Let's Make a Deal

The original daytime series was recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, California and then at ABC Television Center in Los Angeles once the program switched networks in 1968. The weekly syndicated series also taped at ABC Television Center, doing so for its first five seasons. After ABC cancelled the daytime series in 1976, production of the syndicated series ceased there as well and the sixth and final season was recorded in the ballroom of the Las Vegas Hilton hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 1980 Canadian series taped at Panorama Studios in Vancouver, BC, which production company Catalena Productions used as its base of operations. The All-New Let's Make a Deal taped its first season of episodes in Burbank at NBC Studios, then moved to Hollywood Center Studios in Hollywood, California for the second and final season. The 1990 NBC daytime series was recorded at Disney-MGM Studios on the grounds of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The 2003 revival returned production to Burbank.

The current edition of the series first originated from the Tropicana in Las Vegas. The show returned to Hollywood in 2010, first at Sunset Bronson Studios and later at Raleigh Studios. The show currently films at Saticoy Studios in Van Nuys, California.

The theme music for the 1963-77 versions was composed by Sheldon Allman. The theme, along with all incidental music, was performed by an in-studio combo led by Ivan Ditmars, consisting of an electric organ, guitar, drums, and on the nighttime version, a harp. In some seasons of the nighttime show, the combo was further augmented by a horn section. The final season of the nighttime show taped in Las Vegas eliminated the in-studio band in favor of pre-recorded tracks, due to Ivan Ditmars' retirement.[7]

The 1984-86 version featured a brand new theme provided by Score Productions, although original composer Sheldon Allman returned as music director for the first season. Todd Thicke replaced Allman in that role for the second season. Both music directors utilized music from previous Hatos-Hall shows, such as Split Second, as incidental cues during the show.

The 2009 revival features another new theme composed by Brian Teed. Since 2011, keyboardist Cat Grey has provided in-studio musical accompaniment.[8]

Jay Stewart and Monty Hall on the original version of the show

Each episode of Let's Make a Deal consists of several "deals" between the host and a member (or members, generally a married couple) of the audience, referred to as "traders." Audience members are picked at the host's whim as the show moves along, and couples are often selected to play together as traders. The deals are mini-games within the show that take several formats.

In the simplest format, a trader is given a prize of medium value (such as a television set or a few hundred dollars in cash), and the host offers them the opportunity to trade for another prize. However, the offered prize is unknown. It might be concealed on the stage behind one of three curtains, or behind "boxes" onstage (large panels painted to look like boxes), within smaller boxes brought out to the audience, or occasionally in other formats. The initial prize given to the trader may also be concealed, such as in a box, wallet or purse, or the trader might be initially given a box, envelope or curtain. The format varies widely.

Technically, traders are supposed to bring something to trade in, but this rule has seldom been enforced. On several occasions, a trader is actually asked to trade in an item such as their shoes or purse, only to receive the item back at the end of the deal as a "prize". On at least one occasion, the purse was taken backstage and a high-valued prize was placed inside of it.

Prizes generally consist of either cash or merchandise with genuine value, such as a trip, electronics, furniture, appliances, or a car. At times, a small prize (typewriter, pocket tape recorder, etc.) may contain a cash bonus or a written/recorded message awarding cash or a larger prize to a contestant who has chosen it. Certain contestants win booby prizes called "zonks," which can be outlandish items (live animals, junked cars, giant articles of clothing, etc.) or legitimate prizes with very little value (wheelbarrows, giant teddy bears, piles of food, etc.). On rare occasions, a trader receives a zonk that proves to be a cover-up for a valuable prize.

Though usually considered joke prizes, traders legally win the zonks.[9] However, after the taping of the show, any trader who had been zonked is offered a consolation prize (currently $100) instead of having to take home the actual zonk. This is partly because some of the zonks are impractical or physically impossible to receive or deliver to the traders (such as live animals or a stagehand wearing an animal costume), or the props are owned by the studio. A disclaimer at the end of the credits of later 1970s episodes read "Some traders accept reasonable duplicates of zonk prizes." Starting in the 2012–13 season, CBS invited viewers to provide zonk ideas to producers. At the end of the season, the zonk declared the most creative was worth $2,500 to the winner, and other viewers' zonk ideas were also used. For every viewer-developed zonk, the host announced the viewer who provided the zonk. The contest has been continued throughout the past several seasons after its 2012 introduction.

As the end credits of the show roll, it is typical for the host to ask random members of the studio audience to participate in fast deals. In the current Wayne Brady version, these are often referred to as "quickie deals", and are conducted by the host, announcer, and model each. CBS will post information on the show's Twitter address (@LetsMakeADeal) days before taping to encourage audience members to carry certain items in their pockets in order to win an additional $100-$500 when the host, announcer, or model approaches them at the end of the show and asks to see such items.[10] The deals are usually in the form of the following:

• Offering cash to a person for possessing a certain item.
• Paying a small cash amount for each instance of a certain item (coins, paperclips, etc.) that a person can produce.
• Offering cash for each instance of a particular digit in the serial number on a dollar bill, driver's license, etc.
• Offering to pay the last check in the person's checkbook, if they had one, up to a certain limit (usually $500 or $1,000).
• Offering cash to one person if they can correctly guess how much the Big Deal of the Day was worth exactly, or the name of the contestant who played for it.
• Offering cash to one person if they can correctly choose which one of two photos appeared on the show's Instagram account.
• Offering cash to one person if they can correctly answer a question relating to their costume.
• Offering cash to one person if they can correctly guess how much money ($100, $200, or $300) was in the announcer's hand.

Deals are often more complicated than the basic format described above. Additionally, some deals take the form of games of chance, and others in the form of pricing games.

Types of trading deals employed on the show include:

• Choosing one of several envelopes/wallets/purses that contain various amounts of money. One of them conceals a pre-announced value (usually $1 or $5), which awards a car or trip. The other envelopes contain a larger amount of money as a consolation prize. The trader must decide whether to keep their choice or trade. In some playings it is possible for more than one trader to win the grand prize.
• Making decisions for another person, such as a spouse or a series of unrelated traders, or every member of a team receiving the same item based on majority vote. Sometimes after several offers, a team is broken up and each individual trader can make one final deal on his/her own.
• Being told the weight of a prize behind a box or curtain, and then choosing to keep it or sell it back to the host for a certain price per pound.
• Being offered a quantity of some foreign currency, and then choosing to receive its equivalent in United States dollars or trade it for a box/curtain.
• Being presented with an item having an unknown cash value, such as a claim check or gift certificate. Variations have included a cash box, to which the host adds packets of money at intervals; a shopping bag, to which he adds grocery items containing money; or a package of some grocery item such as candy or gum that may or may not contain money. Over the course of the episode, the trader holding the item is given several opportunities to exchange it for a box, curtain, or chance to win a large prize; in each case, the option he/she declines is given to another trader. Typically, but not always, the last trader holding the item is given the first chance to return it and play for the Big Deal. The total cash value of the item (if any) is revealed only after the trader has made his/her decision or, on occasion, during the closing credits.

A wide variety of chance-based games have been used on the show. Examples:

• Collecting a certain amount of money hidden inside wallets, envelopes, etc., or by pressing unlabeled buttons on a cash register, in order to reach a pre-stated "selling price" for a larger prize, such as a car, trip or larger amount of cash. Typically, there may also be one or more zonk items hidden which end the game immediately if found. In the cash register game, if the zonk button—the one that rings up "No Sale" – is found, the trader was offered a chance to find the second "No Sale" sign to win the grand prize, otherwise the trader won whatever amount was rang up, often double the amount. In the current CBS version, a board with thirteen cash amounts and two zonks is used.
• Choosing one from among several items (e.g., one of three keys that unlocks a safe, one of three diamond rings that is genuine, one of three eggs that is raw, etc.) in order to win money or a prize. Sometimes, two or perhaps all three of the items would pay off with the stated prize, especially if multiple traders played.
• Games involving a deck of cards in which a trader must find matching cards, draw cards that reach a cumulative total within a certain number of draws, draw a certain number of cards from a certain suit to win a designated prize (with one suit always designated as going toward a "zonk," which ends the game with nothing won), etc. to win a prize or additional money.
• Receiving clues about an unknown prize (such as a partial spelling of the prize or clues in the form or rap, rhyme, etc.) and deciding whether to take the unknown prize or a cash prize.
• Receiving money in the form of a long strip of bills dispensed one at a time from a machine. The trader can end the game at any time and keep the accumulated money, but he/she forfeits it if a blank sheet or a card marked "curtains" appears. Updated versions of the game involve an ATM; the trader inserts a card and begins to withdraw cash, but an "overdrawn" message on the screen at any time ends the game and forfeits the money.
• Receiving a check or cash in the amount of $1,000, which can be traded for a spin of a giant wheel. The top prize on the wheel is a car, but the trader can also double, triple, or quadruple the cash total; the trader can also land on either a cash space that offers significantly less money that the initial prize or a zonk.
• Rolling dice to receive cash based upon the roll or achieving a cumulative score within a certain number of rolls to win a larger prize.

Depending on the game, the trader is given the opportunity to stop the game at various points and take a "sure thing" deal or cash/prizes already accumulated or continue on and risk possibly losing.

Other deals related to pricing merchandise are featured in order to win a larger prize or cash amounts. Sometimes traders are required to price individual items (either grocery products or smaller prizes generally valued less than $100) within a certain range to win successively larger prizes or a car. Other times traders must choose an item that a pre-announced price, order grocery items or small prizes from least to most expensive, or two items with prices that total a certain amount to win a larger prize. These games are not used on the CBS version because of their similarities to The Price is Right.

On the CBS version, due to the similarities of the pricing game concept with The Price Is Right, quiz games are used instead. These deals involve products in the form of when they were introduced to the market, general knowledge quizzes, currency exchange rates (at the time of taping), or knowledge of geography of trips to certain locales used as prizes.

The Big Deal serves as the final segment of the show and offers a chance at a significantly larger prize for a lucky trader. Before the round, the value of the day's Big Deal is announced to the audience.

The process for choosing traders was the same for every series through the 2003 NBC primetime series. Monty Hall (or his successors) would begin asking the day's traders, starting with the highest winner, if they wanted to trade in everything they had won to that point for a chance to choose one of three numbered doors on the stage. The process continued until two traders agreed to play, and the biggest winner of the two got first choice of the doors. The other trader then chose from the remaining two doors. Since the 2009 series, the Big Deal has been played with just one trader.

Each of the doors conceals either a prize package of some sort, or a cash award hidden inside a prop such a bank vault, piggy bank, or blank check. On occasion, a door containing an all-cash prize is opened before the traders make their choices, but the amount of the prize is not revealed. Most often, the value of the "Low" Door (the lowest-valued door) is less than the value of the player's original winnings, while the "Medium" Door's value is at least $1,000 more than the player's traded winnings.

When the Big Deal is not behind the selected door, one of the non-Big Deal doors is opened first, then the chosen door, with the Big Deal revealed last. If the Big Deal door is selected, the other two doors are usually revealed first, although on rare occasions, the Big Deal door has been revealed second, after one of the other two doors (usually the "Medium" door) is revealed.

The Big Deal prize is usually the most extravagant on each episode, and is often a car or a vacation with first-class accommodations. On occasion, the Big Deal consists of one of the all-cash prizes mentioned above; at other times, a cash bonus is added to the prizes in the Big Deal to bring the total up to the announced value. On other occasions, the Big Deal is revealed to include "Everything in the Big Deal," which awards the prizes behind all three doors to the trader who chooses it.

Traders who have won zonks become eligible for the Big Deal only if not enough winners of actual cash/prizes volunteer to play. The Big Deal is the only time during the show in which participants are guaranteed to receive a genuine prize.

During the 1975–76 syndicated season, winners of the Big Deal were offered a chance to win the "Super Deal". At this point, Big Deals were limited to a range of $8,000 to $10,000. The trader could risk their Big Deal winnings on a shot at adding a $20,000 cash prize, which was hidden behind only one of three mini-doors onstage. The other two doors contained cash amounts of $1,000 or $2,000, however, the $1,000 value was later replaced with a "mystery" amount between $1,000 and $9,000. A trader who decided to play risked their Big Deal winnings and selected one of the mini-doors. If the $20,000 prize was behind the door, the trader kept the Big Deal and added the $20,000 prize, for a potential maximum total of $30,000. However, if a trader selected one of the other two doors, he or she forfeited the Big Deal prizes but kept the cash amount behind the door. The Super Deal was discontinued when the show permanently moved to Las Vegas for the final season (1976–77), and Big Deal values returned to the previous range of $10,000 to $15,000.

From 2012 to 2016 of the Brady version, the Super Deal was offered as a limited event (usually for a week of shows promoted as "Super Deal Week") and was not played regularly. The show designated one or two weeks of episodes, typically airing during a special event (e.g., the 500th episode, 50th anniversary of franchise, etc.). In this version, the top cash prize was $50,000 while the other two cash prizes were $1,000 and $2,000. In addition, instead of using mini-doors, the cash amounts were hidden in three large colored envelopes of red, green, and blue, respectively referred by Brady as ruby, emerald, and sapphire.

The week of May 9, 2016 was designated Mash-Up Week. During each of the five broadcast days, Deal and The Price Is Right each featured one game from the other's lineup. The games were slightly modified to reflect the nature of the shows on which they were played; those on TPIR required contestants to price items, while those on Deal used random draws and the offer of cash/prize deals to stop a game early. Mash-Up Week returned to both shows the week of March 23, 2020.