Rat Race

Rat Race
Premiere Date	June 16, 2010 (#5213K)
Pricing Game Location	Center Stage
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Gas Money
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Pay the Rent

Rat Race is a pricing game played for a car and two prizes. The contestant can win two prizes and a car by earning the right to "bet" on three of five colored plush toy rats set up on a race track. The pricing portion of the game has similarities to Power of 10, a game show Drew Carey hosted on CBS before taking over Price.

Gameplay

• The contestant must price three items within specified ranges: a grocery item priced under $10 within $1 (similar to what was used on Check-Out from 1996 to 2003), a small prize priced under $100 within $10 (same as Spelling Bee), and a medium prize priced under $500 within $100. For each bid given within the correct range, the contestant chooses one of five colored mechanical rats (yellow, green, pink, orange and blue), which are positioned on a large dollar sign-shaped race track. If the contestant does not win any of the rats, the game ends immediately, with no rat race (the first time this has happened was on December 23, 2010, #5364K).
• The rats are then set in motion on the track by a model pulling a handle.  If one of the selected rats finishes in third place, the contestant wins an additional small prize; in second, a medium-sized prize; and if a selected rat wins the race, the contestant wins a car. Contestants can win more than one prize depending upon how the chosen rats finish the race; a contestant can win all three prizes by earning three rats and having each of them come in either first, second, or third place.
• While the track is designed to be the same length for all five rats, not all of the rats are guaranteed to finish; indeed, occasionally one of the rats gets stuck on the track, and the race continues to play out, just as competitors occasionally do not finish in various races in real life. There have even been times where a rat doesn't start at all.
• There are actually at least a couple hundred mechanical rats in storage backstage, with each rat running the race at a different speed. The rats are picked at random and placed onto the track. This is evident as the rats never appear in the same order from left to right in each episode.

History

• This game was created by Drew Carey.
• Rat Race was the second pricing game to premiere under Drew's tenure as host (the first was Gas Money in Season 37), and the last pricing game to premiere before Rich Fields' firing.
• The game got its first official win on November 12, 2010 (#5305K, aired out of order on October 15), where all three prizes were won.
• Twelve times during the game's lifespan (December 23, 2010, #5364K, April 5, 2011, #5512K, April 6, 2011, #5513K, December 14, 2011, #5753K, May 2, 2012, #5953K, October 26, 2012, #6085K, aired out of order on October 8, December 30, 2013, #6551K, aired out of order on December 27, May 28, 2019, #8772K, aired out of order on May 21, November 21, 2019, #8901K, aired out of order on March 26, 2020, November 14, 2022, #9981K, June 21, 2023, #0292L, and December 12, 2024, #0804L), the contestant wiped out and didn't even get to watch a rat race. The contestants in the respective episodes are Justin Wallace, Christy Paris, Jacqueline Berkeley, Quiresa Hogges, Linda Crump, Michael Despers, Holly & Sydney Smolnikar, Amparo Montiel, James Morgan, Leandrea Robinson Cowens, Jessica Kuntz, and Danica.
• On October 31, 2013 (#6474K) and October 31, 2018 (#8473K), as part of both episodes' Halloween theme, Rat Race was renamed "Bat Race"; the toy rats donned bat ears and wings and the cartoon rat on the game display also appeared in costume. On the second playing as "Bat Race", with two bats, Nicola Medley won the car. The bats were also updated.
• On May 1, 2014 (#6724K), two of the rats didn't make it and the last rat ended up third.
• On November 17, 2014 (#6891K, aired out of order on November 10) and February 16, 2021 (#9312K, aired out of order on February 15), as part of "Big Money Week," Rat Race had a cash prize of $175,000 (1st-place: $100,000, 2nd-place: $50,000, 3rd-place: $25,000). $100,000 was won on the former episode while $75,000 was won on the latter episode.
• On February 16, 2015 (#7011K), as part of "#UDecide Week," it had a cash prize of $100,000 (1st-place: $75,000, 2nd-place: $15,000, 3rd-place: $10,000) and $75,000 was won.
• On January 15, 2015 (#6964K), October 30, 2015 (#7265K), May 17, 2016 (#7542K), June 8, 2016 (#7573K), and October 21, 2016 (#7655K), the first two prizes were in front of Door #3 and the car was revealed afterward.
• On June 3, 2015 (#7163K), the blue rat did not move at all.
• On November 14, 2016 (#7691K), the pink rat didn't make it and ended up fifth.
• Rat Race has been officially won 67 times (including the $100,000 won on November 17, 2014, #6891K, aired out of order on November 10, and the $75,000 won on February 16, 2015, #7011K, but excluding one primetime win), six of which were perfect (all three prizes won, but excluding one primetime perfect playing). The most recent win happened on June 26, 2024 (#0683L).
• Since September 25, 2015 (#7215K), the light blue tint was removed from the prize results screen.
• On October 30, 2015 (#7265K), as part of the episode's Halloween theme, the rats were wearing Drew Carey's signature glasses. Rather surprisingly, the game wasn’t retitled as “Bat Race”.
• On May 25, 2016 (#036SP), as part of the episode's Amazing Race theme, Rat Race was renamed "The Amazing Rat Race"; normally a model starts the Rat Race by pushing a button, but special guest Phil Keoghan started "The Amazing Rat Race" by saying "GO". It’s possible that the staff had specifically built an extra button backstage to push to start the rat race for this playing only.
• On March 19, 2018 (#8261K), during The Price is Right's "Baby Shower" episode during "Youth Week", both the Yellow and Pink rats wound up finishing too close to call that contestants Timothy and Amy McFarlane had a choice between 26-weeks of maid service or 1 year's worth of baby food and diapers. The latter was chosen.
• Despite needing a lot of time to start up Rat Race was played first for a cash prize of $175,000, during Price is Right's Big Money Week, on February 16, 2021 (#9312K, aired out of order on February 15). $75,000 was won.
• Since September 27, 2023 (#0303L), with the move to Haven Studios, the track lights now appear to be grey/white due to the studio's lighting.

Trivia

• Rat Race is one of the pricing games to appear in the Season 41 logo.
• As in Master Key and Switcheroo, the contestant only needs to win the car (not necessarily all three prizes) for the game to be officially counted as won. A win of only one or two of the smaller prizes is considered a "partial win" as well as affecting perfect or winless shows; winning none of the three announced main prizes (i.e. no rats placing third or higher, being wrong on all three small prizes, or one or two rats placing fourth or fifth if a contestant wins one or two rats) is considered a wipeout. And a contestant winning three rats is guaranteed to win at least one prize.
• This game and Master Key are very similar, as both of them involve 3 prizes (one being a car), with the contestant having to figure out the price of small items in order to win chances to get the top prize.
• This game, like others, can be "lost" even if the contestant knows all the prices. However, winning 3 rats guarantees, at the bare minimum, the 3rd place prize.
• Whenever the game is played for $175,000, Pay the Rent's intro cue plays.
• Like Pass the Buck, Hot Seat, or Back to '74, Rat Race has never been the second pricing game in the lineup because it needs time to start up. With the exception of February 16, 2021 (#9312K, aired out of order on February 15) in which it was played first, Rat Race can't be played earlier than third.
• Rat Race is the 2nd pricing game that has never been hosted by the former host Bob Barker.
• The most number of times this game was played in any season was 15 (season 39), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 1 (season 38).
• This pricing game was the first to premiere in the 2010s.
• So far, the perfect game has been released a total of 9 times (7 times including primetime), with the most recent case being October 17, 2022 (#9941K). So far, there have been a total of 11 wipeouts, the most recent being June 21, 2023 (#0292L).
• While a wipeout via being wrong on all three small prizes is signaled by a combination of the buzzer and losing horns, if a contestant earns one or two rats and then fails to achieve at least a third-place finish with either, a foghorn will sound when the race has concluded. Even if a wipeout occurs and there's no need to run the race, the race is usually run anyway just for fun.
• If a contestant wins a car, a slo-mo replay usually happens as the intro to the commercial break.

Gallery

To view the gallery, click here.

YouTube Videos

Rat Race Premiere (June 16, 2010, #5213K)
First Rat Race Perfect win! (November 12, 2010, #5305K, aired out of order on October 15)
A Rat Race Car Win! (January 30, 2012, #5821K,, aired out of order on January 16)
Another Rat Race Car Win! (June 10, 2013, #6391K, aired out of order on May 9)
Another Rat Race Car Win! (February 26, 2013, #6242K)
Another Rat Race Car Win! (October 23, 2013, #6463K, aired out of order on October 9)
Another Rat Race Car Win! (November 25, 2013, #6511K)
A Rat Race Shutout (December 30, 2013, #6551K, aired out of order on December 27)
Rat Race for $175,000 (November 17, 2014, #6891K, aired out of order on November 10)
The Amazing Rat Race (May 25, 2016, #036SP)
A Rat Race Disaster from Season 47 (May 28, 2019, #8772K, aired out of order on May 21)
Perfection from 2020 (January 10, 2020)
A Rat Race Early Exit from Season 51 (November 14, 2022)
A Disastrous Playing from the Summer Beach Party Special (June 21, 2023, #0292L)