Balance Game (active pricing game)
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Balance Game is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. It is played for a large prize, worth at least $3,000. The game holds the distinction of being series's 100th Pricing Game, and was the only new game to premiere during the series's 34th season.
This new game, which premiered on February 6, 2006, should not be confused with a short-lived pricing game also called Balance Game.
[edit] Gameplay
The contestant is shown a prize and a large scale. A bag which supposedly contains coins in the amount of the prize's price sits on a table to the right of the scales; the contestant is also shown four other bags, each bearing money amounts on their fronts. One bag has the last three digits of the prize's price (e.g., $188) on it; it is immediately placed on the left side of the scale. The other three bags have multiples of $1,000 on them (e.g., $1,000, $3,000, and $6,000).
The contestant selects two of the bags to place alongside the three-digit bag, thus forming his/her bid on the prize (e.g., placing $1,000 and $6,000 with the $188 bag would mean the contestant's bid is $7,188). The unmarked bag is then placed on the right side of the scale; if the scale balances, the contestant wins the prize.
[edit] Trivia
- The Barker Silver Dollars seen in this game, which bear host Bob Barker's face, are the same ones that were used in the original Balance Game.
- The first contestant who won Balance Game was given a Barker Dollar as a souvenir.
- The "balancing" effect is controlled by a stagehand; the swinging reveal would be physically impossible if the balance was entirely controlled by gravity.
- On May 18, 2006, the Balance Game's price display was expanded from four to five digits. On October 12, 2006, the game was played for a car for the first time.
