Golden Road

this is the most exciting pricing game on the price is right. the game debuted in 1975, and is played about once a month.

in this game, contestants have the chance to win a spectacular prize, ranging in price from $50,000 to $80,000+ nowadays, like a sports car, a luxury yacht, or a motorhome.

the game is played by guessing the correct hundreds digit in a three-digit prize, a four-digit prize, and then the five-digit prize. (if they play this game on a million dollar spectacular, it’s six digits!)

any incorrect guess along the way ends the game, but the contestant gets to keep any prizes they correctly priced.

in the rare event that they win the really big prize, they (usually) become one of the biggest winners in the history of the price is right.
(example based on an actual playing of the game in november 2003)

first, the player is shown the price of a two-digit grocery item; let’s say it was a package of erasers, worth 92 cents.

the first prize along the way is almost always a gimme… say, a juicer. $_49 is displayed…
is it the 9 or the 2? it’s obviously the 2, because the numbers never repeat themselves in the first two prize’s prices. plus, there probably aren’t any consumer juicers worth over $900 out there.

let’s say prize #2 is an air hockey table. $3_95 is seen…
is it the 2, the 4, or the 9?
the 9 is ruled out, since it’s a repeating digit. that leaves a 50.50 shot… and it depends on luck, most of the time. in this particular playing, the correct answer was 4.

and finally, there’s the big prize at the end…. in this case, a new motorhome! the audience is hushed as the model wheels the price podium out… $79_68.
now, the contestant must choose from four different numbers… 3, 4, 9, or 5? it’s pretty much a cr-pshoot, as numbers can and do repeat themselves in the final prize… and that has made for some painful losses in the past.

in this case, the contestant chose the 5… and won!