The Price Is Right Wiki
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Race Game is a race against time where the contestant tries to win up to four prizes by placing its prices in front of them.

Gameplay[]

  • In this game, the contestant is presented with four price tags, each representing the price of one of the four prizes. They are given 45 seconds in which to attempt to place the tags with the correct prizes. After placing all four tags, the contestant returns to a display and pulls a lever; this causes the display to show the number of tags correctly placed, but not specifically which ones. If anything less than four is displayed, a buzzer sounds, and the contestant must rearrange the tags and pull the lever again. The contestant continues to do this as many times as they can within the time limit. Should the clock malfunction (stalling, counting the wrong way, etc.), the contestant will be given the extra time. Once the clock hits zero, the foghorn sounds and the contestant cannot make any more changes, but they can finish making a change if one was already in progress at the buzzer, after which they can pull the lever for their final result.
  • If at any point the contestant pulls the lever and has all four tags correct, they will win all four prizes. Otherwise, the contestant wins whatever prizes they have correctly tagged when the clock expires. The contestant is not allowed to pull the lever unless each of the price tags has been placed at a prize. The only way to win nothing in Race Game is to get no correct prices for all four prizes after the time runs out.
  • It is impossible for a contestant to win exactly three of the prizes, as any three prizes being correctly tagged would necessitate the fourth tag being with the correct price. For this reason, the display that shows the number of correct prizes cannot light up the number 3.

History[]

  • Race Game was created by Marc Breslow.
  • When the game debuted on August 14, 1974 (#1023D), it was won right away.
  • One of the most famous playings of Race Game was on February 14, 1992 (#8305D), when a contestant named Michael D. played. After the introduction of the four prizes, Bob questioned Michael's bewildered look, and asked if he understood how to play. Michael boldly claimed that he "didn't need" the four prizes. Bob was appalled, and reacted by pretending to try to take the four price tags back from Michael, even calling on a previous contestant to help him. Michael then claimed he was just kidding, and Bob replied that he better be, and threatened cut his playing time down to 12 seconds to play for his rudeness. Michael went on to win only two of the four prizes.
  • On April 11, 1994 (#9161D), Lisa Gregg and Bob were discussing the record for Race game, to be about 11 seconds. Lisa went on to win all four prizes in with 34 seconds remaining, (although technically she beat the record of the time as the timer said 36 seconds when she pulled the arm down, and continued two more seconds before stopping). Afterwards, she whispered to Bob asking if she could be awarded an additional $100 cash bonus for tying the record. Bob was slightly annoyed by the request, but ultimately pulled $100 out of his pocket and gave it to her.
  • There were instances where an error caused the display to briefly show the number 1 while there were 2 right, before showing the correct number, causing confusion with contestants and automatic wins.
  • On September 19, 2011 (#5631K), the premiere of the show's 40th season, history was made when Sharon Baker, the second contestant called to come on down, played for and won four cars, an $18,380 Chevrolet Colorado Ranger Cab, a $22,795 Jeep Wrangler Sport 4X4, a $20,775 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport ES and a $16,569 Toyota Yaris. Note: This is the only time that the game was played in the first slotting despite needing a lot of time to start up.
  • On October 25, 2016 (#7662K), as part of Big Money Week, the game offered a $10,000 cash bonus in addition to the four prizes, if the game was won in 30 seconds or less. This contestant, Donna Cutler, got all 4 prizes right in the nick of time (1 second left), but no bonus.
  • On March 14, 2022 (#9761K), the losing horns were played.
  • This and Cliff Hangers are the only games from the 70s that have not gone through a major redesign or different paint job and look virtually the same from their 70s debut.

Notes[]

  • When Bob was the host, he announced the prices before the prizes were revealed and then gave all four to the contestant; also, the clock appeared in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
  • Although this is not one of the games that demand "Quiet on the Set," prior to the clock's countdown the host will instruct the contestant to ignore the audience and look only at the display or the prizes. This is due to the very short time span of the game, and the contestant's best chance of winning is to make a split-second decision of hanging the tags and rushing back to the display.
  • Ever since Drew became the host, he announced the prices after the prizes were revealed and handed them out to the contestant one by one, and since the 40th season, the clock appeared in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.
  • Like Bonkers and Time is Money, contestants have better odds of winning if they physically perform better, but the games can still be won without physical skill.
  • The large wall that is used to cover certain games is called the Race Game Curtain (or alternately, the Big Cover). It has undergone many changes over the years, with one notable design showing a collage of illustrated game props and a name tag that bears the host's name (originally saying "BOB", but later changed to "DREW" during the host transition). The Race Game Curtain is used to conceal games that can't be hidden by The Giant Price Tag because of their taking up most of the stage or their extended height.

Music Cues Used[]

There have been at least four different pieces of music played in Race Game's history.

  • When the game was first played, it used a vaudeville-style musical cue, titled "Silents, Please! The Pearls of Murine" performed by "Hangnails Hennessey and Wingy Brubeck", which is an alias for novelty musician Spike Jones and arranger Carl Brandt. The source recording used for the cue is taken from the 1961 album Rides, Rapes & Rescues: Themes From The Great Silent Films, and the song is actually credited to Brandt on the album. This was used as the game's theme until December 1991.
  • The Kennedy version used a recording of the William Tell Overture, like the retired Hurdles game. It was used on the daytime show for a couple playings in Season 20 once the above theme was retired.
  • The current cue, entitled "Early Happy Days" (which is a bouncy, upbeat saloon-style tune), has been in use since January 15, 1992 (#8263D)
  • The 1970s disco-themed Halloween 2011 (#5691K) show used a disco-style music cue.

The music continues to play until either the contestant has correctly priced all four prizes or the time runs out.

Foreign versions[]

  • Some foreign versions of The Price Is Right have slight changes; for instance, on the UK versions, the contestants only got 30 seconds (though earlier Leslie Crowther episodes used 45 like in the US).
  • There's at least one foreign version of The Price is Right in which the contestants have 60 seconds.
  • Outside of the United States, the record win was set in Finland's Mita Maksaa, and was won in 11 seconds. The record was broken in 2009 in Vietnam's Hãy Chọn Giá Đúng when it was won in 10 seconds.
  • The earlier Vietnamese version had the display placed right instead of left from the prizes. They fixed that when Trần Ngọc took over the show.

Trivia[]

  • This game and Switcheroo have some similarities.
    1. They are both timed pricing games.
    2. You don't have to win all of the prizes.
    3. It'll tell you how much time is left on the clock.
    4. It'll tell you how many you have right, but not specifically which ones.
    5. After placing the element next to each prize, you won't get one number within a range of numbers (3 in Race Game and 4 in Switcheroo).
  • The most number of times this game was played in any season was 58 (season 4), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 2 (season 2).
  • Race Game was one of seven pricing games seen on the third taping session of Season 36, which was seen on October 17, 2007 (#4043K, aired out of order on November 13), October 25, 2007 (#4054K aired out of order on January 3, 2008), October 29, 2007 (#4061K, aired out of order on December 13), November 6, 2007 (#4072K, aired out of order on October 17), November 15, 2007 (#4084K, aired out of order on November 7), and November 23, 2007 (#4095K, aired out of order on October 26).
  • Like games such as Gas Money, Magic Number, Take Two, Ten Chances, Line 'Em Up, or More or Less, Race Game has never been the first pricing game to start any show because it needs time to start up and the game can be played no earlier than second on the show, with the exception of September 19, 2011 (#5631K) in which it was played first.
    • As of some time in the 2010s, Race Game can be played no earlier than third on the show.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

YouTube Videos[]

The first time Race Game was played for cars, with the contestant winning them all (September 19, 2011, #5631K)
A Perfect Race Game Win from 2013 (November 5, 2013, #6482K)
A Perfect Race Game Win from 2014 (April 18, 2014, #6705K)
Another Perfect Race Game Win from 2014 (June 25, 2014, #6803K, aired out of order on June 26)
A Race Game Win with 12 Seconds Left! (September 29, 2014, #6821K)
An Awesome Race Game Win with 23 Seconds Left! (October 27, 2014, #6861K)

1970s Pricing Games
Any Number | Bonus Game | Double Prices | Grocery Game | Bullseye (1) | Clock Game | Double Bullseye | Five Price Tags | Most Expensive | Money Game | Give or Keep | Range Game | Hi Lo | Double Digits | Lucky $even | Temptation | Mystery Price | Shell Game | Card Game | Race Game | Ten Chances | Golden Road | Poker Game | One Right Price | Danger Price | 3 Strikes | Hurdles | Cliff Hangers | Safe Crackers | Dice Game | Bullseye (2) | Switcheroo | Hole in One (or Two) | Squeeze Play | Secret 'X' | Professor Price | Finish Line | Take Two | Shower Game | It's Optional | Punch-A-Bunch | Telephone Game | Penny Ante
Active Pricing Games
Any Number | Bonus Game | Double Prices | Grocery Game | Clock Game | Five Price Tags | Most Expensive | Money Game | Range Game | Hi Lo | Lucky $even | Temptation | Shell Game | Card Game | Race Game | Ten Chances | Golden Road | One Right Price | Danger Price | 3 Strikes | Cliff Hangers | Safe Crackers | Dice Game | Bullseye (2) | Switcheroo | Hole in One (or Two) | Squeeze Play | Secret 'X' | Take Two | Punch-A-Bunch | Bargain Game | Grand Game | Now....or Then | Check Game | Check-Out | Pick-A-Pair | Plinko | Master Key | One Away | Pathfinder | Spelling Bee | Make Your Move | 2 for the Price of 1 | Swap Meet | Pick-A-Number | Switch? | Cover Up | Side by Side | Freeze Frame | Shopping Spree | Eazy as 1-2-3 | It's in the Bag | Line 'Em Up | One Wrong Price | Push Over | Let 'Em Roll | Flip Flop | Triple Play | That's Too Much! | Bonkers | Pass the Buck | Coming or Going | ½ Off | Pocket ¢hange | Balance Game (2) | Stack the Deck | More or Less | Gas Money | Rat Race | Pay the Rent | Double Cross | Do The Math | Time is Money (2) | Vend-O-Price | Hot Seat | Gridlock! | Back to '74 | To The Penny
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