Joker (pricing game)

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Host Bob Barker and a contestant standing in front of the "Joker" board

Joker was a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Played from February 14, 1994 to March 5, 2007, it was played for a four-digit prize (worth between $3,000 and $10,000), and used small prizes.

1 Gameplay
2 Retirement
3 Foreign versions
4 References

[edit] Gameplay

The contestant was shown five face-down playing cards, one of which was a Joker. To win the large prize, the contestant had to discard the Joker.

Four two-digit prizes were shown, one at a time, with the two digits in the prices shown. The contestant had to determine which order the digits in the price belonged in (for example, $24 or $42). For each correct guess, the contestant won the small prize and earned the opportunity to remove one card from the "hand." After all the prizes were played, the discarded cards were revealed to see if the Joker had been discarded.

The basic gameplay of Joker was essentially the same as that of Shell Game, in which the contestant also prices small prizes for chances to mark shells in search of one concealing a ball. It was also very similar to Bonus Game, except that the window marked in Bonus Game is determined by which prize a contestant prices correctly, and not by the contestant's choice. The main difference, however, between Joker and the aforementioned games is that Joker had five card options instead of the four options found in Shell Game and Bonus Game. This meant that, unlike the two older games, a contestant in Joker could price all four small prizes correctly and still lose the game.

[edit] Retirement

The game was officially retired in April 2008^[1]; however, its final playing occurred during the previous season. No official reason has been given. ^[2]

[edit] Foreign versions

On the 2006 British version of The Price Is Right, Joker was called Joe-Ker -- a reference to the host, Joe Pasquale.

The title of the French-Canadian Misez Juste's version of Joker was actually translated to "Four Aces" (Le Quatre As) instead of calling it "Joker" like most versions (even those not in English) tend to.

Vietnam's version of Joker is called "Chú Teu". The game's board is a replica of the one used in the UK for Bruce's Price Is Right -- an oddity, as most of the Vietnamese version's props closely resemble their US counterparts.

On Holland's Cash en Carlo, the contestant was given a free discard at the start of the game. As a result, however, the contestant could only price three items.