Switcheroo
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Switcheroo is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on October 22, 1976, this game is played for a car, plus four small prizes (each worth between $10 and $100).
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[edit] Gameplay
The prices for five prizes – a car and the small gifts – are shown on the board, except that one digit is missing from each (the first number of the two-digit items; the fourth position of the car). The contestant is presented five number blocks, each having a different number and belonging somewhere on the board.
Within a 30-second time limit, the contestant has to place each number blocks to form prices; he may make as many changes as desired as long as time remains on the clock. Upon settling on a configuration of blocks or expiration of the time limit, the contestant is told how many blocks have been correctly placed.
The game is automatically won after the first turn if all five prizes are priced right; however, if the number correct is anything less than five, the contestant may use this knowledge to quit and take whatever prizes he has correctly priced, or use an additional 30 seconds to correct any mistakes.
After finishing the second turn, the contestant is furnished with the number correct, along with the answers. The contestant keeps any correctly-priced prizes.
Although the most desirable result is to have all five prices correct (thus winning everything), the game is regarded as won as long as the car's price is correct.
[edit] Strategy
Although not frequently employed by contestants, the best strategy in Switcheroo is to begin by pricing the small prizes, saving the car for last. It is more likely that the contestant can reasonably figure out the first numbers in the smaller prizes than it is that he can guess the tens digit of a car's price.
[edit] Trivia
- To accommodate elderly or disabled contestants, Switcheroo has occasionally been played with a 45-second clock or with no timer at all, often with Bob placing the cubes for the player in the latter case.
- The oldest contestant in Price Is Right history, a 99-year-old man, happened to play Switcheroo. He was not given a timer (the clock was conveniently "broken" that day).
- The odds of winning everything by random placement are 119:1. However, several contestants have accomplished this feat, including at least two on the first turn.
- When Switcheroo transitioned into a five-digit car game, the blue stripes on the left side of the board became much thinner to accommodate the extra digit. The right side of the board was never updated to match this.
- Switcheroo used 2 different vaudeville style music cues as the contestant placed or changed the numbers on the board, while the 1985-1986 Tom Kennedy version used a remix of the theme to the 1978 game show Celebrity Charades as the music cue.
- One playing of Switcheroo had the hundreds digit of the car set up incorrectly. The car was $12,540, but the contestant's guess was $12,460. Keeping in mind that contestants can only change the tens digit, Bob awarded her the car.
- One playing had the third "slot" broken, so the contestant had to place the block for that prize on top of the fourth block.
- Switcheroo is the only active car game with a timer involved. It is also the only active small prize/car game that integrates the pricing of the car and the small prizes.
