This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue here with our American stories.

And now Matt Parker, a comedian and mathematician from Australia,

tells the story of the time Michael Larson surprisingly beat the game show Press Your Luck. Here's Matt.

The best TV game show sit at the intersection of skill and luck.

And in the 1980s there was one such game show called Pressual Luck.

The skill component came from asking the contestants trivia questions.

But then the luck came in via the big board.

This is how prizes were dished out. came in via the big board.

This is how prizes were dished out after a contestant had demonstrated their skill answering a trivia question.

It was a massive screen with 18 boxes detailing different cash amounts or physical prizes

and a cartoon character known as a whammy.

The highlight on the board would rapidly flip between the different boxes in an apparently

random order. The players would then win the content of whichever box was selected when they

hit their buzzer, but if they landed on

a whammy, the player would lose all the prizes they had accumulated so far.

Okay, I want a trip.

Let's go, please.

Vacation time.

Okay, stop.

Stop.

Give me everything you got on. Knock it out of the park.

...