Zero Gravity (Powerball: The Game Show)
0Written for vibraphone, piano, and strings (violin, viola, cello, contrabass), this is my arrangement of a game show cue used originally for the bonus round of "Powerball: The Game Show," the last game show hosted by Bob Eubanks. The winning contestant played this bonus round. A ball, suspended in mid-air by various air jets, was dropped onto a spinning wheel (similar to the one on Wheel of Fortune) divided into 16 sections, each having cash amounts ranging from $10K, $25K, $50K, and $100,000. There were four spaces for each amount. More air jets would push the ball around the wheel, and they would turn off after 20 seconds. The jets also had red strobe lights and sparkly effects were projected on the wheel.
The player could keep what they won, or risk it for a second spin with four spaces each worth $10K, $15K, and $20K, and one each of $25K, $50K, $200K, and $1,000,000.
If the ball had landed on a $10,000 space in the initial spin, the contestant automatically received the second spin since that was the lowest amount available. If it landed on $100,000, however, the player had to keep their winnings and could not spin again.
In Season 2, only one spin was taken with the cash values the same as the second spin in Season 1; whatever amount the ball had landed on was the grand prize for that show.
The $1,000,000 top prize was won twice in the show's two seasons, by Tim Holbrook of St. Cloud, MN and Barbara Edgeley of California, KY.
This same cue was also used on the original "$1,000,000 Spectacular" Editions of "The Price is RIght," when a contestant during the Bob Barker era would spin the wheel in their bonus spin for one million dollars (which sadly, never happened with Bob; Drew Carey would see three millionaires in his era, but the criteria for winning one million dollars was different with him).
Information taken from this website: https://gameshows.fandom.com/wiki/
This arrangement © me and me alone
Original music written by Michael Karp
Powerball: The Game Show © Jonathan Goodson Productions and everybody else who owns the rights; Jonathan is the son of the legendary master of TV game shows, Mark Goodson.
Powerball: The Game Show (full episode): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YFH9SyZpfw