Danger Price

In Danger Price, one out of four prizes has a price the contestant must avoid to win.

Gameplay[]

The contestant is shown a "danger price" (hence the name), which is the actual price of one of the four prizes. The contestant selects three prizes, one at a time, which they believe have prices other than the danger price. After each selection, the price of the chosen prize is revealed. Selecting the prize with the danger price ends the game and results in a loss. Successfully choosing the three out of four prizes that is not the danger price results in the contestant winning all four prizes.

History[]

This game premiered on January 8, 1976 (#1754D). The game originally incorporated a smaller setup, with a board shaped like a stop sign that showed the danger price and had a blue spot for Chroma-keyed shots of the prices being revealed. The amount of the "danger price" was concealed by a little door and below a "skull and crossbones", which featured an eye patch with a Price down dollar sign. The board was originally on the turntable but was moved to center stage on February 16, 1977 (#2253D). The prices were revealed on four separate stop signs with little doors covering the prices; originally the doors were numbered, and later the numbers were moved to the top and replaced with prize names. The safe prices were on green cards while the danger price was on a red card.
The current setup debuted on October 18, 1985 (#5845D). The danger price is displayed on a red placard at the top of the board. Like the original setup, the prices are concealed on four octagons resembling stop signs, but the prices are now revealed by flipping the signs by pressing corresponding buttons. Safe prices turn over green while the danger price turns over red. On September 30, 2005 (#3345K), the font on the prize descriptions changed to Dom Casual. On December 17, 2012 (#6141K), red siren lights were added to the board and prize risers. The game's font was changed to a different, larger one on October 27, 2021 (#9563K).
Until sometime in early 1986 and again since November 3, 2023 (#0355L), there are no stop sign backdrops. Surprisingly, the backdrops from this set were used as a car backdrop three times on February 11, 1986 (#5992D) on Any Number, on April 16, 1986 (#6083D) on Ten Chances, March 18, 1987 (#6423D) on the Hole in One or Two game, as well as a prize backdrop on December 11, 1986 (#6304D) on Bump.
On one playing from January 20, 1994 (#9044D), several events happened. First, Holly falls while modeling an exercise machine in high heels. Secondly, when contestant May Newell made her first choice, the octagon/stop sign for the dinette got stuck and wouldn't turn, and Holly went to the back of the board to get it around manually. Then, when she made her third and final choice, May asked about the dishwasher, which mistakenly caused Bob to get confused how much the dishwasher was, causing Janice to nearly reveal the price at first, but chose the exercise machine, so Janice had to stop it from turning itself around, which she did, and Holly to reveal the price of the exercise machine, and won the game.
On another from April 5, 2002 (#2125K), after contestant Stacy lost on her second pick, the octagon for the flatware got stuck and wouldn't turn. Claudia kept hitting the button and Nikki kicked the octagon, but it wouldn't work, either.
On June 24, 2013 (#6411K, aired out of order on April 17), the then-male model, Rob Wilson, hit the button for the foosball table too hard, and it triggered the release on the computer as well. Luckily for him, that wasn't the danger price.
On March 25, 2016 (#7465K), the College Rivals episode, Lindsay Lovie from Harvard failed to win all of those prices, causing Shani Weatherby from Princeton to win $1000.

Nighttime Appearances[]

Danger Price was one of five pricing games introduced in the fifth and final nighttime season hosted by Dennis James, on Episode #157N – the other four being Cliff Hangers, Dice Game, Hurdles, and 3 Strikes, on episodes #157N, #159N, #160N and #158N, respectively.
Additionally, both versions of the set were used during the Tom Kennedy version – the set change occurring rather close to the end of the run.

Trivia[]

The most number of times this game was played in any season was 56 (season 5), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 5 (season 30).
This game has the opposite objective of One Right Price, in which the contestant wants to choose the prize at the same price they are shown.
Danger Price has never played for 4 cars.
Danger Price was one of four "new" pricing games seen on the sixth taping session of Season 36, which was seen on November 26, 2007 (#4101K), December 4, 2007 (#4112K), December 12, 2007 (#4123K), January 7, 2008 (#4131K, aired out of order on January 9), January 18, 2008 (#4145K), and January 23, 2008 (#4153K).
There is a 1/4 chance that the contestant will win this game if they pick prizes randomly.
Until 2013, picking the danger price would trigger a foghorn sound. Currently, in this situation, a buzzer sounds instead.
Danger Price is the first "anti-pricing-game", meaning the objective is to avoid prizes with a specific price. The concept of avoiding the correct price was later reused in One Wrong Price, 1/2 Off, and Gas Money.

International versions[]

On the Bruce Forsyth version in the UK, the game was played the same, except should the contestant choose the three prizes that are not the danger price, the contestant only wins those prizes.
On the Dutch version titled Cash en Carlo, a SpongeBob Squarepants-Esque setup was used for the game.
On the Vietnamese version, called "Mạo hiểm" (Risk) the set is the same as the 1985 U.S. setup, minus the button (they manually flipped the signs by hand). According to this blog, the contestant can still receive the safe prizes they had won before choosing the "danger" one. The only way to win nothing is to choose the danger prize right on the 1st pick.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

1970s Pricing Games

Active Pricing Games