Trader Bob

"Trader Bob" was a pricing game on the American television game show, "The Price Is Right". Played from April 29, 1980 through November 19, 1985, it was played for a large prize worth more than $1,000, and used small prizes.

The game was played on the 1980s UK version of the show as "Trade Up."

Gameplay

The contestant was shown a small prize, which served as their "base prize", but was not shown its price. They were then shown a pair of small prizes. The contestant had to "trade up" by selecting the prize which was more expensive than their base prize. The rejected item's price was revealed, while the kept item was placed next to the base prize.

This process was repeated with two additional pairs of small prizes, for which the contestant would have to choose the prize which was more expensive than their previous selection.

Once all three choices were made, the prices of the selected prizes were revealed one at a time, starting with the base prize. If all four chosen items were priced in ascending order, the contestant won the large prize. Regardless of the outcome of the game, the contestant won the last small prize to have its price revealed before the game endedndashthis was the fourth and final small prize in the trading sequence if the contestant also won the large prize, and the first small prize picked incorrectly if the contestant lost. This made the base prize and the correctly-picked items in the first two pairs impossible to win.

Ultimately, the simplified goal of Trader Bob was to pick the more expensive of three pairs of prizes. In this way, the game had the same goal as Give or Keep and Finish Line - however, these two games did allow a contestant the possibility of winning even by getting one selection wrong, depending on the prices used. Conversely, the game was the opposite of Hurdles, in which the contestant had to select the lower priced of three pairs of grocery items.

Trader Bob's concept is currently employed in the pricing game Step Up, the only differences being that Step Up awards contestants a cash prize if they succeed in picking a more expensive prize than the last, and that they can choose to quit and take their winnings.

This is one of three pricing games to bear Bob Barker's name; Barker's Bargain Bar and Barker's Marker$ (now Make Your Mark) are the others.

History and behind the scenes

Trader Bob was created by producer Phil Wayne. [http://www.golden-road.net/index.php?topic=6912.0 ] Its set was styled like a log cabin housing a general store, with a large wooden barrel sitting at the front and the set decorated with shelves housing items often found at such a store. Smaller wooden barrels were wheeled out to display each small prize.

Retirement

Trader Bob's structure allowed no room for error. This resulted in a low win rate and played a large role in its eventual retirement.