The Price is Right
Getting its start back in 1956, the Price is Right quiz host Bill Cullen led four contestants through a series of bids on various products. They didn’t win money or answer questions; it was a test knowledge of prices. Whoever got closest to the price without going over won the prizes, and whoever won the most prizes by the end of the show was the grand winner of the quiz and came back to play again. That quiz version ended in 1965, and a new one arose in 1972 with Bob Barker as host.
The initial The Price is Right quiz was still the same, test knowledge of the price of prizes, but no-one answers questions in that version. After that, the quiz winner would compete for other prizes – everything from a car to a trip, furniture, and even win money in one of a variety of pricing contests; there are currently more than sixty different contests. While quite varied, they all had the same premise: a quiz to test knowledge of the price(s) of some prizes.
At the end of the first half hour of The Price is Right, the contestants who had played the pricing contests would spin a wheel to see who would go to the Showcase Showdown, and the same would happen at the end of the second half hour. Those two contestants would each bid on an array of prizes; whoever got closest without going over would win. If they were within $250 of the price, they won both showcases.
Bob Barker hosted the The Price is Right show for 35 years, and Drew Carey took over the quiz in October of 2007. Currently, there are some 33 versions of the quiz in countries as varied as Vietnam, Estonia and Morocco. With the American version of the Price is Right, it has given away (as of May of 2007) over $800,000,000 in cash and prizes. The prizes in the opening bid generally range from about $500 to a few thousand in value. With the pricing games, they went from $4,000 to as much as $50,000, and some contests allow people to win money. The showcases are usually in the range of $15,000 to $40,000. Vickyann Sadowski holds the record as the biggest winner when, in September of 2006, she not only won a car in her pricing contest, but both showcases at the end; her winnings were $147,517.
Despite its longevity, The Price is Right quiz has its limitations. Today, Money4Intellect is an online game which allows people to win money by a test knowledge series of contests where a contestant answers questions on general knowledge. This puts the online game above The Price is Right quiz, as no-one answers questions about prices on prizes. For a minimal bid of $10, a contestant can win money, as much as $1,000 in contests as he or she answers questions like you’d get in Trivial Pursuit. If the idea of just a test knowledge quiz that lets you win money appeals to you, check out the online game Money4Intellect.