Author Topic: Clock Game Strategy  (Read 2708 times)

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Offline moneygamelover

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Clock Game Strategy
« on: January 08, 2022, 05:26:27 PM »
So, this was discussed a bit in Friday's recap thread, but what would everyone's strategy be for playing the Clock Game.?

My own strategy would be to start at $600 both times. I'd then go in increments of 100, followed by increments of 50, followed by increments of 10, followed by increments of 5, followed by increments of 1.
What do you all think?
Adjustments that should be made to pricing games to make them fairer: Secret X: Add a 3rd SP so that perfect pricing ensures a win. 1/2 Off: Add a 4th set of SPs so that perfect pricing ensures a win. Master Key: Add 2 more SPs so that perfect pricing ensures a win. Rat Race: Add 2 more SPs so that perfect pricing ensures a win.

The following pricing games should be retired because there's no way or no easy way to make them fair: Spelling Bee, Plinko, Punch a Bunch, Pass the Buck, Let em Roll, 3 Strikes.

The following retired pricing games should be revived: $uper $aver, Give or Keep, Buy or Sell, Hurdles, Bump, Penny Ante, Credit Card, On the Spot, Split Decision, Add em Up, Walk of Fame, Barker's Markers, Magic Number.

Offline TPIRfan#9821

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2022, 08:51:05 PM »
Personally, I'd start from 900, and go down every hundred until I heard higher, then go 90 and go down every 10 until I heard higher again, and then just cycle through 1-9. That way, I don't ever have to repeat the hundreds or tens digit after I got the right price.

Clock Game is such an easy game, that in theory, if you had it in a 50 dollar range, you could probably power through all 50 prices in 10 seconds by going 5 hundred onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine, ten onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine, twenty... etc. It's really just a gatekeeper to see if a contestant can stay calm under pressure.
"If any show, forget sports, Price is Right, [the audience is] the star of the show. Somebody... coming on down and losing their minds, and ... crying, that's the show. The show isn't me, the show isn't necessarily [a] can of soup, how much that is, it's watching people go bananas, and there's going to be some of that missing."

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Offline SeaBreeze341

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2022, 12:03:08 PM »
Chances are I'd be boring & typical, starting from $500 and increase every hundred until I go too high, then down to 50, following by down to 40/up to 60 until I win.

However, if I thought about it and used the following thoughts on the show, I could win faster: Start at either $899 or $999 and then go down.  Instead of bidding in $x00, stick to something in ending in 95-99.  It's likely brutal, but several of the prices offered in Clock Game end closer to 99 and not so much 01
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Offline PriceFan07

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2022, 02:32:48 PM »
I usually start at $600 and continue in 100s until I hear the "higher"/"lower" that gives me my $100 window. Then I jump to $x50. If it's higher, I'll jump to $x75. From there I'll go by 5s, either higher or lower as necessary and ultimately down to 1s if needed. If it's deemed lower than $x50, I bring my bid down to $x25 and then follow the same 5s strategy.

Depending on how quickly you speak, you can narrow the price down to within $25 in just a few seconds. Prizes are rarely less than $500 in price and by sticking to even hundreds to start, the show seems to let you get away with just saying the first number and assuming you mean "hundred".
Get Ready to Price the Prize!
George Gray! Rachel Reynolds! Amber Lancaster! Manuela Arbelaez! Alexis Gaube! And James O'Halloran!
As we play the fabulous, sixty-minute Price is Right!
And here's the star of The Price is Right - Drew Carey!

Offline garffreak

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2022, 12:17:23 AM »
My basic computer science education tells me the logical way to quickly hit the price is a binary search.

You start at a mid-point and go 50% from there.  Prices are 0-1000, so you would follow this:
$500 (higher)
$750 (midway to 1000, lower)
$675 (midway from 500 and 750, higher)
$715 (midway-ish from 675 and 750, higher)
$735 (again, midway-ish, lower)
$725 (and now it's close enough to do the fast $1 bumps in price, 726, 7, 8, 9 WIN)
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Offline the_shrink_is_right

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2022, 02:19:51 AM »
My basic computer science education tells me the logical way to quickly hit the price is a binary search.

You start at a mid-point and go 50% from there.  Prices are 0-1000, so you would follow this:
$500 (higher)
$750 (midway to 1000, lower)
$675 (midway from 500 and 750, higher)
$715 (midway-ish from 675 and 750, higher)
$735 (again, midway-ish, lower)
$725 (and now it's close enough to do the fast $1 bumps in price, 726, 7, 8, 9 WIN)

Now try doing this under pressure of a clock, an audience, and television cameras.

Offline Thatgameshowguy

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2022, 07:29:06 AM »
Now try doing this under pressure of a clock, an audience, and television cameras.

The strategy guide to all the Pricing Games makes note that is extremely hard to do a true binary search under pressure and that the increasing by $100 until told higher (or lower if you start low), then $x50, then by $10s, then $1s strategy is enough to almost guarantee a win every time.
YES! You have them all right! You win $2,500! You will putt from the closest line!

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Offline gamesurf

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2022, 04:46:55 PM »
The best thing to do is to actually practice.

In line outside the studio is wonderful time to do it. You and your fellow audience members are likely going to be bored at some point during the wait. Grab a partner, have them think of a random number between 500 and 999, and see how quickly each of you can do it on average. As long as you can consistently hit under 15 seconds per, you are golden.

Consistency is more important that speed. There is no bonus for speed or doing a perfect binary search or predicting the price exactly, unless you have found a time machine and are lucky enough to be taping a primetime special in 2008. Practice speaking clearly, find a strategy that works, practice waiting for a response from the host, and do it often enough that you don't get flustered under pressure.

This exercise helps even if you don't get picked to play Clock Game. You and your partners in line are now a little more warmed up and prepared to appear on a TV show where anything can happen, and you've practiced tapping into a state of mind where you can respond to anything else the host might ask.
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Offline PunchABunchFan

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2022, 05:25:10 PM »
My basic computer science education tells me the logical way to quickly hit the price is a binary search.

You start at a mid-point and go 50% from there.  Prices are 0-1000, so you would follow this:
$500 (higher)
$750 (midway to 1000, lower)
$675 (midway from 500 and 750, higher)
$715 (midway-ish from 675 and 750, higher)
$735 (again, midway-ish, lower)
$725 (and now it's close enough to do the fast $1 bumps in price, 726, 7, 8, 9 WIN)

Except midway between 500 and 750 is 625, not 675.  :)

Offline garffreak

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2022, 08:59:34 PM »
Except midway between 500 and 750 is 625, not 675.  :)
Clearly the bright lights of the studio affected my bidding.
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Offline Brian44

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Re: Clock Game Strategy
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2022, 05:23:20 AM »
Start with $999.