Joker

Joker
Premiere Date	February 14, 1994 (#9081D)
Pricing Game Locations	Turntable Center Stage
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Cover Up
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Side by Side
Finale Date	March 5, 2007 (#3911K)

Joker was a card game where the contestant had to discard the Joker card in a five-card hand to win.

Gameplay

• The contestant was shown five face-down playing cards, one of which was a Joker. To win a large prize, the contestant had to discard the Joker.
• Four two-digit prizes were shown, one at a time, with the two digits in the prices shown. The contestant had to determine which order the digits in the price belonged in (for example, $24 or $42). For each correct guess, the contestant won the small prize and earned the opportunity to remove one card from the "hand." After all the prizes were played, the discarded cards were revealed to see if the Joker had been discarded. The only way to win nothing in this game was to guess the wrong price for all four small prizes and earn no discards.
• The basic gameplay of Joker was essentially the same as that of Shell Game, in which the contestant also prices small prizes for chances to mark shells in search of one concealing a ball. It was also very similar to Bonus Game, except that the window marked in Bonus Game is determined by which prize a contestant prices correctly, and not by the contestant's choice. The main difference, however, between Joker and the aforementioned games is that Joker had five card options instead of the four options found in Shell Game and Bonus Game. Five Price Tags also has the same premise with five options; however, it is played for a car, and the options are five possible prices, as opposed to five random options; like Five Price Tags, it is possible to play the small prize game perfectly and still lose (in this case, not discarding the Joker) which did happen at least once.

Trivia

• All 4 items played within this game can't have a "0" in the price.
• This game and Step Up were both played 80 times before being retired.
• The most number of times this game was played in any season was 11 (season 23), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 2 (season 31).
• The cards are taken from the Hit Me deck (the only exception, of course, being the joker, exclusive to the game; there were no face cards in this game).
• The remaining cards are each of one suit (one heart, one spade, one diamond, and one club).

Foreign versions

• On the 2006 British version of The Price Is Right, Joker was titled Joe-Ker, a reference to the host, Joe Pasquale.
• The title of the French-Canadian version of Joker was actually translated to "The Four Aces" (Les Quatre As) instead of calling it "Joker" like most versions (even those not in English) tend to.
• Vietnam's version of Joker is called "Chú Tễu" (Uncle Teu). The game's board is a replica of the one used in the UK for The Price is Right (UK game show) – an oddity, as most of the Vietnamese version's props, closely resemble their US counterparts. Unlike most of the countries, the Joker is replaced with "Chú Tễu" (Uncle Teu) and the other four cards had the show logo when the cards are revealed. Due to the low win rate, the game was retired in March 2011. However, the game was revived and redesigned on August 24, 2018. The current set is a mix of the US version and the UK Bruce version.
• On Holland's Cash en Carlo, the contestant was given a free discard at the start of the game. As a result, however, the contestant could only price three items.
• Spain's El Precio Justo, at least during Carlos Lozano's tenure, called the game "Comodin", which translates to "Wildcard." The game, however, was played just like in the US, and its prop was also based on the version BPIR used, as with most props.

Gallery

To view the gallery, click here.

Retirement

• The game was officially retired in April 2008; even though its final playing occurred during the previous season, it was intended to be reintroduced into the rotation on the February 29, 2008 (#4225K) episode. However, by that time producer Roger Dobkowitz decided to retire it and it was replaced by Bonus Game for that episode's taping. Strangely, the last time it was played, the small prize price display malfunctioned.
• In a conversation with a fan posted on a Price is Right fansite, Dobkowitz noted the game had fundamental problems. One was an awkward reveal, and second, a contestant could earn all four small prizes and still lose the game, which Drew Carey, in particular, disliked (although this could also occur in other pricing games, including Five Price Tags, Secret 'X', and ½ Off).
• This and Poker Game were the only two games to be learned by Drew Carey, only to be retired before they could be aired on his show.

YouTube Link

An exciting Joker playing (November 1, 2001, #1924K)