One of the biggest things that people are curious to know (Press Your Luck wise, anyway), is, "How the hell DID that big board operate?" While it is known that it used 18 slide projectors with 3 slide overheads in each projector, we learned a little more about how the entire board functioned. When GSN aired the special, Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal, in March of 2003, we got a chance to see how some of the boards operations worked. I took some video snaps hots of the consoles that created the magic (or mayhem), along with a description and picture of what we would be seeing at home. Hope you like it!
Here, we see, just two of the couple of computerized electronic consoles that helped run the various functions of Press Your Luck.
This is the back of one of the consoles. While the exact purpose of the computer cards in it are unknown, based on it, it looks like some sort of communications card that would send the data that the controller requests to the big board, etc.
Here is a shot of the entire console. Each of the three sections will have close up pictures and more information below.
This controller would activate or deactivate the yellow Whammy cards on the contestant podium. The red buttons on the far right of each row of buttons is labeled "Reset", so it is assumed that it will automatically make all of the Whammies go down into the podium. The LEDs could be turned on and off with a button press, so it looks like it would make the Whammies go up and down instantly, such as in "$2000 or Lose A Whammy".
This row of blue icons shows which of the boards 5 patterns are currently in the cycle on the big board. It is unknown to wheather or not these are buttons, or if they are just indicators. (Which makes me wonder, because correct me if I am wrong, but I though there were 6 patterns...?)
All that I know, is that the button that the finger is on was a "Start" button that would put the big board in motion. As for the rest of the goodies on the console, I am unsure of the purpose.
This indicator would display which of the eighteen spaces on the board was currently "active" and "in play". Meaning, if the player hit the plunger, this is the space that would currently be won. Note the spaces are numbered just like we do when referring to them.
Game Show Network had this cool looking overlay embossed onto the image of the board selector moving, so you can see that each of the spaces was occupied on the big board.