Credit Card

Credit Card
Premiere Date (Barker Era)	December 7, 1987 (#6681D)
Premiere Date (Carey Era)	February 1, 2008 (#4185K)
Pricing Game Location	Big Doors
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Pathfinder
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Spelling Bee
Finale Date (Barker Era)	May 25, 2007 (#4005K)
Finale Date (Carey Era)	October 31, 2008 (#4485K)

Credit Card is the pricing game where the contestant tried not to exceed his/her credit limit and win five prizes, each worth between $100 and $3,000.

Gameplay

• The contestant is presented with a large credit card, which is inserted into an ATM, which then displays a "credit limit" (usually between $1,500 and $3,500). The player must select three prizes whose prices total below the credit limit to win all five prizes. The prizes are selected one at a time, and the price is deducted from the credit limit after each selection.
• Credit Card is the logical antithesis of Shopping Spree, as the object is to spend at most the given amount. Furthermore, the credit limit is selected such that the simplified objective of the game is to choose the three cheapest prizes (whereas in Shopping Spree, the goal is to choose the most expensive prizes). Apart from their opposing goals and the fact that Shopping Spree uses four prizes to Credit Card's five, the games are played the same way.
• In the event of a loss (when the contestant goes over the credit limit), three yellow markers pop up above the three correct prizes; on occasion, bloopers have occurred when all five markers raised upward. Originally, the correct markers were gray, and the wrong markers had the red word "NO" on a white background as well.

History

• Credit Card debuted on December 7, 1987 (#6681D), and was lost on that playing.
• The credit card prop that is inserted into the set is a piece of cardboard and thus serves no technical purpose for displaying the credit limit (as seen on one Carey episode when he asked for the credit limit before inserting the card).
• Nevertheless, the card was printed with an expiration date, too small to be legible on air. The only known expiration is December 2007, meaning that the card "expired" before the game was retired, but this was not acknowledged on-air. It is possible that this date was changed several times throughout the game's run.
• On June 11, 1999 (#1165K), a production error occurred where, instead of the yellow markers showing all three correct choices, they only showed the ones the contestant had correctly guessed. This was rectified on the following playing.
• On April 20, 2000 (#1424K), Bob made an audience entrance. Credit Card was played first on that day.
• Credit Card was played in the first pricing game slot over 100 times. It was rarely the 5th or 6th game to be played.

Trivia

• Credit Card was the first game to debut after Bob Barker's hair had turned gray.
• The most number of times this game was played in any season was 31 (season 18), while the lowest number of times this game was played in any season was 1 (season 37).
• Credit Card never offered five cars.
• Just like Golden Road, Hot Seat, and Safe Crackers, the game is shown and is zoomed out to the contestant and Bob/Drew.

Retirement

No official reason has been given for Credit Card's retirement. Reasons theorized by fans include that it took too long to describe five larger prizes (many of which were still sponsored in 2008), it wasn't popular with the staff, and that inflation was making the game too difficult to win; it was probably some combination of these.

International versions

• On the Bruce Forsyth version in the UK, the game was played the same, except that the contestant only won the three prizes chosen if won, and only one prize (the highest) can create a loss yet still manage to win the game. Later on, the contestant also won the amount of cash left on the credit card if won.

Gallery

To view the gallery, click here.

Videos

Last Play Of Credit Card