Toss up card game

In case of two new players, a coin toss was used to determine who played red and who played blue. Control of the board was determined by asking a survey question similar to the surveys done on Family Feud. After hearing the guess, the opponent had to choose whether the correct number was higher or lower than that guess. Choosing correctly gave control of the board to the opponent; otherwise, the initial contestant gained control. Up to four toss-up questions were played per game.

Beneath each contestant's row of cards was a moving bracket bearing the contestant's name which would mark one of the cards as the "base card". Each contestant's base card was the first card in the row of five. The contestant then guessed whether the next face-down card in the row was "higher", "lower"; or never said "the same thing". Contestants could also choose to "freeze", thus making the last revealed card the new base card and preventing the opponent from receiving a free chance.

If neither contestant guessed all the cards on his or her row correctly, another toss-up question was asked and the same procedures were followed until someone revealed all the cards in the row or the fourth question in the round was asked.

The winner of the main game played the Money Cards bonus game for a chance to win additional money. The Money Cards board consisted of seven cards on three rows; three cards were dealt on the bottom two rows, and one card was dealt on the top row.

The winner's first base card to begin the bonus game was dealt from the deck after the seven cards were placed. In addition to guessing whether a card was higher or lower, the contestant had to wager money on that prediction. The contestant won money for each correct guess and lost money on each incorrect guess. The contestant had to play three more cards before reaching the last card on the top row, known as the "Big Bet".

If a contestant busted prior to reaching the Big Bet, the game ended. Originally, only the first card on the bottom row could be changed. In mid the rule was changed so that the first card on every row could be changed. Duplicate cards for example, two 8s in a row originally counted as an incorrect wager. Almost three months after an incident in which all four 3s in the deck came up in a row, [1] as well as a separate incident involving all four Jacks in the deck, this was changed on October 20, so that the contestant neither won nor lost money if a duplicate was revealed referred to as a "push" by Bob Eubanks and Bill Rafferty in the revival , and a "double" by Perry.

From then on, Jim encouraged the contestant to wager everything on an Ace or deuce since there was no way the contestant could lose with either card. Card Sharks held many special tournament weeks over the years.

A hat is the most commonly used such receptacle, and in that case the hat should be placed upside down on the floor. A line or mark is then set at some distance from the hat or receptacle. This line is called the oche similar to that as in the game of darts. This distance should best be determined by the skill of players participating. For beginner players, for example, the oche may be placed rather close, about four feet away, while for games consisting of more experienced players the oche may be several feet further away.

An equal number of cards should be provided to each participant. For ease of determining the owner of each card thrown, these should be distinguishable, such as each player having cards of a specific color, suit or denomination. Each player then steps up to the oche and begins tossing the cards one by one, trying to throw the card in such a manner that it will land in the hat.

After the player has tossed his collection of cards, the next player then steps up to the oche with the same goal. This continues until each player has had the opportunity to throw his cards into the hat. After all players have had a turn at throwing his cards into the hat, points are scored by the players.

For each card that has landed fully into the hat, the player who threw that card earns 1 point. Cards landing in any other position score nothing. Similarly, if a card on the brim of the hat is knocked off the brim onto the floor, that cards earns no points at the final scoring of the round. The game usually consists of several rounds, thus, the cards are all gathered up, redistributed to the players and another round of attempts is completed.