Super Ball!!
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Super Ball!! was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Played from February 3, 1981 to January 12, 1998, the game was based on the arcade game skee ball. It was played for three prizes, each worth more than $1,000, and a cash prize of up to $3,000; this game also used small prizes.
[edit] Gameplay
The contestant was shown three small prizes, one at a time; each prize had a ball with it that was associated with one of the large prizes. Each small prize also displayed two prices; the contestant had to choose the correct price for the prize. If they were correct, they won the small prize and the ball. Otherwise, they lost the prize and the ball.
After all three prizes were played, assuming the contestant had won at least one ball, they were taken to a standard arcade skee ball lane. The center ring, marked "win", was surrounded by a "$100" ring and a "$50" outer area. $50 was the minimum a contestant could win for each ball earned.
After a practice roll, the contestant rolled each ball they had won on the lane. If they rolled the "win" ring, they won the large prize associated with the ball; otherwise, they won the amount of money associated with the cash ring they rolled.
Once all of the earned balls were rolled, the contestant attempted to win the "Super Ball" by choosing between two prices for one more small prize. If the contestant won the Super Ball, they would roll it on the lane, with a "win" earning them all three large prizes. If the contestant had already won all three prizes with the standard balls, a Super Ball "win" would earn them a $3,000 bonus. If the Super Ball landed in either cash ring, the contestant earned three times the value of that ring, making them worth $300 and $150, respectively. The only way to win nothing in this game was to incorrectly guess the prices of all four small prizes and earn no balls.
Super Ball!! is one of only three pricing games, along with Hole in One and On the Nose, in which a task of physical skill is required to win. Other games, such as Race Game and Bonkers, give the contestant more chances to win if they perform better physically, but they can still be won without the physical skill.
[edit] History
Super Ball was created by former director Marc Breslow. [1]
The $3,000 bonus came into play only twice, and was won only once, in September 1992.
On the episode that aired on November 14, 1991, a contestant named Mohini could not grasp the concept of skeeball; rather than rolling the balls, she tried to throw them overhand into the rings, causing them to bounce off and roll back down the lane. In the end, she ended up with $200 in cash (One practice throw landed in $50 and was mistakenly added to the total), but no prizes. The game took close to nine minutes to play, making it one of the longest pricing game playings in the show's history.
During the game's long run, Edd Kalehoff's theme to The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour was used for the prize reveal.
Super Ball!!'s set was not destroyed when it was retired, and the skeeball prop currently resides in Bob Boden's garage.
[edit] Retirement
Super Ball!! was among the longest pricing games to play, the first being Poker Game. Bob Barker determined, based on the in-studio audience reaction, that the time it took to play Super Ball!! could be put to better use, and the game was retired.
