Cliff Hangers

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Drew Carey explaining Cliff Hangers to a contestant

Cliff Hangers is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on April 12, 1976, it is played for a four-digit prize, usually valued above $2,000. It uses three small prizes (usually worth between $10 and $50).

1 Gameplay
2 History and behind the scenes
3 Appearances outside of The Price Is Right
4 References

[edit] Gameplay

The centerpiece of Cliff Hangers is a gameboard with a stylized mountain slope (angled at about 45°) that has a scale which runs from 0 at its base to 25 at the peak, which ends at a cliff. At the start of the game, there is a mountain climber on the 0 mark at the base of the mountain.

The contestant is shown a two-digit prize and asked to bid on it. If they bid the actual price, the mountain climber stays where he is. Otherwise, the climber moves up the mountain, advancing along the scale the number of dollars away the contestant's bid is from the actual price. To give an element of suspense to the game, the actual price is not revealed until after the climber has moved, so that the contestant and audience will not know how far he will travel. If the climber remains on the mountain, the contestant wins that small prize.

The process is repeated for two more two-digit prizes, generally of increasing value. The climber continues from the point at which he stopped for the previous prize. If the contestant's bids are a total of $25 or less away from the actual prices of the prizes (ie: if the climber does not go over the cliff), the contestant wins all three small prizes and the grand prize. If the climber goes over the cliff at any point, the game ends.

[edit] History and behind the scenes

A yodeling song, which has become a cornerstone of the game, is played as the mountain climber moves up the mountain. The current music is part of a song called On the Franches Mountains from the record album Swiss Mountain Music. The show has occasionally used the full song as prize music when trips to Switzerland are offered. Originally, the yodeling music used was a portion of "The Silly Song" from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Officially, the climber has no name, although several hosts have used their own names for him. The mountain climber was named "Hans Gudegast" by Doug Davidson on 1994's syndicated The New Price Is Right; Hans Gudegast is the birth name of his The Young and the Restless co-star Eric Braeden. When Cliff Hangers was lost on this version, Doug would often joke that "Hans was being rushed to the emergency room." Neither Bob Barker nor Tom Kennedy ever referred to the climber by name. While Drew Carey has noted that the climber does not have a name, he has referred to him by various titles, including "Hans" (a Davidson reference), "Yodel Man", and "Yodely Guy". To extend this concept, he implies that the official name is Cliff Hangers, but everyone knows it as "The Yodely Guy Game" (as a result of at least one fan asking him if "the Yodely Guy Game" would be returning). On The Price Is Right Live!, the name "Johann" is occasionally used.

Perhaps most infamously, when the game originally debuted in 1976, nighttime syndicated host Dennis James accidentally made a joke and referred to the climber as "Fritz," not knowing model Janice Pennington's plight at the time with her first husband. Fritz Stammberger disappeared in what was presumed at the time to be a mountain climbing accident shortly before the appearance of Cliff Hangers. Dennis made a comment after the climber fell off the mountain, saying "There Goes Fritz!," upsetting Janice so much she remained backstage crying until the game was over. ^[1]

The earliest playings of Cliff Hangers (up to June 1, 1976) used four small prizes.

[edit] Appearances outside of The Price Is Right

The mountain climber and his mountain made an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien the day before Bob Barker's final episode of The Price Is Right aired, where the mountain climber was apparently depressed because he would be out of a job. The scene then cut to the roof of the GE Building, where alcohol bottles could be seen as the mountain climber climbed his mountain to the edge of the building. He then committed suicide by jumping off of the roof.

An animated representation of Cliff Hangers also appeared in an absurdist spoof in the Family Guy episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", where Peter Griffin recalls a previous vacation his family had taken with "The Price Is Right yodeler". The scene cuts to a shot of the mountain climber moving up his usual mountain scale with the Griffin family ascending behind him. Peter implores him to stop, noting that "There's no way that microwave costs more than 300 bucks". The yodeler and family then fall over the edge of the cliff and the "losing horns" play. Peter then laments that the family "should have gone to Plinko". The scene is drawn in profile and is fairly accurate to the real Cliff Hangers board, although the scale only goes to $16.

While not actually appearing, the game was referenced in the episode "Substitute" from That '70s Show where Donna Pinciotti claims that her dad, Bob, was so depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend, that while watching The Price Is Right, he couldn't "yodel along during Cliff Hangers."

In the episode "Evolutionary War" of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Reducto calls Harvey to the stand and asks him where he fits on a evolution chart. The chart appears to be more of a comparison of sizes between animals and man, listing "Quite tiny", "Sort of tiny", to "Less so tiny". Harvey says he "be right next to the man." but "closer to the bird." and can't make up his mind. Reducto uses a small cutout of Harvey placeing it back and forth to the man and bird as Harvey keeps changing his answer. People in the court room start shouting out "Bird!" and "Man!" like the audience of The Price is Right. The scene then shows the small cutout wearing lederhosen, going up a mountain, yodel and all, then falls off the edge, then zooming out to reveal Cliff Hangers on the set of The Price is Right. Reducto is dressed like Barker with mic in hands.

Ellen DeGeneres played Cliff Hangers on her talk show with an audience member when Drew Carey was a guest on May 7, 2008. The game was played for a General Electric refrigerator and oven.