Concentration game board
Mark A Carlson
seeing the original Concentration on NBC. How did the game board work? Was
it motors that were installed in the inside of each or the 30 trilons? How
did they control it. Obviously they didn't have computers in those days.
Also curious as to what operating platform the "Classic" Conentration
computer operated on. It looked really well thought out.
Mark J.
"Mark A Carlson" <HAM_...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> This is something that's been burning in my mind for years, ever
since
> seeing the original Concentration on NBC. How did the game board
work? Was
> it motors that were installed in the inside of each or the 30
trilons? How
> did they control it.
It was motorized. Once late in the run of the series they showed the
control panel--30 rheostats. Turn to the left, the trilon goes to the
left, and vice versa.
The trilons were the cover numbers and two racks. The puzzles were
kept in sealed plastic containers and consisted of art cards with
numbers on the back indicating where they were supposed to go. The
stagehand backstage simply slipped the prize art card into the left
rack (from his view) and the puzzle piece into the right rack and the
trilon was all ready to go.
--
Mark Jeffries--it wasn't me...
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
tv_...@my-deja.com
"Mark A Carlson" <HAM_...@prodigy.net> wrote:
McMahon, Art James era was a nightmare of hardware that would soil
anyone's underwear. Yes, there were little motors that often benefitted
from the help of stagehands behind the board. The clicking relays and
growl of the motor that you hear with each selection was not sweetened
audio, but the live sound of the monster. While I only visited behind
the board once, I spent many hours watching the control panel that was
positioned on the stage floor in front of the audience and had a thick
harnass of cable leading from it to the board.
Here goes the most coherent description I can write:
My best recollection is that the controller had 30 rotary switches, one
for each trilon. There were several single-throw and double-throw
switches mounted vertically to the right, and a couple more across the
bottom of the box. When the selection of numbers was made by the
contestant, the operator would turn the rotarys for those trilons one
notch clockwise to engage a gear mechanism for those trilons, and then
flick one of those master switches on the right that would activate the
motor that would turn whichever of the trilons had been pre-selected.
With a match, the two rotaries would be advanced to the next position,
and a switch on the right would flip those trilons to the next
position. With no match, a switch on the right would return the engaged
trilons and then the rotarys for those positions would be returned to
the counter-clockwise position. The additional switches on the right
and bottom of the controller would activate a few special functions
such as turning all of the trilons simultaneously without the need to
preselect each by use of the rotaries.
I was told that there were 2 identical contraptions in existance.
Randy West
Dave Mackey
Randy,
I think there were something like four. There had to be backups, plus there was
a time that "Concentration" had two different tape sites, one at 30 Rock
(daytime), and the other at the Ziegfeld Theater (primetime).
When "Concentration" moved west in 1973, they took something like two complete
game boards and parts from the other two for spares. Yes, those were the
original game boards from the NBC show! Really weird that Ted Cooper inherited
those beasts and put up with them for the five years the show was in
syndication. It's easy to imagine Cooper designing something not quite so
unwieldy.
An engineer named Everett Penn was responsible for the design of the game
board. I believe on James Vipond's site, there's a complete message form this
newsgroup that Chris Clementson posted quite some time ago that describes what
I talked about in more detail.
I also remember hearing the game board caught fire during a taping once. Aah,
electricity.
Anyway, as you probably know, the last "Concentration" didn't use an
electromechanical game board. It was all done electronically. Progress? I don't
think so! Give me relays and rheostats and solenoids any day of the week!
Dave
David Johnson
sonic...@my-deja.com
> Anyway, as you probably know, the last "Concentration" didn't use an
> electromechanical game board. It was all done electronically.
Progress? I don't
> think so! Give me relays and rheostats and solenoids any day of the
week!
Well, there are three ways to look at this problem (funny how there are
always just three).
1) The cheap, lazy, electronic way (sure, it's a lot of work to get the
computer graphics up and running, but to put them all together and time
the swinging doors and prizes... just thinking about it gives me
nightmares).
2) You can keep a guy behind the board and tell him to rotate the
trilons whenever a contestant called out a number. My opinion: you
can't go wrong with this. Hey, it worked for Vanna, and she was
standing outside the board.
3) Harness the power of electricity as Dave mentioned and hope to God
that no fires commence.
Chico
tv_...@my-deja.com
dpjohns...@webtv.net (David Johnson) wrote:
Fascinating that a couple of people here actually got to see the
> thing work close up. The original show ended production in 1973, so
you
> people were much younger then; how'd you ever get so close to it? I
> couldn't begin to imagine getting a chance like that--my youth was so
> sheltered.
>
>Chico wrote:
2) You can keep a guy behind the board and tell him to rotate the
trilons whenever a contestant called out a number. My opinion: you
can't go wrong with this. Hey, it worked for Vanna, and she was
standing outside the board.
>
Hey guys,
Wonderful to find a few more kindred spirits who relish in the minutiae
of the great game shows!
David, while other kids were playing New York stickball, stoopball and
skully (you flick bottle caps into sidewalk sections), I was roaming
the halls of 30 Rock. How? In NY they call it "chutzpah", and I
wouldn't trade a minute of it!
Chico, I agree. While the Concentration board was sputtering in 8G, the
Jeopardy board in 6A always worked smoothly. How? I was shocked to find
a couple of old union stagehands back there in moth-bitten cardigan
sweaters pulling the art cards!
Best,
chris319
Well they did, but they would have taken up the entire 8th floor of 30 Rock ;-)
Inside each so-called trilon were two electromagnetic plungers known as
solenoids (basically the same mechanism used in doorbells to strike the chime),
two microswitches and a motor. The solenoid plungers could engage in any of
three holes in the base plate of the trilon. When activated, the solenoids would
retract from the holes allowing the trilon to swivel, and at the same time would
engage a microswitch which applied current to the motor. When current to the
solenoid was turned off by the operator, the motor kept turning until the
plunger engaged one of the holes, thereby releasing the microswitch and breaking
the circuit to the motor. Depending on which of the two solenoids was activated,
the current to the motor could be either "forward" or "reverse", depending on
the direction the trilon was to swivel. Ev Penn rebuilt the controller Randy
described for the G-T version (he once told me the operator had too much to do).
Ted Cooper was involved in the design of the "slips", the prize strips between
the contestants which, along with turntables, became one of Ted's trademarks
(the same basic technique was used on the MG Super Match board, Super Password,
etc.). Mark Bowerman tells me the old boards were mechanical nightmares and were
scrapped years ago.
The Classic Concentration board utilized two IBM PC-compatible computers. One
computer generated the numbers and revealed the output of the second computer
which contained the prizes, which revealed a still-store device which contained
the puzzle. There was a custom-built control panel which interfaced with the
computers. Ted's son Corey programmed the computers, which used Targa graphics
boards, in "C". Corey also did the second version of Blockbusters.
chris319
>trilons whenever a contestant called out a number.
Why Barry and Enright opted to use such a mechanical monstrosity is beyond me.
Zach Horan
>
The graphics were ahead of their time, but, like Feud94, computerizing wasn't
the norm for GT shows, take TPIR for an example.
>
>I do believe, however, that with today's faster processors ... the graphics
>might be a lot more pleasing. I doubt that anyone will ever build another
>mechanical Concentration board.
I'm beginning to doubt NBC will ever revive Concentration again :)
Zach Horan
>If someone /were/ to build a new mechanical Concentration game board
That's a big IF, just like NBC reviving Concentration is a big IF these days.
T. Jay
>
> My best recollection is that the controller had 30 rotary switches, one
> for each trilon. There were several single-throw and double-throw
> switches mounted vertically to the right, and a couple more across the
> bottom of the box. When the selection of numbers was made by the
> contestant, the operator would turn the rotarys for those trilons one
> notch clockwise to engage a gear mechanism for those trilons, and then
> flick one of those master switches on the right that would activate the
> motor that would turn whichever of the trilons had been pre-selected.
> With a match, the two rotaries would be advanced to the next position,
> and a switch on the right would flip those trilons to the next
> position. With no match, a switch on the right would return the engaged
> trilons and then the rotarys for those positions would be returned to
> the counter-clockwise position. The additional switches on the right
> and bottom of the controller would activate a few special functions
> such as turning all of the trilons simultaneously without the need to
> preselect each by use of the rotaries.
From what you describe, it sounds like the same principle for rotary
antenna control boxes, in which you set the direction you want the
antenna to point then hit the button.
Anyone know if these board controllers were the same or miniature
versions of the rotary antenna motors? Imagine walking into Radio
Shack wanting to buy 30 antenna motors for a project you're building in
the garage.
T. Jay
T. Jay
Mark A Carlson
> When "Concentration" moved west in 1973, they took something like two
complete
> game boards and parts from the other two for spares.
Funny...I thought for some reason the one on the orginal run on NBC was
smaller. But, you almost never saw someone standing in front of it, unlike
the GT version.
chris319
>versions of the rotary antenna motors? Imagine walking into Radio
>Shack wanting to buy 30 antenna motors for a project you're building in
>the garage.
See my description of micoswitches and solenoid plungers engaging holes. For one
thing, an antenna rotor must be continuously variable and the user can always
"tweak" the final position. The Concentration board had three discrete positions
and always had to lock onto them.
John
If you look at their room in 1982 episodes, you will find, among the board
games used as props, an edition of CONCENTRATION.
John
wanted to revive the show? Based on CLASSIC CONCENTRATION, they could do it
easily enough. Based on Pearson's budget, instead of prizes, you have to match
icons or something (as in Tiger's CONCENTRATION). I imagine the bonus game of
Trebek's version will be used, but not for a car or anything more expensive
than that.
Curt Alliaume
cyber...@aol.compostheap (John) writes:
>True or false: NBC owns the CONCENTRATION format.
True. X gets the square.
>What if Pearson did and wanted to revive the show?
I would imagine Pearson would rather focus on the properties they own rather
than one they had to lease. At this point, all production companies are
starting at the same point -- Steve Ryan would be the most important figure to
have on board.
>I imagine the bonus game of Trebek's version will be used, but not for a car
or >anything more expensive than that.
"Look at this stage! Filled with fabulous Jeep boomboxes!"
Seriously, the bonus game was tough enough so that a win only happened once
every couple of days. If the main game prizes were inexpensive enough (worth
$200-$750) and the car was won once a week, that wouldn't be a budget too far
off from Family Feud or To Tell the Truth.
-- Curt Alliaume
----------------------
Game Shows '75
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/2827/gameshow.html
Zach Horan
>every couple of days. If the main game prizes were inexpensive enough (worth
>$200-$750) and the car was won once a week, that wouldn't be a budget too far
It would be nice if NBC considered a Concentration revival, but it's a big IF
these days, now that they've ditched their intentions to launch On the Cover.
Dave Mackey
>mechanical Concentration board.
>
Well, you know about those people who like to re-create the Civil War... you
never know what I could have brewing in my basement workshop, far from the eyes
of my family and friends... ;)
Dave
Dave Mackey
>
>If you look at their room in 1982 episodes, you will find, among the board
>games used as props, an edition of CONCENTRATION.
But the game was always ruined because that bitch Blair always cheated. One
night, it was her, Tootie, Natalie and Molly (this was during a first season
episode!), and the puzzle was "Abraham Lincoln" and Blair guessed it with two
blanks showing! Molly ran from the room shouting "J'accuse!" and vowed never to
return to Eastland school again.
And you know what? She never did return.
True story.
Dave
John Sergent
Yes, those Metros and Charades got too expensive!
--
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's
too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx
chris319
>of my family and friends... ;)
Oh geez!
Maybe I've given away TOOOOO much information about the inner workings of that
contraption. I'm calling UPS now to halt all deliveries of solenoids, motors and
microswitches to the Mackey residence. That is unless you've hit up the local
Radio Shack for 30 antenna rotors.
But, I suppose if Rosie can have the Clock Game on her stage, there's room for
your Concentration board on Jerry Springer's stage :-P
newt...@aol.com
jmfabi...@gmail.com
Kevin
I wonder if Cosmo Kramer might have rebuilt a Concentration game board in his apartment after he tired of his re-creation of the Merv Griffin set.
(S9:E6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merv_Griffin_Show_(Seinfeld))
AWORio
> I wonder if Cosmo Kramer might have rebuilt a Concentration game board in his apartment after he tired of his re-creation of the Merv Griffin set.
> (S9:E6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merv_Griffin_Show_(Seinfeld))
