One Bid

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Bidders in Contestants' Row awaiting the announcement of the winning bid.

One Bid is a four-contestant qualifying game played on the television game show The Price Is Right. The official title^[1] is rarely used on the show, and it is sometimes referred to as Contestants' Row, after the location in which it takes place, or after its introduction by the host as, "the next item up for bids". In an hour-long show, six games of One Bid are played.

This game format originated on the 1956 version of The Price Is Right hosted by Bill Cullen. Bidding as in One Bid was the primary gameplay on that version of the show. One Bid, however, is best known as a qualifying round established on on the 1972 revival hosted by Bob Barker. International versions tend to follow the 1972 format presented in this article. Along with The Showcase, One Bid is an element of game play featured in virtually all versions of The Price Is Right since the original.

1 Gameplay
- 1.1 Contestants' Row
- 1.2 Bidding
2 History and behind the scenes
3 Strategy
4 Variations
5 References

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Contestants' Row

Contestants' Row is a row of four seats in the front row of the audience. The four contestants playing One Bid stand in front of these seats where a microphone is placed for each of them atop four-digit display screens that show the contestants' bids in the game.

At the beginning of each episode, the show's announcer calls the names of four audience members who become the first four contestants in Contestants' Row for the first One Bid. The first four contestants may stand in any order they work out amongst themselves, but once set, they remain in their positions for the rest of the show unless they win a One Bid round, in which case they advance out of Contestants' Row.

For each of the five subsequent rounds, the announcer calls one name from the audience to fill the vacant spot left by the winner of the previous round, with the other contestants retaining their same positions.

[edit] Bidding

Once settled, the four contestants are shown a prize or prize package. Beginning with the contestant in left-most position (from the point of view of the stage), and going in order to the right, each player announces a bid for the prize. The only rule governing the bids is they must be in whole dollars, and must be different than the bids of any preceding bidders. Once the four bids are given, the host reads the actual retail price of the prize; whoever has bid closest, without going over, wins the prize and goes onstage to play a pricing game. The prizes could be valued anywhere from $1 to $9,999; in practice, however, modern prizes are rarely priced outside the $500-$4,000 range.

If all four contestants overbid, a buzzer sounds before the price is revealed. The bids are erased, and the bidding process is repeated in the same manner, with the contestants instructed to bid lower than the lowest of the original bids. This process can be repeated until at least one contestant has bid below the actual price of the prize.

If one of the contestants bids the exact price of the item, including in a re-bid, a bell rings before the price is revealed. This is referred to as a perfect bid, and the winner is awarded a $500 cash bonus.

The gameplay for the five subsequent rounds is identical to the first, except that bidding begins with the contestant called down, and proceeds in order to the right circling around to the left-most contestant after the right-most has bid. Any re-bids are done in the same order as the first bid.

The three contestants who have not won at the end of the final One Bid round receive two consolation prizes, which are announced before the second Showcase Showdown. All contestants who are called down to Contestants' Row, including those who do not win a One Bid round, become ineligible to be a contestant on any future episode of The Price Is Right, as of November 13, 2007, for ten years. ^[2]

[edit] History and behind the scenes

The name "One Bid" is a relic from the original version of the show; in that show, there were two types of bidding-- auction-style bids, where each contestant had to bid a set amount higher than the one before, and "one bid," where they had one bid to get as close to the actual retail price as possible without going over, with only one bid. The "one bid" format was carried over, virtually intact, when the New Price is Right made its debut in 1972.

Original announcer Johnny Olson for the 1972 version of the show made famous his call of "[contestant's name], come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right!" (using The New Price Is Right until the "New" was dropped from the title) when calling an audience member to play the One Bid round. Later announcers Rod Roddy (1986-2003) and Rich Fields (2004-present) have carried on using the catch phrase during their tenures.

The bonus for a perfect bid was introduced in 1977 at a value of $100. The 1985 syndicated series raised the value to $500. The daytime series was later raised to that value in November 1998. The $1,000,000 Spectacular programs raised the bonus to $1,000.

Before the scandals involving Bob and Dian, female contestants who won the $100 bonus (as it was back then) were instructed to take it out of Bob's suit jacket pocket, which was referred to as the "hundred-dollar pocket."

Contestants who remained in Contestants' Row at the end of the show were originally given only one consolation prize. The number was increased to three at one point, but then reduced to two in 2000.

Multiple overbids have occurred on occasion. On two occasions, all four contestants managed to overbid four times.

It is never officially stated on the show, but all audience members are interviewed by producers prior to tapings, and the nine contestants that are called down are chosen specifically to be on the show.^[1] They are not told in advance, however, that they will be called.

[edit] Strategy

An aware contestant has a greater advantage the later their turn is in One Bid. Thus, the latest contestant to arrive is given the weakest position of bidding first.

Two competitive bidding strategies have emerged amongst contestants. The first is to bid $1. This strategy is used when a bidder believes the price is lower than the lowest previous bid, as it allows them the greatest possible range of winning prices. Occasionally other very low values are bid with the same goal, as the price for a modern One Bid prize is never below $100; but $1 is the most common and famed. This strategy is typically used by the final bidder, but is sometimes used by previous bidders; however, this opens up the possibility of the second strategy being used against them.

The second strategy is bidding $1 higher than a previous bid. This allows the maximum possible range of prices that will lead to a win for the player, and effectively eliminates the previous bidder from the competition, unless they have made a perfect bid. This strategy is also most commonly used by the final contestant, but is more often used by previous contestants than the first strategy; this too leaves them open to the possibility of having subsequent bidders bid another $1 higher than them. On several occasions, the four bidders have each bid $1 higher than the last, resulting in an assured winner, once neither the bells for a perfect bid nor the buzzer for an all-overbid has sounded. Contestants often ask the host to clarify what the highest previous bid was before bidding themselves.

[edit] Variations

One Bid was eliminated for the 1994 syndicated edition, although a similar concept, The Price WAS Right, was used on the majority of its episodes as a Showcase Showdown.

Many, if not all, versions of The Price Is Right outside the US feature One Bid, with the same rules, except for different awards for a perfect bid (or no bonus at all). Some Contestants' Row displays even have video screens (as used on the UK's Bruce's Price is Right and the recent Australian version in 2003) to display bids instead of toteboards. Most other versions still have bonuses worth 100 units of the local currency (i.e. £100 on the UK versions or $100 on the Australian versions), or whatever is equal to US$100.