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One Bid is a game played in contestant's row. When players win this game they get to play a pricing game.

Gameplay[]

Four contestants are selected to "Come on Down!" by the announcer (ex. Rich Fields), and proceed to Contestant's Row with loud cheers, high fives, and the traditional "Come on Down" fanfare. An item up for bids is showcased, usually by the show's models, and each contestant must give a bid on it closest to it's actual retail price without going over.

The four contestants typically bid in order from left to right and must give their bids in whole dollars and not cents as the prices are rounded off to the nearest dollar; also, contestants may not bid the same amount as any of the other three players had previously bid for the prize.

The contestant who bids closest to the actual retail price without going over wins the prize and then gets to come to the stage area and play one of the show's many pricing games, some of which have come and gone (ex. Hurdles) and have been here to stay (ex. Any Number) over the five decades of the show's run since 1972.

The contestant in the red podium always begins the first One Bid. For subsequent rounds, a new audience member is then selected to "Come on Down" by the announcer to fill the vacated seat in Contestant's Row and that contestant is whoever gives the first bid on the prize.

The order of the first four contestants called is NOT the same as the order they're positioned. The first contestant called will usually fill the red position first, or the green position. Thus, the order called can be left to right or right to left; on some occasions the contestants get mixed up as to which podium they use. However, as soon as the host enters the stage, the contestants cannot change positions for the duration of the show, and whatever position they're in during subsequent One Bids (unless they win their way up) is the one they keep.

If all four contestants overbid (that is, if all of the bids are higher than the prize's actual retail price), three (four prior to the late 1990s) short buzzer tones sound, the lowest bid is announced by the host and the bids are erased, and the bidding process must start over lower than the announced bid until a contestant gets a proper winning bid. If the second buzzer sounds that means another overbid this time the lowest bids once again all four contestant must be erased at later time. As of Season 50, almost all overbids are generally edited out of the show.

If one of the contestants bids the exact actual retail price (referred to as a "perfect bid", as coined by Barker - or "on the nose", further popularized by Carey and taken from a short-lived 1980s pricing game of the same name), a ringing bell sounds and the host gives the winner a cash bonus of a $100 cash prize from May 23, 1977, #2391D, to November 9, 1998, #0891K, and since November 10, 1998, #0892K, the cash bonus was increased to $500. Primetime specials double that amount and award a $1,000 bonus for a perfect bid.

If a $1 bid (or any other ridiculously low bid) and a perfect bid are made in the same round, the host often informs the contestant who bid $1 that he/she was not the winner, and also makes a joke in breaking the news to him/her.

Contestants who were in Contestant's Row but failed to win a bid by the sixth game would be given various consolation prizes, which would be detailed by the announcer before the 2nd Showcase Showdown. As of 2012, the prize awards to contestants still in Contestant's Row is $300.

In the 1994 version, there was a variation of One Bid called "The Price WAS Right".

Early on, perfect bids weren't awarded a $100 bonus or any fanfare at all. The perfect bid bonus began in the latter half of Season 5 (April/May 1977). From then until around 1993, women who placed a perfect bid often kissed Bob on the cheek then were invited to reach into Bob Barker's jacket pocket, and they would pull out a $100 bill. If a man won the perfect bid, Bob Barker would shake his hand then hand him the cash. In 1993, when Dian Parkinson resigned on allegations of sexual harassment, Bob Barker changed the disbursement of prizes, simply handing out cash to contestants of both sexes once they got up on stage. This means of awarding the cash prize is continued today by Drew Carey; however due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is currently no physical handing out of cash (which the contestants wouldn't be able to keep anyway, as all cash prizes are paid out through checks).

Occasionally, the prize given away in One Bid fits with the prize in the pricing game that follows -- for example, car stereo equipment before a game played for a car, or luggage before a game played for a trip. Usually, though, the prizes are unrelated.

This game, along with the Showcase, are the parts of the current version of The Price is Right that most resemble the gameplay on the original version, hosted by Bill Cullen.

In promoting Bob Barker's devotion to animal rights, occasionally a dog or cat would be brought out on stage by one of the Barker's Beauties during One Bid where Barker would promote the animal rescue shelter the pet was boarded at. Occasionally this would cause mild confusion as contestants sometimes thought they were there to win a pet, to which Barker humorously added before One Bid began, "And no, the dog is not part of the bid."

Similarly, in the Carey era, when the announcer lists the things that come with the prize, he will sometimes add that the presenting model (e.g. James O'Halloran) is not one of them.

Sometimes, contestants will get up on stage right away as soon as they were called; Bob had a habit of playing along with the contestant and steering the conversation in a way to make them realize their error.

If someone overbids by a small amount when Drew announces the winning bid, he will sympathize with that contestant and point out to viewers how much he/she had gone over by.

Strategy Play[]

There are two very common strategies in this game. They are usually done by the contestant bidding last, but occasionally you see them by people bidding earlier in the round:

1. One dollar bid: If you think all the other contestants are over, bid $1 on the prize because it doesn't matter how far off you are from the actual price if everyone else is over. However, this can backfire if you are the first contestant to do so. In cases where the first contestant bids $1, the second contestant may bid $2, then the third contestant bids $3, and then the fourth bids $4, effectively guaranteeing the fourth contestant to win and get on stage, as the price of virtually every prize is higher than $4.

2. Bidding one dollar more than the highest bid: On the other hand, if you believe everyone else is too low, bid $1 more than the highest bid anyone else placed so that you will be closest to the actual price without risking going over yourself. However, this can backfire if the contestant you're doing this to correctly guesses the exact price and wins, so try to avoid him/her for the rest of the taping.

Foreign versions[]

Every version of TPIR around the world uses the same format, with the only notable difference being cash bonuses for getting the price on the nose, while some, like Italy and Vietnam, do not award bonuses at all:

Country Bonus
United Kingdom £100 in all versions except Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow which awarded £200, though the Bob Warman version had it in a gift certificate form
Argentina $5,000
Australia $50 (Ian Turpie) era
$100 (Larry Emdur era)
France Original era: 1,000F (€152.45)
Lagaf' era: A Le Juste Prix trophy from December 17, 2010 (also includes €100 from September 26, 2011)

M6's era : €100

Germany DM100 (€51.13)
Mexico $1,000 (both versions)
Portugal €50
Philippines ₱1,000 Dawn Zulueta era
₱5,000 Kris Aquino era
Spain ₧100,000 (€601.01)
Thailand ฿5,000 (2015 - 2020)
฿2,000 (2020 - Present)

Many contestants on foreign versions do not use the two strategies commonly used in the US. However, the two strategies format was first used on the Vietnamese version since October 26th, 2019, and each contestant gives a bid on the total value of it.

Behind the Scenes[]

  • When the one bid is in session, the control booth takes a look and a listen to who went over, who was below the retail price of the prize and who gave the exact bid.
  • When a perfect bid was given at any time, the stage manager puts the cash bonus in the host's pocket.

Trivia[]

  • On October 9, 2017 (#8041K), during Dream Car Week, history was made when a car was offered for the first time, giving the show the first guaranteed car win outside of a pricing game or a showcase.
  • On September 4, 1972 (#0011D), during the One Bid, the audience was completely silent during the One Bid game. Now, though, clamor and noise abounds when a contestant attempts to make a bid, with no attempt by the host, announcer or crew to silence the audience in any way.
  • On April 1, 2022, as part of the episode's April Fool's Day theme, the usual course of things was reversed, and One Bid was played for a 2022 MItsubishi Mirage, worth $17,465. The contestant who won then played Cliffhangers for the "small" prize, a car dash cam worth $580. She lost.
  • An episode of The Flintstones called "Divided We Sail" from 1962 parodied One Bid from the original Cullen version, where Barney Rubble finds himself a contestant on a game show called The Prize is Priced. When it's Barney's turn to bid, he says "Well, uh, I'll just put in my two cents, and--" which results in his bid immediately being registered as $0.02 before he gets to place his actual bid. However, Barney wins because the other contestants overbid.
  • The highest bid in the entire game's history is $2,000,000. The producers were unable to put that on the screen due to them being 4-digit displays. The contestant in question, Joseph Berlson, who was the first contestant to come on down, was also rather infamous for making "interesting" bids throughout the entire episode and failing to come up on stage as a result; his antics caused his episode (#4342K) to be forbidden from ever being rerun.
  • On October 14, 1991 (#8141D), when three perfect bids were made, Bob Barker made recurring jokes about his hearing problem. On the first perfect bid, when the clangers went off, he just stood there momentarily before saying "They might know something we don't", and then proceeded to reveal the actual retail price until the clangs and whoops startled him. Bob asked the audience if they heard the sound (which they confirmed), and then joked that the last time he heard it was also "the last time I was arrested." On the second perfect bid, a short foghorn tone was played, and then the clangers followed, which led to Bob asking the staff if they were trying out the new sounds. On the third perfect bid, he caught the attention of the clangers and happily proclaimed that "it was the right sound and I heard it!"

Gallery[]

For more pictures, see One Bid/Gallery.

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