Seven Keys was a game show that was a stalwart on ABC's daytime schedule from 1961 to 1964, and ran locally on KTLA-5 in Los Angeles for several years, both before and after the series' network run ended. It was hosted by Jack Narz.
The premise of the game was simple: It was a basic question-and-answer show married to the children's game Snakes and Ladders (better known in America as "Chutes and Ladders"). Contestants had to move across a 70-space game board within a set number of turns (almost always, this was 15) in order to win the right to choose one of seven keys from a rack.
Each key corresponded to a different prize in a group of seven, six of which were smaller ones (represented by pictures) that ranged in value from about $100 to $1,000. The seventh was a grand prize, tailored to the contestant's interests and worth several thousand dollars. The prizes were placed behind glass doors secured with padlocks.
On each turn, the contestant hit a button to stop a spinning "Steps" dial" and moved ahead the number of spaces it showed (1 through 10). Types of spaces on the board included:
- Bonus: The contestant stopped a spinning "Bonus" dial and moved ahead that many spaces.
- Penalty: The contestant stopped a spinning "Penalty" dial and moved back that many spaces.
- Safe: The contestant simply took his/her next turn.
- Question: The contestant answered a question. All questions asked in a particular game were of the same type, such as true/false, filling in missing parts of celebrities' names, naming the capital of a given state, and so on. A right answer allowed the contestant to play from that space on their next turn, but a miss sent him/her back to the last "Safe" space" passed.
- Keys: The final space, which awarded a key of the contestant's choosing if passed.
If the contestant reached the end of the board within 15 turns, he/she won the right to choose one key and had to make a choice. He/she could choose the appropriate number of keys, win whatever prizes they unlocked, and retire from the show; or play again in the hope of winning another key. If the contestant chose to retire and had not picked the key for the grand prize, Narz would reveal which one unlocked it. Failing to reach the end forfeited all earned keys and sent the contestant home with only a consolation prize.
There was also a home viewer game, where viewers could enter a weekly drawing to win a prize package (including a fur stole and a cash bonus) by guessing which of seven keys would unlock it. Six smaller prizes were also at stake, each also with its own key. The chosen viewer won whatever prize his/her chosen key unlocked. The game started fresh at the beginning of each broadcast week, and if the prize package had not been won by Friday (or the week's last episode, as appropriate), then Narz would continue drawing cards and unlocking prizes until someone won it.
Seven Keys had a loyal, dependable audience on ABC's daytime schedule for most of its three-year run, until it was finally matched against CBS's Love of Life and NBC's Missing Links and Your First Impression in the fall of 1963 and winter of 1964. With that, Keys ended its network run on March 27, 1964 ... but the show continued as a local program for another year on KTLA.
Tropes present:
- All or Nothing: After each "Seven Keys" game victory, the contestant was given the option to quit with whatever keys they had won (and take whatever prizes whose windows they unlocked, which could (but not necessarily did) include the grand prize window), or play another game, knowing that if they failed to reach the end of the game board on their next playing, even if off by one space, they would lose it all.
- Consolation Prize: For contestants who lost any of their "Seven Keys" games, and for home viewer sweepstakes players whose cards were drawn but didn't win. Usually, said prize was worth anywhere from $25 to $50.
- Home Game: Issued by Ideal in 1961, played similarly to the TV show.
- Home Participation Sweepstakes: A staple of the show, from its very beginning until near the end of the KTLA-TV run. Viewers were shown a showcase of prizes and invited to send, via postcard, which key would unlock the window the prizes were behind. A card was drawn at random from a tumbler, and if it had the correct key number printed on it, that contestant won; a consolation gift was given if he/she was incorrect. The process was repeated on subsequent shows that week until Friday, after which — if a correct guess was still needed — cards were drawn from the tumbler until one with a correct answer was drawn.
- Let's Just See What WOULD Have Happened: If a contestant elects to retire with his earned keys before winning his seventh game, the contestant and host Jack Narz tried those keys in each window to see what was won. If none of the keys opened the grand prize window, Narz would reveal the correct key.
- Personnel:
- The Announcer: Jack Powers/George Barkley.
- Game Show Host: Jack Narz, who had just a few years beforehand escaped implication in the Quiz Show Scandals of the late 1950s (although one of his shows, Dotto, was a prime culprit in the whole thing). With Seven Keys, he began to cement a respected game show-hosting career that lasted until the early 1980s.
- Lovely Assistant: Betty Andrews/Barbara Lyon. More than once, they would serve as a date for a young bachelor if he was playing for a prize package that included an evening on the town (said prize package always including a sports car).
- Studio Audience.
- Whammy: Any contestant who either:
- During the regular game, landed on a Penalty space, meaning they had to move back anywhere from one to 10 spaces. Especially so if the contestant was starting to run low on number of remaining turns and still had distance to cover.
- Lost a "Seven Keys" game ... meaning they lost all their keys and any potential prizes they might have won with them, along with an opportunity to win the grand prize. Especially if they were later revealed to have already won the key that would have unlocked the grand prize window (as contestants could quit at any time).
