Master Key

Master Key
Premiere Date	March 25, 1983
Pricing Game Locations	Turntable & Center Stage
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Plinko
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Phone Home Game

The name comes from the fact that one key in a set of five is the "Master Key" which will unlock a set of locks to three prizes.

Gameplay

The contestant is shown two small prizes, one at a time, each with a three-digit number displayed. The contestant must decide whether the first two digits or the last two digits (eg: $46 or $68 if 468 was displayed) are the correct price. A correct choice wins the prize and a choice of one of five keys. If the contestant fails to win any keys, the game immediately ends, in which the contestant didn't win a key (the first time this has happened was on June 9, 1992).

Each of the five keys has a different effect on three locks which represent the car and two other prizes in the game. There is one key for each of the three locks, one "dud" key that opens nothing, and one "master key" that opens all three locks.

The contestant inserts their chosen key into each of the locks, one at a time, to see which lock it opens, if any. The contestant wins the prizes represented by any locks that are opened. If the contestant has won two keys, the process is repeated with the second key, unless the first was the master key and all three locks are already open. Of course, winning two keys guarantees winning at least one prize.

The only way to win all three prizes in Master Key is to choose the master key. If a contestant has the master key, it will be obvious after it opens more than one lock. If a key opens the first lock, the contestant will usually be told to skip right to the third lock for the car to add to the excitement if the lock opens.

History

The game premiered on March 25, 1983. It got its first win on the day it premiered with only one key, the master key, won.

The red backing behind the Master Key sign, with the top resembling a city skyline, was removed on September 29, 2009 to keep it from running into the new Door #5 structure.

The Master Key sign was also absent on December 21, 1984 due to an abundance of Christmas decorations on the turntable.

The presentation of the prizes was also changed. From its debut until May 7, 2013, all three prizes were revealed behind Door #2, with the two smaller prizes on each side of the car. A platform was later added for the car. On October 22, 2013, the current prize reveal debuted, with the first two prizes in front of Door #2, and the car revealed behind Door #2 afterward.

For a brief period in Drew's era, Drew would ask the contestant to choose a key by number. Later he went back to the old way by letting the contestant take a key.

On June 12, 2014, it was the first time that the car was won with the new prize reveal, the contestant had picked the master key during that playing.

Behind the scenes

The "unlocking" mechanism for the prizes is controlled by the position of magnets in the keys. The three single-prize keys have one magnet each, all in different spots; the master key has magnets in all three spots; and the "dud" key has no magnets.

Gallery

Premiere Playing

From the 80s

From 2005

From 2009

From 2014

YouTube Links

Premiere Playing
A Playing from 1985
A Playing from 1987
A Playing from 2001
A Funny Playing from 2002
A Playing from 2009
A Playing from 2011
Only Win from 2013

A Wipeout from Season 42 A win from 2014 Another win from 2014