Trader Bob
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Trader Bob was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Debuting on April 29, 1980, it was played for a large prize worth more than $1,000, and used small prizes.
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[edit] Gameplay
Trader Bob was essentially a variation of Give or Keep.
The contestant is shown a small prize, which served as a "base prize." He is then shown three sets of two prizes, one at a time. The contestant had to "trade up," selecting what he believed was more expensive than the base prize. The rejected item's price was revealed, while the kept item was placed to the right of the base item.
This process repeated twice more, with the contestant having to pick a more expensive item than the last item he chose.
After all three pricing questions were played, the prices to each item were revealed, starting with the base prize and working left to right.
The game's outcomes were as follows:
- If all four kept items' values were in ascending order, the contestant won all four small prizes plus the grand prize.
- If the order was broken at any point, the game was lost. However, the contestant still won the four items he had used in the trading sequence.
[edit] Trivia
- Trader Bob's set was styled just like log cabin housing a general store, with a large wooden barrel sitting at the front and the set decorated with shelves housing items often found at such a store. Smaller wooden barrels were wheeled out to display each small prize.
- Trader Bob is one of only three Price Is Right pricing games to have been named after Bob Barker. The other two are Barker's Bargain Bar and Barker's Marker$.
- Fans of the show have often dubbed the pricing game Step Up as an updated version of Trader Bob.
[edit] Retirement
Trader Bob made its debut in April 1980, and was played until approximately the spring of 1985. Unlike Give or Keep and Finish Line, Trader Bob's structure allowed no room for error. This resulted in a low win rate, and played a large role in its eventual demise.
