1981 - 1998 (Retired)
Super Ball was a one-of-a-kind game based on the arcade game Skee-Ball. A contestant was shown three large prizes, each quite nice, with the last being the most expensive of them all (a car, nice trip, trailer, etc). A contestant earned a ball representing each prize by guessing the price of a small item from two choices. The contestant played Skee-Ball with each ball won. If the contestant threw the ball into the win circle on the Skee-Ball board, s/he won the large prize that the ball represented. If the ball went into the $50 or $100 circles, s/he won that amount of money. After all the earned balls were played for, the contestant was then shown a fourth and final small item called the "Super Ball." If the contestant earned that ball and threw it into the win circle, s/he won the large prizes s/he hadn't won with the first three balls. For example, if the contestant hadn't won any of the large items, s/he won them all by throwing the Super Ball in the win circle. If the contestant had only won large item #1, s/he would then win large items #2 and #3 as well. If the contestant hadn't even earned one or more of the balls, s/he could make up for that and win those large prizes as well. In the rare case that the contestant had won all three large items with the first three balls, landing the Super Ball in the win circle won a $3,000 cash bonus. Since this happened once every century, the cash bonus should have been around $10,000! If the Super Ball landed in one of the cash circles instead, it was worth triple the amount of cash for that circle.
Super Ball was well loved by TPiR fans because of its elaborate setup. The three prizes were behind the three doors and as they were displayed in the introduction, the music from the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour was played, a very popular tune among game show fans. In this case the Super Ball was won, the doors would be whisked open simultaneously to display all the prizes again.
Super Ball is the most recent game to be retired and the reasons behind its retirement are unknown. Arguably, the game requires a little too much hand/eye coordination for a contestant who's probably nervous as heck about being on stage. Of course, the same could be said about Hole in One (...or Two), and that game is played to this date.
Bob always took a practice shot with one of the balls, demonstrating how to hit the win circle and allowed the contestant to take a practice shot as well. In most cases, the contestant underthrew the practice ball and overcompensated on the next ball by overthrowing.
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| Behind door #1, an oriental screen! | Behind door #2, a fabulous trip to Scotland! |
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| Behind door #3, this...awful...thing! | Here's the Super Ball setup, with Bob ready to take a practice shot. Gotta love those colors. |
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| Here's the small item representing ball #1. | And she wins ball #1 by guessing the right price! |
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| This ball landed in the $50 circle, netting the contestant that much in cash. | The Super Ball can make up for all the mistakes made previously! |
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| A winner! Ball #3 lands in the win circle and the contestant wins a trip to Switzerland! | She earned $150 ($50 x 3) for the Super Ball and a total of $250 in cash. The #3 is lit up because she won that trip to Switzerland. |