The Price Is Right Wiki
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Gameplay[]

  • Near the end of the show, the two winners (one each from the 1st and 2nd Showcase Showdown) play the Showcase. On half-hour episodes, including pre-1975 episodes and subsequent half-hour episodes until 1994, as well as the 25th Anniversary Special, which utilized game-play of the half-hour format despite being an hour-long, the 2 contestants with the highest winnings advanced to the Showcase.
  • A "showcase" of prizes are presented and described by the announcer and the top winner (the contestant on the right podium) either keeps the showcase and places a bid on the total value of the showcase or passes the showcase to the runner-up (the contestant on the left podium), who is then required to make a bid. A second showcase is then presented and the contestant who had not bid on the first showcase makes a bid. Unlike the One Bid, the contestant bidding on the second showcase may bid the same amount of his/her opponent did on the first showcase since the two contestants are bidding on different prize packages. As long as the contestants already bid, they need to not change the showcase's bid.
  • The contestant who has bid closer to the price of his/her showcase without going over wins the prizes in his/her showcase. Any contestant who overbids automatically loses regardless of their opponent's result. If both contestants overbid (Double Overbid said by Bob Barker/Double Over said by Drew Carey), both contestants lose and the losing horns are played. If the difference between the contestant's bid and the actual retail price of their own showcase is between $0 and $250, and that contestant is closer than their opponent, he/she win both showcases. A foghorn is used for overbids, and the clangs and whoops sound when a Double Showcase Winner bid is achieved.
  • There are three unstated rules for the Showcase:
    • If both players are the exact same difference away, they each win their own showcase. This has happened at least once in the show's history.
    • If the same difference is less than $250, they both win everything. This has never happened in the show's history, although on one occasion, the contestants' differences were $1 away from this happening.
    • Double Showcase Winner bid will always be revealed last. Very close bids high and low are revealed last as well, whichever the closest is.

History[]

  • Unlike One Bid, there is no additional bonus for a perfect bid, which has happened twice during this incarnation, in the daytime show's history, according to Drew Carey, who said “Hasn’t happened since '72 or '73: right on the nose!” The first instance is not archived as of 2022, but the second happened on November 27, 2008 (#4524K, aired out of order on December 16, 2008)
  • From April 18, 1974 (#0854D) to June 12, 1998 (#0815K, the Season 26 finale), the contestants' bids had to be between $0 to $99 from the actual price to win both showcases. Bob would refer to this rule as being "less than $100 away.” On December 19, 1975 (#1725D), contestant Katherine was exactly $100 away from her showcase, but she took the rule maturely.
  • The syndicated nighttime versions had no such rule.
  • For the 2008 edition of The Price is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular, the Double Showcase Winner range was raised to "$1,000 or less,” but later reduced to "$500 or less," with these wins also awarding a million-dollar cash bonus for doing so. (Prior to this, all primetime specials used the same condition as the daytime show). Two such occurrences were with the "$1,000 or less" rule (Adam Rose at the end of the first Drew-hosted Spectacular, and Michael Haynes on the third), although one of those bids would have still won the cash with the other rule in effect as well.
  • 1996 is the only '90's leap year that did not have showcases under $10,000. The last showcase under $10,000 was on April 22, 1997 (#0352K) which was worth $9,826. As of April 23, 1997 (#0353K) for a full day long, followed by April 28, 1997 (#0361K) for a full week long, May 1, 1997 (#0364K) for a full month long, September 8, 1997 (#0431K) for a full season long, and January 2, 1998 (#0585K) for a full year long, all showcases are above $10,000. Three of the '90's years does not have showcases under $10,000: 1996, 1998, and 1999.
  • Episodes from 2000 to present always have showcases above $10,000 since January 3, 2000 (#1321K).
  • Some showcases will contain a "Priceless Bonus" prize, when that happens, the contestant bidding on the showcase will be reminded not to include that prize in their bid.
  • The font style used for Double Showcase Winners was "Tonight" from 1974 to 2002 (though a different font style was used once on May 10, 1996 (#9975D)), "Olympia" from 2002 to 2008, "Kingpin" from 2008 to 2009, "Vag Rounded BT" from 2009 to 2019, and "Pricedown" since 2019.
  • From January 8, 1999 (#0965K) to June 2, 2020 (#9172K), for every showcase winning contestant who won over $35,000 in prizes, the contestant's total would appear on the bottom of the screen. On November 16, 2020 (#9181K), it was changed to whomever won the showcase regardless. If the contestant had won both showcases, the Double Showcase Winner graphic appears first before the contestant's total. For unknown reasons, the graphic used on February 6, 2001 (#1692K) was blue with a white outline as opposed to the traditional green with a yellow outline. On February 10, 1999 (#1013K), April 1, 1999 (#1074K), and May 4, 1999 (#1112K), the graphic is absent. On May 9, 2007 (#3983K), the contestant's total appeared first before the Double Showcase Winner graphic.
  • There is an unstated rule that a Double Showcase Winner bid will always be revealed last. Very close bids - high or low - are revealed last as well, whichever the closest is. The host will often be informed in advance whose showcase should be revealed first to ensure a proper buildup of excitement.
  • There was no Double Showcase Winner in Season 47. The lack of a winner in Season 26 is very likely what led to the rule change of being "$250 or less" away in Season 27. However, Season 48 had no change to the winning range.
  • In the 1994 syndicated run, the Showcase round was based off Range Game. The stage show event The Price is Right Live! had both contestants bidding on one showcase, with whichever making the closer bid winning a random prize out of the Showcase. They have to be within $0-$250 of the ARP without going over to win the entire Showcase.

Foreign versions of the showcase[]

Some countries use the same format for the showcases as in the United States including:

  • Canada (Misez Juste)
  • China (CCTV-2 version)
  • Italy (with a ₤100,000 [€51.65] Double Showcase rule)
  • Mexico (with a MX$100 Double Showcase rule)
  • Philippines (Dawn Zulueta era, 2002 version)
  • United Kingdom (Crowther era)

Others do the showcase format differently:

  • On the British version during Leslie Crowther's run: During the first season, one prize (arguably the biggest one) was designated the "Highlight.” The only way a contestant could win the "Highlight" prize was if they came within 10% of the actual retail price of their entire showcase. Otherwise, the person closest to the ARP of their showcase won everything in said showcase except the "Highlight.”
  • On the British versions from 1995 to 2017: the player was presented with only one showcase. Before being shown that, he or she had to stop a range (going from £1,000 to £5,000 on Bruce's Price Is RIght and the 2017 special and £500 to £4,000 on Pasquale's run), and after being presented with the showcase, made a bid, and if it fell in the range without going over, they won it (If a contestant had a £2,000 range, bid £29,000, and the price was £30,493, they won it. That's from the first ever episode of Bruce's Price is Right in 1995). Other versions like the Netherlands (Carlo Boszhard era), Portugal (Fernando Mendes era), Finland, Argentina, and the 2010 Mexican version do the same thing, but with different amounts.
  • Bob Warman's version in 1989 did the same thing as later British versions, but the contestant chose their range (£250-£1,000) from sealed envelopes.
    • Several European versions, such as the Netherlands (Hans Kazan era), Portugal, Croatia, Russia, Romania and so on used this format as well, but it was on a big screen (Similar to Bruce's Price is Right).
    • Several Southeast Asia versions, such as the Philippines version (Kris Aquino era), Thai version and Indonesian version (except 2020 version used Aussie Mega Showcase format) did the same thing, but it was on a big screen (Similar to Bruce's Price is Right), but the range finder was manually done by a contestant picking 1 out of 9 range finder tiles, which the selected one would flip over first to reveal the range, followed by the other ones flipping over to reveal the backside of those.
  • Germany had two players playing the same showcase, and with a fixed range of DM5,000 (€2,556.46).
    • Spain and France did the same thing, however, they used the range finder format that Bruce's Price is Right used.
    • During the '80's and '90's, Portugal's version did the same thing, but without a range.
    • The 2011 Quebec version involved both contestants playing the same showcase (a la One Bid), with each making their bids in secret.
    • In the Vietnamese version (called Dành cho người thắng cuộc), this format also used, but with several deafferents:
      • Two contestants bid on the same prize package, and must be within a range (different for each show, usually 1,500,000 VND or 2,000,000 VND) without going over to win the Showcase.
      • If neither contestants meet this condition, both lose and the losing horns are played. If both contestants meet the above criteria, the contestant bids closer to the actual retail price without going over wins the Showcase. Two contestants can bid the same amount and both meet the range above, in this case, two contestants both win and share the prizes.
      • On some episodes, if the host knew that one contestant has won the showcase before reading the prize of the showcase, the host will call down an audience member to read the price of the showcase. After that, the audience member is given a small prize, and then the host read the price once again to announce the winner. This occasion only happened in Lại Văn Sâm era and Lưu Minh Vũ era from 2004 to 2009.
  • Australia's versions, beginning with Garry Meadows' run, also did the showcase format differently. The top two winners (or during hour shows, the two Showcase Showdown winners of each half) played a game identical to Double Bullseye, with the contestants being given a $50 range in the 1973 version and a $100 range in all subsequent runs (for instance, if the showcase was worth $567,912, the range would fall between $567,900 and $568,000). Once someone guessed the price correctly, that person had to arrange all the items in the showcase (five, six, seven, or eight, depending on the version) from the cheapest to most expensive to win it. From mid 2004 to 2005, the contestant would be tempted some money if they thought they got the order wrong.
    • The 2001 Philippines version is the only other known version to use such a format, but it's possible the 1992 New Zealand version used it, too. In the 2012 version, early episodes used a $1,000 range in the first part, but a few weeks later, they went back to the usual $100 range. Also, in the second part, the contestant had 40 seconds to arrange the items in order rather than being given an infinite amount of time, and if they weren't done arranging items within that time, the prizes were locked in automatically.
    • The Mega Showcase (called as "End Game") also used in the Indonesian version in 2020. However, before Mega Showcase, the show didn't use a game identical to Double Bullseye. Instead, contestants choosing one of five boxes, but only one box show the actual retail price, and other 4 boxes show the "BOOM" sign. Contestant advanced to the Mega Showcase if chosen the box show the actual retail price.
    • Since 2023, the Romanian version also use the Double Bullseye format, but the End Game format was similar to the UK (Bob Warman's version).
  • In the 2009 version of the French version, the rule of Showcase round (La Vitrine) was very similar to the Clock Game, in which the player has 30 seconds (and a given range) to guess the price of the Showcase, which ranges from €10,000-€100,000.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

Additional Pages[]

YouTube Videos[]

The First Two Showcases
The First Ever Double Overbid on Showcases
DSW Highlight

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