Temptation (pricing game)
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Temptation is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on September 7, 1973, this game is played for a car, and four prizes (each worth between $500 and $10,000).
[edit] Gameplay
To start, if the car's price is five digits long, the contestant is spotted the first digit. Host Bob Barker then presents the contestant with four prizes (referred to as gifts), one at a time; sometimes, one of these items will be a fishbowl full of cash.
After a prize is described, a model will display a price tag. That price tag contains digits corresponding to a number in the price of the car. Often, each price contains just two different digits, making the choice an either-or proposition (e.g., for an $855 prize, the choice was between a "5" or an "8"). Sometimes there were three choices (see Trivia below).
Once play has concluded on all four items, the contestant has provided a possible price of the car. He is then given an opportunity to change any of the digits he feels are incorrect; he can only switch a particular number with the other choice for that digit (e.g., if the two choices for the second digit corresponded with a $1,000 prize, and he first guessed "1," he had to exchange it with the "0").
Then the "Temptation" aspect of the game comes into play – Bob announces the total value of the four gifts (often, around $3,000, although it can vary significantly), and then asks if the contestant wants to take the sure thing and forget about the car, or risk them all for the car. If the contestant elects to go on and has all four numbers correct, he/she wins the car and the prizes; however, if even one number is incorrect, everything is lost.
[edit] Trivia
- Fans of The Price Is Right often trace Temptation's ancestry to Double Digits, a failed pricing game which had similar concepts.
- When Temptation debuted, the contestant did not have the option of changing any digits. This rule was changed months after its debut.
- The Temptation board was originally green, and the "actual price" displays were orange with black numbers. The game's current color scheme debuted on April 11, 1988.
- During the days of four-digit car prices, the contestant had to guess each of the digits. There were sometimes three choices for the first number, but one of them was obviously wrong (for instance, $189).
- During the post-2003 primetime specials, the four prizes often totalled more than $10,000 ... and that was with a luxury car on offer.
- Temptation is the only game where contestants can receive thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise without really having to do anything to win it.
- Temptation was played for a four-digit car for the last time on March 29, 1993. Since April 15, 1993, it has always been played for a five-digit car.
- When Temptation's board was modified to accommodate 5 digits, the game was still offering 4-digit cars. On the last few playings with such cars, in the spot where the ten thousands digit in the price of a 5-digit car would normally be, a dollar sign was displayed.
- Temptation was not won during the show's 34th season.
