Mystery Price

Mystery Price was a pricing game on the American television game show, "The Price Is Right". Played from September 26, 1973 (which aired out of order on November 29) through February 21, 1974, it was played for a prize package (usually two or three prizes), and used small prizes.

Gameplay

The prize package was announced, and the price of one of the prizes (usually the least expensive) was the "mystery price", which was concealed on the game board.

The contestant was then shown four small prizes, one at a time, and asked to bid on each one. If the contestant's bid for a prize was at or below its price, the contestant won the prize, and the amount of the bid was added to their "credit" in the game's bank screen; if the contestant's bid was higher than the price of the prize, they lost that small prize and their bid was not placed in the bank. The goal was to bid as close to the price without going over, in order to build up the most credit.

After all four small prizes were bid on, the mystery price was revealed. If the contestant had at least as much credit in the bank as the mystery price, they won the prize package. If not, they still kept any small prizes won during bidding.

Retirement

Mystery Price was quickly retired due to its complicated and confusing rules. Despite this, the game had a favorable win record of 11-6.