Strike It Lucky (Australian game show)
| Company type | Television game show |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television entertainment |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne , Australia |
| Products | Television game show |
| Parent | Nine Network |
Strike It Lucky was an Australian game show aired on the Nine Network during 1994. Adapted from the British series of the same title, which itself was derived from the American program Strike It Rich, the show featured Ronnie Burns as host, with Jane Blatchford serving as co-host and Craig Huggins as the announcer. The production was based at GTV 9 Studios located in Melbourne.
Main game
Teams of two players, three in total, competed to earn cash and prizes by advancing along a stage arch composed of 10 monitors. On their turn, one team member was given a category containing six possible answers and had to decide whether to correctly name two, three, or four items to move forward that number of spaces. If successful, their partner moved ahead; if not, an opposing team had the chance to fulfill the challenge.
Each monitor except the final one concealed either a prize or a "Hot Spot." Across all teams' monitors, between five and eight Hot Spots were hidden. Discovering a prize allowed the team to claim it and then choose either to bank their accumulated prizes and pass control or continue risking uncovered Hot Spots—which would cause them to lose any unbanked prizes and surrender their turn to opponents. Successfully completing the required moves without encountering a Hot Spot resulted in automatic banking of prizes.
Special spaces included:
- Lucky Strike – provided $100 cash (retained regardless of subsequent results) plus an additional free move.
- Free Move – awarded an extra advancement.
The last monitor featured a question that teams could attempt to answer immediately or after banking their prizes. The second-to-last monitor generally contained a holiday prize. Answering correctly secured the game and all prizes; an incorrect response caused loss of unbanked prizes but allowed gameplay to continue.
If no winner emerged before time ran out, the team with the highest score was declared the winner; ties were broken by a sudden-death buzz-in question.
Bonus game
Rather than traversing the entire board, contestants selected one monitor—top, middle, or bottom—in each row.
Among the total of 30 monitors were 10 arrows that granted free moves, 10 Hot Spots, and 10 true-or-false questions that rewarded correct answers with a move forward but penalized incorrect ones with a Hot Spot. These elements were distributed randomly.
For each column, the victorious pair chose which monitor to play on, aiming to cross from one side to the other while encountering no more than three Hot Spots. Winning this bonus round resulted in receiving a prize package.