Check Game
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Check Game (formerly Blank Check) is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on October 14, 1981, it is played for a four-digit prize (usually worth between $2,000 and $4,000) and a cash bonus. The game was created by producer Roger Dobkowitz. [1]
The original name of Check Game was Blank Check. The game began using its current name on October 10, 1986 upon the threat of a copyright infringement lawsuit from Barry & Enright Productions, who had produced a game show called Blank Check.
The original think music was borrowed from Range Game; Check Game began using its current music cue (also used for Cover Up and Make Your Move) in 1988.
Check Game is known for contestants being confused by the rules. Several contestants have attempted to write the check for amounts over $5,000, and several contestants have attempted to write on the game board's eggcrate displays (though this is typically edited out in modern episodes). While these difficulties might appear to endanger Check Game's status in the active game rotation, the confusion has become something of an inside joke over the years. Former Price Is Right host Bob Barker once stated that it is actually one of the reasons he enjoys the game. Contestants playing this game are commonly asked if they know the rules and, if so, are then asked to explain them.
[edit] Gameplay
The contestant is asked to write an oversized check for an amount that they think, when added to the price of the prize, will total between $5,000 and $6,000 (inclusive). (Up until February 3, 1989, the winning range was $3,000 to $3,500.) If the sum of the two amounts totals within that range, the contestant wins both the prize and the cash; if the amount falls outside of the desired range, the contestant loses the game and the check is voided.
Drew Carey, in a similar vein to the "Ezekiel Barker" running gag, implies that the show has been using the same (magic marker) quill pen since 1872, 1873, or other (less frequently used) 19th-century years. The game has used a magic marker designed to intentionally resemble a quill pen, complete with the quill pen feather.
The checks used are not legal checks. Each bears the same check number (4620 while Barker hosted the show, and 1133 since Drew Carey has taken over), the signature of the current host, and the invalid date of "TODAY, 20NOW" (or "19NOW" on episodes from prior to 2000).
The contestant is given the check they wrote to keep as a souvenir whether they win or lose, with losing checks stamped "VOID" by a large rubber stamp. Bob Barker has mentioned that staff members often find voided checks in garbage cans outside the studio.
