Showcase Showdown (The Price Is Right)
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- For the punk rock band, see Showcase Showdown (band).
The Showcase Showdown is a segment on the American game show The Price Is Right. The segment is also commonly referred to as "The Big Wheel", referring to the main prop used in the game. The game is played twice in each hour-long episode as an elimination round which determines which one of the three contestants from the first or second half of the show will participate in the Showcase at the end of the episode.
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[edit] The Big Wheel
The wheel itself stands vertically and is held by an axle at its center such that its edge faces the audience. It is contained within a housing that only allows the front half of the wheel to be seen. The wheel is technically an icosagonic prism, segmented into 20 unique sections, each marked on the wheel's edge and sides with one of the multiples of 5¢ up to $1.00 in a non-sequential order. The sequence of the money values on the wheel is: 5¢, $1.00, 15¢, 80¢, 35¢, 60¢, 20¢, 40¢, 75¢, 55¢, 95¢, 50¢, 85¢, 30¢, 65¢, 10¢, 45¢, 70¢, 25¢, 90¢.
The wheel has handles around its circumference on the left side, which the contestants grab to spin it. An arrow is attached to the wheel's housing on its right side which indicates which segment the wheel is "on" at any time. The tip of the arrow is spring-loaded, and the wheel has pegs at the border between each of its segments so that there is never a dispute as to what space the wheel has landed on.
Some contestants have trouble spinning the wheel all the way around due to its weight. In such cases, especially with elderly contestants, the host will offer assistance in spinning the wheel. On October 2, 2003, Bob Barker even spun the wheel for a handicapped contestant who could not reach up to spin it due to his being confined to a wheelchair. This was one of the occaisions where Bob was "booed" for not getting the big wheel all the way around. He then had the contestant hold his microphone, and spun it with both hands.
While it is not explicitly stated in the rules, contestants are expected to spin the wheel downward. Host Bob Barker (now Drew Carey) once stopped a contestant from spinning the wheel in the opposite direction and did not allow the "backward" spin to count; it is, to date, the only attempt to spin the wheel upward.
[edit] Gameplay
On The Price Is Right, six pricing games are played per episode. After the first three games, the first Showcase Showdown is played with the three contestants who played those games. Then, after the final three pricing games are played, the second Showcase Showdown is played with the three contestants from those games. The three contestants play this round in the order of the value of their winnings thus far (including in the One Bid round), with the winner of most going last.
The goal of the game is to be the contestant with the score nearest to $1.00, without going over. The contestant is allowed to take the sum of two spins of the wheel as their score, but may stop after their first spin if they are satisfied with the score they have. If a contestant chooses to spin a second time, and the sum of their spins is more than $1.00, they are immediately disqualified. Each spin of the wheel must make at least one full revolution, or the spin will not count, and the contestant must re-spin. Also, if the spin does not go all the way around, the audience usually boos the contestant for a poor spin. If the first two contestants are disqualified for having the sum of their spins each over $1.00, the third contestant will only spin once (to try for the $1.00) and advance to the Showcase by default.
The contestant with the leading score stands on the opposite side of the wheel below a scoreboard showing their score. If they are beaten by a subsequent contestant, that contestant takes the first contestant's place, and the first contestant leaves the stage. If two, or rarely all three (as shown in the January 28, 2008 episode), contestants end up tied for the lead at the end of the round, a spin-off is played. Each tied contestant is allowed one spin, and the highest score wins. If there is another tie, the process is repeated.
If a contestant achieves a score of exactly $1.00 in one spin (whether in regular spinning, or a spin-off), or a combination of two spins, they win a $1,000 cash bonus, and a bonus spin after the normal spins have been completed. If a spin-off is required at a score of $1.00, the contestants take their bonus spins and play the spin-off with the same spins. If the first two contestants in a Showcase Showdown both go over $1.00, the third contestant automatically wins, but is allowed a single spin to try to get $1.00.
Unless it is also a spin-off, the bonus spin does not affect the scores or outcome of the Showcase Showdown. The contestant takes one spin; if the wheel lands on $1.00, the contestant wins an extra $10,000 cash. If it lands on either 5¢ or 15¢, which are marked in green and are on either side of the $1.00 space, they win $5,000 extra. In all bonus spins, the wheel is brought back to the 5¢ marker before spinning.
In a bonus spin, the wheel must go all the way around, or the spin does not count, and the contestant is not allowed to re-spin. The wheel is always started on the 5¢ space for a bonus spin. As the first of the three bonus spaces, this ensures that if a bonus space is landed on, the wheel must have made a full revolution, given a reasonable spin. The only way a wheel can land on a bonus space with a disqualified spin is if the contestant spins the wheel less than three spaces.
If a bonus spin is also a spin-off, and the contestant's spin does not go all the way around, the contestant may spin again for the spin-off only, and loses their chance at the bonus. (One contestant who had this happen on November 27, 2002 was not given a re-spin; this is generally regarded as a mistake rather than a rule change, but this cannot be confirmed, as it has not happened again since). If another tie occurs in a "bonus spin-off" and $1.00 is spun in a subsequent spin-off, no additional money or bonus spins are awarded (although early episodes still awarded more money prior to the change of the 5 and 15 spaces)[citation needed].
Also, in a combination bonus spin/spin-off, a 5¢ or 15¢ spin will win the $5,000 bonus prize but will still be considered a 5¢ or 15¢ spin for the purposes of the spin-off. Thus, as has happened in the past, it is possible for a person to win the bonus prize but be defeated in the spinoff by someone who hit another number and did not win a bonus prize.
[edit] History
The Big Wheel first appeared on the shows for September 8-12, 1975, when the show did a week of trial hour-long episodes. Aesthetically, the wheel bore little resemblance to the wheel shown today. It was flat and had its face to the audience instead of its edge, with the values in circles of various colors around the perimeter (with the monetary values running clockwise around the wheel, in the now-familiar order), though the wheel was spun counterclockwise. An arrow in the center of the wheel pointed to the top circle to indicate which space was landed on. Below the arrow was a scoreboard which showed the space the wheel was currently on, and the display changed constantly while the wheel was spinning. Contestants waiting to spin stood in Contestants' Row, with numbers indicating their order covering up the bidding screens. The leading contestant stood at a podium to the right of the wheel (further away than today) with its own scoreboard to indicate their score. The gameplay itself, however, was for the most part the same as the modern Showcase Showdown, except that for spin-offs, contestants were allowed two spins as in normal spinning. If the first contestant(s) went over, the last contestant instantly qualified for the Showcase, but would still be given a chance to spin the wheel for $1,000.[1]
When the show permanently expanded to an hour later that year on November 3, the Showcase Showdown returned, with the current Big Wheel. However, there were several rules not yet in place.
[edit] Rule Changes
Initially, there was no rule that the wheel had to make one full revolution; this was added very early on. The bonus spins were not implemented until December 1978. Until this point, the two green sections were not marked in green, and a contestant who spun $1.00 simply won the $1,000 bonus. If there was a spin-off for a tie at $1.00, and a contestant again landed on $1.00, they would be awarded a second $1,000 bonus. This also changed the start position of the wheel, standardising it at the $1.00 location. (Prior to that, the first spinner would start anywhere based on its location when it was moved on stage.)
Starting in Season 30, the bonus for hitting a dollar in a bonus spin was changed in primetime shows. The Military Specials in Season 30 had the value increased to $100,000, and the subsequent Million Dollar Spectaculars had it increased to $1,000,000. For Season 35 (first with the May 16, 2007 Million Dollar Spectacular), the initial bonus for spinning $1.00 in the regular spins increased to $10,000, and the bonus for spinning a green section in a bonus spin was increased to $20,000.
As of Season 36, the initial $1.00 bonus on the Million Dollar Spectaculars is worth $5,000, with standard daytime multipliers of 5 and 10 in play again ($25,000 for the green sections, and $50,000 for the $1.00).
[edit] Presentation
One of the most trademark elements of the Big Wheel is the beeping sound heard while it spins. While the current beeping is likely the best-known, the Big Wheel has had several different beeping sounds over its history. On October 1, 1999, when the beeping device did not work, host Bob Barker asked the audience to provide the sound vocally. This happened a second time on May 8, 2007.
The wheel segment features two types of camera shot; the first is a 3/4 shot of both the wheel and the contestant until the wheel is about to stop, at which point the edge of the wheel is shot in a head-on closeup. The second is a split screen shot that features a head-on view of the wheel on the right-hand side with the contestant on the left-hand side. From 1976 to 1996, on the left side of the screen, the contestant was shown in closeup within a red triangle outline on a black background, which mirrored the actual red arrow pointer at the right of the wheel. This graphic was revived in 2006, when The Price Is Right was played on Gameshow Marathon, but the second arrow was outlined in green, with a clear background. From 1996 to 2007, the show used a shot of just the wheel, without the split-screen, as the wheel is making its downward descent. That shot was also used in the first year of the wheel's life, though not as constant as it is now, with the camera frequently cutting to the contestant before cutting back to the front of the wheel. Beginning with the November 2007 tapings of the show, the split screen was revived for the Showcase Showdown in the U.S. version and is used on each contestant's first spin. In this incarnation, the left side of the screen shows both host Drew Carey and the contestant without the arrow used previously. The split-screen camera shot is usually used to give the contestant an opportunity to say hi to any friends and family watching at home and audience while the wheel spins.
The Showcase Showdown uses its own unique music cue, titled "Dig We Must". An edited clip of the cue is heard whenever a contestant has spun a total of $1.00 on the Wheel; whenever the contestant earns more money in a bonus spin; and at the end of the second Showdown. On Million Dollar Spectaculars, it is used to end both Showdowns; this was also the case on the daytime show until partway through the 17th season. Additionally, the cue was also played upon introduction of the first pricing game on the Gameshow Marathon episode; so far, this is the only time that it has been played during a non-Showcase Showdown segment. A new recording of the cue debuted at the start of the 36th season.
The walls of the Big Wheel were originally gold when it debuted on the first hour-long show on November 3, 1975. The walls were changed to red by December 30, 1977. By late March, 1979, pink "Pricedown" dollar signs were added to the walls. On September 12, 1988 the current gold slanted dollar signs debuted on the walls.
Until Season 21, contestants would stand on a circular piece of red carpet while spinning the wheel and while awaiting their result(s), and contestants with the highest score would stand on another circular piece of red carpet situated under the scoreboard. During the 1992-93 season, these circular pieces of red carpet would be replaced by a long rectangular piece of carpet with gold trim that encompassed the front of the Showcase Showdown setup after Bob Barker complained (on-air) that too many contestants were slipping on the circular carpets. The current rectangular carpet also includes the traditional Goodson-Todman asterisk. [1]
The current "Pricedown" font usage for contestants' winning of $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 was implemented starting in Season 36, replacing the previous art cards.
[edit] The Price WAS Right
The Price WAS Right was a completely different Showcase Showdown format used on many episodes of the short-lived 1994 syndicated version of The New Price Is Right. In it, three contestants were placed in a modified Contestants' Row and shown a vintage television commercial. After the commercial was presented, each contestant bid what they thought the product being advertised cost in the year the commercial originally aired. The person who was closest without going over won and advanced to the Showcase.
"The Big Wheel" was used for several episodes of The New Price Is Right after the production team was unable to secure enough vintage commercials for use during the series. However, the contestant with the most winnings spun first.
[edit] International Showcase Showdowns
Many versions' rules tend to be the same as the original US version, however, some have a few differences:
- Most commonly different is the sequence of numbers on the wheel itself. The Australian version (during the Ian Turpie era on Seven in the 1980s) used the same number sequence as the U.S. version, except in the opposite direction on the wheel (15, 100, 5, 90, 25...), also used on Germany's version during the mid-'90s. The British versions had a different sequence altogether, a sequence later carried into usage on the Spanish and Portuguese versions' wheels. Cash en Carlo had a different number sequence as well, different from the US and UK.
- On the British, Australian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French versions, there is no bonus spin, though a bonus prize is given to someone who gets 100, except in Portugal.
- On the Spanish, German, Italian, and French versions, to win the bonus prize, the contestant has to score 100 on the very first spin only — a combination of 100 in two spins won't count.
- The rules for Germany's version, Der Preis ist Heiss were quite identical to the format used on the American version of Gameshow Marathon, in that the top two scorers would advance to the Showcase. However, unlike GSM, they could only spin the wheel once, and that was it. If they got 100, they won a car or a motorcycle. Also, if two-thirds of contestants won their pricing game on the day's episode, no Showcase Showdown was played — they automatically went to the Showcase.
- On the Dutch version, Cash en Carlo, the player did receive a bonus spin, but the only prize was €10,000 for getting 100 — there were no green sections for a €5,000 bonus. On Mexico's Atínale al Precio, the rules were the same as the US, but sometimes instead of MX$10,000 for 100, a car was awarded.
- The original Central-produced version of UK TPiR from the 1980s did have a Showcase Showdown wheel in early episodes, but it was quickly replaced (due to IBA rules at the time) with two rounds of Supermarket per half. There, the three IUFB winners of each half would have 60 seconds to obtain as many grocery products as possible hoping to be the closest to £20, high or low. Later on, that game was replaced with the Showcase Questions, in which Leslie would ask questions to all six IUFB winners regarding the cost of certain items, and the furthest one away, high or low, from the ARP, would be eliminated. They played with four questions, and the last two went to the Showcase.
- On the Seven Network's version of Aussie TPiR in the 1980s, the Showcase Showdown winner would play against the returning champion (referred to as a "carry-over champion" in the UK and Australia), and only two IUFB winners competed, a rule which would carry over to the Nine Network's version in its last few months, albeit without the returning champion format.
