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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. He/she is 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, the contestant must rearrange the tags and pull the lever again. The contestant continues to do this as many times as he/she can within the time limit. Should the clock malfunction (stalling, counting the wrong way, etc.), the contestant will be given the extra time.
  • If at any point the contestant pulls the lever and has all four tags correct, he/she wins all four prizes. Otherwise, the contestant wins whatever prizes he/she has correctly tagged when the clock expires. If the contestant is in the middle of a switch when time expires, he/she is usually allowed to complete it and pull the lever a final time. 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 prize. For this reason, the display that shows the number of correct prizes cannot light up the number 3.

History

  • 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. The pictures are seen below for full proof. Note: this is the only time that the game was played in the first slotting.
  • 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.

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.
  • 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 42nd season, the clock appeared in the lower left hand corner of the screen.

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; the Kennedy version used a recording of the William Tell Overture. 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 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.

Trivia

  • This game & 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, 4 in Switcheroo).
  • The most number of times this game was played in any season was 58.

Pictures

Screenshots

From November 15, 1974 (#1155D)

Race Game for a Humidaire Humidifier, 5 Western Auto Steel-Belted Radial Tires, an Emperor Grandfather Clock, and a Futuristic Recliner (August 25, 1975, #1561D)

Race Game for Tickets to 4 LA Teams (January 27, 1983, #4774D)

Michael Gets Unappreciative in Race Game (February 14, 1992, #8305D)

Race Game for 4 Trips (February 5, 2003, #007SP, aired out of order on February 7)

Race Game for a Heartland 1050 Refrigerator, Scuba Gear, John Deere Gator, and a Grandfather Clock (September 19, 2006, #3682K)

Final Playing with Bob Barker (June 8, 2007, #4025K)

A Technical Win in Race Game featuring a Barefoot Contestant (July 15, 2008, #4422K)

Race Game for a Set of Giovanna Caracas Wheels/Tires, Ping Pong Table, Greenspeed GTI Recumbent Bike, and a MacBook (April 21, 2010, #5133K)

Sharon's Four Car Win! (September 19, 2011, #5631K)

From Halloween 2011 (#5691K)

Jerry Plays Race Game Barefoot (March 17, 2014, #6661K)

Race Game's Only Loss in Season 46 (October 18, 2017, #8053K)

Dorcas' Disastrous Wipeout (January 31, 2019, #8604K)

A 6th Grader Plays Race Game (March 20, 2019, #8673K, aired out of order on April 24, originally rescheduled to air on March 13)

Race Game for a Trailmaster 150XRS Go-Kart, an LG All-in-One Washer & Dryer, Bowflex Smart Dumbbells, and Canon DSLR Digital Camera with Light Kit (May 22, 2019, #8763K, aired out of order on May 13, originally rescheduled to air on May 15)

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)

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