Simple Questions & Answers Thread

[blozier2006]

Not sure why the eye roll for a legitimate question, I’ve wondered myself.

I’ve noticed (and this is without any sources, just observing), that when the target price ends in .50, there is almost always (unless it’s a special playing they want won), an item that’s 51 cents less than that. So a $4.99 item for a $5.50 target, for example. Maybe because it may be easier to find items that end in .99, this is why they want x.50 targets?

To be totally honest, it really doesn't matter what the target price is...

If you number each grocery item in the game from 1 to 6, with 1 the least expensive, and 6 the most expensive, as long as you have a target price that is higher than 4, but lower than 5, it doesn't matter where that price falls within that range, the game will still play out just the same.

[TPIRfan#9821]

In the Barker Era, the target prices had a good variety to them, but today, [rounding to the nearest 50 cents] makes the game slightly less interesting.

The eyeroll was to something the Barker era did "better" that is currently "worse" by comparison.

I do think Grand Game is less interesting nowadays because we have several cash games that offer more than $10k, but again, that number doesn't really matter when this game is just a 2-4 Hi-Lo.

[Punchboard91]

I’m perfectly okay with the cash prize as is - Grand Game’s $10,000 is won considerably more than $25,000 on Punch, $16,000 on Bag, $20,000 on Hot Seat, etc.

[GuyWithFace]

Perhaps better questions In relation to the target price in Grand Game would be as follows...
-What is the lowest value used? ($1.09, seen on the November 10, 1980 episode, is the lowest I have found thus far.)
-When did it cease ending in numbers other than 5 or 0? (A $1.33 value was utilized on the January 20, 1986 episode, thereby limiting this change to no earlier than the second half of Season 14.)
-When did it switch to solely ending in .00 or .50? (One of $2.10 was utilized on the April 23, 1990 episode, thereby limiting this change to no earlier than the last portion of Season 18.)

To that point, does anyone know if a Grand Game target price that was larger than $9.99?

Indeed there were, and at least three times it was very very much higher than $9.99 -- the Doug Davidson series, which utilized small prizes rather than grocery products, had target prices which included $60, $120, and $125. In these instances, cents were not included on the target price display nor in the values of the small prizes.

[Punchboard91]

Checking the stats site, October 23 and November 4, 2014, had targets of $4.25 and $4.75, respectively. After that, it’s been all x.50 or x.00.

[COINBOYNYC]

Are the pair of coins (courtesy of https://allaboutpins.com/blog/price-is-right-challenge-coins-welcome-drew-carey-as-a-host) seen at the bottom of this image still the actual Drew Dollars used until today in the Balance Game? If so, I think that it's very cool that they just modified the design of the Barker Dollar to be used for Drew's tenure as host and to somewhat retain continuity regarding the design.

As someone with an interest in Numismatics (hence my user name), I always wondered what the Barker Dollars looked like.

[jhc2010]

Why are “the Big Three” played less today than they’ve ever been played? The show can’t be on “budget mode” for a decade.

[blozier2006]

Why are “the Big Three” played less today than they’ve ever been played? The show can’t be on “budget mode” for a decade.

They've probably fallen into a habit of only scheduling them to come up during a sweeps week/gimmick event. Not sure that's what you'd call a "reason", though.

[htmlcc92]

Half-serious and half-joking question here: has Pathfinder ever been played for a Nissan Pathfinder?

I had also always wondered if Hole in One was played for a Volkswagen Golf! I'm hoping someday it is.

[blozier2006]

This may seem random, but I thought of it after seeing one of today's episodes of Classic Concentration on Buzzr... I know that TPIR has had wheelchair-bound contestants before... my question is, if they were to win their way to the Showcases, how would their presence affect the staging? I'm assuming that the podium would obstruct, if not outright block, their view if they sat behind it.

[gamesurf]

The director/producer would make the call on how to stage it, but a few options:
1) Set the contestant’s wheelchair on two apple boxes
2) Have the contestant to the side of the podium rather than behind it
3) Keep both contestants standing on the stage, but move them forward and set both showcase podiums on the step below

[ooboh]

It's easy to forget with the digital displays these days there really is no trouble just squeezing an extra digit onto the readouts. I imagine bidding 6 or 7 digits on a showcase can be done these days with relative ease. Not that I'd recommend doing that.

To be fair, contestants don’t need to bid six digits. We’ve had plenty of people win their showcase and finish with over $100,000, and the display handled it just fine. I loved the original eggcrate display, but it felt weird for it to only show the difference of “$239” after a DSW led to the biggest win in daytime history.

[MSTieScott]

I know that TPIR has had wheelchair-bound contestants before... my question is, if they were to win their way to the Showcases, how would their presence affect the staging?

This has happened at least once before (although I can't remember the year). The contestant in a wheelchair was the top winner, so they were positioned to the camera-right side of the display. Presumably, a runner-up would be positioned directly camera-left of their display.

That staging may not have been achievable prior to season 38, but there's enough room up there now to pull it off.

[PimpinJC]

In 10 Chances, has there ever been a repeated digit as a number choice?  I can’t recall ever seeing a playing myself that had one.

[Timotheus]

I was watching a 1989 episode and in Squeeze Play's trip presentation, they used 1 Right Price stands to hold some photos that the camera later zoomed in on:



(Sorry for the poor quality, it's a rough VHS recording.)

I see now this is noted in this site's Timeline. Was this sort of presentation used often? How often were pricing game props ever used for prize presentations? (The back-side of the Five Price Tags lights notwithstanding.)