Recap -- 6/16/10

[Marc]

Episode #5213K Aired: 6/16/2010; Tape Date 5/25/2010 Models: Amber Lancaster, Lanisha Cole, Manuela Arbelaez (Jovani) Drew Entrance: Door #2 Mic Handoff: Amber First Four Contestant Seating: Right to Left

First IUFB: His-and-her athletic clothing (Puma; ARP: $612) (Lanisha and Manuela) JANET BRADLEY ALEXIS JESSICA WINNER $525 $425 $550 $300 ALEXIS Alexis is playing Double Prices for fitness equipment. (treadmill, upright and recumbent exercise bikes and home gym) (Lanisha and Manuela) $5,096 ARP: $5,096 *WIN* $4,173

Second IUFB: Chaise lounge (CarolinaChair.com; ARP: $1,560) (Amber) Janet Bradley JESSICA C. Jessica S. WINNER $842 $1 $725 $700 JANET Janet is playing It's In The Bag. (Lanisha and Manuela) TAG $1.49 $11.99 $4.89 $3.99 $5.99 LEFTOVER CHOICE Clif energy bar Space Bag (jumbo Cube) Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (lemon) Wavy Lays potato chips Pantene Pro-V Classic Care shampoo Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil ACTUAL Clif energy bar Space Bag (jumbo Cube) Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil Wavy Lays potato chips Pantene Pro-V Classic Care shampoo Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (lemon) DECISION GO ON GO ON LOSS       UGH! Only one wrong! Been a while since only one was wrong.

Third IUFB: Designer accessories (13-pcs w/belts, hats, scarves and bags; ARP: $1,471) (Lanisha) DANA Bradley Jessica C. Jessica S. WINNER $550 $1100 $825 $700 BRADLEY Bradley, a Philosophy major in college, is playing a brand new game, Rat Race, which is a car game. Its prize presentation is similar to Ten Chances. On-stage is a large slot car track with five lanes, each for a different colored toy rat. The contestant can win up to three rats to "bet" on to win the race by guessing the prices of three different items. The first item has a margin of error of $1, the second has a margin of $10, and the third has a margin of $100. (You have to be within that margin, below or above, no over rule) If one of the rats is first, it wins the car. If one of the rats is second, it wins the second prize. If one of the rats is third, it wins the third prize. FIRST PRIZE The grand prize is a Chevrolet HHR LS. (2.2-litre EcoTec engine, 16" wheels, OnStar) (Amber) SECOND PRIZE iMac computer. (8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, photo printer) (Manuela) THIRD PRIZE His-and-her watches (Croton) (Manuela) Item Guesses (Lanisha) MARGIN ITEM GUESS ARP RESULT $1 Borden American cheese slices $3.50 $2.89 ORANGE $10 2-slice toaster $17 $35 WRONG $100 Samsung 3D Blu-ray player (BD-Live internet connectivity) $300 $400 BLUE Race Results... RAT PLACE PRIZE BLUE 2 COMPUTER LOSS ORANGE 4   PINK 5   GREEN 3   YELLOW 1   And it's Yellow over Blue by a head, with not a single ARP in sight for the race prizes... (BTW: Unlike grocery games, he actually won the cheese. So remember that next season.)

SCSD #1 Contestant Winnings Spin 1 Spin 2 TOTAL Janet $1,560 25 30 55 Bradley $3,673 1.00 N/A *$1,000!* Alexis $5,708 85 20 OVER Bonus... Contestant Winnings Spin Result Bradley $4,673 15 *$10,000!!* *SHOWCASE*

Fourth IUFB: Set of 3 scooters (Pulse Kick-&-Go Accelerators; ARP: $540) (Manuela) Dana LAWRENCE Jessica C. Jessica S. WINNER $492 $500 $475 $600 LAWRENCE Lawrence, who drew himself and Drew on his shirt, is playing Most Expen$ive. Retro Art Deco diner booth (table + 2 benches) (Manuela) $1,795   Triple-rope pendant chain (ColorCraft; 4.14ct rubies, 0.4ct diamonds, 14kt gold) (Amber) $4,500   32" 5-burner stainless steel gas grill (Lanisha) $2,420 LOSS

Fifth IUFB: Sailboard (ARP: $1,599) (Amber) Dana LAUREN Jessica C. Jessica S. WINNER $1900 $1100 $2100 $1500 JESSICA S. Jessica S., the last of our First Four, is playing Flip Flop for an outdoor fire pit seating group. (C.W. Lee; loveseat, 2 club seats and a fire pit centerpiece) (Lanisha) ORIGINAL 87 76 GUESS 78 76 ARP 78 67 ARP: $7,867 LOSS

Sixth IUFB: Karaoke package (Party Tyme Karaoke; Karaoke unit, 2 microphones and selection of CDs; ARP: $680) (Lanisha) Dana Lauren Jessica C. WANDA WINNER $550 $700 $1 $425 DANA Dana is playing Any Number for a 2011 Scion xB. (2.4-litre engine, 4spd automatic transmission) (Manuela) Order of numbers chosen: 8, 6, 2, 9, 4, 1, 0, 3 Scion xB 1 8 6   4 Dinnerware (Amber) LOSS 9 2 3 T.D.P.B. . 1 0 Car ARP: $18,674 Pig ARP: $5.10

SCSD #2 Contestant Winnings Spin 1 Spin 2 TOTAL Lawrence $540 40 55 95 *SHOWCASE* Jessica S. $1,599 35 80 OVER Dana $1,603 75 45 OVER

SHOWCASE ROUND Bradley, whose win would keep us from not knowing the full winnings today, has the honor... SC1 - LAWRENCE AMAZING WAYS TO COOK (all Manuela) Stainless steel kitchen (30" range, 25.4 cu ft. refrigerator, 24" dishwasher) + stainless steel cookware (10pcs) Cooking lessons (3-hr lesson for two) Tuscany (RT coach LA to Florence, 6n private 2-room villa, gourmet dinners out each night) BID: $31,000 ARP: $20,108 DIFF: OVER LOSS $540 SC2 - BRADLEY LACE UP YOUR TENNIES! His-and-her tennis equipment (Rackets, bags and balls) (Amber) New York (RT coach LA to NYC, 3n suite Lowes Regency Hotel New York, 2 tickets to U.S. Open Men's Singles Final tennis match) (Manuela) Nissan Versa 1.6 sedan (1.6-litre engine, 4spd automatic transmission) (Lanisha) BID: $1 ARP: $18,098 DIFF: $18,097 *WIN* $32,771 Before the Showcase round, Drew plugged the website, where there is a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making and set assembly of Rat Race. (BTW: the iMac's ARP was $1,799. Thank you for winning the Showcase, Bradley.)

Show Results: 1 out of 6 Total Winnings: $43,781 THIS RECAP IS THE PRODUCED SOLELY FOR GOLDEN-ROAD.NET UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION OR EXHIBITION IS PROHIBITED PRODUCED BY KITCH

[Otm Shank]

Oh, lookie. The "Rat Race" thread started to bore me, so I lost track of the premiere date. When I saw the two small prizes with a seamed background, I was thinking, "Oh, 10 Chances."

Not bad execution. For someone who has trouble describing some of the pricing games, Drew seemed to give a thorough, Barkeresque description of the game. Of course, since he invented the game, it comes naturally.

Obviously the finish involves some electronic sensors, as the prizes lit up after the fifth mouse finished. The slo-mo into commercial was obligatory and looked pretty cool. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but the leftmost mouse has further to travel than ones to its right. Over time, there should be a statistical advantage shown to the mice today's contestant selected.)

Wonder how much was appropriated to create this game. Seems like it would be more than most of the existing pricing games if they were created today.

[tpirfan28]

Mighty impressed they could *premiere* Rat Race with Bag in the same lineup.  Shows that Rat Race might get some extra playing because of its timing.

[Wayoshi]

I know everyone's going to be talking about one thing, but I seriously want to point out another today.

There is NO EXCUSE for today's showcases. NONE. It is absolutely unacceptable IMO to have a car THAT STARTS AT BASE IN FOUR DIGITS. Today's Tuscany villa trip WAS MORE THAN THE CAR BY AT LEAST $3000.

I understand we are in budget mode for whatever illicit reasons, but do NOT LOOK CHEAP, MIKE. When you have offered 25k+ packages in Pushy and Rangey this season, have had 5-digit Squeezy so many times, and the showcases have breached 50k, 60k when they shouldn't have WEEKLY for two months straight. Today it was so obvious EVERYONE noticed, not just us who sniffed it at the first sight of the Hyundai Accent in Rolly in May.

[therealcu2010]

Rat Race was a lot better than I expected. There's still some issues, such as not being able to control the outcome, but overall, it was pretty well done. The only real gripes I have with it are that the set is a little too flashy and large, and it required some strange camera angles to shoot (I've never been a fan of that overhead jib shot), but otherwise, it was pretty well done.  It's not the best game to debut on the show, but it's far from the worst.

The slow-mo replay at the end of Rat Race was really cool...certainly miles better than the awkward audience shot they typically use to go to commercial these days. They should find ways to integrate shots like that into other games.

They really need to stop offering tiny prizes (such as the jewelry in ME) if it's gonna involve misuse of the video monitors like that. It looks really awkward, and it's distracting. Either find a regular, non-moving, non-video backdrop for them or don't offer them.

Is the car in SC2 the cheapest car they've offered in some time?

OVERALL: 3.5/5.

[sideshowPA]

There is NO EXCUSE for today's showcases. NONE. It is absolutely unacceptable IMO to have a car THAT STARTS AT BASE IN FOUR DIGITS.

There's a very simple excuse: the show is over budget, and it is the end of the season.

I like Rat Race.  But the teacher I eat lunch with wondered aloud if this could lead to another new game: Cock Fight.

[Roland]

I thought "Rat Race" had a cool setup, and the mice were kind of cute. However, I fear the mechanical problems that this game may suffer. I know that was the reason why Hurdles and Finish Line were retired. I hope "Rat Race" doesn't suffer the same problems and suffer the same fate.

[goldroadfanatic]

Unlike those games, the only mechanical parts are the rats themselves.  They're small and should be relatively easy to fix compared to say, the motor in Range Game or Squeeze Play.

Personally, I like Rat Race.  I thought the small prize podium was too busy and would have preferred three individual podiums or three different backgrounds for each prize, but use a single prop, like the SP podium for Bonus Game, Shell Game, and Switcheroo.  The Ten Chances reveal is pretty cool, but I wish that the prize package amount was revealed or they show the prices of each prize on the video monitor that houses the results.  I do love the huge racetrack and how large the set, as a whole, is.

One person bought this up in chat, but could each rat be programmed to finish at a specific time?  The difference between each rat could be one second and that could be a way to pre-determine what each rat's positioning would be.

I await whinbaby's showcase prize price analysis, but I think it's safe to say that the Versa in the showcase is the cheapest car the show has offered in a decade or so.  That particular model, including destination charges, tops out at $10,600 or so.

[tvnutboy]

I thought "Rat Race" had a cool setup, and the mice were kind of cute. However, I fear the mechanical problems that this game may suffer. I know that was the reason why Hurdles and Finish Line were retired. I hope "Rat Race" doesn't suffer the same problems and suffer the same fate.

With today's technology, I'm sure "Rat Race" will last longer than Hurdles & Finish Line COMBINED. There's a Big difference between 1970s mechanics & the mechanics of today, and if there are any problems down the road, I'm sure they will be fixed with great ease.

That said, Rat Race looked like a fun game (Give or take a detail or two...which there already is a forum for)!

[offerta]

Rat Race is very fun and colorful a game!
I like the dollar's running track and the logo, the mouse is very nice.
Like all new stuff it will take a while to get used to this game and put the list together with the other.
The set is very large, I think the break between the last game and this was very long.

[444dd]

I love rat race that's all I got to say

[AntmanB]

What was the 6th pricing Game and was it won? Beacuse my affilate skipped it for some reason.

[Ccook]

Rat Race didn't do anything for me. It just seemed so derivative. But it could grow on me in time.

If memory serves, the 6th game was Any Number. The contestant won the secondary prize.

[offerta]

Rat Race is the first game with grocery item and small prizes.
In this episode there is another grocery or SP game?

[AntmanB]

It's in te Bag was the Grocery Game

Intersting how  a new Game, Rat Race, was accompanied with 3 Games from the 1st ever show.