WWTBAM Bored

I was watching The China Syndrome the other night which I hadn't seen for a long time (better then I had remembered) and breifly one of the T.V. monitors was an old 70's game show that I had totally forgotten about but remembered really enjoying called "The Magnificent Marble Machine". It centered on this enormous pinball machine.

Does anyone else recall that show? I do remember an episode with David Brenner answering 'jock' for a 3 letter word for athletic supporter. He said he thought it was spelled jox (as a quick recovery for the wrong answer - but going for the laugh points).

---Jay

I remember the show because it had Mrs. Brady and Galen from the TV version of "Planet of the Apes" on it. My game show encyclopedia shows it aired July 1975 - June 1976 on NBC. Johnny Gilbert was the announcer and Alex Trebek once guested against Peter Marshall.

I vaguely remember seeing it. There was a giant, slow moving pinball machine and the higher score you got, the more prizes and/or money you won. According to Wikipedia, there were two celebrity/contestant teams playing against each other in the first round answering trivia questions.

Example: He's center and he's square/ P A U L L Y N D E

When the question first appeared, all the letters to the right were blanks, and if no one buzzed in to answer various letters would be filled in at random until someone got the right answer. High score after this round got to play "the machine" with both the celebrity and contestant manipulating one flipper each.

In a have you heard this one before, when ratings sank, the game was changed to all celebrities with each team of celebrities playing "for" a home contestant and a studio audience member playing the pinball round. That version didn't do any better.

i remember alex trebek hosting

it was on before tictacdough

I have a mental image of seeing the show when it was on originally but have no recollection of any other details.

Art James (of Who What or Where Game) fame, was the host.

I hated that show.

Don't know why- I just did.

bazodee wrote:Art James (of Who What or Where Game) fame, was the host.

Art James was also the host of "Catchphrase" before that show became a big hit in England.

Jeemie wrote:I hated that show.

Don't know why- I just did.

All I remember about the show was that the ball moved very slowly, making it the opposite of what people find exciting about pinball, the fast movement.

They could make a new reality show version of this in which people dress as giant pin balls and go running around bouncing off of bumpers and getting whacked by flippers before falling into a hole.

silverscreenselect wrote:They could make a new reality show version of this in which people dress as giant pin balls and go running around bouncing off of bumpers and getting whacked by flippers before falling into a hole.

ABC did. It's called Wipeout!

Estonut wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote:They could make a new reality show version of this in which people dress as giant pin balls and go running around bouncing off of bumpers and getting whacked by flippers before falling into a hole.

ABC did. It's called Wipeout!

I was thinking of Wipeout when I came up with my own version of it.....

Or they could dress up like giant Plinko chips and be dropped from the top of a giant Plinko board and win prizes depending on where they land.

I would rather see a revival of the very short-lived Money Maze, hosted by Nick Clooney. Married couples raced around like rats in a maze (one person directing, the other person running.) There were bleacher stands above the maze so the audience could loom above them.

Despite its sociological connotations, it was a fun show to watch. Engineering grad students used to send in maze designs that the producers would often use (the maze changed every week).