3oaM went through at least three format changes during its nearly three year run. IIRC, the last format had the players win three matches against their opponents to win $5000 in prizes. That means that each contest took between two or three days to complete. So that somebody might win something during a episode, The Big Match was added.

The gameboard was set up so that black dots were behind ten of of the twelve choices. The other two choices were drawings of half of a one thousand dollar bill (remember those, oldtimers?). Each player, in turn, chose a box and if one of the half bills was revealed, that player chose one more box and if the other half were there that player won the money. If the money was not won, the bonus accumulated to the next day's jackpot.

In the episodes I saw, each half-bill was in a separate column and the right half was always in a column that was on the right of the left half. My question is: was that always the set up? If so, that was increase the chances of a winner.

I don't know for sure, but just as an opinion, I don't think they would limit the board positioning that way. Such limitations would lower the chance for the joackpot to climb high and build excitement. There was no rule that the prizes in the regular game had to be scrambled (e.g., you could win with 20, 30, and 40 all on the yellow), so I would hope they didn't reduce the possible number of configurations for the dollar bill halves.

But by Alfonzo's description, the goal wasn't to build excitement. The goal was to get more winning done than just once every few shows.

The idea sounds very similar to the Ten Chances "zero goes last" rule, which certainly does exist.

In the regular game, the prizes WEREN'T scrambled by column, were they? Wasn't it always one in the $20, one in the $30, one in the $40? So the right half of the bill being to the right of the left half isn't giving away the farm, is it?

True, the odds are still against the player but a lucky first guess could increase the odds from 11:1 against (8 1/3%) to 3:1 against (25%).

For the record, I visited Fred Wostbrock last week and had a look at his Three on a Match pictures. Among them was one clearly taken during game play which had the right half of the bill in the $20 column and the left half of the bill in the $30 column. So we can now say with certainty that each of the two halves could appear anywhere on the board. Sleep well, America!

This is what we needed that Don Pardo memoir for.

Chapter 27: How Many Times Was There a Single Player in Final Jeopardy! During the Fleming Run?

"Sorry--I was always grabbing a martini over at Hurley's during Final Jeopardy!"