Rare Play the Percentages Pilot Game Show 

I knew Geoff Edwards. Great guy. Rest in peace, Geoff.

Play the Percentages was a super awesome game show and the late, great Geoff Edwards was a super host of this game show!!

Geoff Edwards was Mr. Game Show!!

Geoff Edwards had some good game shows. He was a real good host. R.I.P. Geoff Edwards... I liked all the game shows he did.

Geoff was so great! One of my favorites. Love his laugh and so funny.

I loved Geoff on "the new treasure hunt"

What a pleasant Surprise Wink. Thanks my friend. I love theme song to this game show. I loved Geoff Edwards. I still miss him.

R.I.P. Geoff Edwards.

One of the rare occasions (although Maggie Brown comes to mind) where contestants from the pilot eventually compete in the actual show.

What a cool set, loved Geoff, and the theme song is very entertaining.

play the percentages here's Geoff to show ya how!

As always, sir, thank you for the upload! I have to admit, I actually thought this bonus round was better than the one ultimately adopted!

The set looks beachy with the aquatic background and sandy props. Nice to see the big % in action again. I think the lucky seven-- er, bonus round might be too easy to win if you stick with the middle numbers -- unless they mix in some extreme high/lows.

I used to watch Play The Percentages in 1980 when it was on weekdays at 6:00 pm on then WOR-TV/9 New York City.

Surprise! It's the pilot to Play the Percentages from 1979!

If I remember correctly, the Gracies, spelled Greci, were the same couple who appeared on the premiere episode.

Great job, Wink! Thank you for bringing some classic game show episodes and pilots from your collection. I have watched you host game shows for many years and did a great job at what you did.

I saw this show back in 1979. I recall that they changed the main game as well as the bonus round at various points.

Fantastic pilot! Thanks Wink!

This is a nifty little show, isn't it? I'd love to see more episodes. Great host, too.

Geoff was a sensational emcee. Very down to earth, very welcoming, great sense of humor, same as you to be sure Mr. Martindale. I believe Geoff had a chance to host Family Feud but had to turn it down as he was hosting Shoot for the Stars on NBC, another very fun game. I loved this format of Play the %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I know we're talking about the game show as a show here...but may I take a moment to point out on the first question both ladies were like "aww everybody knows this...90% 95%"...aaaand neither were close to sniffing the right answer. Great format!

Geoff was also Jim Lange's friend. The most coincidental thing was that they both died within a week.

Let the speculation run rampant. 😆

The nude Burt Reynolds magazine question's RESULTS were hilarious!!! The host is definitely one of the better game hosts I've seen, too. How did this show get no traction?

I liked this!

This show had a cool format

I actually like the blue on the walls.

pretty sure dolphin prod. worked on that scanimated graphic seen at the intro and the end

The wizard of odds

Interesting to note-- both couples would later play on the actual series.

I hope it a 80s pilot or 70s pilot

She signed the word beautiful! Good thing she is still studying!

I distinctly remember reading in VARIETY that PtP was sold by Colbert Television Sales (the King brothers as sales leads) without showing the pilot to the potential stations. Yet, the power of the Kings sold it...probably on the wit and charm of Geoff.

On "Play the Percentages" this pilot starring Geoff Edwards, had the first original main game format and bonus game format with the couples format, and the bonus game format was revised in week 2 on the January 14, 1980 broadcast and revised again on the February 18, 1980 broadcast with a prize package in the bonus game, but just 2 weeks later as it went to solo contestants on the overhauled format starting with the March 3, 1980 broadcast until its series finale on July 4, 1980, as it went into reruns from there. And rerun rights now belong to Sony Pictures Television.

This is another game that looks like it could potentially do well in the modern market if someone was to try and reboot it.

The main game play is similar to Care Sharks, just no oversized playing cards to try and advance.

Cross-Wits with Jack Clark please. However that is just a dream. NOBODY has those shows except for the 4 or 5 of them found on youtube already.

Play the Percentages

RIP Jay Stewart. I just read that he committed suicide.

Jokers wild graphics

Hopefully you have more episodes of The New Battlestars (the Friday episode from its premiere week back in April 1983) or the NBC premiere episode of Wheel of Fortune with Chuck Woolery from January 6, 1975 or even more episodes of Dream House with Mike Darow or Bob Eubanks. Plus, I would love to see what other game show pilots you might have.

I wonder why Geoff got rehired by Jack, I thought in an earlier game show in 1973, Jack didn't like his voice.

Nice! Thanks! That first bonus game incarnation, so much math. Anyone have any insight as to why this show couldn’t settle on a format? Seems if I was an affiliate and I purchased this pilot, I would want this show, not the train wreck “Twenty-One” derivative to which it devolved.

0:14 that theme tune though

I recognize those two couples before. The Grace couple appeared on the debut episode (1-7-1980) of the show while the Hawkins couples made their start on the third episode (1-9-1980), both won their first games in their own right.

I can see why they changed the set, this one looks like you’re under the ocean. So I guess that’s the same backdrop behind the contestants when they put up the round walls. But did they dye the other one (left side, champion slot) orange after the fact?

Wonder what that motif in the background was supposed to represent.

Call me crazy, but Marketta looks so familiar! I'm sure I've seen her on another game show.

Hey Wink, This is Rohan here. I loved this game show, even though the married couples version played more like Card Sharks.

Card Sharks without the Cards.

Can you try to find Smart Money? It's a pilot I really want to see.

Geoff Edwards is one of my Top 5 game show hosts of all time. How many times did he fill in or replace another game show host and made it look like he was a natural fit? He had a lightning quick wit and was absolutely hilarious. His hosting on Treasure Hunt (With Name That Tune the two hottest weekly syndicated game shows of the 70s) is criminally underated.

Was this set used for bullseye as well?

Excuse me? Both women said the answer was obvious (perhaps Geoff should have tried "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?") and backed it up with 90% and 95% guesses. Then both didn't know it. That was enough for me. (Don't even want to mention that 59% of those surveyed didn't get it right.) Bluffing your opponent is one thing, but you can't bluff the people who already took the survey. If you have no idea of the answer yourself, why would you assume 90-95% of those surveyed would? Another strange thing was not playing a round of the game before the commercial. It is much better to do long interviews somewhere else in the 22 minutes, as producers have apparently figured out since 1980. The game could be a moderately good one, but that first round was so odd, I didn't want to watch any more...and neither did the public. The show lasted only eight months. I was an avid game show watcher in 1980, and frankly, I don't remember it, while I, of course, do remember Geoff Edwards and Jay Stewart from their other shows.

Hey. I’ve wondered if this would ever turn up on here because this pilot’s bonus game confuses me

Hi Wink

I hope it's a game show finale:)

Karla and John were on the first actual episode

Do you think the 66 answer was staged?

Could it be the 2012 Fox pilot of The Chase with Bradley Walsh the 2010 CBS pilot of The Cube with Neil Patrick Harris or the 2000 CBS pilot of The $64,000 Question with Greg Gumbel?

Funny how these two couples would actually play each other on like January 8th or 9th 1980. What’s the vtr date of this episode?

Who's the singer?

Too bad this bonus round format didn't make the final cut. This show had so many changes in its nine month run. Always wondered when they went from couples to individual contestants did the champion couple husband and wife have to compete against each other? Does video exist to support the urban legend about the lift for the big percentage sign malfunctioning and tearing the set apart? If this show were to be revived, the percent sign and the rear projection screen could easily be replaced with something video based like the board on Beat Shazam.

In truth, this was the best bonus round format, the "bad guy" being the "0", yet they got to it for losing all their points.

Good little show! TERRIBLE theme tune though!