The concept has been made into a series four separate times since its debut in 1978, and it also appeared as part of CBS's Gameshow Marathon.

The show returned and ran from 1986 to 1989 on CBS with Bob Eubanks as host, accompanied by a syndication production with Bill Rafferty.

Another syndicated production aired in 2001 with Pat Bullard as host and Gary Kroeger as announcer.

The goal is to complete a row of cards by correctly predicting whether the next is higher or lower in value, similarly to Acey Deucey.

Their opponent is then asked whether he or she thinks the actual number is higher or lower than the previous contestant's response.

In all versions from 1978 to 1989, as well as the Gameshow Marathon episode, matches were best two-out-of-three, with the third game being played with three cards per contestant and a maximum of three high-low questions.

In the 1980–1981 season, a $500 bonus was awarded to any contestant who provided the exact number of people responding to a specific question, a rule that was modified in the 1986–89 version.

In the final few months of 1981, if a contestant was able to complete their row of five cards successfully without freezing or guessing wrong once, he or she won a $500 bonus.

The champion is staked with a dollar amount before the round begins and wagers money on each card prior to calling higher or lower.

Players are required to physically place chips equal to their bet on a table in front of them on sections labeled "HIGHER" or "LOWER".

Initially, contestants could only change their base card on the bottom level of the board, at the start of the round.

Beginning in the fall of 1986, champions were also given an opportunity to win a new car following the Money Cards round.

If a joker was uncovered, it was replaced with the next card from the top of the deck, and the contestant was given an additional chance to win a car.

To ensure the contestant had one opportunity at winning the car, they were given one free joker at the onset of the Money Cards.

In July 1988, the bonus changed to feature an audience poll question similar to those used in the main game.

After a scheduling shuffle necessitated by the debut of The David Letterman Show on June 23, 1980, Card Sharks moved to noon/11:00 am, a timeslot where it first faced The $20,000 Pyramid, which was in its last week of its run, and then from June 30 on, the top-rated game show in daytime, Family Feud on ABC; the first half of The Young and the Restless in certain markets on CBS; and preemptions on local affiliates due to many stations electing to air local newscasts, talk shows, or other syndicated programming in the noon hour.

The CBS version of Card Sharks debuted at 10:30/9:30 am January 6, 1986, as a replacement for Body Language, and stayed in that timeslot for its entire run; Press Your Luck relocated to the latter show's old 4:00/3:00 pm slot to make room for Card Sharks.

At the midseason point, the syndicated Card Sharks disappeared from quite a few of its markets, while many stations that continued to air it moved it to very undesirable late-night and early morning timeslots.

No questions were asked; instead, a random draw was held backstage to determine who had initial control, with the option to pass or play after seeing the first card.

Both contestants were given two "Clip Chips" at the start of the match, which could be used to allow the one in control to change the last exposed card by correctly predicting the outcome of a pre-recorded video segment.

The winners of the two matches competed against one another in one seven-card game referred to as the "Big Deal," and could use any Clip Chips they still had.

The minimum bet was $100 for every card except the one on the top row (the "Major Wager") which required the contestant to risk at least half their total.

On June 15, 2006, Card Sharks was the fifth of seven classic game shows featured in CBS's month-long Gameshow Marathon hosted by Ricki Lake and announced by Rich Fields as it was one of the "semifinal rounds" in the tournament.

On March 13, 2019, Vulture reported that ABC was partnering with Fremantle to reboot the series, with pre-production on new hour-long episodes of Card Sharks and Press Your Luck being underway and taping slated to begin sometime in the spring.

[15] The 2019 version featured similar rules as the 1978–81 and 1986–89 iterations, with two new players competing in the main game and no returning champions.

A separate row of seven cards was dealt for each player, and a maximum of five questions were asked, with the fifth (if necessary) played under sudden-death rules.

Gene Wood was the primary announcer on both the original and 1980s Card Sharks, with Charlie O'Donnell and Bob Hilton serving as occasional substitutes.

The theme for the NBC version was previously used on the Goodson-Todman series Double Dare with host Alex Trebek that aired in 1976 on CBS.

Ann Pennington, Janice Baker, Lois Areno, Kristin Bjorklund, Melinda Hunter, and Markie Post all served as models on NBC.

All global versions of Card Sharks (except the U.S., Brazil, Chile, and Greece) were mostly produced by Reg Grundy.