The board consisted of a 70-space path and three spinning dials marked "Steps," "Bonus," and "Penalty," each of which could display a value from 1 to 10 and was controlled by a separate button.

Contestants left the show after deciding to stop, earning all seven keys and winning every available prize, or failing to complete the path within 15 turns.

In the other, the bonus was $500 and the host only drew one card; if the viewer did not win the prize wonderland, he demonstrated the correct key by using it to open that lock.

Seven Keys originally aired locally in Los Angeles on KTLA Channel 5 (now an affiliate of The CW) from September 12, 1960 to April 28, 1961.

On October 1, 1962 Keys was struck a large blow when NBC began a new 55-minute series at 2:00 PM (followed by a five-minute newscast) – The Merv Griffin Show.

While CBS stopped programming at 11:30/10:30 for nearly a year, NBC introduced its new Ed McMahon-hosted game Missing Links in the slot.

The show was now up against the long-running soap Love of Life on CBS and the popular game Your First Impression on NBC, and was beaten soundly in the ratings until it finally admitted defeat on March 27, 1964.

Although the status of the KTLA versions remain unknown, the ABC tapes are believed to have been either destroyed or reused as per network practices at the time.

[1] The UCLA Film and Television Archive holds two episodes[2] along with a clip from a KTLA blooper reel (described as "a box is stuck from the game show Seven Keys"[3]).