Bonus Game

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Host Bob Barker in front of the Bonus Game board

Bonus Game is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on the show's first episode on September 4, 1972, it is played for a four-digit prize, usually valued between $3,000 and $10,000, and uses small prizes. While not a car game, Bonus Game is played for cars semi-frequently.

Bonus Game is one of Price's original five pricing games.

[edit] Gameplay

Bonus Game is played on a board with four blue windows, one of which conceals the word "Bonus."

One at a time, the contestant is shown a small prize, along with an incorrect price. They must determine whether the actual price is "higher" or "lower" than the one shown.

A correct decision won that prize, and the prize marker is moved to mark that particular window. If the contestant was wrong, the small prize is lost and the mark was removed from the board.

After all four prizes have been played, all four windows are lighted. If the word "BONUS" lights up beside one of the prizes the contestant has right, the contestant wins the bonus prize. However, even if the bonus prize is lost, the contestant keeps all small prizes that were won.

[edit] Trivia

Contestants who correctly price all four smaller prizes automatically win the bonus prize, since they control all four windows. However, unlike in Shell Game, no cash bonus is offered/awarded in this situation.
When the game was first played, the colors on the windows were yellow. By the end of 1972, they were blue.
The game had no name on its board when it debuted. The name was added in May 1974.
For unknown reasons, this is the only turntable game that is visible before its prize is announced.
Shortly after Shell Game's debut in 1974, Bonus Game was removed from the rotation for over one year since the two games had very similar concepts. During the show's third season, it was only played two times. This only affected the daytime show; the game saw no significant reduction in play on the nighttime show.
Bonus Game is the oldest game that still uses its original set (excluding color changes).