Now comes the hardest one: Pay the Rent. I'm not going to bother writing a script for the game as it exists now, because there's not a chance in hell that Bob and Roger would have let that get on the air. With some modifications, though, it
might still be possible to make this a fairly decent game, so let's go with the first playing's setup and the best alternate rules I know of that have come out of anyone's brainstorming sessions.
(And yes, I realize that there's actually a TV on the second floor...but doesn't a bed make a little more sense?)
Pay the Rent"That's right, Rebecca! $25,000, playing Pay the Rent! And that's exactly what I want you to do -- I want you to pay the rent on each floor of this house, using the groceries sitting over there. I want you to put one in the mailbox, two on the first floor, two on the second floor, and one in the attic, and I want you to do it in such a way that every floor has a higher payment on it than the next floor down. I'll give you $5,000 for paying off the first floor, $10,000 for the second floor, and
$25,000 if you can successfully pay off the attic, Rebecca! Now, Rich, would you tell us about those groceries, please?"
<Rich reads the grocery plugs>
"Now, just to get you started, Rebecca, I'll
tell you which item needs to be in the mailbox."
<Mailbox item is revealed>
"It's the shampoo. Will you take that over, girls? Now, let's start at the attic, Rebecca, and work our way down. We
know the most expensive item has to go up there, so look the five remaining products over and tell me which one costs more than all the others."
<Audience consultation>
"The cat food. Very well. Rachel will take that up and put it in the safe. Now, I need two items for the bed and the bathtub on the second floor; they must total less than the price of the catfood, but not
too much less."
<Audience consultation>
"The cleaner...very well. And what else? The corn? Alright. Girls, take those over, please. Now, that leaves the pizza and the cinnamon for the sofa and the stove on the first floor. They must total more than the shampoo, but less than the total of the cleaner and the corn. Are those the items you want there?"
<Audience consultation>
"She says she's happy. Very well. Rachel, Lanisha, put those last two in place."
"Now, let's start checking these payments. Show us the price of the shampoo, please. $5.99. Let's see if the pizza and the cinnamon can beat that. Price of the pizza? $3.49. The cinnamon is...$2.98. And that totals...$6.47, and you're alright! Give her $5,000!"
"Now, at this juncture, Rebecca, if you like, you may walk away from the game and take that $5,000 back to your seat,
or you may choose to go on and find out if you've successfully paid off the second floor. If you have, we'll change that $5,000 to
ten thousand dollars. If, however, you go on and the payment is
not high enough, the game will be over, and you'll be off this stage with nary a cent. What's it gonna be, Rebecca?"
<Audience consultation>
"She believes she's right, and she's going on. Let's find out. How much is that cleaner? $5.49! I like the looks of this, Rebecca! Show us the price of that corn. $1.49, and I think you're okay! Give us our total! $6.98, and that $10,000 is yours!"
"Now, one choice remains, Rebecca: Do you want to quit with that $10,000, or do you want to go on up to the attic to see if the cat food costs more than $6.98? If you go on and you're right, it's $25,000 for you, but if you're wrong...no money for Rebecca today, at least not in this pricing game."
<Audience consultation>
"She is going to the attic! It all comes down to this. If we see a number higher than $6.98 on that cat food, Rebecca, you are a
big winner. Light up that price! It's $7.30! You've done it, Rebecca! $25,000, at that's only the first game, folks! We'll try to make someone else just as happy after this message!"
