Safe Crackers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Safe Crackers is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on April 27, 1976, it is played for two prizes - one worth between $400 and $999, the other worth more than $2,000.
[edit] Gameplay
The contestant is shown two prizes, both of which are locked inside a giant safe. The three-digit price of the smaller item represents the combination of the safe.
The numbers in the price of the smaller prize are shown on three dials; each number is used only once. The contestant spins each dial so they represent a price of the three-digit price.
A correct decision causes the green "open" light to flash, opens the safe, and nets the contestant both prizes. An incorrect combination causes the red "lock" light to flash and results in a loss. If incorrect, host Bob Barker reveals the actual price in an envelope hidden in a compartment to the right of the safe.
[edit] Trivia
- Early in the game's history, the game often had six possible combinations for the three-digit item's price (e.g., a $432 prize was possible). Since the mid-1980s, however, virtually all prizes have ended in zero, making the game an either-or proposition (e.g., is the prize worth $450 or $540).
- On early playings of Safe Crackers, if the game was lost, one of the Beauties would dial in the correct combination and unlock the safe.
- From the game's introduction in 1976 through 1992, the game's signature tune was "The Pink Panther Theme", composed by Henry Mancini. It has since been replaced by stock music; once in 1992 and again in 1995.
- Safe Crackers was staged differently on 1994's syndicated The New Price Is Right. The prize used for the combination of the safe was placed outside the safe prop, unlike how it is staged now and has been staged since its debut.
- On November 18, 2005, Safe Crackers was revealed with Door #2 already opened. On the game's next playing on December 7, the reveal was further altered to begin with a wide shot of the safe.
- The Safe Crackers door is kept shut by a rod. If the contestant guesses correctly, the rod is pulled out; otherwise it is left in place.
- Safe Crackers is generally played for a car a few times each season.
- Over the years, the duty of opening the safe to display the prizes behind it was given to Anitra, Dian, Kathleen, and Claudia. Nowadays, there isn't one particular model who does this task, since models are on a rotating basis.
