½ Off

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The "½ Off" boxes
The "½ Off" boxes

½ Off is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on May 28, 2004, it is played for a cash prize of $10,000, and uses small prizes.

[edit] Gameplay

The game's grand prize is hidden in one of 16 boxes on the ½ Off platform. A contestant can eliminate boxes by answering pricing questions on small prizes.

The contestant is shown three pairs of small prizes, one pair at a time. In each pair of prizes, one item has the correct price, and the other has a "half off" price (hence, the game's name). Correctly choosing the "half off" price eliminates half of the boxes currently in play.

Correct decisions each time allow the player to narrow down the possibilities from sixteen to eight to four and eventually two boxes. After the last pair of prizes is played, the contestant selects which box he/she believes contains the cash. The contestant wins if the box contains the money.

Regardless of whether or not the contestant wins the money, he/she wins any pairs of small prizes on which he/she made a correct "half off" guess.

[edit] Trivia

  • On primetime specials, ½ Off's prize is increased to $25,000.
  • The bills found in the winning box are not real money.
  • ½ Off's set is the most expensive prop ever built for The Price is Right.
  • ½ Off was originally planned to be played for a car, with a set of keys in one of the boxes instead of the cash.
  • Only two contestants so far have been forced to try to select the box with the $10,000 with all 16 boxes still in play. Both playings ended in losses.
  • Up to this point, the money has yet to be hidden in box #13.
  • Only one time has a contestant won with 8 boxes left.

[edit] See also