Trader Bob

Trader Bob
Premiere Date	April 29, 1980 (#3662D)
Pricing Game Location	Center Stage
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Bargain Game
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Grand Game
Finale Date	November 19, 1985 (#5892D)

Trader Bob was a game where the contestant had to trade up to win.

It was one of five retired games (alongside the original Balance Game (1), Finish Line, Give or Keep, and Shower Game) in which the contestant would win something regardless of the game's outcome.

Gameplay

• The contestant was shown a small prize, which served as their "base", but was not shown its price. They were then shown a pair of small prizes. The contestant had to "trade up" by selecting the prize which was more expensive than their base. The rejected item's price was revealed, while the kept item was placed next to the base one. This process was repeated with two additional pairs of small prizes, for which the contestant would have to choose the prize which was more expensive than their previous selection.
• Once all three choices were made, the prices of the selected prizes were revealed one at a time, starting with the base. If all four chosen items were priced in ascending order, the contestant won a large prize. Regardless of the outcome of the game, the contestant won the last small prize to have its price revealed before the game ended – this was the fourth and final small prize in the trading sequence if the contestant also won the large prize, and the first small prize picked incorrectly if the contestant lost. This made the base one and the correctly-picked items in the first two pairs impossible to win.
• Ultimately, the simplified goal of Trader Bob was to pick the more expensive of three pairs of prizes. In this way, the game had the same goal as Give or Keep and Finish Line - however, these two games did allow a contestant the possibility of winning even by getting one or two selections wrong, depending on the prices used. Conversely, the game was the opposite of Hurdles, in which the contestant had to select the lower-priced of three pairs of grocery items.
• Trader Bob's concept was also employed in Step Up; the only differences were that Step Up awarded contestants a cash prize if they picked the one more expensive than the last and that they could choose to quit and take their winnings.

History and behind the scenes

• Trader Bob was created by producer Phil Wayne. Its set was styled like a log cabin housing a general store, with a large wooden barrel sitting at the front and the set decorated with shelves housing items often found at such a store. Smaller wooden barrels were wheeled out to display each small prize.
• Trader Bob was the second pricing game bearing a titular reference to host Bob Barker and premiered within a week of Barker's Bargain Bar on April 22, 1980 (#3652D).
• The game was known as "Trade-Up" in the 1980s UK version of the show.
• One of the game's running gags involves Bob telling the models - particularly Dian Parkinson - "don't show the price!" for the prize the contestant has selected. It's unknown if this stemmed from an actual incident where a price was prematurely revealed.

Trivia

• This game and Clearance Sale was played 99 times before it was retired.
• The most number of times this game was played in any season was 28 (season 9), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 5 (season 14).
• Trader Bob is the first of the four pricing games to be retired in early season 14. The other three are On the Nose (retired 3 days later on November 22, 1985, #5895D), Walk of Fame (retired on November 27, 1985, #5903D), and the original Balance Game (1) (retired on December 3, 1985, #5912D).
• On the January 6, 2022 episode, Trader Bob's prop was displayed as one of the base images in a playing of Cover Up, making it the first time Trader Bob was seen and mentioned in some form in about 37 years on a first-run episode.
• This was one of three games to incorporate Bob Barker's name in their titles. The other two were Barker's Bargain Bar (which was also played under that name in Drew Carey's first two seasons as host before going on hiatus, and is now known as Bargain Game) and Barker's Markers (which was renamed to Make Your Mark when Drew became host, and on its single appearance on Doug Davidson's 1994 syndicated version).

Gallery

To view the gallery, click here.

Retirement

Trader Bob could be thought of as a variant of Give or Keep but with a structure that allowed no room for error. While this was the reason it was believed to have a low win rate, analysis of playings from Season 11 onward have shown that the actual win rate was almost on par with Give or Keep.

The late 1985 "cleaning up" of pricing games was the result of the producers critically assessing each game for its viability in preparation of the syndicated nighttime edition hosted by Tom Kennedy, and Trader Bob had many factors going against it, leading to them questioning whether they wanted to keep the game at all:

• A redundant premise with the existence of Give or Keep.
• Unintuitive gameplay that forced contestants to play through to the end, even if it became apparent they already lost.
• Long playing time.
• Cumbersome prop storage issues with the need to store seven small prize pedestals.
• Bob himself was never too fond of it.