The Phone Home Game
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The Phone Home Game was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Lasting from the Season 12 premiere on September 12, 1983 to November 3, 1989, it was played for a cash prize of up to $15,000, and used grocery items. Its name came from an event in the feature film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
[edit] Gameplay
During much of the 1980s, The Price is Right had a feature called "Play Along," where viewers were invited to send postcards to the show for a chance to receive the same prizes won by the in-studio contestants. The Phone Home Game took this concept to another level, having the person whose postcard was drawn participate in a cooperative effort with the in-studio contestant to split a cash prize of up to $15,000.
The in-studio contestant was shown seven grocery items, each one having a hidden cash value associated with it. The home player gave the contestant three prices, one at a time, and the in-studio contestant had to match it with one of the grocery items. If he was correct, they won the cash prize associated with it; if not, no money was awarded, and the wrong price and the item it belonged to were taken out of play. A home viewer could also cause a turn to be lost if he read out the name of an item instead of a price.
After all three items were played, if at least one item was guessed right, the cash values attached to any items correctly guessed were revealed. Each player got half of the final pot; the maximum possible was $15,000, or $7,500 to each contestant.
[edit] Prize Money
There were five prizes available, from $200 to $10,000. $200 and $1,000 were on the board twice, and the top three prizes of $2,000; $3,000 and $10,000 appear once each.
[edit] Trivia
- The chances of picking the three 'jackpot' values of $2,000; $3,000 and $10,000 were 35:1. At least two pairings of players split the full $15,000 prize; there were also contestant pairings who failed to win any money, including one in which the home player named a product instead of a price on all three turns, thus completely wasting the game.
- The contestant playing at home was considered an "on-the-air" contestant, and thus lost his eligibility to be an in-studio contestant.
- On episodes aired the day before a scheduled broadcast of The Phone Home Game, host Bob Barker would promote the game, giving a message along the lines of, "Make sure to watch, because I might just be calling you!" This was done for promotional purposes only, as Price episodes are taped weeks or months before they air.
- The podium housing the grocery items was never shown on-camera.
- This is surprisingly the only pricing game whose name begins with the word "The".
- There is still a jack for The Phone Home Game's telephone to be plugged into on the frame of one of the Big Doors.
- The Phone Home Game was always played in the first half of the show. The home viewer was called before the taping of the show began and was put on hold until the game was played. The staff reasoned that keeping someone on hold for over 20 minutes would be impolite.
[edit] Retirement
- No official reason has been given as to The Phone Home Game's termination, although it might be related to the end of the "Play Along" promotion that ran through the mid-80s.
