The Definitive Ranking Of “Price Is Right” Pricing Games

[PYLdude]

but it's far from the most overrated (I could think of three, maybe four, that could get a better argument and will share if you'd like).

I'm interested; what do you think they are, and by what measure?

Okay, I shall tell you. But only because you asked.

My nominees for "the three or four TPIR pricing games that are the most overrated, according to me" are as follows. Keeping in mind these are games still in rotation.

-Pathfinder. I've never really understood its appeal, and maybe it's just me (as is in a lot of cases) but I find it a little hard to understand how this is a game that can't be won every time out. The pattern of correct numbers seems easy enough to solve if the contestant simply listens and pays attention (as in solve without messing up once).

-Card Game. I understand you have to adapt to the times, but this went way overboard and it seems every change they made hurt its enjoyability. Raising the maximum range to $5000 made it too easy to win, and the chrome they added, while aesthetically pleasing, simply glossed over that. I used to like Card Game because there wasn't much room for error and it had to be played well in order to win. Now there's not as much challenge.

-Let 'em Roll. Like Card Game, one that the chrome added to the game was nice, but glosses over something. In this case, Let 'em Roll is just a dull game. Okay, you're guaranteed to win something, which is good, but it's just so...boring.

-Three Strikes. Great, you can win a luxury car. Not so great, having the odds go so greatly against you the farther along you go. Worse, you don't keep track of what goes where and you take forever. Just a slog of a game where by the time you get to the payoff, if you're lucky enough, it feels like an eternity passed.

[PYLdude]

/world champs

Only because the Seahawks took pity on you.

I would've gone with "only because Eli Manning wasn't the quarterback of the opposing team", but that's just me.

Plinko can certainly be criticized for certain aspects, especially about how much blind-assed luck plays a factor (as in probably moreso than just about any other game with a couple exceptions, and that's saying something), but it's far from the most overrated (I could think of three, maybe four, that could get a better argument and will share if you'd like).

I think I'd argue that said blind luck is exactly WHY the game is so popular.  People generally like getting money for nothing (and the chicks for free...) 

Understatement, again. But going back to your point about commentaries on the Internet, I raise the following: far too many have the idea that their opinion counts more than anyone else's (hence why so many bloggers seem like they talk down to their audience).

I didn't get a talking-down-to vibe from this article.  I definitely got a "trying-way-too-hard-to-sound-hip-and-with-it-like-the-young-peoples-today" vibe, though.

1) I want my MTV....

Seriously, hard to argue against that.

2) here's my overall point. What you opine about is gonna reach a lot more people than just your intended audience. Hence why some might feel they're being talked down to, because they're not in that "secret circle".

/be sure to drink your Ovaltine

[jjman920]

-Three Strikes. Great, you can win a luxury car. Not so great, having the odds go so greatly against you the farther along you go. Worse, you don't keep track of what goes where and you take forever. Just a slog of a game where by the time you get to the payoff, if you're lucky enough, it feels like an eternity passed.

I'll just say that, for me, this pays off in the end with some of the best excitement the show has to offer when it comes down to a full count. I'm more on the edge of my seat watching the end of a playing of this than I am during Plinko to see if someone will win $100 or $10,100.

[PYLdude]

-Three Strikes. Great, you can win a luxury car. Not so great, having the odds go so greatly against you the farther along you go. Worse, you don't keep track of what goes where and you take forever. Just a slog of a game where by the time you get to the payoff, if you're lucky enough, it feels like an eternity passed.

I'll just say that, for me, this pays off in the end with some of the best excitement the show has to offer when it comes down to a full count. I'm more on the edge of my seat watching the end of a playing of this than I am during Plinko to see if someone will win $100 or $10,100.

I'm quite the opposite. I'd rather see if the guy can win the $10,000 on his last chip than see a guy win a $40,000 car after needing thirteen tries to figure out the proper number sequence.

[JasonA1]

And this small slice of back-and-forth goes to show why the variety is so important, and why there should be a good reason when they retire something. I've heard an argument of why Telephone Game should be on the show instead of something like Pocket Change. Anything is possible.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

I've heard an argument of why Telephone Game should be on the show instead of something like Pocket Change. Anything is possible.

If they jiggered the play-in bit I would absolutely be down for it.

[MSTieScott]

Based on what I saw from audiences, to the general public, Plinko is the number one pricing game and Cliff Hangers is easily number two. There is no definitive third-most-popular -- just a small handful of games that people can describe in general terms like "the golf game" or "the one where you roll the dice and say higher or lower."

Back in 2007, the Golden-Road.net members held a "tournament" to give rankings to the pricing games. It was done in the style of NCAA basketball brackets, so not all of the games were given numeric rankings, but Hole in One won the tournament with Pathfinder as the runner-up.

[PYLdude]

I do quite enjoy me a game of Hole in One or Two. Cliff Hangers I can give or take. I don't wanna call it overrated but I also don't wanna call it good.

[Clay Zambo]

-Pathfinder. I've never really understood its appeal, and maybe it's just me (as is in a lot of cases) but I find it a little hard to understand how this is a game that can't be won every time out. The pattern of correct numbers seems easy enough to solve if the contestant simply listens and pays attention (as in solve without messing up once).

What is there to listen for or pay attention to?  Is there some hidden pattern to Pathfinder solutions that I've never noticed?  Always seemed to me that it was a pretty difficult game to win, especially if the second-digit choices are clumped close together. 

[Unrealtor]

-Card Game. I understand you have to adapt to the times, but this went way overboard and it seems every change they made hurt its enjoyability. Raising the maximum range to $5000 made it too easy to win, and the chrome they added, while aesthetically pleasing, simply glossed over that. I used to like Card Game because there wasn't much room for error and it had to be played well in order to win. Now there's not as much challenge.

I feel like we're in a weird spot for car prices right now, in terms of having nice-sounding round numbers being a reasonable maximum range. $5,000 is too much, but $2,500 isn't enough and $3,000 and $4,000 just lack something aesthetically.

-Pathfinder. I've never really understood its appeal, and maybe it's just me (as is in a lot of cases) but I find it a little hard to understand how this is a game that can't be won every time out. The pattern of correct numbers seems easy enough to solve if the contestant simply listens and pays attention (as in solve without messing up once).

What is there to listen for or pay attention to?  Is there some hidden pattern to Pathfinder solutions that I've never noticed?  Always seemed to me that it was a pretty difficult game to win, especially if the second-digit choices are clumped close together.

I had the same thought, at least with the current crew over there. Back when it was Roger doing the setups, it seems more plausible to have a route mapped out before starting just from studying the board. The second digit was often somewhat of a gimme if you had even a vague notion of the cost of that model of car, and it was not uncommon in the 90s to have setups where the correct choice for the fourth digit was the one that gave you a choice between 0 and 5 for the fifth.

Just as much as pathfinder, 3 Strikes feels more like a game where you can somewhat improve your odds if you put some thought into your strategy before the game and pay attention while you're playing.

[CJBojangles]

Since no one has gotten around to organizing this just yet, I took the liberty of starting the project myself. I've already posed the question over on Golden-Road and created a separate web form for the Game Show Forum voting.

For those of you interested, you may submit ballots here with your rank of the top 50 The Price Is Right pricing games of all time.

Instructions are simple: Submit your list, #1-50 along with your name so I can assure there are no duplicates. I'll take submissions through Friday, February 20, 2015.

[Neumms]

-Pathfinder. I've never really understood its appeal...

-Let 'em Roll. Like Card Game, one that the chrome added to the game was nice, but glosses over something. In this case, Let 'em Roll is just a dull game. Okay, you're guaranteed to win something, which is good, but it's just so...boring.

-Three Strikes. Great, you can win a luxury car. Not so great, having the odds go so greatly against you the farther along you go. Worse, you don't keep track of what goes where and you take forever.

The appeal of Pathfinder is the "wrong move" sound effect taken from (or lent to) Trivia Trap.

Let 'Em Roll seems light on the pricing, and it's actually a novel game. I say put out five items, no free roll.

I heartily concur on Three Strikes. Placing the numbers feels impossible, even without the odds of avoiding strikes. An easy fix would be to spot them one digit free, either the first number they draw or let the contestant choose, a la 2 for the Price of 1. At least it doesn't feel like starting in Philadelphia to climb Mt. Everest.

[TLEberle]

I thought it was going to be top ten games because after ten can you really rank further than that before it becomes random?

[Thunder]

I thought it was going to be top ten games because after ten can you really rank further than that before it becomes random?

This. I have never been less motivated to fill out a form once I saw this one.

[CJBojangles]

I thought it was going to be top ten games because after ten can you really rank further than that before it becomes random?

You specify the criteria. The games aren't so identical that one can't rank at least 25.