Found a document on the hard drive that I totally forgot about. Five years ago, I got hired as a page at CBS, with the idea that down the road, I'd be an indispensable part of the "Price is Right" staff and called upon to help develop pricing games.
Well, THAT ain't happening, so here's a proposal that I wrote five years ago for two new pricing games.
HIGH HAND
Two grocery items are displayed; one on a platform resembling a face card, the other on a platform resembling an ace. For each grocery item, three prices are displayed. For the face card grocery item, the prices are: #1) A correct price, hiding a face card, #2) A wrong price, close to the correct price, hiding 8, #3) A wrong price, further away from the correct price, hiding a 6. The contestant picks a price, receives the card behind it, and then plays for the ace. The ace item has three prices, arranged similarly, and hiding the ace, a 9, or a 7. The contestant picks a price. The goal is to come as close to 21 as possible. The house draws cards from a deck that the contestant has cut and must hit at 16 and everything below or stand at 17 and everything above. If the contestant’s hand defeats the house, the contestant wins a prize.
Variation: The game is played for two prizes. Instead of grocery products, the game is played using the ARPs of those two prizes.
SCRAMBLE
Played for a car (ideally a luxury car, as the game is intended to be somewhat difficult). Contestant is shown four small prizes. For each prize, a price is displayed. The contestant must determine if the price shown is correct or “scrambled” (digits in the price are correct, but out of order). Two of the small prizes have two-digit prices, two have three-digit prices.
Also displayed are the ten digits 0-9, out of order, on tiles on the board. The host announces that the correct price is among the digits and the digits are in the correct order, but not necessarily side-by-side (a la Split Decision). For every correct decision the contestant makes with the small prizes, a wrong digit disappears from view. After all decisions have been made, the contestant must remove however many digits are necessary for a five-digit price to remain. Having the correct price remain wins the car.