It’s Time for Pricing Game Retirements

[shell_game]

Another potential caveat to a mass reduction of pricing games: freeing up space in storage

I would agree with this, but at the same time look at the size of many of the games that have been created most recently. Gridlock!, Hot Seat, Back to 7X, Pay the Rent, Rat Race,Time Is Money, To the Penney. Heck, they even enlarged the size of the Card Game table after they had remodeled it, made Side by Side taller, and they built extensions to the Pathfinder board during COVID. Not to mention the addition of the seating pods and flooring for the audience. The only relatively small ones for storage are Vendo-o-Price, Do the Math, and maybe Double Cross.

You would think that if storage was a problem it might in some way impact the design of some of the games. But they seem on average to be bigger than ever. It's amazing to me that they haven't slowly retired some games as all of these large things started appearing. To have gone this long seems to tell me that storage is not one of their primary concerns. Yet.

[rowlande]

Personally the only games that i would consider retiring would be pay the rent and back to 7x

[garffreak]

I agree, the show could remain fresh and unique with about 50 games in rotation.  Personally, I'd retire:

Back to '7X: This was supposed to be gone and yet here it is with an odd Match Game flavor.  It's a novelty throwback, but that's really the entire show.

Card Game: It just feels forced.  It barely worked with $5000 car prices.  You could easily bust with a face card.  Now they have to spot a ridiculous amount of a starting bid to keep the game from being 8 minutes long.

Check-Out: I just pain don't like its deviation from the "without going over" rules.

Double Cross:  This has just always been "meh."  It was a game made with tech for the sake of using tech.

Freeze Frame: For a quickie, this can have a painfully slow gameplay as the board displays a series of nonsense prices with two or three possibilities.

Gridlock!: It's just too busy for what it is.

Hole in One or Two: Bob's retired.  We can get rid of his little ego game now.

Line 'Em Up: It's always been just too much of a crapshoot and Switcheroo knockoff.

Now ...or Then: The set is hideous.  And with inflation and pricing being all over the place, it just doesn't play out well.  Using prices from a newspaper?  Is that really MSRP?  Plus, if a contestant wants to use strategy, Bob and Drew have always directed the player away from doing so.  It's an S&P nightmare.

One Wrong Price: Just check the name of the show.

Pick-a-Number: Another ugly game that is just a plain 33% guess.

Secret "X": Probably the easiest game to lose with perfect pricing.  And it's ugly, come at me.

That's Too Much!: Bob's overselling of the yell is all that saved this game.  It goes back to the premise that you don't want to go over.

[CaptainPrice]

The only game that I can think of for this criteria is Gridlock!. There's too little room for error, which has led to a handful of wipeouts and can't be played first or second due to it needing quite some time to boot up.

Hot Seat would probably be the next game. It's got too much going on and an earlier poster explained its problems better than I would. I think it's also difficult to slot because of the timing needed for it.

Edit: I forgot a reason for Hot Seat.

[rowlande]

Grildlock serves it purpose. You see the show eventually getting rid of hot seat though. Episodes when the game is played sometimes creates some odd lineups

[Thatgameshowguy]

Hot Seat is in an odd position for me because it's an incredibly long game. Revamp it to make it slightly faster and I think it can stay. You'll have to pry Now... Or Then from my cold dead hands if you want to retire it. As for the whole "newspaper" thing, the system in which "then" prices were found was revamped and they now use old episodes of Price to find them. Magic # is sadly already long gone. As for the storage issue, Gridlock! doesn't really have a place in the warehouse to begin with? Its home is just kinda shoved in between a bunch of plants and greenery backdrops. Also as a side note it really needs to be dusted off. I don't mind it as a quickie car game and considering how much they spent building it, it'll stick around for a while. Back to '7x was a pointless revival, the gimmick was with it being all about the 50th season. Maybe if it only shows up once a year for new years I won't be too mad at it, but having it in active rotation seems rather pointless since it's just an easier Cliffhangers. Card Game getting yet another inflation bump is going to be interesting, I don't know why fans were so desperate for it to come back in 2014. It was taken out of rotation for a reason and I don't think it should've been put back in.

Overall I like the variety of games and as Roger has said in the past, "Every game is somebody's favorite" so retiring any of them will be a loss to someone, but I do think some trimming wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

[gamesurf]

I like the lineup as it is and I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with it. The sprawling variety is fun to me and I don't mind games taking breaks for weeks at a time.  But if I absolutely need to make cuts for the purpose of getting my favorite games more airtime, let's take a look at them category by category. Games I think are most important to keep at the top of the list, least important at the bottom. Cut games will be stricken through. I'll also say which games I think deserve to get extra playings to fill the void left.


Two-Prize Games
Switch?
Bargain Game
Do the Math
1 Right Price
Double Cross

No cuts here. Two-prizers are needed. I may not love the fact that Double Cross is stuffed with touchscreens, but it does its job in a lineup.

Three-Prize Games
Most Expen$ive
Easy as 1-2-3
One Wrong Price

No cuts. One Wrong Price is not close to being one of my favorite games, but without it you have Most Expensive and... a game very similar to Most Expensive. One Wrong Price is needed to provide variety. (It would provide more variety if it weren't played every week. 123 should absorb some playings.)

Four-Prize Games
Race Game
Danger Price
Take Two
Shopping Spree
Swap Meet

Danger Price and Take Two stay because they are fun and they have the potential to end early if the contestant wins or loses right away, saving time. Shopping Spree does not have that advantage, and is not particularly fun. Swap Meet is quick for a 4P, but it is not fun and its style is too 90's for the current show. While it could be saved by a refurb, I think the three remaining are strong enough to carry the show.

SP One-Prize Games
Cliff Hangers
Secret "X"
Shell Game
Bonus Game
Back to '7x

Bonus Game is a classic and is quicker than Shell Game, but but Shell Game does the same thing with more flair. The loss of the quickest SP game necessitates Secret "X" getting promoted to biweekly. Cliff and Shell get a few extra playings as well, though we're required to shorten some lineups to accommodate them.

I love the idea of trotting out Back to '7x very occasionally on special episodes a few times a season, but I don't think it's worth the effort to make a permanent part of the rotation.

GP One-Prize Games
Pick-a-Pair
Vend-O-Price
Grocery Game
Bullseye
Check-Out
Now....or Then
Hi Lo

Hi Lo is lost frequently. While this isn't a problem in it of itself, harder games are needed, but it's also usually obvious when the contestant loses before the final price is revealed. Now or Then is a classic, and while any LFAT would be happy to see it come around on the turntable, it's not one of Drew's better explanations, it's difficult to see the prop light up on camera, and "get three wedges in a row" isn't the cleanest concept in the world.

Grocery Game, Check-Out, Bullseye, and Pair absorb most of their playings.

Cash Games
Plinko
Grand Game
It's In the Bag
Time i$ Money
1/2 Off
Punch a Bunch
To the Penny
Hot Seat
Pay the Rent

These three are games I like the core ideas behind, but are executed better by other games.  I love the idea of a Millionaire-style money tree pricing game, but I wish To the Penny was streamlined a little bit better. Hot Seat is a neat idea but it hurts lineups by taking very long to play. Pay the Rent works as an excuse to offer $100,000 semi-regularly, but "bail with $10K or watch the contestant lose because they didn't know to put the 3rd most expensive in the mailbox" is no fun to watch.

I came scandalously close to cutting Punch-a-Bunch because it produces a predictable and endless parade of $2500-$100 winners, but the masterful presentation won out and ended up saving it. It could get a new prize distribution (with a lone $100,000 slip and a few more $10,000 and $5,000 ones) and a slight cutback in playings to fill Pay the Rent's role as the once-a-month "Big Money" game.

This frees up 30 slots for cash games. Every cash game gets a boost in playings. Grand Game, Time is Money, and Half Off benefit the most, getting played about every other week instead of every three weeks. Each can easily become useful in budget mode.

1P Games
Push Over
Double Prices
Flip Flop
Coming or Going
Side By Side
Bonkers
Balance Game
Freeze Frame
Squeeze Play
Range Game
Check Game
Pick-a-Number

Add: Untitled Quickie

This is the hardest category to make cuts--nearly every episode has a 1P game of some sort, usually a quickie. But cut we shall.

They'll live without Pick-a-Number. Range Game is long past its prime. And I love Check Game, but I concede it's not the easiest concept in the world to understand and doesn't fit the vision of a tighter, all-killer-no-filler price.

The elimination of these three games leaves a gap of about 50 1P slots per year that need filled. We introduce Untitled Quickie, which gets 20 playings a year. Every other 1P game gets an extra 3-4 playings per year.

Car SP Games
Five Price Tags
Rat Race
Pathfinder
Switcheroo
Master Key
Spelling Bee

I love Spelling Bee. I really do. But it's no fun when the contestant struggles to bid on the SPs and you know there's no possibility of winning all three. The bailout portion is unique but it's done better by other games. Picking the cards is kind of fun but not as fun as other luck-based car games. And it's long.

Car GP Games
Hole in One
Let 'em Roll
Stack the Deck
Pass the Buck

Picking numbers off the board in Pass the Buck is fun but not as fun as some of the other games. And $1 just can't buy what it used to.

Stack the Deck gets an increase of playings. The show needs games that do their job in budget mode and Stack certainly does that. Before you boo, 5-10 playings each season have the GPs set up to be a-toddler-could-get-all-three easy. The goal is to end the season playing it about 12-15 times with about a 25% win rate.

With the elimination of Bee and Buck, Let 'em Roll and Gas Money become the only two "do you want to bail with $X or do you want to try again for the car" games. They both get a small boost in playings.

Other Car Games
Money Game
That's Too Much!
Cover Up
Any Number
Lucky $even
One Away
Dice Game
Pocket Change
10 Chances
Gas Money
Temptation
Line em Up
Gridlock!
More or Less
Card Game

A strong variety in car games is needed, so we're not going to go overboard here. More or Less takes too long to play and frequently doesn't even end with an exciting moment. I admire the effort to retrofit Card Game into something that works in 2023 but its gameplay just doesn't work near as well as anything else on the list. Every other car game gets a slight bump: 1-3 more playings per year, but nothing drastic. The rotation looks much like it does now.

Big Three
3 Strikes
Golden Road
Triple Play

The Big Three become the Big Two. Golden Road and 3 Strikes get played six times per year instead of four.

Other Games
Make Your Move
Clock Game
Safe Crackers
2 For the Price of 1

Safe Crackers and Make Your Move see a healthy increase in playings.


This cuts a total of 18 games and adds one. We're down to 62 games--still with a healthy sprawl & variety, but with my favorite games getting played a bit more frequently than they do now. And the pruning leaves room to add new games that build on old ideas. You want to recycle Card Game's reveal and staging for a new green felt casino-themed game? Go for it!

[rowlande]

Race Game and Take Two cannot be played first or second Shopping Spree and Swap Meet can. For that reason alone i doubt the show would actually retire either shopping spree and swap meet. The whole reason those games were created was to have a quickie multi prizer that could be played in any slot

[CJBojangles]

I think most of these “long” games on the chopping block would not take nearly as much time if Drew didn’t spend it explaining every possible scenario that could happen over the course of the game in great detail. Hot Seat is one of his worst in that regard. I still love modern Price and have long grown accustomed to Drew’s style, but I long for the days of explaining the rules as the game goes along, or even “Do you know how to play this game? Great, do it.” But there will never be another Bob.

I’d be interested to see if many of these games would still be up for hypothetical retirement when a new host comes along.

[JayC]

Hot Seat and Card Game are the two games besides Magic # I could see being retired. Both Hot Seat and Card Game take longer to play and neither are all that exciting despite the flash of their sets. It also seems like contestants playing Hot Seat usually aren't quite sure what to do, and Card Game is more and more impacted by inflation.

I’d be interested to see if many of these games would still be up for hypothetical retirement when a new host comes along.

That is a point-- there were several games retired in Drew's first 3 seasons including some that were retired because of his feelings about the game (or other games with similar situations). If at any point there is a new host, that's when we could see another batch of pricing game retirements to accommodate to him/her.

[TPIRfan#9821]

Race Game and Take Two cannot be played first or second Shopping Spree and Swap Meet can. For that reason alone i doubt the show would actually retire either shopping spree and swap meet. The whole reason those games were created was to have a quickie multi prizer that could be played in any slot

The reason those two multiprizers can’t be played in those spots nowadays is a consequence of the modern Drew intro sweeping across the set. I’d be amazed if Roger has the foresight to make Spree and Swap comparable two decades in advance for a change under a different director. I don’t see a problem with Danger being the only 4P played in the first segment?

I wouldn’t cut any games because I don’t think the general public cares enough about pricing game rotations, but I’m all for killing Triple Play to get two more playings of Road and 3X, among other cuts.

[gamesurf]

Race Game and Take Two cannot be played first or second Shopping Spree and Swap Meet can. For that reason alone i doubt the show would actually retire either shopping spree and swap meet.

That’s fair.

Swap Meet returns to the rotation after a refurbishment. The burden is shouldered by Danger and an uptick in three-prizers for a season while we wait for the budget to get a new set.

[SeaBreeze341]

Well, this the first time I've seen mentions of Pick-A-Number being retired in about 15-20 years.  I definitely can recall how several "wanted" PAN retired.  It was and sorta is still lame.  I don't hate it outright; it's just okay.

Unless I'm mistaken, other than maybe Money Game, it's a decent game to play that doesn't have the threat of a malfunction.  It's pretty quick TBH.  I wouldn't lose any sleep if PAN actually went away for good, but over the years I've come to accept its existence.

I'd hold onto Shopping Spree.  Just my opinion, but it's a very nice game.  On a somewhat related note, I don't think I'll ever be happy with the demise of Credit Card, so I might shed a tear or two if Spree were ever to be retired.  It's not a quick game, but a nice fit for TPIR.  I wouldn't mind seeing Swap Meet go.  No set update needed.  I just don't see what anyone has to lose if Swap were retired.  I still haven't heard it mentioned from the casuals when it comes to talking Price

[OneBidTris]

Race Game and Take Two cannot be played first or second Shopping Spree and Swap Meet can.

The thing is that you could do them second, and a few other stage games that they just don't. I understand if they think it's too much work, but we've seen them accommodate for Gas Money 2nd and there are ways they can stage and make lineups around that. Do a trip game 1st on the turntable and set up during the playing.

Do I think they'll do it? Not particularly, but they can do Take Two/Race Game second and it's a lineup thing that's gotten at me before.

[JayC]

Well, this the first time I've seen mentions of Pick-A-Number being retired in about 15-20 years.  I definitely can recall how several "wanted" PAN retired.  It was and sorta is still lame.  I don't hate it outright; it's just okay.

I remember during the last several years with Bob hosting Pick-A-Number was played so rarely that every time it was played I almost forgot it existed. It's been played so much more under Drew including as a car game, so I can't see it going anywhere now.