Range Game
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Range Game is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on April 3, 1973, it is played for a prize worth more than $3,000.
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[edit] Gameplay
The contestant is shown a white scale representing a range of $600, with the price of the prize somewhere within it. On the scale is a transparent red window (dubbed the "range finder") which spans $150 (1/4) of the overall range.
Starting from the bottom, the range finder moves up the scale slowly. The contestant presses a red button on the prop to stop the range finder when they believe the price of the prize is within the red window. When the price is lit up, if it is within the $150 range, the prize is awarded.
[edit] History
When the game debuted in 1973, Range Game used a $50 range finder. The range increased to $100 by May 8 and to the current $150 by June 8. For a brief time, the 1970s syndicated version used a range finder with a $200 spread.
As a running gag, host Bob Barker told the contestant to be sure when they stopped the range finder, as once it had been stopped, it could not be restarted "for 37 hours" (or, on the prime-time specials, "for 48 hours"). The joke originally used other absurd numbers, as well.
On the Million-Dollar Spectacular aired on February 29, 2008, a $1,000,000 bonus was offered if the contestant could win the game normally as well as guess the exact price of a car.
[edit] The New Price is Right
On the 1994 syndicated version, Range Game's format was used in the one-player Showcase round. A completely new prop was constructed for the round, and the contestant selected at random a length between $4,000 and $10,000 in $1,000 increments for the rangefinder. The Showcase's board covered a $60,000 range between $10,000 and $70,000.
On the 1993 pilots, the actual game board was modified and used for the Showcase. A brief clip of this can be seen in the opening sequence of the first 40 episodes.
