The Price Is Right / Tropes P to Z

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P

• Percussive Maintenance:
  • Bob would sometimes kick or hit set pieces if they got stuck, the most frequent victim being Squeeze Play.
    • Squeeze Play usually got hits to the price reveal flap or button, but at least once (February 27, 1980) it took hits to the numbers themselves.
    • On the episode aired June 8, 1984, Bob kicked a key on "Master Key" when it got stuck in a lock, unable to physically turn (normally the key turns whether right or wrong). They put it in another prize lock, and it still wouldn't turn. Bob kicked it, and broke it in the lock. The broken key was supposed to activate the first lock, which was for a dishwasher. The player won the other key as well, and that one did activate its intended lock: specifically, the third lock, which was for a car.
  • Before it went digital, Drew even had to do this to Temptation.
  • On March 26, 2024, the Grocery Game register was malfunctioning for Amber, who commented on how "ancient" the prop was. Drew smacked the side of the register a few times to get it to function.
• Pie in the Face: One Drewcase skit involved everyone getting pied, including Rich. Drew was pied during his signoff, and the Showcase winner was pied shortly afterward.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis: A majority of comments on the theme music to The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour will talk about winning a car. Since that series only ran for a few months, The Price Is Right used a few of the music cues from the show, including the theme being used in the 90's for the car plug, so more people remember the song from its' tenure on The Price Is Right than the actual show it came from.
• Potty Failure: Happened to a Plinko contestant in 2007, and was later recounted by Drew during an interview.
• Press X to Die: In The Phone Home Game, a home viewer playing via telephone had to give the contestant a price to match to a grocery product three times. If the viewer gave a product name, that turn was forfeited ^note This rule most likely existed because phone contestants could theoretically start saying the name of a product, catch their own mistake, and then give that products' price, effectively spoiling the answer the on-stage contestant was supposed to match. (e.g. "Skincar... oops.. $2.xx"), which automatically means the viewer and contestant cannot win the maximum shared prize of $15,000, since it can only be accumulated from three matches. Some recollections claim one viewer made this mistake on all three turns, winning nothing.
• Pretty in Mink: Fur coats were often prizes until Bob Barker joined PETA. The last known appearance of one is in September, 1981. The 70's nighttime version was especially fond of these thanks to its larger prize budget, to the point where only less than five of the 301 episodes of that run don't feature any, a major factor in why that run fell into obscurity. There was two playings of a prototype version of 1 Right Price early in Season 1 where three fur coats were offered!^note Unlike the version of 1 Right Price introduced in the daytime version in 1975, the contestant only won the prize they correctly associated the price to. Also, while it's not certain whether that early version was specifically intended with fur coats in mind, those were the only type of prize it ever offered.
• Previously on…: For Season 49, this style of intro was adopted (featuring a montage of winners) to replace the opening audience shot, given that there is no audience.
• Product Placement: Even moreso than other game shows. Not just with big prizes, but contestants often have to figure out the prices of several small prizes and groceries to get more chances to win the big one. And of course, every single one is described in detail for the contestant and viewers. Utterly justified, as knowing which brand something is can help contestants guess the price, which of course is the object of the game.
  • This is actually far less common now. The smaller products used in the pricing games are brand-name products, but these days about half of them are just given a generic description. And, on occasion, the show has stooped to using store-brand products (Target, Walgreens, etc.).
    • Rich Fields said that the prizes that get full descriptions were provided directly by the sponsor. Prizes with generic descriptions were purchased locally for use on the show (although, prior to Rich becoming the permanent announcer, all products at least had their brand names announced on-camera). Still, in some cases (usually with designer products), even if they're unsponsored the brands are named anyway in the descriptions.
    • Although some grocery products are sponsored (usually medications) and receive a full, custom plug, the standard grocery product plug since the late 2010's is basically some form of "It's a <size> container of <generic description>".
  • The 2012 Australian revival on Seven Network had many problems—one of them was the fact that it constantly plugged the department store chain Big W (an Australian chain comparable to Walmart). Just about every prize was "provided" by Big W, every prop had their logo otherwise plastered on it, while games traditionally played for cash (i.e. Plinko) were essentially played for Big W store credit (a "Big W shopping spree") of up to $3,000. All other pricing game prizes were less than $2,000 in value, paling in comparison to its lead-out, Deal or No Deal, and the previous run that gave away $500,000 condos.
  • Recent seasons have featured a week of episodes with a Publishers Clearing House promotion, where the first winner of the day wins a bonus $20,000 presented by the Prize Patrol hiding behind one of the doors.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Numerous pricing games over the years, with difficulty, tendency to malfunction, and time consumed to play the game the main reasons for retirement.
  • Many of the main Barker's Beauties including Dian Parkinson (1993), Holly Hallstrom (1995), Janice Pennington (2000) and Kathleen Bradley (also 2000).
  • The dreaded Drewcases mercifully after one very long, awkward season.
  • Rich Fields in 2010 when they wanted to bring in an announcer with more of a comedy background and better chemistry with Drew Carey.
  • A couple of years into Drew Carey's run, many of the games went missing without explanation or being confirmed as retired. All but Credit Card have trickled back into the rotation.
  • Barker's Bargain Bar finally returned from its bus trip (with the name "Bargain Game" and a redesigned set) on April 10, 2012, almost three and a half years after its last playing. Check Game came back on June 20, 2013 after four years with an updated prop (retrofitted with a new sign and LCD screen to replace the eggcrates) but much less actual checkwriting.
  • Card Game made its return on May 14, 2014 after a two-year hiatus, with a snazzy new LCD screen and the game is now played in front of Contestant's Row.
  • Time is Money, meanwhile, made its triumphant return after a staggering ten years, with its rules and set design completely overhauled. The core game is the same (two timed periods to sort six grocery items into price ranges), but now it's played for $20,000, and the second chance is now Trial-and-Error Gameplay with the $20,000 draining away.

R

• Randomly Reversed Letters: The z's in "Eazy az 1 2 3" are backwards s's, in keeping with the child's playroom theming of the game.
• Read the Freaking Manual: Susan Bredding was called down on September 29, 1982. She made it to the stage where she won Poker Game but lost in the Showcase Showdown. She was deemed ineligible when the staff discovered that she was a contestant on Password Plus six months before its cancellation. This fell within the one-year probationary period for Susan to apply, and she was denied her prizes.
• Rearrange the Song:
  • The main theme has gotten quite a few remixes for prize cues.^note (A "wood" remix for cuckoo clocks, a "dreamy" remix for beds, another remix for small prizes that was always used for Plinko's fourth prize until Drew became host, and a techno version used on electronics)
  • The prize cue that was used for Temptation's third prize, grocery plugs in the Barker years, and the "Come On Down" music are both part of a cue known as "Walking".
  • A now-retired new-car cue was rearranged to become the Theme Tune for Family Feud. The last bar of this theme soon returned as an introductory sting for the first playing of Plinko, then in 1980 as the opening sting for Grand Game. Then Trivia Trap (1984-85) used the same snippet as a fanfare. And then Feud retired that theme in 1994, but brought it back in the mid-2000s.
  • The show's main theme used a different orchestration for the Davidson version.
  • This cue was used from 1972-76 when contestants after the first four came on down. The same tune is also used as a Showcase cue, albeit with a synth arrangement.
  • On the episode commemorating Bob Barker's 90th birthday, nonetheless, the classic prize cue "The Big Banana" was revived in a remixed form.
• Recycled Soundtrack:
  • The Bob Cobert theme used from 1961-65 (titled either "A Gift For Giving" or "Window Shopping", depending on who you ask) would be used on two NBC games afterward — Snap Judgment (1967) and You're Putting Me On (1969). The Best Of TV Quiz And Game Show Themes CD is missing the first quarter of the theme.
  • "Lottery," the theme to The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour became a prize cue not long after that show ended, most notably as the intro cue for SuperBall!! It was also used as a new-car cue, but was retired sometime after 2011.
  • A remix of the Celebrity Charades theme was used as the Switcheroo "think cue" on Tom Kennedy's nighttime version.
  • It's believed that at least one Showcase used the Jack Narz Concentration theme.
  • Some prize cues from the original series were also used on an obscure Goodson-Todman game for ABC in 1961, Number Please. One prize cue was used on To Tell the Truth for their ticket plug after both shows had their themes and music rescored by Bob Cobert.
  • The British version used the Doug Davidson version's remix of the main theme. After the Brits liked it, most of Europe took it on as well.
  • The Family Feud theme, as mentioned above, has really gotten around.
  • An April Fool's Day episode played a think music cue from the 70s Match Game during Cover Up, and the Match Game theme music over the credits. Incidentally, a pilot for the 1990's version of Match Game with Bert Convy had actually reused the Cover Up music for the Head-to-Head Match.
  • The former music package of WCBS-2 in New York (CBS's flagship station), titled Grandeur and used from 2000-2001 (and also composed by Edd Kalehoff), has been reused in recent years, like during the "Strato-Intellicator" Showcase on April Fools' 2008.
  • The think song from Check Game actually debuted from Oddball, a short-lived 1986 game show by Mark Goodson Productions that didn't have its pilot picked up by NBC. It was introduced as Check Game's second think cue in either late Season 16 or its first playing in Season 17.
• Repeat After Me: Occurred during a playing of ½ Off on a 2008 MDS.
  Drew: Say "Alakazam!"; lift up the lid. Ready? One, two, three...
  Contestant: Alakazam, lift up the lid! (contestant does nothing else)
• Retired Game Show Element: Numerous pricing games have been retired over time; see that page for specifics.
• Retraux: A more retro version came with Season 44's opening "Decades Week", which was themed around each decade of Price's current run (70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's, and 2010's). Each day featured games premiering in that decade (and for the 2010 episode, games that have had their sets refurbished during that decade, as well as the brand new game Vend-O-Price), the audience dressing the part (stereotypically, though. As mentioned earlier, the real show was a more sterile affair in the beginning), themed Showcases, showing a door design from that decade on the screen in the back of the audience, and changing the color of the new turntable walls to match said era. The 70's and 80's days had the most nods to the era, including classic music, Drew dressing like Bob Barker and performing his opening speech from the first episode of The New Price is Right, playing Squeeze Play out on stage instead of on the turntable (a change used throughout the season), prize manufacturer logos on cards instead of graphics, and so on. George Gray even did era-accurate closing spiels on the 70's, 80's, and 90's days, correctly crediting them as "Mark Goodson-Bill Todman" and "Mark Goodson" productions (although still over a Fremantle Vanity Plate). On the 90's day, the Cover Up wrong numbers Running Gag used logos of retired games.
  • The 50th season in 2021 introduced an exclusive new game, "Back to '72" (a Cliff Hangers-like game where the player must guess the prices of items from that year), whose prop mirrors the show's original set design, and even has a The New Price is Right logo right on it. The Halloween 2021 episode also did a reprise of the 70's theme day in honor of the show's 50th season, going further by even having the Contestant's Row (with brown screens, eggcrate numbers, and a Goodson asterisk that indicates the winner) and Showcase displays emulate their initial design, reskinning the turntable area to suit the original orange and brown set, a recreation of the original Double Prices board (which Drew insists the prop department worked all night on), and Christopher Knight making a guest appearance to present a Brady Bunch-themed Showcase.
• Running Gag:
  • "Does ANYBODY know how to play Check Game?"
  • "We can't start [Range Game] again for 37 hours."
  • Bob's false reveals.
  • For the Money Game, Bob would wonder if "El Cheapo" or "The Ol' Front & Back Trick" were used if a contestant lost the game.
  • During the Showcase Showdown, if a contestant spun the wheel hard or contestants kept tying: "I regret to inform you that The Young and the Restless will not be seen today."
  • For Ten Chances, if the contestant didn't know the zero rule, Bob would chide the audience to help the contestant out.
  • Bob claiming that the discarded blocks in Push Over fell to China, and saying hi to the Chinese people eating Chow Mein.
  • The audience booing contestants who don't get the wheel all the way around. Bob actively encouraged this during his tenure, but Drew doesn't.
  • In Trader Bob, Bob would make it a point that each product chosen should not have its price revealed right away. In some playings, he will scream at the models in a shrill voice, "DON'T SHOW THE PRICE! DON'T SHOW THE PRICE!", to the point where they would be hesitant to reveal the price of the unchosen product (which is revealed right away). This would prompt Bob to shout in the same voice, "SHOW THE PRICE! SHOW THE PRICE!".
  • The giant $25,000 bill prop used in the Punch-a-Bunch reveal has silly photos of Drew on it.
  • Bob's fear of Samoan contestants, being that they were very excitable and much larger than he was (prompting them to manhandle him when they win).
  • When every contestant in Contestant's Row overbid on an item two or three times Bob would jokingly call for four new contestants to come down.
  • Early in George Gray's tenure as announcer, he would mug for the camera if the contestants in Contestant's Row overbid.
  • Whenever Grocery Game is played, Drew usually claims the model operating the cash register had been discovered working as an actual grocery cashier. In recent episodes, the items have all had some type of theme.
  • Whenever Switch? is played, if the contestant chooses to switch the prices, Drew and the models jokingly act like carrying the pricetags across each other's paths is a challenging feat of navigation. Taken that one step further in the 2013 April Fools' Day episode, where inexperienced models Drew Carey and George Gray fell over each other.
  • Near the end of Season 41, Drew began developing a hatred for the "wrong" numbers on the bottom row in Cover Up, since he felt they were useless because they had no real bearing on how the game is played. The producers decided to then replace the numbers with different pictures of Drew without telling him, catching him off-guard...and then decided to do that kind of thing for every playing, including random symbols such as elements from the periodic table and the Greek alphabet (the latter spelling out "PRICE"), and bars of notes from the theme music.
  • Drew has sometimes joked that the "closest without going over" aspect is a new rule.
  • During the all-Plinko special (September 27, 2013), Drew constantly joked that he "[hoped] you're not a fan of (insert mundane quick game here)". Some fans were not amused, especially given the execution of said special.
  • When contestants have shirts that reference their favorite game and/or their desire to play it (most frequently Plinko), Drew will often point out the unlikelihood that they will actually play that game. That being said, when they do get to play it...
  • Drew is fond of calling Rat Race "the best pricing game ever." On one playing, he went as far as to say that its creator "must've been a genius."^note Drew created the game.
  • When playing Temptation, Drew pretends that it's the contestant's birthday and that the prizes are birthday gifts.

S

• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud:
  • On two occasions, the beeper on the Big Wheel malfunctioned. Rather than stop down to repair it, the audience made the beeping sounds as the wheel spun.
  • Happened at least twice in Cliff Hangers:
    • Contestant "Yodeling Walter" did a spot-on impression of the game's sound effect.
    • As part of a promotion in which the mountain climber character would be depicted as either Drew or model Rachel Reynolds, Rachel won and provided the yodeling sounds.
• Scandalgate: The scandals involving Barker, Dian Parkinson, and other models fired after Dian became known as "Modelgate".
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: The reason Holly was booted out of the show... but thanks to contractual tricks, she didn't make that much money anyways.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bob's reaction to the Flip Flop cheater is trying to leave the stage remarking "I'm going home!"
  • During the Las Vegas primetime special, Bob grew very frustrated at the long time it took for a contestant to place a bid during the Showcase round and left the stage. While viewers thought it was a joke, Roger Dobkowitz stated in a interview that Bob was indeed pissed off, due to all the production issues the episode faced and other stresses involved, likely why it was the one and only time the show did an episode on the road during the Barker era.
  • On the October 2, 2019 episode contestant Yvette reacts like this after being blocked-out twice by contestants, both of whom won their way on stage.
• Sesquipedalian Smith: On January 22, 1993, Rod called down a contestant named Ebunoloron Sims.
• She Who Must Not Be Seen: The "ladies" and "Almighty Sound Effects Lady" (from the Barker and Carey eras, respecitvely) whenever a contestant plays the One Away game. Said lady is never seen or heard. Technically, the show can drop the gimmick of the contestant trying to appease the sound effects lady and nothing would change, but the gimmick is used just for dramatic effect. And then the lady, Hope, left the show in 2013.
• Shoulders-Up Nudity: For about five or six years in the late 1980s through circa late 1992, one of Barker's recurring gags implied that a Barker's Beauty was stark naked inside a sauna, hot tub or — sometimes, a car or boat. The model was, of course, wearing a strapless bikini top or, in the very least, a Modesty Towel, but was posing in a way that only the bare shoulders could be seen above the edge of the hot tub, sauna window, top of the car door edge, etc., and Barker played it up to titillate the audience. Eventually, there were a few complaints, but the gag's fate came after his affair with Barker's Beauty Dian Parkinson blew up in the press and, after leaving the show, filed a sexual harassment claim against him.
• Shout-Out: Tons, including a Match Game Showcase.
  • Bob's "37 hours" joke in Range Game was changed to "48 hours" on primetime specials. If you don't know why that's here, you probably don't watch CBS on Saturdays at 10:00 PM.
  • The Phone Home Game got its name from the line "E.T. phone home" from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
  • Many Showcases saluted famous and current movies, such as Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) (taped May 7, 1980).
  • On a couple of 1986 Showcases regarding Martians, a knockoff version of the iconic Doctor Who theme was used during the prize descriptions.
  • Frequently from its 1996 debut until Bob's retirement, references would be made (particularly during play of "Hole in One" to Bob's brief golf career (and famed fistfight with Adam Sandler) in a celebrity tournament in the film Happy Gilmore.
  • April Fool's Day 2009, where the Match Game think music was played instead of the normal music, and the Match Game main theme played over the end credits.
  • In an April 2010 episode, as Money Game was being played for a van, Drew kept making references to the original Hollywood Squares panel as he uncovered the cards.
  • In July 2011, Drew did radio commercials for an appearance of his hometown orchestra appearing at New York's Met. He wrapped it up by saying "And at $35 dollars apiece...the price is right."
  • Drew referred to a small prize shaped like a British phone booth as being shaped like a TARDIS in a Spring 2011 episode.
  • During Jack Black's Celebrity Week appearance in 2017, one of the games played was Danger Price — whose board happens to be covered in glorious octagons with eight stunning angles. It was either a subtle nod, or completely coincidental.
  • The pricing game "To the Penny" reuses the sound effects from the retired game "Penny Ante".
  • Every time a contestant picks 19 in Money Game, Drew says "N-n-n-nineteen".
• The Show Must Go On:
  • (Unproven) On a syndicated nighttime episode in 1976, Dennis shouted "There Goes Fritz!" after the contestant lost the game and the mountain climber fall over the cliff, which in turn causing Janice to run offstage crying and not coming out the rest of the episode. Only Dian and another model did the rest of the show while Janice remained in her dressing room crying.
  • On a show from February 1988, a huge storm in Los Angeles meant that nearly 2/3 of the audience was empty. They carried on with everyone seated in the middle section, and did their best not to film the other two sections of the audience.
  • A few months later; a wayward camera ended up knocking model Janice Pennington into Contestant's Row and leaving her momentarily unconscious. Taping stopped for her to be sent to a nearby hospital and did not resume until 45 minutes later (after it was determined she would survive)^note The ensuing surgeries Pennington underwent left her with one shoulder an inch shorter than the other, and this - combined with noticeable scars from the injury - meant she would no longer model swimsuits on the show.
  • Even if the contestant doesn't get to pick a single rat in Rat Race, the race is carried out anyway.
  • On a January 2014 episode, a contestant injured her ankle during the Showcase Showdown and spent the rest of the episode in a chair. Drew assured viewers that she would be taken to the hospital as soon as taping was over.
  • The February 16, 1998 episode had one contestant, Scott, accidentally trip while walking onstage. But after losing his pricing game, he jumped in disappointment only to sprain his knee and couldn't stand up. During the Showcase Showdown, Scott sat in a swivel chair while Bob Barker spun the big wheel for him (Scott would win the Showdown), and during the Showcase, Scott sat in a taller chair.
  • On the May 7, 2019 episode, contestant Debbie had to leave the studio after her pricing game due to an unspecified emergency.^note According to an eyewitness account, she cut her hand on a lightbulb. Her husband Paul filled in for her at the wheel and in the Showcase round.
• Show the Folks at Home: The prices of the items used in Clock Game (as well as Double Bullseye which was basically the same game only played with two contestants and for a car.)
• Shown Their Work: After years of incorrect episode counts (to be fair, a lot of reschedulings and Out of Order airings occurred over time), the count was finally corrected both for Fingers' final episode (where it was mentioned that she was present for 6,618 episodes) and the 7,500th milestone episode.
• Signature Sound Effect: The Losing Horns are arguably the best-known, along with the beeping of the Big Wheel, and several sound effects specific to individual pricing games.
• Signing-Off Catchphrase:
  • From 1972 to 1987, Bob Barker would sign off with "Bob Barker saying goodbye, everybody!"; though started around 1982, some episodes would have Bob periodically remind viewers to "Help control the animal population. Have your pets spayed or neutered" until Bob began using that phrase for every show starting in 1987. On the November 11, 1994, episode, he accidentally began signing off with his Truth or Consequences catchphrase, ending up with "Bob Barker saying goodbye, and hoping all your... prices are right!" Drew Carey still uses Barker's "spay or neuter" sign off as an homage to him.
  • During most of Season 49, Drew followed up the spay and neuter plug by reminding viewers to wear a mask when they go outside. He stopped doing this late in the season after COVID restrictions eased. Now, Drew reminds viewers to take care of their mental health.
  • Dennis James' sign off was "Don't miss the show next week, 'cause if you do, then we're gonna miss you!"
• Skeleton Key: Master Key's eponymous key, which unlocks all three prizes. The host typically has the contestant unlock the first prize, then the car; nowadays, while the contestant celebrates, Drew frequently unlocks the middle prize.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Done between Bob and an audience member during the One Away playing where a contestant got no numbers in the price of a Lincoln Mark VII.
  Audience Member: Give it to her!
  Bob: "Give it to her." I’m about as apt to give it to her as I am to give her my house!
  Audience Member: Give her your house!
• Sound Defect: On occasion, the Big Wheel would fail to beep during the Showcase Showdown and the host would instruct the audience to beep along.
• Space Clothes: Worn by the models as they opened the "Time Capsule" Showcases.
• Spin-Off:
  • There have been two major spin-offs of the current CBS version; first there was The New Price is Right, a retool hosted by Doug Davidson which used a half-hour format with just three contestants per episode (who went straight to their pricing game), had a somewhat more modern and glitzy set (complete with a video wall), the Showcase Showdown being replaced by a One Bid-styled game called "The Price was Right", which involved guessing the price of a product from an old commercial (although some episodes used the Big Wheel due to not having enough old clips), and a single-player Showcase which was essentially Range Game on a fancier, angled board: the player chose the required range at random. While it only ran for one season, aspects of its format (namely its Showcase) were adopted by many international versions.
  • Then, there were the $1,000,000 Spectaculars, which built upon the primetime Armed Forces tribute specials that Bob Barker organized following the September 11 attacks with the influence of a recent fascination with big money game shows on primetime TV. These episodes frequently gave away larger prizes, and added a chance to win $1,000,000 by getting a dollar on a bonus spin.
  • The Cullen version also had a spin-off in a way in the form of Say When!!, an Art James-hosted show produced by Goodson-Todman which essentially played like a multiplayer version of the modern Grocery Game. Of course, it's better known for a blooper where a commercial for Peter Pan peanut butter goes horribly wrong.
• Stealth Pun:
  • The first prize offered in Clock Game was a clock.
  • The IUFB right before the debut of Range Game was a range.
  • The first item offered in Walk of Fame was a "wok".
  • In one episode, Rod announced the next IUFB was a man's chest. Bob interrupted, asking if he should take his shirt off so the contestants could get a better look at what they were bidding on.
  • An accidental example: the contestant who ran to the bathroom when she was called came on down afterwards and proceeded to bid...on a waterbed.
  • A Dutch version changed the signature catch phrase from "Come on down!" to "You're in the game!" What was the name of the channel it was broadcast on? Yorin.
  • To the Penny is played using a backdrop shaped like a giant penny. At the bottom is the slogan "E pluribus unum pretium" (Out of many, one price), a play on the "E pluribus unum" motto that appears on the Great Seal of the United States.
• Studio Audience: Where the contestants "come on down" from.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: After Drew voiced his opinion that the initial row of numbers to cover up in, well, Cover Up was utterly pointless, the production team took him up on his suggestion, swapping out the numbers for a series of thematically-similar images.

T

• Take That!:
  • On February 26, 1988, a collection of books was offered as an item up for bids, among them The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. Bob notices he's not on the cover, snatches the book and throws it away in disgust.
  • Bob was fond of doing this to the 1994-95 New Price Is Right.
    • As it was airing in syndication, Bob mentioned several times on-air that confused fans had written in wondering if something had happened to the "old" series (see the Adaptation Displacement entry on the YMMV tab). In one such instance, Rod joined in reassuring viewers that "the real Price Is Right" was still very much alive and well on the air.
    • Right before the ticket plug in an early 1995 episode, Bob told the viewers "The Price Is Right will be on forever and ever and ever... regardless of what happens to that nighttime version!" Could count as a parting shot; by the time the episode aired the Davidson version had already gone off the air.
    • Doug Davidson wasn't immune to this; he would refer to the "Cliffhangers" mountain climber as Hans Gudegast, the birth name of The Young and the Restless costar Eric Braeden, who plays his character's rival Victor Newman. When the game was lost, he would refer to Hans being taken to Genoa City Memorial Hospital.
  • On another note, in an interview Barker gave shortly before his final episode, he was quoted calling the original models "disgusting".
  • Drew seems to enjoy making fun of hard pricing games on the air, going as far as outright mentioning when they haven't been won in a while.
• Tempting Fate: On April 1, 2011, at the end of the second Showcase Showdown, Drew comments that nothing went wrong for once...after which a light fixture fell and the studio went dark. After an awkward pause, a test pattern popped up.
• Theme Naming: Used with the sets of products on Grocery Game as of late. For instance, the March 24, 2021 episode had products that had units of time in the name (e.g. Minute Maid, 5-hour Energy).
• Think Music: Played during several games that require the contestant to handle props.
• Timed Mission:
  • Bonkers, Clock Game, Hot Seat, Race Game, Split Decision, Switcheroo, and Time Is Money have time limits for making attempts to win, often overlapping with Trial-and-Error Gameplay.
  • Ten Chances originally had a 10-second timer for each guess, but this hasn't been enforced since around the mid-1980s.
  • Range Game could be considered one as well, since the rangefinder only goes in one direction and stops once it hits the top of the scale.
  • On Cullen's show, if it appeared that a contestant was stalling, a five-second time limit was imposed. The five-second time was always imposed on one-bid games. Some bonus games used specified timeframes for the contestant to complete.
• Title Drop:
  • "All this can be yours, if the price is right."
  • "THAT'S TOO MUCH!!!"
  • It's kind of hard to switch the prices in Switch without saying "Switch".
• Totally Radical: The Halloween 2011 show had the entire set, crew, music, and contestants decked out in 1970s outfits, including the slang. Even some of the prizes were made to emulate the 1970s look, and cues from the largely-discarded 1972, '74, and '76 music packages were used for the first time in quite a while. Fans quickly realized said cues were a cheap cop-out by Mike Richards — a Twitter question some weeks earlier asked if classic cues would be returning, to which he said yes. They were only used on this episode.
• Trailers Always Spoil: And how. These days, if there's a big win or a special coming up, expect the online promos to spoil them before the episode airs.
• Triumphant Reprise: The main theme of the show becomes this when a contestant wins a game.
• Two Decades Behind:
  • During Barker's run, Price maintained an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude in regards to its production: the only significant change to the set was a change to its more familiar color scheme (with the green door frames, reddish turntable walls, multi-colored Contestants' Row, etc.), and all other changes were just progressive tweaks and refurbishments to said set, such as the updated doors of the 90's, and the infamous Hollywood Mural turntable walls. The Moog synthesizer-based theme song remained the same throughout the years, and although the music from the Davidson version was integrated into the daytime version, there were plenty of cues from the original music packages that were still being played. Even into the 2000s, pricing games still used manual props or legacy electronics (such as eggcrate, sportstype, and vane displays; some European versions used CRT monitors instead), and they never used computerized graphics until 1996 (when the credits finally switched to Chyron).
  • Price finally began to modernize its production upon the arrival of Drew Carey; an entirely new set was built (which still maintained a similar layout to the original, however), new and refurbished games (such as Any Number, Plinko, Temptation, Grand Game, Bonus Game, Card Game, and Clock Game) have incorporated LED lighting and flat-panel displays (and one game, Double Cross, is completely touchscreen based), along with the current Contestants' Row and Showcase podia. However, these moves have afflicted Price with a Schizo Tech vibe, given that these modern, computerized props are still being used alongside those which use the aforementioned trilons, legacy electronics (e.g. Magic #) and manual props (albeit with refreshed designs in some cases, such as Double Prices). Much like the Barker era, Drew's set has also gone through progressive upgrades to add an increasing amount of displays and lighting effects, still being used alongside older props that are likely 20-30 years old.

U

• Undesirable Prize:
  • Those damned popcorn carts.^note (However, those in the know wouldn't consider them undesirable—not only do they actually make damn fine popcorn, but they can also be worth thousands of dollars.)
  • Showcases: For years, the "Nothing But Furniture" showcase often fit this trope for many contestants, especially if they were stuck with it as Showcase #2. Usually, these were (as the name implies) room-centric Showcases with another four-digit prize often thrown in after the furniture plugs had been read. Often, the other big-ticket item was something perceived to be equally as undesirable, such as a jukebox, piano, entertainment center, etc., although it could also be a boat, trailer, or motorcycle(s). The musical cue nicknamed "Splendido!" was often associated with furniture Showcases.
    • Sometimes averted when the final prize in "Nothing But Furniture" Showcases was a desirable trip or a car (especially a sports or luxury car).
    • January 20, 2010 had a showcase offering five hours on a private jet valued at exactly $25,000 (as indicated in an article on Marketplace). Golden-Road.net confirms that the contestant who won this showcase declined said prize.
    • On October 7, 2010's late show, the top winner passed his showcase to the runner-up ... only to be stuck with a Sex and the City-themed showcase. Subverted, however, by the fact that it ended with a luxury car. (but he overbid by just over $10,000).
  • While not considered "undesirable," the show has admitted in interviews that trips are used as "budget savers," due to the fact the trip originates from Los Angeles, and since many of the contestants aren't from L.A. and aren't sure when they will come back, many of them forfeit the prize.
  • All prizes are subject to taxes. Contestants are known to forfeit certain prizes to avoid taxes, sell prizes to pay down the taxes on other prizes if they won multiple prizes on a show, or take a cash equavelant of their prize total, with the taxes taken out prior to the cash given to the contestants.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change:
  • The March 25, 2016 "College Rivalries" edition (in honor of the NCAA basketball tournament) featured a twist to the standard format: each pair of players in Contestant's Row represented a college sports rivalry. When a contestant won a bid, the other contestant in the rivalry pair was eliminated and sent back to the audience, but could win a $1,000 consolation prize if their rival lost their pricing game. Thus, two new players were called down instead of one.
  • On October 28, 2016 (the last day of Big Money Week), every game was played for cash, including games not usually played for cash. Cliff Hangers was the grand finale with a minor change of its own: the top prize was $250,000, except that the money decreased by $10,000 for every step the climber took.
  • On the January 10, 2024 primetime special, Any Number's piggy bank was multiplied by 10,000. With the game's zonk out of the way, the contestant was guaranteed to win a prize. The piggy bank, worth $62,700, was won. It was worth more than the car.
• The Un-Reveal: The April Fools' Day 2011 episode kept hyping up a "10,000th thing", which was... nothing.

V

• Vanity License Plate:
  • "PRICE IS RIGHT" plates were used on cars offered and another kind is given to car winners.
  • During the Rod Roddy years, a frequent Showcase theme (e.g., "I LUV NY" might mean a trip to New York; "OUT BACK" might mean a trip to Australia).
• Vocal Evolution:
  • To a slight extent, Johnny Olson had this in his later years. Although he didn't lose much enthusiasm, his voice became a little more slurred with old age, and he would more frequently lisp the show's title the older he got. Notably, he stayed with the show until shortly before his death at age 75.
  • In comparison, Rod Roddy became much less enthusiastic by the early 1990s, and his voice started cracking a great deal. This was most likely due the result of his many health issues over the years (most notably, obesity and multiple forms of cancer). He had also informed by his doctors that he potentially risked losing his entire voice if he didn't tone things down.
  • On his earliest episodes (when he was auditioning for the spot after Rod's death), Rich Fields had an appropriately enthusiastic mid-range voice. Once he became the official announcer, his delivery jumped all over the place: sometimes he'd sound like the early episodes; sometimes he'd use a lower and mellower voice like he did on the Florida lottery game show Flamingo Fortune in The '90s; sometimes, he'd be high and screechy and have No Indoor Voice, which ultimately became his default setting when Drew took over. However, when he did post-production work for a few Summer 2010 reruns, he reverted to the lower, mellower voice. He also used this lower delivery when he filled in on Wheel of Fortune in late 2010-early 2011, and kept it for Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza.

W

• Wardrobe Malfunction: One of the most famous televised instances of the trope occurred during the September 14, 1977 episode when Johnny Olson called for contestant Yolanda Bowsley to come on down. Yolanda happened to be wearing a tube top, which immediately slipped and exposed her breasts. Bob would memorably recount the event in an interview thusly:
  Barker: She came on down and they came on out.
  • Debra Wilson later performed a Parody of the incident on Mad TV.
  • The incident was also referenced in an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, where a woman's top came off when Mills Lane announced for Anne Robinson to come on down. (It was a match-up between Bob Barker and Robinson.)
• Whammy:
  • "Danger Price" has the one price you don't want to pick in order to win.
  • Choose the right price for the car in "Gas Money" and you lose.
  • The "Lose Everything" spaces in "Pass the Buck". If picked, well... you lose everything.
  • If one number in "Temptation" is wrong you lose the car and all the other prizes.
  • If one of the higher or lower guesses in "Hot Seat" is wrong you lose all the money that you've won up to that point.
  • If one of the items in "It's In The Bag" is wrong you lose all the money earned up to that point.
  • If the items on one floor of the house in "Pay The Rent" do not add up to more than the items on the floor below, the game is over with all earned money lost (this is also true in the case of ties).
  • After winning $1,000 in "Grand Game", picking an item with a price above the target price makes you lose all winnings.
• Wild Samoan: Bob was infamously wary of any Samoan contestant, given their tendency to be jubilant if they won big. The most cited source of this comes from a 1980 episode where Pauline won $10,000 playing the Grand Game, and in her excitement proceeded to chase Barker – who, given his reaction, already sort of knew what he was in for – all over the stage.
  • Ironically, Pauline might not be Samoan after all.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing:
  • Switch? is the only game where a contestant can win by doing absolutely nothing (well, nothing but deciding not to do anything, that is). Since it's a 50/50 chance either way (keep the prices where they are, or switch them), doing nothing will win you the prize as often as switching.
  • If the first two contestants go over $1 in the Showcase Showdown, the third player automatically advances. As the contestant order is sorted by money won during their pricing games, this rewards the third player for their earlier success. Said contestant will take a spin anyway for the dollar and the chance to earn extra money.
  • On June 10, 1985, the correct price in Range Game was accidentally lit up before the game began. Bob tried to stand in front of it while they turned it off, but the contestant admitted he saw it. Bob rewarded his honesty by automatically giving him the prize^note (which happened to be a $6,000+ truck), and the game wasn't even played.
  • An invoked example occurred on November 1, 2000 where a botched setup of Ten Chances resulted in a technical win. The stagehand that normally set up the game had been off the show that day and the other stagehands that set the game up did not make sure the game was ready to play. The result was that the correct solution for each prize was shown immediately when the prize was set up to play. Contestant Daniel who was playing the game also wound up winning the Showcase Showdown for the reason mentioned above.
  • During the September 22, 2006 playing of It's in the Bag, the contestant had won $4,000, but Bob accidentally revealed the $8,000 bag's contents before he could give the contestant the chance to go on or stop. The contents indicated the contestant would have lost. Due to Bob's error, he did win the $4,000 he was entitled to.
  • Invoked again on April 2, 2015. Contestant Andrea wins a car on a technical win of Five Price Tags after she guesses the first price wrong and Manuela immediately pulls off the next price tag which reveals the "WIN!" before Andrea makes another guess.
  • In general, if there's ever a breakdown in the physical props used in the pricing games, they'll award the prize (or top prize) to the player.

X

• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Eazy az 1 2 3.

Y

• Younger and Hipper:
  • Since Drew took over, the show seems to be moving more and more toward this. Many elements that had barely changed for most of Bob's tenure — the set, the props, the variety of prizes — have been modernized greatly in one way or another.
  • Also evident on the 1994 syndicated version, which was one of the reasons why it flopped.

Z

• Zonk:
  • The piggy bank in "Any Number". Yes, the $3.72 (or whatever) actually counts toward a contestant's total winnings should they be unfortunate enough to win it (although strangely, it doesn't appear on the "$35,000+" Showcase winnings graphic used since the late 1990s).
    Bob Barker: ...down there in the Piggy Bank.
    • Carey joked a few times that if the person won the money from the Piggy Bank, they could go out later and get a burger.
  • The large checks with "VOID" stamped on them after a losing round of Check Game.
  • Used literally when the show crosses over with Let's Make a Deal and uses some of Deal's games.