Over the course of nine weeks on the show in 1980, contestant Thom McKee defeated 43 opponents to win eight cars and take home $312,700 in cash and prizes, a record at the time. Over $200,000 of his winnings was in cash. In one game, he broke the record for winning the biggest pot in a match, which was $36,800 after four tie games against challenger Pete Cooper (the record was overtaken later in the series by contestant Randy James, who competed in a series of tie games that lasted for six consecutive shows before winning the final pot of $46,900).
In an interview, Wink Martindale said that while the CBS version began airing, Barry & Enright Productions secured a spot to air a syndicated version that began in the fall (the idea being to make it the first game show to air in both network daytime and daily syndication). The CBS version ended due to poor ratings, but the syndicated version drew high numbers, and as a result, had an eight-year run.