List of ''The Price Is Right'' pricing games

Pricing games are featured on the current version of the American game show The Price Is Right. The contestant from Contestants' Row who bids closest to the price of a prize without going over wins the prize and has the chance to win additional prizes or cash in an onstage game. After the pricing game ends, a new contestant is selected for Contestants' Row and the process is repeated. Six pricing games are played on each hour-long episode. Prior to expanding to one hour in length, three games per episode were played during the half-hour format. With the exception of a single game from early in the show's history, only one contestant at a time is involved in a pricing game.

A total of 109 pricing games have been played on the show, 76 of which are in the current rotation.^[1] On a typical hour-long episode, two games—one in each half of the show—will be played for a car, at most one game will be played for a cash prize and the other games will offer merchandise or trips. Usually, one of the six games will involve grocery products, while another will involve smaller prizes that can be used to win a larger prize package.

On the 1994 syndicated version hosted by Doug Davidson,^[2] the rules of several games were modified and other aesthetic changes were made. Notably, the grocery products used in some games on the daytime version were replaced by small merchandise prizes, generally valued less than $100. Episodes of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular that aired in 2008 and both Big Money Week and Dream Car Week featured rule changes to some pricing games. The names of some games are occasionally changed for episodes with specific themes, such as Earth Day, Halloween, and College Day.

Active games

A

Any Number

A gameboard contains spaces representing five digits in the price of a car, three digits in the price of a smaller prize, and three digits representing an amount of money (less than $10, in dollars and cents) in a piggy bank. The first digit in the price of the car is revealed at the beginning of the game (a rule implemented after cars valued at more than $10,000 were used in the game). The digits 0 through 9 each appear once in the remaining ten spaces, including a duplicate of the first digit in the price of the car. The contestant calls out digits one at a time, revealing them in the prices of the prizes on the gameboard, and wins the first prize whose price is completely revealed.^[3]

B

Balance Game

The contestant is shown four prop bags of money. One bag represents the last two or three digits for the price of a prize and is placed on the left side of a scale by the host at the beginning of the game. Each of the remaining three bags represents a value in multiples of $1,000. In order to win the prize, the contestant must choose two of the three remaining bags to add to the first bag in order to balance the scale which also has a bag representing the total price on the right side.^[4]

Bargain Game

Two prizes are shown, each displaying a bargain price lower than its actual retail price. The contestant wins both prizes by choosing which price displayed is the bigger bargain, the price that is marked further below the actual retail price of the item.^[5]

The game was known as Barker's Bargain Bar, named for previous host Bob Barker, until it was removed from rotation on December 5, 2008. The game returned on April 10, 2012 after a hiatus and was renamed Bargain Game, with a new set.

Bonkers

A gameboard displays an incorrect four-digit price for a prize and contains eight spaces: one space above and one space below each digit. The contestant is given four markers to place on the board and has 30 seconds to determine whether each correct digit in the price of the prize is higher or lower than the digit displayed, placing a marker above or below the incorrect digit to denote their choice. The contestant then presses a button. If the guessed pattern is correct, the contestant wins the prize. If the guess is incorrect, a buzzer sounds and the contestant must try again. Changes can be made until the contestant finds the right pattern or until time has expired.^[6]

Bonus Game

The contestant is asked whether each of four small prizes is priced higher or lower than the incorrect price given. Each prize corresponds to one of four windows on a gameboard, one of which conceals the word "Bonus". The contestant wins a large bonus prize by correctly pricing the small prize with the window containing the word "Bonus".^[7]

Bullseye

Five grocery items are shown, and the contestant is asked to purchase a quantity of a single item such that the total price is between $10 and $12. The contestant may make three attempts, each with a different item, and immediately wins the game by succeeding on any one attempt. If the total for an item is between $2 and $10, the host places a marker on a target-shaped gameboard to indicate it. If the total is less than $2 or over $12, no marker is placed.

One item has a bullseye hidden behind its price tag. If the contestant fails to reach the $10–$12 range on all three attempts, he/she can still win if the hidden bullseye is behind the price tag of an item for which he/she earned a marker on the target.^[8]

Originally, the target featured a $5 to $10 range, with $9 to $10 as the bullseye range. Shortly thereafter, the target became $1 to $6, with a $5 to $6 bullseye range.

C

Card Game

The contestant uses playing cards from a standard deck to bid on a car. Before playing the game, the contestant draws a card from another deck to determine how close their bid must be to the actual price, without going over, in order to win. The contestant's bid starts at $15,000 and increases as the contestant draws cards: tens and face cards add $1,000 and numbered cards add their face value multiplied by $100. Aces are wild and can either be played immediately or held aside. When the contestant chooses to stop drawing cards, the price of the car is revealed. If the bid is within the target range without going over, the contestant wins the car.^[9]

When the game debuted, no starting bid was given and aces could be made any value up to $1,000. The starting bid increased several times as a result of inflation to speed up the game: to $2,000 in 1983; $8,000 in 1993; $10,000 in 2001; $12,000 in 2005; and $15,000 in 2008. A rule change added in 2014 allows the game to be played for a luxury car, with the starting bid set at $60,000. Additionally, beginning in 1983 (coinciding with the addition of a starting bid), aces can be made any positive value the contestant chooses.

The special deck has also changed several times. When the game debuted, the deck consisted of nine cards with one each of values from $200 to $1,000 in $100 increments. In 1983, when the game became The New Card Game, the deck consisted of twelve cards with two each of values from $500 to $1,000 in $100 increments. In 1993, the deck changed again to a deck of twelve cards with three each of values from $500 to $2,000 in $500 increments. In 2005, the deck changed to seven cards, with two each of $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000 values, and one $5,000 card.

Check Game

The contestant is shown a prize and asked to write an amount on an oversized blank check made out in his or her name. The value of the prize is then added to the amount written on the check and if the total falls between $7,000 and $8,000, the contestant wins both the prize and the cash amount of the check. Regardless of the outcome, the contestant receives the check as a souvenir. If he or she loses, the check is first voided with a rubber stamp.^[10]

The game was originally titled Blank Check and had a winning range of $3,000 to $3,500. It was renamed "Check Game" in 1986 and the range fell between $5,000 and $6,000 by 1989. The current range went into effect in 2008.

Check-Out

The contestant is asked to individually price five grocery items. After all five guesses are tallied, the actual prices of the items are revealed. If the contestant's cumulative total is within $2.00 of the actual total price of the five grocery items high or low, the contestant wins a bonus prize.^[11]

Cliff Hangers

The contestant is shown a gameboard with an animatronic yodeling mountain climber standing at the bottom of a 25-step mountain with a cliff at the top. The contestant is then shown three small prizes and is asked to guess the actual retail price of each prize one at a time. The mountain climber moves one step up the mountain for each dollar the contestant is off, higher or lower. The correct price is not revealed until after the climber has stopped or has fallen off. If the contestant is off by an aggregate of more than $25 on the three prizes, the climber falls off the cliff and the contestant loses the game. However, the contestant wins any prizes priced before the climber falls off the mountain. If the climber has not fallen off the cliff after pricing all three prizes (missing the three prizes by a total of $25 or less), the contestant wins all three small prizes and a larger prize.^[12]

Officially, the mountain climber has no name, although several hosts have used their own names for him. Doug Davidson referred to the climber on The New Price Is Right as Hans Gudegast, which is the birth name of his Young and the Restless co-star Eric Braeden. Drew Carey has referred to him as Hans, Yodel Man and most frequently, Yodely Guy. Carey has also referred to this game as "the Yodely Guy game". At The Price Is Right Live!, he is often referred to as Johann. Dennis James referred to the climber as Fritz. On an episode which taped in 1976, after the climber fell off the cliff, James commented, "There goes Fritz!", unaware that Janice Pennington's then-husband, Fritz Stammberger, had recently disappeared in a mountain climbing accident. James' offhand comment upset Pennington so much that she remained backstage crying for the rest of the episode.^[13][14]

Clock Game

The game is played for three prizes. The actual price of the first prize is shown to the studio and home audiences. After the contestant gives their first bid, a 30-second clock is started and the host tells the contestant whether the actual price is higher or lower than the bid. The contestant continues to bid, responding to the host's clues, until either the contestant wins by correctly guessing the price of the prize or the time expires. If time remains after the first prize is won, the process is repeated for the second prize. If the contestant prices both prizes within 30 seconds, he or she also wins the third prize as a bonus. Unlike other pricing games, the audience is required to remain silent while the contestant is making his or her bids.^[15]

With few exceptions, the prizes which contestants must price have almost exclusively been valued below $1,000. Prior to the addition of a bonus prize, prizes priced above $1,000 were offered during the game for a brief period from 2008 to 2009. Prizes valued over $1,000 were also offered for a brief period in the 1980s. The contestant was given only the thousands digit in the price and was required to guess the remaining digits in the price.

From 1998–2014, players were awarded a bonus of $1,000 for winning both prizes within 30 seconds.

Coming or Going

The contestant is shown a prize and the numbers in a four-digit price, which are displayed on a shelf. The shelf can be tilted in two directions ("coming" or "going"), producing two possible prices, one being the reverse of the other. In order to win the prize the contestant must tilt the shelf in the right direction.^[16]

Cover Up

Five spaces are shown on a gameboard. Above each space are numbers: two above the first space, three above the second space and so on up to six above the fifth space. The contestant is asked to choose a number in each column to create a price for a car. If the price is correct, the contestant wins the car. If any digits in the price are correct, the correct digits are lit and the contestant repeats the process for each remaining digit, covering up incorrect digits which had previously been placed. The game continues until the contestant either wins the car by correctly placing all five digits or loses by providing a price in which no new numbers are correct.^[17]

Although it does not affect gameplay, until May 23, 2013, a false price was initially placed at the start of the game, and the contestant was required to cover up the incorrect digits during his or her first turn. Since June 4, 2013, the false price has been replaced by various items such as certain symbols, the numbers on the false price being turned upside down, humorously altered photos of staff or special themes relating with the episode.

D

Danger Price

The contestant is shown four prizes and a "danger price", which is the price of one of the prizes. In order to win the game and all four prizes, the contestant must select the three prizes that do not have the same value as the danger price.^[18]

Dice Game

The game is played for a car with a price that only contains the digits one through six. The first digit of the price is revealed, and the contestant rolls four dice on a gaming table, one at a time. The table has a line painted across its width near the end opposite the contestant, and a die must land entirely across the line in order to count. Each die corresponds to one of the remaining digits in the price. If the contestant rolls the actual digit, it is revealed on a gameboard. Otherwise, he or she must guess whether the correct digit is higher or lower than the one rolled. Any incorrect roll of one or six is defaulted to "higher" or "lower," respectively. The contestant wins the car by guessing correctly on all digits that he or she has not rolled exactly, or by rolling all four digits.^[19]

Prior to 1977, the car price occasionally included zeroes or digits higher than six. Until 2007, the contestant was required to state "higher" for rolls of one and "lower" for rolls of six. Originally, when cars with four-digit prices were offered, the first number was not revealed to start the game. When cars priced above $10,000 were first offered in the 1980s, an extra digit readout was added to the left side of the gameboard for the first number in the price. The game was briefly renamed Deluxe Dice Game when this change first occurred.

Do the Math

A contestant is shown two prizes and the difference in their prices, typically an amount between $800 and $1,200.^[20][21][22] The contestant must decide whether that amount must be added to or subtracted from the price of the prize on the left to yield the price of the one on the right. A correct answer wins both prizes, plus a cash amount equal to their price difference.^[23]

Double Cross

An X-shaped touch screen board contains two rows of seven digits each, intersecting at the fourth digit. Each row corresponds to one of two prizes and contains a bar that highlights four consecutive digits. Whenever either bar is moved, the other one moves in the same way. The contestant wins both prizes by positioning the bars to highlight the correct prices, reading from upper left to lower right for one and lower left to upper right for the other.^[24]

Double Prices

The contestant is shown two possible prices for a prize, one of which is correct. The contestant wins the prize if he or she chooses the correct price.^[25]

Two prizes were offered in early episodes of the 1970s syndicated edition hosted by Dennis James. Regardless of whether or not the contestant won the first prize, the contestant could win a second prize by choosing the correct price from a different set of two possibilities.

E

Easy as 1 2 3

The contestant is given three blocks marked "1", "2" and "3", which are used to rank three prizes from least expensive to most expensive. The contestant wins everything by correctly ranking all three items.^[26]

F

Five Price Tags

The contestant is shown five price tags, one of which is the correct price of a car. The contestant is then shown four small prizes and must choose whether a price displayed for each one is the accurate price of the item, signifying their guess with "true" or "false". Each correct guess wins that item and a choice from among the five price tags. After pricing the four small items, the contestant wins the car by correctly selecting its price from among the five price tags using the choices they earned.^[27]

Flip Flop

A gameboard displays four digits in the price of a prize arranged in pairs (e.g., 12|34) on two panels. At least one of the pairs of digits needs to be reversed. The contestant may "flip" the first pair ($2,134), "flop" the second pair ($1,243), or "flip flop" both pairs ($2,143). The contestant wins the prize by making the correct choice.^[28]

Freeze Frame

A ring of eight tiles, each with a two-digit number, rotates clockwise through a frame at the top of a gameboard. Two of the tiles appear in the frame at a time, forming a four-digit price. The contestant pulls a lever to stop the ring from moving when he or she believes the price within the frame is the price of the prize. If the contestant guesses the price correctly, he or she wins the prize.^[29]

G

Gas Money

The contestant is shown five prices for a car. One at a time, the contestant selects the four prices he or she believes to be incorrect. Each successful choice wins one of four different cash amounts hidden behind the prices ($1,000, $2,000, $3,000, or $4,000). After each guess, the contestant may choose to either stop and keep any cash won, or risk what has already been won by selecting another price. If the contestant successfully guesses all four incorrect prices, he or she wins the car and $10,000. If the contestant guesses the correct price at any time, the game ends and the contestant loses everything.^[30]

Prior to June 19, 2009, contestants had to select what they believed to be the actual price of the car before attempting to eliminate the other four incorrect prices.

Golden Road

Three prizes are presented, the first and second of which have three- and four-digit prices, respectively. The final prize is often billed as one of "the most expensive single prizes offered on the show", with a price consisting of five (or occasionally six) digits. Since 2008, the final prize is usually a premium European sports or luxury car, although premium American sports cars are also offered, especially for patriotically-themed episodes. The hundreds digit is missing from the price of each prize, and the digits in the prices of the first two prizes do not repeat.

The contestant is shown the price of a grocery item worth less than $1 and is then asked which of the two unique digits in its price belongs in the price of the first prize. If correct, the three digits in that price are used to select the missing digit for the second prize. If the contestant prices the second prize correctly, the four numbers in its price are used to select the missing digit for the final prize. If the contestant makes an incorrect choice at any time, the game ends but he or she wins any correctly priced prizes.^[31]

Grand Game

The contestant is shown a target price and six grocery items, four of which are priced below the target price. One at a time, the contestant selects items he believes are priced lower than the target. The contestant's winnings start at $1 and are multiplied by ten for each correct selection, to $10, $100 and $1,000. A contestant who makes an incorrect guess prior to reaching the $1,000 level keeps whatever money is accumulated to that point. After reaching the $1,000 level, the contestant may choose to quit the game and keep his or her winnings or to risk that money in order to attempt to select the one remaining product priced lower than the target. A correct final choice wins the maximum of $10,000, However, if the final item the contestant selects is one of the two above the target price, the contestant loses everything.^[32]

Grocery Game

The contestant is shown five grocery items and asked to purchase quantities of them to total between $20 and $22. The contestant can purchase any quantity of any item. Once an item has been selected, it cannot be selected again. After the contestant selects an item, its price is revealed and multiplied by the quantity, then added to the contestant's running total on a cash register. If the contestant succeeds, he or she wins a prize. The game is lost if the contestant's total exceeds $22 or he or she exhausts all five items before reaching $20.^[33]

Prior to 1989 the original total range was $6.75 to $7. From 1989 through 2016,^[34] the winning range was $20 to $21. The first four times the game was played, the contestant received $100 at the start of the game, which he or she kept if he or she won, chose to stop before exceeding $7, or lost without exceeding $7. The contestant also received supplies of the five items in each of those four games. The quantities varied but always totaled at least $100 and counted toward the contestant's winnings.

H

1/2 Off

A $10,000 cash prize is hidden in one of 16 boxes. The contestant is presented with three pairs of small prizes. Within each pair, one prize is correctly priced and the other has had its price cut in half. Each time the contestant selects a half-price prize, he or she wins that pair of prizes and half of the remaining boxes are eliminated, leaving the winning box still in play. After all three pairs have been played, the contestant has one chance to select that box and win the $10,000. Guessing correctly on all three pairs awards a $1,000 bonus, which the contestant keeps regardless of the outcome.^[35]

On the episode which aired October 19, 2007,^[36] the rules were modified to award the contestant $500 in addition to the two smaller prizes for each pair correctly priced, for a total of $1,500. Beginning September 28, 2010,^[37] the $500 per-pair bonus was removed. Instead, contestants now win a $1,000 bonus for correctly pricing all three pairs of items. Under both formats, the contestant keeps the bonus money even if he or she does not win the grand prize.

Hi Lo

The contestant is shown six grocery items and must choose the three with the highest prices in order to win. These items' prices are placed in the "Hi" row of the gameboard, and the two highest prices are then discarded before the other three items' prices are revealed and placed in the "Lo" row. The contestant wins if all three of the prices are lower than the remaining "Hi" price.^[38]

Early in the game's history, the contestant was asked whether each individual item's price belonged in the "Hi" row or the "Lo" row. The contestant either won the game by correctly placing each of the six prices or lost by making a mistake.

Hole in One (or Two)

The contestant must putt a golf ball into a hole (similar to miniature golf) in order to win a car. The putting green has six white lines painted across its width, and the contestant begins at the one farthest from the hole. He or she is asked to put six grocery items in ascending order of price. For every successive price that is higher than the one before it, the contestant moves one line closer to the hole. Correctly ordering all six items awards a $500 bonus, which the contestant keeps regardless of the outcome. If the contestant misses the putt, the host reveals the full name of the game as "Hole in One or Two" and he or she is given a second chance to make the putt from the same line.

Prior to the contestant's first attempt, the host usually takes an "inspiration putt" from the farthest line to demonstrate the use of the putter, although a model or golf-involved guest will occasionally perform this instead.^[39]

Until October 10, 1986, the contestant was allowed only one putt to win the car. The game's name became Hole in One or Two when the second-putt rule was instituted.

Hot Seat

Five small prizes are displayed onstage, arranged on a row of pedestals, and the contestant sits in a chair that moves automatically from one to the next. As the contestant reaches each prize, an incorrect price is revealed and he/she must press one of two buttons to guess whether the true price is higher or lower. The contestant has 35 seconds to make all five guesses. If time runs out, any prizes the contestant has not reached are taken out of play.

The contestant is told that all of his/her correct guesses will be revealed first, and the chair moves to one of the five prizes. If the contestant's guess on this prize is correct, he/she wins $500. Successive correct guesses increase the winnings to $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, and finally $20,000. After the chair has moved to the next item, the contestant may choose to stop before the price is revealed and keep all money won to that point, but if an incorrect guess is revealed, the game ends, and the contestant loses everything.

I

It's in the Bag

The contestant is shown a series of five grocery bags, with a price tag on each one indicating the retail price of a grocery item in the bag. Six grocery items are then shown: five of the six items correspond to the items in the bags, while the sixth item does not match any of the displayed prices. One at a time, the contestant must match up the grocery items with their prices. After all five choices have been made, the host reveals the price of each item. If the item in the bag matches the one the contestant chose, the contestant wins the corresponding amount of money and must decide whether or not to continue to the next level or quit with the money he or she has already won. If the contestant chooses to continue and an incorrect match is revealed, the game ends and he or she loses everything. The first correct match wins $1,000, and each successive correct match doubles the contestant's winnings ($2,000, $4,000, $8,000 and $16,000).^[40]

L

Let 'em Roll

This game, loosely based on the dice game yacht, is played for a car or a cash prize of up to $7,500. It uses five large dice, each marked with an image of a car on three sides and cash values of $500, $1,000 and $1,500 on the other three. The contestant is given one roll of the dice and can earn up to two more using three grocery products. The price of the first item is given, and the contestant must determine whether the price of each of the next two items is higher or lower than the one preceding it.

In order to win the car, the contestant must roll five cars within their allotted number of rolls. All dice that display cars are taken out of play after each roll, and the contestant must decide whether to re-roll the others or end the game and accept the total of their values. If the contestant uses all of his/her rolls without winning the car, he/she automatically receives the total of the displayed values.^[41]

Line 'em Up

Line 'em Up is played for a car and three other prizes. The contestant is shown the first and last digits of the car's price. Two of the smaller prizes each have a three-digit price and one has a two-digit price. In order to win the car, the contestant must line up the three prices in a frame to display a price for the car. If the guess is correct, the contestant wins everything. Otherwise, the contestant is told how many of the digits are correctly placed—but not specifically which ones—and the contestant then makes a second guess. The contestant loses if he or she guesses incorrectly on the second attempt.^[42]

Lucky Seven

The contestant is given seven $1 bills and shown the first digit in the price of a car. The contestant guesses the remaining digits in the price, one at a time, losing $1 for each digit of difference between their guess and the correct digit. If the contestant has at least $1 remaining after all digits are played, he or she wins the car (using $1 to buy it), plus any additional money not used in the game.^[43]

Originally, all cars appearing in this game were priced under $10,000 and no free digits were revealed. When cars priced above $10,000 began to regularly appear, the free digit rule varied: on six special episodes which aired in prime time during the summer of 1986, the last digit in the price was revealed at the start of the game and the contestant had to guess the first four digits. Later that year on the daytime show, the contestant was offered the first digit and was required to guess the last four digits in the price.

On November 5, 2009, to celebrate the show's 7,000th episode, the game used seven stacks of $1,000 instead of the usual seven $1 bills. During that episode, the contestant needed at least $1,000 to buy the car, and kept any remaining money if he or she won the car.

M

Magic #

The contestant is shown two prizes and told which one has the higher price. He or she then pulls a lever to adjust a "magic number" on a display so that it falls between the two prices. The contestant wins both prizes by setting the number correctly.^[44]

Make Your Move

The contestant is shown a sequence of nine digits on a gameboard which include, consecutively but in unknown order, the prices of three prizes: one of each with a two-, three- and four-digit price. Three sliding markers are set underneath the digits, one for each prize. In order to win everything, the contestant must correctly position the markers under the corresponding prices, using each digit once without overlapping.^[45]

For a brief time in October 1990, a second prize with a three-digit price replaced the prize with a two-digit price. Under these rules, one of the numbers on the board appeared in the price of two prizes, requiring the sliders to overlap.

Master Key

A car and two additional prizes are each represented by a giant lock. The contestant is shown two small prizes, each displaying a string of three digits, and must decide whether the first two or last two digits make up the correct price. For example, a prize showing "357" has a price of either $35 or $57. Each time the contestant chooses a correct price, he or she wins that prize and selects one key from a rack of five. Three of the keys correspond to one prize lock each, one will open none of the locks, and one (the "Master Key") opens all three. If the contestant earns any keys, he or she tries them in the locks and wins any prizes he or she is able to unlock. If a key opens the first lock (or the second one if the first has already been opened), the contestant is then directed to try it in the third lock to see if it is the Master Key.^[46]

Money Game

The contestant is given the third digit in the five-digit price of a car and is shown nine two-digit numbers. One of these two-digit numbers is the first two digits in the price and another is the last two digits. The remaining seven pairs of numbers conceal dollar signs, representing money the contestant can win. In order to win the car, the contestant must pick the first two and last two digits of the car's price. Choosing a pair of numbers that reveals a dollar sign places the tile in the money column and awards the contestant that amount in cash. The contestant wins the car, along with any cash accumulated, by finding both pairs of digits in the car's price before filling all four spaces in the money column. If the money column is filled, the contestant wins only the cash sum.^[47]

When the game was first played for cars with a five-digit price, the game was titled Big Money Game. For cars with four-digit prices, no digit in the price was revealed at the start of the game. Also, on the Tom Kennedy-hosted syndicated version in 1985, the contestant was shown the last digit in a five-digit price, meaning the contestant had to find the third and fourth digits in addition to the first two.

More or Less

The game is played for a car and three additional prizes. The contestant is shown an incorrect price for the first prize and is asked to guess whether its actual price is more or less than the one displayed. If the contestant is correct, he or she wins that prize and moves on to the next one, with the car as the last prize. A mistake at any point ends the game, but the contestant keeps any prizes correctly priced up to that point.^[48]

Most Expensive

The contestant is shown three prizes and must choose which is the most expensive in order to win everything.^[49]

N

Now....or Then

The contestant is shown six grocery items, each marked with a price, arranged on a circular gameboard. The gameboard also shows a month and year, usually from the past eight to twelve years. The contestant selects an item and must determine whether the price given for the item is the current price (now) or the price as of the specified past date (then). To win the game and a large prize, the contestant must make correct guesses for three adjacent wedges of the circle. The game ends if incorrect guesses make it impossible to claim three adjacent wedges.^[50]

Prior to December 2, 1986, the original name of the game was Now....and Then. The name was changed to reflect the decision made by the contestants.

O

One Away

The contestant is shown an incorrect price for a car. Each of the individual digits displayed is either one digit higher or one digit lower than correct digit in the price. The contestant adjusts each digit and wins the car if they have correctly chosen all five. If all five digits are wrong, the contestant automatically loses the game. Otherwise, he or she is told the total number of digits correctly placed, but not specifically which ones and is given an opportunity to make the necessary changes. The actual price of the car is then revealed and the contestant wins if their guess matches the price.^[51]

One Right Price

The contestant is shown two prizes and a price corresponding to one of them. The contestant wins both prizes by correctly choosing the prize associated with the price.^[52]

One Wrong Price

The contestant is shown three prizes, each with accompanying prices. Two prices are correct and one is incorrect. The contestant wins everything by choosing the prize with the incorrect price.^[53]

P

Pass the Buck

The game is played for a car and/or a cash prize of up to $9,000. The contestant is shown a board with six numbered spaces. Behind the numbers are one space marked with an image of a car, two spaces marked "Lose Everything," and three spaces marked with cash values: $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000. The contestant is given one choice of a space at the start of the game and can earn two more.

The contestant is shown two pairs of grocery items. Within each pair, one item is correctly priced, while the other has had its price reduced by $1. Each time the contestant correctly chooses a reduced-price item, he or she wins another choice from the board. The contestant then chooses one number at a time and can quit after any turn, keeping everything he or she has won to that point. Otherwise, the game ends when all choices have been used. Finding a "Lose Everything" space forfeits the accumulated winnings, but the contestant may continue to play if he or she still has any choices left.^[54]

Early in the game's history, the board had eight spaces instead of six, a third "Lose Everything" space and a $2,000 cash award, and the maximum cash amount that could have been won without winning the car was $10,000. Additionally, the contestant was not given a free choice at the start of the game. Instead, a third pair of grocery items (for a total of six items) was used to earn a third choice. During this period, the game ended immediately if the contestant failed to win any of the three choices.

Pathfinder

The game is played for a car. The gameboard features a five-by-five floor grid of 25 digits, on which the contestant must walk a five-step path to spell out the price of the car in order to win it. The contestant begins in the center square, which contains the first digit, and every correct square is horizontally or vertically adjacent to the one before it. Diagonal steps, backtracking, and stepping onto already-used squares are not allowed. If the contestant steps onto an incorrect digit at any time, he or she must back up to the last correct digit and earn a second chance by pricing one of three smaller prizes. The contestant chooses a prize and must choose the correct price from two options. If the contestant succeeds, he or she wins that prize and another chance to choose the next correct digit in the car's price. If the contestant fails to choose the correct price, he or she may try to win another second chance with a different prize. If the contestant steps on an incorrect digit with no small prizes remaining or guesses the incorrect price for the third small prize, the game ends.^[55]

The game originally offered cars with four-digit prices and an asterisk was on the center square. Contestants had to step onto all four digits without being given a free digit.

Pay the Rent

This game is played using six grocery items and offers a top prize of $100,000.^[56] The main prop is a house with two stories, an attic, and a mailbox. The first and second stories each have space to hold two grocery items, while the attic and mailbox can each hold one. The contestant is asked to arrange the grocery items in the house so that the total price of the item(s) on any level is higher than the total for the previous one, starting at the mailbox and working upward toward the attic.

The contestant immediately receives $1,000 and the item prices are revealed, one level at a time. His or her winnings are increased each time that the total for a level is higher than the previous one: $5,000 for the first story, $10,000 for the second story, and $100,000 for the attic. The contestant may choose to stop the game at any time and keep all money won to that point. However, if a level total is lower than the previous one, the game ends and the contestant forfeits everything.

Pick-a-Number

The contestant is shown a prize and its price with one digit missing. The contestant wins the prize by correctly selecting the missing digit from three possible choices.^[57]

Pick-a-Pair

Six grocery items are displayed with their prices concealed. The six items form three pairs of equal-price items. The contestant must select two items with the same price in order to win a prize. If the contestant is incorrect with his or her first selection, he or she may make a second guess, keeping one of the initially selected items and attempting to match it with one of the remaining items. If the contestant is correct on the second chance, he or she wins.^[58]

Plinko

Plinko is played for up to $50,000. The contestant is given one free chip and can win up to four more by pricing smaller prizes. For each prize, the contestant is shown a price and must choose which digit of two displayed—the first or the second—is correct. The contestant wins the small prize and an extra chip for choosing the correct digit. After pricing all of the items, the contestant places one chip at a time on a pegboard (styled similarly to a bean machine), where it eventually falls into one of nine spaces at the bottom. The values of these spaces are arranged symmetrically. From the outside in, the sequence is $500–$1,000–$2,500–$0,^[59] with the middle space worth $10,000. Once the chip falls into a space, the contestant wins the corresponding amount of money and the chip is removed from the board. If a chip becomes stuck on the board, it is knocked loose and returned to the contestant to drop again. The process is repeated until the supply of chips is exhausted, and the contestant wins the total amount of all spaces hit.^[60]

Plinko debuted as a pricing game in January 1983.^[61]

Pocket Change

The game is played for a car. The contestant begins the game with $0.25, which is given as the car's initial selling price. Six digits are shown, five of which belong to the price of the car. The first digit in the price is revealed, and the contestant attempts to guess the remaining four digits, one at a time. Each incorrect choice raises the car's selling price by $0.25. When a digit is correctly chosen, it is removed from play and the contestant selects one of 20 envelopes from a gameboard without opening it. Each envelope contains a value between $0.00 and $2.00.

After the contestant correctly guesses the fifth digit and selects a final envelope, the envelopes (four in all) are opened and the values inside are added to the initial bank of $0.25. If the bank total meets or exceeds the car's selling price, the contestant wins.^[62]

The first time the game was played, the contestant was not given the first digit and was required to guess all five digits in the price, resulting in five envelopes to be added to the initial $0.25.

Punch-a-Bunch

The game is played for a top prize of $25,000. The contestant answers higher-or-lower pricing questions about four items, one at a time. Each correct answer earns a punch on a 5-by-10 punchboard. The contestant punches holes into the appropriate number of spaces on the board, each of which contains a slip of paper with an amount of money written on it. The host then reveals the amount written on each slip, one at a time, beginning with the first hole punched.

The contestant may choose to quit and keep the amount won or to try to win a better prize with the next slip. The game continues until the contestant either quits, wins the top prize or reaches the last of their slips, in which case he or she must keep the last amount. It was possible to win more than the top prize by first punching one or more Second Chance prizes (which were attached to the lowest amounts) and then the top prize.^[63]

Prior to September 29, 2011, four slips also read "Second Chance". If the contestant found one, the contestant punched an additional hole and the value of the slip inside was added to the total.

The top prize from September 27, 1978 to October 1, 2008 was $10,000.

Although the same pricing method was used to earn punches, the first 11 playings of Punch-a-Bunch used a different cash distribution and punch format. Each of the letters in the word "PUNCHBOARD" concealed a different number, with two each of 1 through 4 and one each of 5 and 10. After punching one of the letters, the contestant punched a hole in the field of 50 holes on the board. Twenty of the holes contained slips marked "Dollars", another 20 contained slips marked "Hundred" and the remaining 10 contained slips marked "Thousand". The number punched was multiplied by the phrase on the slip to determine the contestant's award (e.g., punching a ten and the word "Thousand" earned the contestant $10,000).

Push Over

The contestant is shown a prize and a series of nine numbered blocks which includes the correct price. A blue window, four blocks wide, is positioned at the far right end of a shelf, beyond which is a bin. The contestant wins the prize by pushing the entire row of blocks until the correct price is shown in the window. However, once blocks fall over the edge into the bin, they cannot be retrieved. This game has occasionally been played for prizes valued over $10,000, using a window able to accommodate a five-digit price.^[64]

R

Race Game

The contestant is shown four prizes and given a set of tags with their prices. The contestant then has 45 seconds to match the prices with the correct prizes. To see how many he or she has correct, the contestant pulls a lever on a display which then lights up the number of correctly-placed tags. If the contestant has any less than four right, he or she may rearrange the prices and pull the lever as often as time allows. Once time runs out, the contestant wins any prizes he or she has correctly priced at that point.^[65]

Range Game

The contestant is shown a $600 range for the price of a prize. A $150 range finder moves up the scale and the contestant is asked to stop the range finder when the highlighted area contains the price of the prize. The contestant has only one opportunity to stop the range finder. If the price falls within the contestant's selected range, the contestant wins the prize.^[66]

The original range was $50, but it was quickly increased to $100. The range was $200 for a brief period during the 1970s on the syndicated version of the show.

The 1994 syndicated version hosted by Doug Davidson, known as The New Price is Right, used a modified version of this game for the Showcase round. The contestant selected a range between $4,000 and $10,000 at random during a commercial. After seeing their showcase, the range finder moved up the scale, and the contestant pulled a lever to stop the range when he or she believed the price of the showcase fell within the range. If correct, the contestant won the showcase.

Rat Race

The contestant must price three items within specified ranges: a grocery item priced under $10 within $1; a small prize priced under $100 within $10; and a medium prize priced under $500 within $100. For each bid given within the correct range, the contestant chooses one of five colored mechanical rats (yellow, green, pink, orange and blue), which are positioned on a large dollar sign-shaped race track. The rats are then set in motion on the track and all five rats ultimately travel the same distance. If one of the selected rats finishes in third place, the contestant wins an additional medium-valued prize; in second, a larger prize; and if a selected rat wins the race, the contestant wins a car. The contestant can win more than one prize depending upon the number of rats chosen and how they finish the race.^[67]

S

Safe Crackers

The contestant attempts to win two prizes by guessing the three-digit combination of a giant safe that contains both prizes. The combination is the same as the price of the less expensive prize. The contestant is given the three unique digits and must use each of them only once to determine the correct price in order to win both prizes.^[68]

Secret "X"

This game is played on a giant tic-tac-toe board with a secret X hidden in the center column. At the start of the game, the contestant is given one free X to place anywhere in either the left or right column of the board. Two small prizes are then shown, each with two possible prices. Each time the contestant correctly prices a prize, he or she wins it and receives another X. After placing the additional X's, the secret X is revealed. The contestant wins the game and a large prize if he or she has formed a line of three either horizontally or diagonally. If the contestant earns no additional X's, the game ends immediately. Contestants are not allowed to place all three of their X's on the same column to create a vertical line, as a winning line of three must include the secret X.^[69]

Shell Game

Played similarly to the carnival game of the same name, the game features four shells, one of which conceals a ball. The contestant is asked whether each of four prizes is actually priced higher or lower than a given incorrect price. For each correct guess, the contestant wins that small prize and a chip to place beside one of the shells. If the contestant places a chip beside the shell containing the ball, or if he or she correctly prices all four items, he or she wins a bonus prize. If the contestant correctly prices all four items, he or she also wins a cash amount equal to the prize value by correctly guessing which shell conceals the ball.^[70][71]

Previously, this bonus was $500 on the daytime show, and $1,000 on the 1970s syndicated version. On the 1985–86 syndicated version, the bonus was originally $500, then $1,000. Eventually, it was awarded for correctly pricing all four items, without having to select the right shell.

Shopping Spree

The contestant is shown four prizes and chooses three of them, one at a time. If the total of their prices exceeds a given minimum amount, he or she wins everything.^[72]

Side by Side

This game is played for a prize with four digits in its price, which must be placed in the correct order. The contestant is shown two pairs of numbers stacked on top of each other. The top pair is movable and the contestant must determine where it should be placed. Placing it on the left makes the pair serve as the first two digits in the price, while moving it to the right makes them serve as the last two. The contestant must determine where the top pair goes to win.^[73]

Spelling Bee

The game is played for a car or a cash prize of up to $5,000. A gameboard contains 30 cards: eleven each of Cs and As, six Rs and two cards which read "CAR". In order to win the car, the contestant must choose either one of each letter or a CAR card. The contestant chooses two free cards from the board and may win up to three more by pricing each of three small prizes within $10 of their actual prices, high or low. If the contestant guesses any price exactly, he/she automatically wins all three prizes and cards, even if he/she had missed on previous guesses. After the cards are chosen, the contestant is offered $1,000 per card to quit the game and walk away. The cards are revealed one at a time. If the car is not yet won, the cash buyout offer is repeated with the remaining cards. The contestant wins nothing if he or she fails to spell CAR or get one of the two CAR cards after the last card is revealed. If the contestant does win the car, however, he or she does not receive cash for any remaining cards.^[74]

Prior to 2007, each card was worth $500, for a maximum buyout of $2,500.

Squeeze Play

The contestant is shown a prize and a price that has had one additional digit inserted. The first and last digits are always correct. The contestant wins the prize by eliminating the incorrect middle digit to leave behind the correct price. Prizes with both four- and five-digit prices have been offered in this game, with the contestant choosing from three or four middle digits, respectively.^[75]

Stack the Deck

The game is played for a car. The contestant is shown seven playing cards containing digits, five of which make up the price of the car. Three pairs of grocery items are displayed, and the contestant must guess which item in each pair corresponds to a given price. Each correct guess allows him/her to fill in one correct digit in the price of the car. After all three pairs have been played, the contestant has one chance to win the car by correctly filling in all remaining digits.^[76]

Swap Meet

The contestant is shown a base prize and three more prizes. In order to win all four, he or she must choose the one prize from the group of three whose price is the same as the base prize.^[77]

Switch?

The contestant is shown two prizes, each with a price. The contestant must decide whether the prices are correct as shown or need to be switched with each other. A correct decision wins both prizes.^[78]

Switcheroo

This game is played for a car and four additional prizes under $100. The contestant is shown the prices for the five prizes, each of which is missing its tens digit, and given five blocks with the missing digits. The contestant has 30 seconds to complete the prices using these blocks. After either the time limit expires or the contestant is satisfied, the number of correct prices is revealed, but not specifically which ones. If all five prices are correct, the contestant immediately wins everything. If fewer than five are correct, he or she may take another 30 seconds to change the prices if desired, or leave them as they are. The extra time is given by default if none of the prices are correct. Once the game ends, due to the contestant either using the extra 30 seconds or leaving the prices alone, he/she wins all prizes that are correctly priced.^[79]

T

Take Two

The contestant is shown four prizes and a target total. He or she has two chances to win everything by choosing the two whose prices match the total when added together.^[80]

Temptation

The contestant is shown the first digit in the price of a car and is then presented with four additional prizes, each of which has only two distinct digits in its price. As each prize is presented, the contestant selects one digit from its price to fill in the price of the car. After the last prize is shown, he or she is given a chance to change any digits and must then make another choice: take the four prizes and quit the game, or risk them and try for the car. If the contestant tries for the car and has the correct price, he or she wins everything. If any digits are incorrect, he or she loses everything.^[81]

Originally, when the game was played for cars with four-digit prices, the first digit was not given. Also, early playings of the game included prizes with three different digits in their prices as well as prizes with two-digit prices. In addition, when the game debuted, contestants were not given the option to change any digits after making their initial selections.

Ten Chances

The contestant is given ten chances to correctly price three prizes. The first has a two-digit price, the second a three-digit price, and the third is a car. The contestant is given three unique digits for the first prize and must guess the price using two of them. The process repeats for the second prize, with four digits given to the contestant. For the car, the contestant is given five digits and must use all of them to guess its price. No digit may be repeated in any guess. The game ostensibly includes a ten-second time limit for writing down each choice, though this is rarely enforced. The contestant wins any prizes that he or she has correctly priced after all ten chances are used.^[82]

Originally, the game used cars with four digits in the price and the contestant had to use four of the five available digits in each guess.

That's Too Much

The contestant is shown up to ten prices for a car in ascending order of price, one at a time. The contestant wins the car by correctly identifying the first revealed price which is higher than the actual price by calling out "That's Too Much!"^[83]

3 Strikes

The contestant is shown eight discs: five marked with digits in the price of a car and three marked with an X – a strike. The discs are placed into a bag and shuffled, and the contestant blindly draws a disc from the bag. If a digit is drawn, the contestant must choose which position it fits in the price. If correct, the digit is lit up in the price display on a gameboard and the disc is removed from play. If incorrect, the disc is returned to the bag. If a strike is drawn, an X is lit up in the strike display on the gameboard and that disc is removed from play. The contestant continues to draw discs until they either correctly position each digit in the price and win the car, or draw all three strikes and lose the game.^[84]

When the game began in 1976, there were seven discs in the bag: the four digits of the price and the three strikes. As the value of cars went past $10,000 in the mid-1980s, the game was briefly known as 3 Strikes + when cars priced above $10,000 were first offered. Since 1993, the game has been played for vehicles priced at least $30,000, typically luxury vehicles, premium trucks, or electric cars. Since 2013, cars priced above $100,000 have occasionally been offered. When this occurs, there are nine discs in the bag (one for each of the six digits in the price plus three strike disks).

From 1998 to 2008 only one strike chip was used, and it was returned to the bag after being drawn. The contestant lost by drawing the strike chip three times. During a brief period during Season 37 (2008), the first digit in the price was lit at the beginning of the game, with chips representing the remaining four digits plus the three strike chips placed in the bag.

Time Is Money

The contestant is shown five grocery items that must be placed on tables with specific price ranges: $0 to $2.99, $3 to $5.99, and $6 and higher. The contestant is given ten seconds and one chance to place all five items in their proper categories. Doing so correctly awards $20,000. If the contestant fails to place them correctly, he or she is given 40 seconds to make changes, with the potential prize decreasing by $500 per second ($1 every two milliseconds). The contestant may rearrange items as often as time permits, and must press a button after each attempt to learn the result. If he or she places the items correctly, the clock is stopped and he or she wins any remaining money. The contestant is never told how many items or which ones are correctly placed.^[85] The revamped game premiered on September 22, 2014.^[86]

Under the original rules the game was played for a large prize and $500 instead of $20,000 cash. The contestant had 15 seconds to correctly group all of the items. If the contestant was correct, he or she also won $500 in addition to the prize. If unsuccessful, the contestant could stop playing and keep the $500, or exchange it for another 15 seconds to regroup the items, without knowing how many items were incorrectly placed or which ones. After two playings, the rules were changed to remove the $500 bonus and offer the contestant two chances to correctly place the items, with a 20-second time limit for each chance. If any were placed incorrectly after the first chance, the contestant was told how many items were incorrectly placed (although not specifically which individual products were placed correctly). If the contestant was incorrect on the second chance, the game ended and he or she won nothing.

Triple Play

Triple Play is the only game to regularly offer three cars. The contestant is shown two price choices for the first car, three for the second and four for the third. For each car, the contestant must choose which of the displayed prices is closest to the actual price of the car without going over. The contestant may not stop the game after correctly pricing the first or second car. If the contestant chooses correctly for all three cars, he or she wins everything. If the contestant chooses incorrectly at any point, the game ends and he or she wins nothing.^[87]

2 for the Price of 1

The game is played for two prizes, one of which has three digits in its price. The contestant must select which of two digits displayed is the correct digit in each position of the price. The contestant is offered a free digit of his or her choice and then selects which of the remaining digits are correct. If the contestant correctly determines the price, he or she wins both prizes.^[88]

V

Vend-O-Price

Three grocery items are displayed on separate shelves of a gameboard resembling a vending machine, from top to bottom in increasing order of price.^[89] The contestant inserts a coin into the machine, and the shelves' sliding doors open to reveal a different quantity of each item. In order to win, the contestant must choose the shelf with the highest total price, based on the price for one unit multiplied by the number of items on its shelf.^[90]

Inactive games

When the 1972 version of the show premiered, many games did not have official names which were used on the air. Some of the names below are unofficial or assigned by the production staff.

A

Add 'Em Up

The contestant was shown a car whose price contained four unique digits and was told their sum. He/she chose one digit to be revealed and had to guess the other three, one at a time and in any order. The total of all correctly guessed digits was shown on the gameboard. In order to win the car, the contestant had to guess all of the missing digits before making two mistakes.

B

Balance Game

Five small prizes were presented and the contestant was given five "Barker silver dollar" coins. The contestant attempted to balance a scale with a combination of prizes added to each side. The contestant chose one prize at a time and assigned it to either the left or right side of the scale. Coins representing the value of the prize were placed on the side selected. If the totals of the prizes on both sides matched at any time, the contestant won a larger prize package. If the totals agreed to within $5, he or she could use the provided coins to balance the scale and win. Regardless of the outcome, the contestant kept any prizes he or she chose during the game as well as any unused coins.

Bullseye

The contestant was given seven chances to guess the actual price of a car. In response to each guess, the host told the contestant whether the actual price was higher or lower. In some appearances of the game, the contestant was given a $500 range into which the price fell.

Bump

The contestant was shown two prizes and a British-themed gameboard containing four double-decker buses, each marked with a price. The far left and far right buses displayed the same price, and the prizes' names were placed below the two middle buses. A model stood at each end of the row, and the contestant chose one of them to bump the buses, resulting in either the leftmost or rightmost two coming to rest above the prize names and the others being removed/knocked from the board. The contestant won both prizes if the buses' prices matched those of the prizes below them.

Buy or Sell

Three prizes were shown, each with an incorrect price. The contestant bought prizes he or she believed were under-priced and sold prizes he or she believed were overpriced. The actual prices were then revealed, one at a time. For each correct decision, the difference between the two prices was added to a bank. For each incorrect decision, the difference was subtracted from the bank. If the contestant had a positive bank balance at the end of the game, he/she won everything as well as any money accumulated in the bank. The most money that could be accumulated was $1,900. Prior to 1997, winning contestants did not receive any money accumulated.

C

Clearance Sale

Three prizes were shown and the contestant was given three price tags, each of which bore a sale price lower than one of the items' actual retail price. The contestant placed a price tag on each prize and won everything if each of the sale prices was below the actual price of its respective prize.

Credit Card

Five prizes were shown, each usually worth between $200 and $3,000. The contestant was then presented with a large credit card, which was inserted into an ATM, which then displayed a credit limit (usually $1,800 to $2,500). The contestant then chose three prizes, one at a time, and their prices were deducted from the credit limit. If the contestant did not exceed the limit with the three choices, he/she won everything.

D

Double Bullseye

The original Bullseye game was reworked into a two-player format after never producing a winner. In doing so, the game became the only pricing game which guaranteed a winner. After the first contestant won his or her way on stage, another contestant was called from the audience, and another item went up for bids. After the second contestant won his or her way on stage, the car was shown. Barker asked each one to give him a bid on the price of the car after giving a price range of $500. He then told the opponent whether the price was higher or lower than the bid, and the two alternated until one gave the exact price, winning the car.

Australia's version of The Price is Right used this format for their Showcase round. Hosts Ian Turpie or Larry Emdur gave a price range and asked the two contestants to bid in the same manner. Whoever gave the exact price won the opportunity to play for the showcase.

Double Digits

A car was shown along with four small prizes. For each small prize, the contestant was shown the second digit in that prize's price, and then two possibilities for the first digit. The contestant attempted to select the correct first digit in the price, which also corresponded to a digit in the car's price. If the four correct digits had been chosen, the contestant won everything. If the contestant failed to win the car, he or she still won any small prizes which were priced correctly.

F

Finish Line

Six small prizes were described in three pairs. For each pair, the contestant tried to pick the more expensive item. The sum of the prices of the rejected prizes made up a finish line that a miniature horse and jockey would have to cross. After all three choices were made, the horse moved one step for each dollar in the total value of the prizes the contestant had selected. If the horse passed the finish line, the contestant won a larger prize. Regardless of the outcome, the contestant kept the three chosen prizes.

Fortune Hunter

Fortune Hunter was played for four prizes and $5,000. It involved four boxes, one of which contained the cash prize. The host read three clues to help the contestant eliminate the prizes associated with them, based on their prices. The remaining box was then opened. If the cash was hidden inside, the contestant won everything. However, if the chosen box was empty, the contestant won nothing.

The contestant did not have to eliminate the prizes in the order the clues were read. The prizes could be eliminated in any order, as long as only the box that contained the money was left.

G

Gallery Game

A painting of a prize was shown to the contestant. Below the painting was a price, which was missing part of one digit. The contestant won by correctly painting in that digit.

Give or Keep

Six small prizes were presented in three pairs. From each pair, the contestant picked what he believed was the more expensive prize. If the sum of the prices of the prizes the contestant kept was equal to or greater than the sum of the prices of the prizes they gave away, the contestant won a larger prize. Regardless of the outcome, the contestant won the three prizes they chose to keep.

H

Hit Me

The contestant played blackjack against the house, trying to get as close to 21 as possible without going over (busting). Before the game began, the contestant cut a deck of oversized playing cards and two were dealt out as the house's starting hand, the first one face down as a hole card. The contestant was then shown six grocery items, each of which displayed a price that was equal to its actual price multiplied by a whole number from 1 to 10. Each item had a card hidden underneath it, whose value was equal to that item's multiplier. One of the six items displayed its actual price and would give an ace if chosen, while another showed a price multiplied by 10. Aces could count as 1 or 11.

The contestant chose items and received their cards until he or she either reached a total of 21, busted, or chose to stop. Reaching 21 with any combination of cards was an automatic win, regardless of the house's hand. If the contestant stopped, the house's hole card was revealed and additional cards were dealt from the deck until its total reached 17 or higher. The contestant won if his or her total matched or exceeded the house's total without busting, or if the house busted. If the contestant busted, he or she immediately lost the game.

Situations involving an ace in the house's hand (whether it should be counted as one or eleven even when the result would be in favor of the house) were handled inconsistently over the course of the game's time on the show.

Hurdles

A grocery item was described, and its price was attached to a runner figure on a gameboard. The contestant was shown three pairs of items and asked to choose the one in each pair that he/she believed was lower in price than the base item. Once he/she had made all three choices, a starter's pistol was fired and the runner began to move across the board, with a hurdle rising from each chosen item as he approached it. If the contestant chose correctly, the hurdle would stop rising in time for the runner to clear it. If the runner cleared all three hurdles, the contestant won the game and a large prize. However, if the contestant chose incorrectly at any point, the runner would crash into that item's hurdle and the game ended.

I

It's Optional

Two cars were shown, each of the same make and model. The contestant was told the second car was priced a set amount higher than the first and told the difference in the two prices, then shown a list of a list of nine options. Selecting options one at a time, the contestant attempted to increase the price of the first car to within $100 of the price of the second car without going over. The number of options a contestant was allowed to choose during the course of the game changed each time it was played but was generally between three and five.

J

Joker

The contestant was shown a hand of five face-down cards, one of which was a joker. Four small prizes were presented, each with a displayed price. For each one, the contestant had to decide whether or not to reverse the digits in order to obtain the correct price (e.g. $37 or $73). Each correct choice awarded that prize and allowed the contestant to discard one card from the hand. He/she won the game if the joker was found among the discards.

M

Make Your Mark

Three prizes were shown along with four prices on a gameboard. The contestant was given $500 and chose the three prices he/she believed were correct, using a marker to note each selection. Two correct prices were revealed among the three marked ones and matched to their prizes, and the contestant then had to decide whether to leave the last marker where it was, or return the $500 and switch the marker to the one un-chosen price. If the contestant chose correctly, he/she won all three prizes and kept the $500 if he/she had not returned it. If the third choice was incorrect, the contestant won nothing.

The game was originally titled Barker's Markers in reference to former host Bob Barker, but was re-titled Make Your Mark after Drew Carey took over as host and during the game's single appearance on the 1994 syndicated version hosted by Doug Davidson.

On the October 9, 2008 episode,^[91] the only playing of Make Your Mark in season 37, Drew Carey incorrectly explained the rules that the contestant was allowed to keep the $500 regardless of whether or not they ultimately won the game, so long as they did not change the last marker.

Mystery Price

A prize package was presented to the contestant and the price of the least expensive item in the package was dubbed the "mystery price". Four smaller prizes were shown individually and the contestant placed a bid on each of them. If their bid was equal to or lower than the item's actual price, the contestant won that prize and the amount of their bid was placed into a bank. If the contestant overbid on the prize, it was lost and no value was added to the bank.

After all four small prizes were played, the mystery price was revealed. The contestant won the larger prize package in addition to any small prizes they did not overbid on if the bank was equal to or greater than the mystery price.

O

On the Nose

In order to win a car, the contestant competed in one of five possible sporting events. The events varied each time the game was played and included throwing a baseball or football into a specified area, shooting a basketball into a hoop, hitting a tennis ball with a racket into a specified area or popping a balloon with a dart.

After being shown the car, the contestant was presented with four possible prices. The contestant selected the one they believed was the actual price of the car and, if correct, won a $1,000 bonus and four attempts at the sporting event preselected for that day. The further away the selected price was from the actual price, the fewer attempts at the sporting event the contestant received with no bonus. If the contestant succeeded in the sporting event, he or she won the car.

On the Spot

Six small prizes were described and the contestant was shown three paths, colored blue, yellow and pink, extending outward from a center black spot. Each path was marked with three prices. To win a car, the contestant attempted to match the three prices in any path to the six prizes in play. After choosing a path, the contestant had to correctly determine which prize was associated with each price along the path in turn. If the contestant made a mistake, they returned to the center spot and chose a new path. Making mistakes on all three paths ended the game.

Some of the prices on a path were repeated on other paths, and the contestant could automatically step to the next price along the path if he or she had already correctly matched the associated prize on a previous path.

P

Penny Ante

Two grocery items were described. For each item, four possible prices were presented. The contestant was given three oversized pennies and attempted to select the correct price for each of the two items. Each mistake the contestant made cost him or her a penny. The contestant won a larger prize if he or she was able to guess the actual price of both items before losing all three pennies.

The first five times the game was played, the board was not divided into halves for each grocery item. Instead, the two correct prices were hidden among all eight choices. Whenever an incorrect price was guessed, one penny fell from the side of the gameboard into a bucket for each cent in the amount of the guess. A scoreboard was attached to the front of the gameboard, which kept track of the pennies accumulated. The contestant lost the game if the total of the incorrect guesses made before finding the two correct prices equaled 100 pennies or more.

The Phone Home Game

The contestant and a preselected home viewer competing via telephone teamed to attempt to win up to $15,000. Before the game began, the home viewer was given a list of the actual prices for each of seven grocery items. The items were then described to the contestant and the home viewer gave a price for one of the items. The contestant selected the item he or she believed matched that price. If the contestant was correct, the team shared a hidden cash award associated with that specific product. If the contestant was incorrect, both the guessed product and the correct product were removed from play and that particular cash award was lost. The contestant and home viewer attempted to make three correct matches and win three cash awards. If the home viewer read the name of a grocery item at any time instead of a price, that turn was lost.

The cash awards for the matched products were revealed and the team split the total amount won. The cash awards hidden beside the seven products included one each of $10,000, $3,000, and $2,000, and two each of $1,000 and $200.

Poker Game

Four prizes were shown, all with three-digit prices. The contestant selected two of the prizes and the digits in their prices were used to form the best possible five-card poker hand, with nines high and zeroes low. After the hand was revealed, the contestant chose either to keep it or pass it to the house. The prices of the other two prizes were then revealed and assembled into a second poker hand. If the contestant had a better hand than the house, he or she won everything.

The hand rankings were similar to those of poker and were, from highest to lowest: five of a kind, four of a kind, full house, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. However, straights did not count, and without suits, flushes were not possible.

In early playings, the contestant was allowed to make their hand with any five of the six digits of the prices of the two prizes they had chosen, but did not have the option to pass their chosen hand to the house.

Professor Price

The contestant attempted to answer general knowledge questions with numerical answers, such as "How many innings are there in a regulation baseball game?", in order to win a car. After answering the first question, the contestant was asked if the correct answer to that question, which was always a digit from zero to nine, was also contained in the price of the car. General knowledge and pricing questions were repeated in this manner until the contestant either gave three correct responses and won the car, or gave three incorrect responses and lost the game. Like Clock Game, the audience is not allowed to provide the contestant with any input in this game.

A large animatronic puppet known as Professor Price was central to the game. The contestant's progress was tracked by the professor's hands, with correct answers counted by upward-pointing fingers on the puppet's right hand and incorrect answers counted by downward-pointing fingers on his left hand.

The game was played only twice, making it the shortest-lived game in the show's history. It was also the only game to have a perfect record, having been won both times it was played.

S

Shower Game

The contestant was shown six shower stalls, each marked with a possible price for a car. Three stalls contained confetti, two contained $100 in one-dollar bills, and the one with the actual price contained a giant car key. The contestant entered a stall and pulled its chain, triggering the release of its contents. Finding confetti allowed him or her to choose again. As soon as the contestant found either the $100 or the car, the game ended and he or she won that prize.

Split Decision

A car and a medium prize were shown and a string of eight digits was displayed on a gameboard. The numbers in the prices of the prizes appeared in order but were not necessarily placed side by side. The contestant was given 20 seconds to pull down the three digits that made up the price of the smaller prize, leaving the five digits that made up the price of the car. To stop the clock, the contestant pushed a button on the gameboard. If the correct three-digit price for the smaller prize had been pulled down, the contestant won both prizes. If incorrect, the contestant continued guessing until a correct guess was made or time ran out.

A later variation in the rules did not feature a clock. Instead, the contestant was given only three chances to win.

Step Up

The contestant had a chance to win up to four prizes and $3,000 cash. He/she selected one prize, whose price was immediately revealed, then attempted to choose a more expensive one. A correct choice awarded both prizes and $500, after which the contestant could either stop the game or try to choose a still more expensive prize. If this choice was correct, he/she also won the third prize and an additional $1,000 and had the same choice to stop or continue. If the contestant continued, and the last prize was the most expensive of all, he/she won it as well and an additional $1,500. However, an incorrect guess at any time ended the game and the contestant lost everything.

Super Ball!!

The contestant had a chance to win up to three large prizes by rolling balls up a skee ball ramp. The ball for each large prize was presented alongside a small prize displaying two possible prices. If the contestant chose the correct price, he/she won that small prize and earned the corresponding ball. The ramp contained three rings: $50 and $100, which awarded those cash amounts, and WIN, which awarded the large prize for that ball. The contestant was given a practice ball to roll before attempting to win any of the large prizes.

A fourth small prize was then revealed. If the contestant priced it correctly, he/she won it and earned a "Super Ball." Rolling the Super Ball into the WIN ring awarded all three large prizes, while rolling it into either cash ring awarded triple the marked value. If the contestant had already won all three large prizes, he/she could earn a $3,000 bonus by rolling the Super Ball into the WIN ring.

Super Saver

Six grocery items were presented, five marked below their actual retail price and one marked above. The contestant chose four of the items, one at a time, and the difference between the marked price and the actual price was added to a bank. Choosing the overpriced item deducted that difference from the bank. The contestant won the game by saving a total of at least $1 after the four choices. Even if the overpriced item was chosen, it was always mathematically possible to win the game with the correct combination of the others. Also, the contestant was required to choose four items even if the bank total exceeded $1 after the first two or three.

T

Telephone Game

A car and two smaller prizes were shown, along with four grocery items. The contestant was given $1 to purchase two of the four grocery items, attempting to spend no more than 90¢ so that he or she would have a dime left in order to use a pay telephone. If the contestant succeeded, he or she dialed one of three given four-digit telephone numbers and won the prize whose price was associated with that number, indicated by a model answering the telephone placed next to it. The number for the car represented its price in dollars, while the numbers for the two small prizes represented their prices in dollars and cents. The contestant won nothing if their grocery item purchase exceeded 90¢.

Trader Bob

The contestant was presented with one small prize and was then shown three pairs of additional prizes. By choosing one prize from each pair in the order they were presented, the contestant attempted to "trade up" from that initial prize and create a sequence of four prizes in ascending order of price. If the contestant successfully traded up with all three choices, he or she won both the last small prize chosen and a larger prize package. If not, the contestant won only the first small prize chosen that was lower in price than the one before it.

W

Walk of Fame

The contestant could win up to four prizes by guessing their prices within a set range, high or low. The prizes were presented in order of increasing value, and the winning range increased from one to the next. If the contestant missed on any of the first three prizes, he/she was given a choice of two autograph books signed by the show's cast. One book also contained a page marked "Second Chance". If the contestant chose this book, he/she moved on to the next prize, but the one he/she had missed was taken out of play. The game ended once the contestant made a second mistake, failed to choose the "Second Chance" book, or made a mistake on the fourth prize.

Special rule changes

Rules to certain pricing games have occasionally been changed on special episodes.

1986 summer specials

• "Clock Game" – After winning both prizes the contestant blindly chose a cash bonus from one of four envelopes with possible values of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $5,000.
• "Hole in One (or Two)" – The bonus for correctly ordering all six items was $1,000.

2002–08 prime time specials

• "Clock Game" – The bonus for winning both prizes within 30 seconds was increased to $5,000.
• "Grand Game" – The top prize was increased to $20,000, with the winnings ranging from $2, $20, $200, and $2,000.
• "1/2 Off" – The top prize was increased to $25,000.
• "Hole in One (or Two)" – The bonus for correctly ordering all six items was $1,000.
• "It's In the Bag" – The last bag's value was increased to $24,000.
• "Plinko" – The game was played for $100,000, with the middle slot being increased to $20,000.
• "Punch a Bunch" – The top prize was originally $25,000, then later increased to $50,000.

The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular

In 2008, episodes of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular featured rule changes to some pricing games which awarded a $1 million bonus to the contestant for achieving specific goals.

• "Clock Game" – The contestant was required to guess the retail prices of both prizes within a total of 10 seconds to win the bonus. Winning both prizes awarded $5,000 regardless of how much time was left on the clock.
• "Cover Up", "One Away" – The contestant was required to guess all five digits in the car's price correctly on his/her first attempt to win the bonus.
• "1/2 Off" – A contestant who found the $25,000 could either quit or risk it for a chance at the bonus. A $1 million check was hidden in one of the other 15 boxes, and the contestant had one chance to guess where it was. An incorrect guess forfeited the $25,000.
• "Plinko" – If at least three chips landed in the $20,000 slot, the contestant was given a golden Plinko chip. If the golden chip landed in the $20,000 slot, the contestant won the bonus. Otherwise, the contestant won the money amount associated with where the chip landed.
• "Punch a Bunch" – The contestant could win the bonus by finding the $50,000 prize with their first punch.
• "Range Game" – After stopping the range finder, the contestant provided a guess for the exact price of the prize. If the correct price fell within the $150 range, the contestant won the prize. If their exact guess matched the actual retail price of the prize, the contestant also won the bonus.
• "Safe Crackers" – After winning the game under the standard rules, the contestant could quit with the prizes won (one of which was always a car) or risk them to try for the bonus. The safe was re-locked with a new five-digit combination that was the same as the price of the car. Each dial contained the same five digits. However, each digit did not necessarily appear in the price of the car, and the contestant was told the price of the car could potentially contain repeated digits. Setting the correct combination won the bonus, while an incorrect combination forfeited everything.
• "Switcheroo" – The contestant could win the bonus by correctly pricing all five prizes within the initial 30 seconds.

Specially-themed episodes

Starting in 2012, rule changes were also made to some pricing games for episodes with special themes, mostly Big Money Week, Dream Car Week, or episodes where viewers could choose game options via Twitter. Also, during Big Money Week in October 2015, any contestant who won their game received an additional bonus of $5,000, and the prize for spinning $1.00 during a contestant's bonus spin in the Showcase Showdown was increased from $25,000 to $50,000.^[92] Some Dream Car Week Showcase Showdowns replaced the $25,000 bonus spin prize with a car. For the Season 45 Big Money Week in October 2016, the 45-cent space on the wheel was worth $45,000 if it was hit in a bonus spin.

• "Bonkers" – During Big Money Week, contestants that win the game also win $1,000 for each second remaining on the clock.
• "Card Game" – The opening bid when playing for a luxury car is $60,000.
• "Cliff Hangers" – During Big Money Week, the prize begins at $250,000 and is reduced by $10,000 for each step the yodeler takes.
• "Dice Game" – During Big Money Week, rolling the exact number for any digit earns the contestant a $10,000 bonus.
• "Grand Game" – The prize in this game on the 40th anniversary episode was $40,000, with the contestant being given the option to quit at $4,000. For the celebration of The Young and the Restless's 11,000th episode, the prize was $11,000, with the option to quit at $1,100. For Big Money Week, the prize is $100,000, with the option to quit at $10,000.
• "1/2 Off" – During Big Money Week the prize is $100,000.
• "Hole in One (or Two)" – During Big Money Week, the contestant was given the choice to play the game for $100,000 but was required to make his/her putt while avoiding a rotating windmill obstacle. However, the contestant could choose to have the windmill removed and instead play the game for $20,000.
• "Hot Seat" – During Big Money Week, money levels increase to $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000 and $100,000.
• "It's in the Bag" – During Big Money Week, the first bag is worth $5,000, and this amount is doubled for each subsequent bag, for a potential top prize of $80,000.^[93]
• "Let 'Em Roll" – During Big Money Week, the game is played for a cash prize of $100,000 instead of a car. Each cube has three dollar signs, with the other sides showing values of $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000.^[94]
• "Plinko" – The rules were modified multiple times for specially-themed episodes. From April 9 through 13, 2012,^{[95][96][97][98][99]} in conjunction with Publishers Clearing House, the game was played daily and featured a growing jackpot for the final chip. If the last chip landed in the center slot, the contestant won $20,000 instead of the usual $10,000 prize. However, if the last chip did not land in the center slot, another $20,000 was added to the jackpot on the next episode. On April 26^[100] and October 18, 2013,^[101] during Big Money Week, the game was played for $500,000, with a $100,000 slot replacing the normal $10,000 center slot. During Big Money Week in 2014, the episode which aired November 13^[102] featured a center slot worth $200,000, for a top prize of $1,000,000. For the game's 30th anniversary, Plinko was played six times on the episode which aired September 27, 2013.^[103] In two of the playings, the $10,000 slot was replaced with a car. A third playing saw the $10,000 slot replaced with a trip to London, England. In two of the six playings, the two $1,000 slots were replaced with prizes priced in the four digit range. If a non-cash prize was won by having a chip land in the slot, the slot reverted to its normal cash prize once it was hit again. On the episode which aired February 19, 2015,^[104] during a special Twitter-themed episode, viewers voted before the taping to either change the center slot from $10,000 to $25,000 or change the values of the two $100 slots to $10,000. During a 2016 episode celebrating the CBS network's 30 years of success as the top daytime network, the $10,000 slot was upgraded to $30,000, which yielded a top prize of $150,000.
• "Punch a Bunch" – During Big Money Week, a $250,000 award replaces the $25,000 award. During an episode of Dream Car Week aired in May 2017, two of the $100 money slips were replaced by slips that said "CAR."
• "Race Game" – During Big Money Week, if contestant wins the game with more than 15 seconds in the clock, he or she also wins a $10,000 bonus.
• "Range Game" – During Big Money Week, a second $50 range was placed in the middle of $150 range. If the price falls into the $50 range, the contestant not only wins the game but also wins a $10,000 bonus.
• "Rat Race" – During Big Money Week, instead of offering a prize for each rat, a different cash award is offered depending upon how the contestant's chosen rat finished. Each playing with this modification featured different amounts for win, place and show. On the November 14, 2014 episode, prizes of $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 were offered.^[105] On February 16, 2015, during a Twitter-themed episode, viewers voted Rat Race over Grand Game as the $100,000 game, and prizes offered were $75,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for first, second and third-place finishes.^[106]
• "Shell Game" – During Big Money Week, a cash prize of $50,000 is offered for winning the game. If the contestant correctly prices all four smaller prizes and also selects the shell hiding the ball, the contestant wins an additional $50,000 for a grand total of $100,000.^[107]
• "Spelling Bee" – During Dream Car Week in 2016, each card was worth $5,000, for a maximum buyout of $25,000.
• "Time Is Money" – During Big Money Week, the top prize is increased to $200,000. Correspondingly, the prize available decreases by $5,000 per second if the contestant does not place all five products correctly on his or her first try.^[108]

Mash-up Week

For each episode which aired during the week of May 9, 2016, one of the games from Let's Make a Deal was imported to The Price is Right and played as a pricing game. The rules were modified slightly to require the contestants to price items.

• "Car Pong" – The contestant was shown four small items, and was asked to select up to three items—one at a time—which was not priced at a stated amount. For each item that the contestant selected that was not the stated amount, five seconds was added to a base time of five seconds. However, if the contestant selected the item worth the stated amount, the pricing phase ended. The contestant could accumulate a maximum of 20 seconds. The contestant then used his/her total time and attempted to bounce ping-pong balls one at a time at a bank of nine cups. If the contestant landed a ball in the center cup and having it stay there, he/she won a car. Any balls which landed in the other eight cups won cash amounts of $250, $500, or $1,000.
• "Go for a Spin" – The contestant was shown three small items and was asked to price each one from two options. For each correct guess, the contestant won $500 and one "Zonk" symbol was removed from a large wheel and was replaced with a car symbol. The contestant could either take the accumulated money, or take one spin of the wheel. The contestant won the prize which corresponded to the space where the wheel's pointer stopped: either a cash amount, a car, or nothing if it stopped on a Zonk symbol.
• "Gold Rush" – The contestant was shown seven boxes, five of which corresponded to digits in the price of a car (indicated by a mine cart full of gold). The other two held bundles of dynamite. The contestant had to select all the digits in the price of the car (in any order) before selecting both dynamite bundles to win the car. Along the way, the first correct digit won $500, and the next three doubled the money. Finding the final digit won the contestant the car. After finding one bundle of dynamite, the contestant could stop and take the money or continue. Finding the other bundle of dynamite ended the game and the contestant lost any money accumulated.
• "Accelerator" – The contestant was given two free spins of a large roulette-style wheel, and could win up to three more by correctly ordering four grocery items from least-expensive to most-expensive. For each correct item (beyond the first), one additional chance was given. The wheel had the letters "C", "A" and "R" repeated four times each. After the wheel was set in motion, the contestant dropped a ball down a chute, and the ball eventually landed in a space corresponding to a letter. Each letter had a cash amount under it, and after a letter was landed on, all instances of that letter were removed to reveal Zonk symbols. The contestant could take the money or take his/her next chance. If the contestant landed the ball in a Zonk space, all accumulated money was lost, but the contestant could continue if there were any spins remaining. The contestant had to land the ball in each letter once to win the car.
• "Smash for Cash" – The contestant was given a target price and six grocery products, five of which were less than the target price. The piggy banks which corresponded to the values below the target price each had a number of $1 bills inside (either $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5—each amount appeared once). For each dollar bill found, the contestant went one step up a scale. Accumulating $3 won $1,000; $5 won $2,000; $8 won $3,000; $11 won $5,000; and finding all $15 won the top prize of $20,000. The product which was over the target price had a Zonk symbol inside. If the contestant chose the highest-priced item, the game ended and the contestant lost all money accumulated.

The following games were exported to Let's Make a Deal:

• "Cliff Hangers" – The contestant was given three envelopes that contained various numbers of steps the mountain climber would advance. The contestant could either continue or quit after each round. If the climber made exactly 25 steps, the contestant won a large prize. If the climber fell off the mountain, the contestant won nothing.
• "Hole in One (or Two)" – Played for a car, a medium prize and cash. The contestant was required to putt from various distances, with the cash prize at the closest line and the car at the furthest line, and was given two putts to win each prize.
• "Master Key" – The contestant selected two keys and tested the three locks with each key. No pricing was involved prior to selecting keys.
• "Five Price Tags" – The contestant was shown a clip from a previous playing of the game, and then had to guess the correct price of the car from the clip in order to win. However, the contestant was only given one chance to choose the correct price.
• "Punch-a-Bunch" – The contestant was given three envelopes which contained a random number of punches. The contestant then took that many punches on the punchboard.

References

Sources

• Blits, Stan (2007). Come On Down!: Behind the Big Doors at "The Price Is Right" (1st ed.). New York City: It Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-0061350115. 

External links

• official site
• official site on CBS