Give or Keep

Give or Keep was a pricing game where the contestant had to "keep" more than he/she would "give" away to win a large prize. There were six small prizes in the game and they were presented two at a time.

Gameplay[]

The contestant was shown three pairs of small prizes, one pair at a time. The contestant chose the prize he thought was the more expensive of the pair; that prize went into the "keep" column. The value of the prize given back was shown, with a running tally displayed in the "give" column.
After all, three pairs of prizes were played, the host revealed the prices of the kept prizes, with a running total shown in the "keep" column. If the total value of the kept prizes equaled to or was more than that of the rejected prizes, the contestant won a large prize.
The difference in prices for each pair of prizes was set so that even if the contestant had mistakenly chosen the lower-priced item in one or (perhaps) two instances, the contestant could still win.
Regardless of the game's outcome, the contestant won the three prizes in the "keep" column. Hence, Give or Keep is one of five retired pricing games (along with the original Balance Game, Finish Line, Shower Game, and Trader Bob) in which the contestant would win something regardless of the game's outcome.
For a long time, Give or Keep was the only pricing game to be played to the left of the turntable, which was used for the small prize reveals. Thirty years after its retirement, Shell Game would begin to utilize this setup as well (February 18, 2021, #9314K). Due to this, Give or Keep could often be seen during the preceding One Bid, thus ruining the mystery of which game would be played next. Though on at least two early occasions, on February 14, 1973 and October 16, 1973, the game was covered with curtains from the start of the show until it was played. This was likely ceased as Give or Keep was the only game to do this, thus still spoiling the surprise.
On September 19, 1973 (#0553D), Give or Keep was played for a car; it is believed to be the first time a car was offered in a game not normally played for one.

History[]

Give or Keep was originally scheduled to debut on the October 24, 1972 episode, but it was delayed a little over two months due to reasons lost to time.
Give or Keep got its very first win on the day it premiered. Also when the game first premiered, Bob went from top to bottom rather than bottom to top.
When the game first premiered, the board was brown.
On September 8, 1975 (#1581D, aired out of order on September 11), the board became green.
The game was taken out of rotation from February 3 (#2675D)-March 8, 1978 (#2723D) and again from April 27 (#2794D)-November 14, 1978 (#3032D).
On April 22, 1983 (#4895D), the board turned blue and remained this way until its retirement.
On November 6, 1984 (#5472D), a technical win occurred when the show transposed the prices on two of the items, leading to inconsistent calculations leaving Bob Barker very confused. When her "KEEP" total was below the "GIVE" total, he had thought contestant Ilene had lost. Bob cried in dismay: "How? How? How did she win?" but longtime producer Fingers Greco informed him that the drill had been more expensive than the bakeware, not the other way around. This was enough for Ilene's accurate total to be a win.
The most number of times this game was played in any season was 54 (season 4), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 2 (season 19).

Similarities[]

The concept of the game had similarities to at least three other retired pricing games:

Finish Line – Instead of simply tallying the totals of the chosen prizes, Finish Line presented the scenario in the form of a horse race. Given its identical rules, this pricing game replaced Give or Keep in the game rotation for much of 1978 until it was retired after a series of mechanical failures.
Trader Bob – The game's goal is very similar. However, the contestant's choices were not totaled and they had to make all three selections correctly. The fact that there was no room for error led to a low win rate and the game's retirement.
Buy or Sell – Except there were three prizes in the game, and the contestant had to buy low & sell high correctly to win not only the prizes but (starting in 1998) any money collected along the way. Like Give or Keep, this game was shelved because it was unpopular with the staff.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

Retirement[]

Despite Give or Keep's longevity, the game was retired because many of the show's staff did not really like it. Then-producer Roger Dobkowitz had planned to bring the game back sometime during Season 38, but was fired from the show before he could do so.

YouTube Links[]

Nursing a win (October 8, 1982, #4615D)
Hey Karen, no peeking! (October 18, 1982, #4631D)
Jennie shakes things up (November 14, 1983, #5081D)
When the Price is WRONG (November 6, 1984, #5472D)
A playing from 1986, featuring the Robo-Model (1986; date/ep. unknown)

1970s Pricing Games

Retired Pricing Games