Hurdles (pricing game)

Hurdles was a pricing game on the American television game show, "The Price Is Right". Created by then-producer Jay Wolpert [http://www.golden-road.net/index.php?topic=6912.0 ] and played from February 19, 1976 to March 31, 1983, it was played for a large prize worth more than $1,000, and used grocery items.

Gameplay

The centerpiece of Hurdles was a large game board featuring a hurdler on a race track. The contestant was shown a grocery item and its price, which were displayed next to the hurdler; as such, this price was called the "hurdler's price", and denoted the price over which the hurdler could jump.

The contestant was then shown three pairs of grocery items at the base of the board, one at a time. Each pair represented a hurdle and consisted of one item that was priced below the hurdler's price and one that was priced above it. The contestant was asked to pick the item of each pair which was below the hurdler's price, which would allow him to clear all three hurdles; flags were placed to mark the three selected items.

After all three pairs were played, a starting pistol was fired into the air, which started the hurdler across the gameboard to the playing of the "William Tell" Overture (which was later used as the timer cue for Race Game on the 1985 syndicated Tom Kennedy version). At each pair of grocery items, the hurdle representing the chosen item would rise into the path of the hurdler. If the correct item were chosen, it would stop below his path and reveal the price; if not, it would block him, causing the hurdler to crash. If the hurdler cleared all three hurdles, the contestant won the prize.

The simplified goal of Hurdles was to pick the less expensive of three pairs of grocery items. In this way, the game had the opposite goal to other retired games, Trader Bob, Give or Keep and Finish Linendashhowever the latter two games did allow a contestant the possibility of winning even by getting one selection wrong, depending on the prices used.

When the game was lost, a crashing sound was heard, similar to Cliff Hangers. In addition, the word "CRASH" or "OOPS" was displayed on the screen. Contestants were occasionally allowed to fire the pistol themselves, but a few held it too close to their face startling them when it went off.

Retirement

While played frequently throughout its time in "The Price Is Right"'s rotation, Hurdles was prone to mechanical failure. Often, the hurdle components were not in sync with the runner, and they sometimes failed to work at all. These constant breakdowns led to Hurdles's retirement.

In a 2000 interview, Barker also attested to not liking the game, as he was not a fan of thoroughbred racing because of his animal rights views.

Nighttime Appearances

Hurdles was one of five pricing games introduced in the fifth and final nighttime season hosted by Dennis Jamesndashthe other four being Cliff Hangers, Danger Price, Dice Game, and Three Strikes.