspective.
That was so interesting! I guess he really won fair and square. A pity he lost everything because he couldn't get enough. I think I'll check out the movie (and the documentary) because while I was watching this video I kept thinking that this story would make a good one lol
Even if he didn't get robbed, and even if he landed on a whammy after pressing his luck, you can't deny that his own greed would have carried him to his grave one way or another. My dad taught me in my early teens that there really is no easy way to get money, so I'm glad I wake up in the morning and go to work five days every week.
Just like you, I thought him getting robbed was karma. Now I think what he did on Press Your Luck wasn’t immoral necessarily but opening bank accounts under false names? Absolutely immoral, unethical and that had to be illegal. And of course he had to get caught up in a Ponzi scheme. What struck me is I’m not smart enough to catch the pattern but I’m smart enough to note the following: 1. He not only need mental skills but he needed the physical reflexes to stop on the squares he landed on. If he mentally knew the square but hit the button a fraction of a second too soon or too late, he would have failed. 2. He had the mental and physical skills but wasn’t smart enough to try and throw a few rounds to hide the fact he gamed the system. He threw an early round but then went on to win 40 spins in a row! I would be shocked if there were no members of the audience that got suspicious. I mean we know the people working the show were on to him but I think the audience was in general just as smart as the people working behind the scenes. The only reason we don’t know about suspicious audience members is because the audience had no place on the internet to share their opinions. His greed got the best of him. Edit: by audience I’m referring to the studio audience and the people viewing at home on TV
Michael Larson beat the system with his memorization of the patterns on the board...what he did was such a high-risk attempt at winning the top dollar amount...good thing the producers of the game show caught on in order to create more patterns that are harder to memorize...
HOLY CRAP! A) I was excited to see this video, excellently done. But more importantly, I swear that I was watching a video two weeks ago and I was thinking "wow, 7k subs, that was quick." Then I saw the 10k post, and right now TWELVE! That's amazing, but not shocking. These videos are well researched, which is even more impressive when they are covering older topics with hard to find footage. Congrats, I love to see it
Thanks so much Greg! It’s been a crazy month here in my channel. I’m almost ready for that collab we talked about. Finally getting the right equipment for a proper livestream. I’d love to talk about family friendly entertainment, TV dads, 80s kids v 90s kids, etc… I’ll shoot you an email soon!
This guy is a legend. He didn’t cheat at all, and I kinda resent how that tv documentary they made about him made him seem like a bad guy. Dude is like a folk hero imo. RIP 🕊️ *edit, Ok after finishing video, I guess he did some bad, scammy things after show. But his performance was still legendary
I remember reading about this in _TV Guide_ in their "Insider" section. It mentioned this before it aired, so we made sure to watch it. It was over a Friday and Monday in June 1984.
I don't consider that cheating at all. He studied the game, found a fundamental flaw in the design and took advantage of it. I believe his only mistake was not getting more occasional Whammies periodically in order to avoid suspicion. In any event, kudos to him!
nah, the free spins were part of the game play, and added a lot of excitement to round 2. the lack of programming random sequencing is completely to blame.
@@mylesmarkson1686 sure, that's one way to solve the problem. but if you have the "big bucks" square, and square 4 is your focal point for money, you want there to always be money in that square. but yes, a whammy in every square prevents an endless run the same way a random sequence does. i'm guessing they didn't want one-third of the board to be whammys, so you don't have one in each square. as i recall, the odds of hitting a whammy is 1 in 6. so half of the 18 windows have a whammy in the rotation. if you increase the whammy count from 9 out of 54 to 18 out of 54, you'll have lower wins and more people being eliminated from the game as a result of 4 whammies. your idea makes sense to prevent Larson from running up $110K, but i think it will lead to less exciting games far more often. i get that computer programming wasn't as easy in the early 80s, but it still floors me that a random pattern was more expensive to program than repeated light sequences. so weird!
the problem here is like when you cheat on a test. you dont get all of them right. you sprinkle in a few incorrect answers here and there. this dude over did it.
My So-Called Gen X Life, very thorough, factual, and exciting! Thank you. I look forward to more episodes like this one. I think what Michael did was amazing.
This certainly is not cheating. Counting cards is only considered cheating by the casinos themselves. What you don't understand is that casinos reserve the right to kick you out at any time for any reason. If they so much as think you're counting cards, or simply are winning too much they can stop your play, accuse you of anything they want, and kick you to the curb. The odds are always in favor of the house. What this guy did was clearly following the rules of the game, to the letter. If the show had a specific rule about not remembering which square lit up and when, then ok. But they didn't have a rule like that. Therefore he didn't break any rules.
The man may have died several years ago, but his legend lives on forever. Just like the games from back then, you just needed to find the pasterns to winning, and he did.
I saw the first episode. Peter Tomarken came out in front of the screen (post-production edit) and said they couldn't fit it all in one episode. I didn't get to see the second half of the game until the Press Your Luck special on Game Show Network.
I had to pause this video when he hit $102,851 because I love playing with inflation calculators. That amount would be worth $311,617.74 today! I may edit this comment once I see his final total Edit: His final total would be $333,995.83 today!
I love doing that too! Especially when I watch old TV shows & movies. When they talk about the cost of something, or how much they make per hour, I always like to look it up and see what it would be today. 😊
@@jenniferhansen3622 my interest began when I found a copy of the contract for my childhood home from 1983! The price was $28k which would be almost $89k today
Sad postscript: Peter Tomarken was killed (along with his wife) in a small plane crash in 2006.
I considered mentioning that, but it just didn’t fit anywhere in my script. It was so sad. He was very young. Thanks for the comment!
@@mysocalledgenxlife And it was part of a charity he was involved in. Awful!
Wow. I saw a special/documentary about Michael Larson a few years back on one of those game show channels and Peter Tomarken was in it chatting with the other contestants about that game. I assumed it was a newly made special at the time but, based on when he died, it would have had to have been at least a decade old at that time, if not older
@@curtyeomans8446 That documentary is right here on YT. I just watched it last week.
Yes, that's very sad.😢
I don't call it cheating. He just read the pattern of the board beautifully. He didn't rig it therefore it was not cheating.
I don’t think he cheated. I think the game makers were foolish to think no one would figure it out
he was 34 on the show?!? I thought he was in his 50's
Age has changed so much! I also thought he was in his 50s at the time.
@@zuzukris4952 it was how they dressed and hairstyles
@@buckiemohawk3643 And his beachball-sized prostate.
He sure didn't look like in his 30s, more if he was 20 years older. And he died which I saw on another video of this telling us was from throat cancer, was only 50, 1949-1999. He might had some kind of condition that made he look much older than his actual age. Could it have been the cancer that killed him?
@@ScorpioBornIn69 people looked and dressed differently
You wouldn't call someone who got an A on a test by studying a cheater. That's what he did. Studied the board and won
Peter Tomarken actually handled this very well. He probably knew something was up, yet stayed in the zone. Pete was a good host.
It's not unlike how Chris Tarrant handled the "Major Fraud", except Chris had no idea of what was really going on.
Something that I don't think gets enough credit is how Peter Tomarken kept it professional and acted like it was just extreme luck. The enthusiasm throughout the show was infectious. When you compare this to how Drew Carey reacted when Ted Slauson had a perfect show case bid on Price is Right, it reinforces Michael's moment being such a magical one. Drew really took something away from Ted's moment by offering no enthusiasm for such a rare event.
I've heard Drew is not very nice in general.
I still say "No Whammies" when I'm choosing something at random or rolling a dice etc...
Same!
Same. And I didn't even know what that meant, it was just something that other board gamers would say so I picked it up.
Not a cheater. A LEGEND!
I'm 54 years old, currently. Your channel is right up my alley. Well done. High quality stuff.
Me too 1970! HE OUTSMARTED the game, not cheating!
He didn't cheat- he learned how to beat the system.
Like the person who did it to The Price is Right
He worked hard to accomplish a goal.
I know a lot about pricing bc I like to shop and I am in charge of the grocery budget. So if that's a crime they can lock me up,! I'm always 'winning,' whenever I watch the show. You have to be careful bc your likes to use the MSRP and that can get ya on electronics. Like game console for 397 at Walmart would price at like 410 on the show or more@@Jamessmith-xk3fh
While I don't think he cheated either. I think for what they had, it's too bad the losing options weren't likely to come up ojneger6 section, because that might have hel0ed kee0 h8m from doing that.
Exactly! 💯
Being extremely observant and having the hand-eye coordination to be able to pull this off, is not what I would consider cheating... He should be able to keep all the money no questions. It's an expensive learning experience for the makers of Press Your Luck...
He was not cheating. He invested in a system to beat the patterns in the machine. There were no rules against that.
This guy didn't cheat, he found a workaround. He exploited the limits of 8-bit math!!
8-bit math and lazy executives who said "6 patterns is enough"
No, he did not cheat. He studied the game carefully, and he figured out an advantage. When the show's producers became aware of his strategy, they made the machine's patterns more complex.
It's really sad that he just didn't invest the money in legit business ventures after that because I believe he was a smart guy and he could have been a millionaire💔
I almost feel like they tried to punish a student for studying and doing well.
RIP Peter Tomarken he really was the show, there won't be another one like that again.
Don't hate the player, hate the game.
I watched Press Your Luck at least once a week as a kid with my Dad. Very fond memories of this show with him, he died in 2014.
So basically game shows don't want you to win. They will go out of their way to make you lose. And here's some floor wax as your parting gift.
He didn't cheat. He beat the system
Did Michael cheat? Absolutely not. It would have been cheating if he had something to do with the creation or design of the Press Your Luck board. It's not his fault that he figured out how the board operated.
Not cheating. It’s like counting cards.
It’s frowned upon, but not illegal.
I remember watching this episode as a kid, and wanting to see him get to $100,000. 😂
The bad should be on the network for not having a more random pattern.
'Nobody knew what to do at first!'
Well the most obvious thing to me would be to reprogram the board so it was nondeterninistic, because the entire strategy was based on being able to predict getting specific results at specific times.
I actually speculated at one point about the possibility of someone breaking the game by memorizing the board, my brother said it wouldn't have been possible. So Michael Larson proved my brother wrong.
The dude was actually 50 in 1999? He looked 50 in '84. Just shows how everyone truly did look so much older back in the day.
No he didn't cheat, he just learned how to beat the system. This was very impressive. He just memorized the patterns.
understanding how a GAME show works is "NOT" cheating !! .... it you are on a QUIZ show - and they give you the answers in advance - THATS cheating !!
You gotta love how these networks all try to claim someone is cheating just because that person out smarted then. Their all so damn disgusting. It's not his job to ensure that the game can be figured out by someone, they should have done their job better.
True, but then why didn't he tell the producers and his opponents of his strategy; it's not technically illegal, but it's certainly unethical.
@@ericnelson9100 Does a football coach give the opposing coach his playbook and tell the other team when he's gonna do a QB sneak? What he did was 100% within the parameters established in the game, it's all on the showrunners for failing to properly randomize the game board.
@@adafrost6276 Not the same thing, not the same thing at all
@@ericnelson9100 When did any PYL contestant let their opponents in on any strats?
Its kinda like card counting in Vegas. Casinos may not like it, but its not illegal either. He learned the pattern and used it to his advantage.
As with a casino,the intent is to either take one's money or minimize Their success and when that intent is turned against them,they try to save face by accusing Him or Her(in most cases Him) of cheating.
Wow I can’t wait to binge this channel. So glad it popped up in my recommendations!
Yay! So glad you found me. 😎
So he was about 35 in the game show but looked like he was in his 50s.
Thirty-five!?!
That's what hard living does to you...
Everyone back than looked older, I think people matured faster compared to today
Good video, but here's the whole story in one sentence: A guy memorized the patterns and stopped the moving box at the best times, never cheating, but rather being smart and disciplined.
it's amazing how this story gets more attention with each passing decade. i saw part 2 of this game back in the 80s on CBS one morning as a youngster. there was no internet then, accessing media coverage of hollywood was limited to newspapers and magazines, and a little entertainment tonight with mary hart.
somehow this story garners increasing fascination... and it's a brilliant topic to drum up traffic to a youtube channel. i retold the story years ago when i launched my podcast. it helped that i had recently seen a locally produced stage play about larson's life. seriously. it was a lot of fun to see his story reenacted before a live audience.
when you suggest larson discovered that the whammy never appeared in squares 4 and 8.... that was no discovery. any of us who watched the show knew exactly what was in square 4 in each round... that's the big bucks square, after all. and it's not hard to notice that a few other squares, including 8, don't have a whammy. not a discovery.... simple observation by any viewer for more than 5 minutes is all you need to "discover" that. but yes, being able to hit 4 and 8 repeatedly was critical as not only were there no whammies, but they always included an additional span, so he wouldn't deplete his spins as he built up an astronomical amount of cash.
$25K in prize money wasn't common, but given people periodically played for $25K on CBS' $25,000 pyramid, i wouldn't say it was "very rare."
winning $40K or $50K in cash on a game show would never happen? talk to NBC and ask NBC about sale of the century and they'll tell you a different story.
looking forward to seeing the big screen adaptation of his story. i was hoping it would be at my local film fest in late october, but no such luck.
i believe ed actually hit the whammy immediately upon being passed spins by larson.
I'm not sure how you define game show winnings in a single day. We know people won over $100,000 on game shows including tic tac dough and sale of the century during the '80s, but those took multiple days, and certainly more than one actual taping day to accomplish.
I would argue that there were people who won more than Larson before 2006 on who wants to be a millionaire and other primetime game shows circa 1999, and I'd wager some of them won it all in a single taping day, even if their winning was spread over two episodes.
Congrats on 10k! Your editing has improved so much since I started watching. 😊❤🎉
Thanks! The first few videos I posted were made with my phone. Once I moved to a computer, that helped tremendously. 😂😂 but honestly, thank you. I’m getting ready to take a course in adobe premiere pro and up my game another level.
He didn’t cheat. He put more effort in than other contestants. I had thought the same idea back in 1984 as a youngster, but I had no ability to appear on the show.
Thank you for adding this biographical information I had been curious about. I been wondering what he meant by possible ways of beating Jeopardy.
He was brilliant for figuring it out!
Just like a superstar football player on defense able to read a play before it happens.
He didn't cheat. It's like counting cards at the casino. All you're doing is using your memory to your advantage.
Nothing cheating about it. The execs at CBS even determined that. Simply put, there was a flaw in the programming of the board, Larson took notice of it, and he was put in position to take advantage of it. In no way is any of that his fault.
I remember how exciting this was to watch. I never thought he cheated. He figured out the pattern and was able make it work.
He definitely did nothing wrong. His downfall was that he may have had a gambling addiction. He couldn’t stop beating the system and it finally bit him in the @$$ when he got in trouble with the law. I do love when someone finally beats the house though. I do find it pathetic that they tried to find a way not to pay him. I remember watching that documentary on the game show network. I don’t like how they tried to portray him as a bad guy. They say that it was a scandal, but the only people that did anything wrong was the network not realizing there was a loophole.
Well said.
I miss that show. Loved it so much. Peter was an incredible and funny MC, unlike virtually all of the other game show MCs at the time. Michael didn't cheat, as it was pretty obvious there was a pattern. If you watch it long enough you will see that the pattern repeats itself and if you time it just right you can easily win.
I remember noticing a bit of the patterns that he did. I was 7 at the time so never knew about what could be done with this information.
He didn't cheat. He paid attention and learned, and then applied what he had learned. There was literally _nothing_ in *ANY* of the show's rules that he broke.
Didn't cheat. They had a pattern and he learned it. Counting cards isn't cheating but you will get kicked out of a casino for it.
Micheal may have been a little shady, but he didn’t do anything wrong! The problem was in the game not the player. He learned how to win it, and he did it. Good for him! They said in the documentary that they thought 5 patterns wasn’t enough. They were right. But again, he didn’t do anything wrong.
I used to watch this every day but I don't remember this!!!
I found your channel yesterday and as someone born in '82 I don't think I've ever identified more with a UA-cam channel. Thank you and keep putting out these great videos!
I was in the middle of watching the original upload when it was taken down 🤣 I was enjoying. Glad to finally finish it.
No he didn’t cheat he just studied the patterns and used them.
If you take an exam, and you hapoen to know every answer within that test, because you studied that subject, and then get 100% on the exam, you are not a cheat. This guy studied the show. He's not a cheat. Being a cheat would mean he rigged the game in his favour somehow by tampering with the system. He didn't.
The show's oroducers made the game, not him. They are the ones that plan, create and then play the game out, it is actually rigged in their (the shows) favour, not the contestants. The fact he studied it, figured out their patterns, and played it and won is to be comnended.
It's no different from playing claw machines or penny falls or any other skill like game in an arcade. They are rigged against you, so to win, Its a skill, and he worked out the pattern, then had to use skill to stop it when he wanted it to stop. If you go on a fruit machine or one armed bandit, it is rigged against you, but in a lot of those machines you can figure out a pattern, and although its not a guaranteed pattern it will give you a good idea of a desirable outcome. Thats what this guy did, he had an idea on how to acheive a desirable outcome, but it wasnt guaranteed, but he played it.
There were no rules that a contestant could not figure out the patterns that the producers had figured would be enough to stop people winning big. He played them at their own game. Legally.
No it isn't cheating. Why is this up for debate still?
Great question. The producers were mad because he figured it out and they couldn't stop him.
I was deeply honored to be interviewed for this video. It felt so good that I was able to tell a little bit of the story from a game show fans perspective.
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it!
I just stumbled upon your channel, you've got a new subscriber. Really enjoy your content, please keep it up.
No whammy! No whammy! lol I actually watched this particular episode, and remembered my grandmother being shocked over his run.
I just watched the documentary about this incident! It's hosted by Peter Tomarken, the host of Press Your Luck. It's right here on YT. 😊
Yes! I used it to make this video. Link in the description 😊
@@mysocalledgenxlife That's awesome!! I haven't started watching your video yet, but I got excited when I saw it!! 😍
He's just playing the game, no problem here.
That was so interesting! I guess he really won fair and square. A pity he lost everything because he couldn't get enough. I think I'll check out the movie (and the documentary) because while I was watching this video I kept thinking that this story would make a good one lol
Love how he started to celebrate before anyone could read what was in on the board.
Even if he didn't get robbed, and even if he landed on a whammy after pressing his luck, you can't deny that his own greed would have carried him to his grave one way or another. My dad taught me in my early teens that there really is no easy way to get money, so I'm glad I wake up in the morning and go to work five days every week.
Just like you, I thought him getting robbed was karma. Now I think what he did on Press Your Luck wasn’t immoral necessarily but opening bank accounts under false names? Absolutely immoral, unethical and that had to be illegal. And of course he had to get caught up in a Ponzi scheme.
What struck me is I’m not smart enough to catch the pattern but I’m smart enough to note the following:
1. He not only need mental skills but he needed the physical reflexes to stop on the squares he landed on. If he mentally knew the square but hit the button a fraction of a second too soon or too late, he would have failed.
2. He had the mental and physical skills but wasn’t smart enough to try and throw a few rounds to hide the fact he gamed the system. He threw an early round but then went on to win 40 spins in a row! I would be shocked if there were no members of the audience that got suspicious. I mean we know the people working the show were on to him but I think the audience was in general just as smart as the people working behind the scenes. The only reason we don’t know about suspicious audience members is because the audience had no place on the internet to share their opinions. His greed got the best of him.
Edit: by audience I’m referring to the studio audience and the people viewing at home on TV
Michael Larson beat the system with his memorization of the patterns on the board...what he did was such a high-risk attempt at winning the top dollar amount...good thing the producers of the game show caught on in order to create more patterns that are harder to memorize...
I feel like I'm hanging with old friends from my childhood on ur video content. I love ur channel sub for life 80s kids 4ever 90s teens 4ever
HOLY CRAP! A) I was excited to see this video, excellently done.
But more importantly, I swear that I was watching a video two weeks ago and I was thinking "wow, 7k subs, that was quick." Then I saw the 10k post, and right now TWELVE! That's amazing, but not shocking. These videos are well researched, which is even more impressive when they are covering older topics with hard to find footage. Congrats, I love to see it
Thanks so much Greg! It’s been a crazy month here in my channel. I’m almost ready for that collab we talked about. Finally getting the right equipment for a proper livestream.
I’d love to talk about family friendly entertainment, TV dads, 80s kids v 90s kids, etc… I’ll shoot you an email soon!
Thank you was looking for a deep dive on this subject, fascinating.
I loved watching this game show. But it made me so nervous when i would watch bc i was like, dont whammy, dont whammy
I've heard this a few times. The man made TV history and he didn't cheat in my opinion. He found a way to beat the game and did it.
Big Bucks No Whammies!
This dude was L337 before that was a Thing
That's wild! I remember liking the show as a kid but i was usually in school when it was on.
This guy is a legend. He didn’t cheat at all, and I kinda resent how that tv documentary they made about him made him seem like a bad guy. Dude is like a folk hero imo. RIP 🕊️
*edit,
Ok after finishing video, I guess he did some bad, scammy things after show. But his performance was still legendary
I remember reading about this in _TV Guide_ in their "Insider" section. It mentioned this before it aired, so we made sure to watch it. It was over a Friday and Monday in June 1984.
I don't consider that cheating at all. He studied the game, found a fundamental flaw in the design and took advantage of it. I believe his only mistake was not getting more occasional Whammies periodically in order to avoid suspicion. In any event, kudos to him!
I was surprised he even got one whammy.
Man, the guy who decided to put zero whammies and "$ + 1 Spin"s in 2 of the boxes probably had a stern talking to that day...
nah, the free spins were part of the game play, and added a lot of excitement to round 2. the lack of programming random sequencing is completely to blame.
Agreed. Every spot should have gone to a whammy once in a while. This would've easily stopped Larson from raking in $111,000.
@@mylesmarkson1686 sure, that's one way to solve the problem. but if you have the "big bucks" square, and square 4 is your focal point for money, you want there to always be money in that square. but yes, a whammy in every square prevents an endless run the same way a random sequence does.
i'm guessing they didn't want one-third of the board to be whammys, so you don't have one in each square. as i recall, the odds of hitting a whammy is 1 in 6. so half of the 18 windows have a whammy in the rotation. if you increase the whammy count from 9 out of 54 to 18 out of 54, you'll have lower wins and more people being eliminated from the game as a result of 4 whammies. your idea makes sense to prevent Larson from running up $110K, but i think it will lead to less exciting games far more often.
i get that computer programming wasn't as easy in the early 80s, but it still floors me that a random pattern was more expensive to program than repeated light sequences. so weird!
the problem here is like when you cheat on a test. you dont get all of them right. you sprinkle in a few incorrect answers here and there. this dude over did it.
CBS really wanted him to retire he cost them so much money 💰
$110K in '84 is 1/3 of a million today.
This should be a movie
it is. search for a new film called "The Luckiest Man in America."
Funny you should mention that...
It was summertime I was 13 and watched this first episode. You could begin to see the patterns just by watching him.
This dude won so much he quit at the end because he kept picking up spins lolz
My Kid Brother and I absolutely loved "The Whammies" when this show aired.
You have to appreciate the game show folks so outraged that someone did so well! How can anyone walk away with the studio in 30 minutes?
My So-Called Gen X Life, very thorough, factual, and exciting! Thank you. I look forward to more episodes like this one. I think what Michael did was amazing.
It’s really sad that these shows have been hidden from the public
No whammies! Loved this show. The animations were adorable. 🥰
The guy was a genius!
Wow! Good for him. The network screwed up.
He didn't cheat at all. He played the game by the rules 100 percent.
Just like the person who watched loads of episodes of The Price Is Right and figured out they used the same prizes so they figured out the prices
I looooooved Press Your Luck when I was a kid!!! I wished to be old enough to play it!! 🤪
No whammies. No whammies. STOP! 😂
I believe it was more popular than the long-running The Price Is Right during its short CBS run in my opinion.
I remember this, the whammies were my favorite part! 🤭
The whammy was dressed like Michael Jackson I remember at times when it would come up on the board.
Dude was kind of a genius. That’s amazing
It's no different than counting cards at a casino. If that is cheating, so is this.
This certainly is not cheating. Counting cards is only considered cheating by the casinos themselves. What you don't understand is that casinos reserve the right to kick you out at any time for any reason. If they so much as think you're counting cards, or simply are winning too much they can stop your play, accuse you of anything they want, and kick you to the curb. The odds are always in favor of the house. What this guy did was clearly following the rules of the game, to the letter. If the show had a specific rule about not remembering which square lit up and when, then ok. But they didn't have a rule like that. Therefore he didn't break any rules.
Jeez, did you gain 1000 subs in 24hrs? Awesome!
I did! It’s been quite a weekend for my channel 😊
@@mysocalledgenxlife 😃💥💥💥
The man may have died several years ago, but his legend lives on forever.
Just like the games from back then, you just needed to find the pasterns to winning, and he did.
This channel is freaking awesome. I was wondering if you could do an episode on the most popular 80s/90s TV shows?
Most popular shows? I think I can do that! It will go on the idea board today. 😊 I’ll see what I can come up with.
@@mysocalledgenxlife cool!!! Thank you.
Who else wonders if his girlfriend sent him up to get robbed? 😂
"Nah I'm never losin'" lol
I saw the first episode. Peter Tomarken came out in front of the screen (post-production edit) and said they couldn't fit it all in one episode. I didn't get to see the second half of the game until the Press Your Luck special on Game Show Network.
Yes! I meant to use that clip and totally forgot about it! 🤦🏻♀️
Imagine getting ice cream from this guy just to realised he won 110237 in money on a game show
Nope, he exploited a loop hole
I had to pause this video when he hit $102,851 because I love playing with inflation calculators. That amount would be worth $311,617.74 today! I may edit this comment once I see his final total
Edit: His final total would be $333,995.83 today!
I love doing that too! Especially when I watch old TV shows & movies. When they talk about the cost of something, or how much they make per hour, I always like to look it up and see what it would be today. 😊
@@jenniferhansen3622 my interest began when I found a copy of the contract for my childhood home from 1983! The price was $28k which would be almost $89k today
Which is less than they could give out on Who Want's to be a Millionaire?