Bonkers (pricing game)

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For other uses, see Bonkers (disambiguation).

Drew Carey explaining the rules of "Bonkers".

Bonkers is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. It is played for a four-digit prize, usually valued between $2,000 and $10,000. Bonkers debuted on the September 24, 2001 episode (aired out of order on October 1). The staff had originally planned to introduce it on the September 18, 2001 show (aired out of order on September 25), but the game would not work at that day's taping and was eventually replaced by a playing of Range Game.

1 Gameplay
2 History
3 Other uses
4 References

[edit] Gameplay

The contestant is shown an incorrect price and is given a 30-second time limit to correctly decide whether each digit in the price is higher or lower than the one shown. To do this, the contestant is given four discs to be placed appropriately on the gameboard above or below the digit. Once all four discs are placed, the contestant presses a button, and a sound effect indicates whether or not the discs are correctly placed.

If all four discs are placed correctly, the contestant wins the prize. If even one disc is in the wrong place, a buzzer sounds, and the contestant must make changes without being told how many of the digits are wrong. They must continue until the time runs out or until getting the correct placement. If the discs are not correctly placed when time expires, the contestant loses. If time expires while the contestant is making a change, the contestant is usually permitted to finish the change and confirm the final guess.

[edit] History

Bonkers was created by then-host and executive producer Bob Barker.^[1] On the first playing of the game, the actual price was revealed with a price tag held by Heather Kozar. The price tag was replaced by a downward reveal revealed under the disc shelf base on its second playing, where a button is pushed.

On October 17, 2002, many things went haywire. The game malfunctioned where contestant Ron at his first try pressed the button, and neither Bob nor Ron heard the buzzer. Bob told the producers to reset the clock and let Ron start over again. After he started, the game proceeded as normal, but then clock stopped and the lights started blinking to reveal the correct price just before Ron changed the second digit. The buzzer was heard as he pushed the button, leading to putting back the second digit on the higher row, but then the ding was heard and the clock reset again. The contestant flopped to the floor, with Bob out of breath. Bob then proceeded to put the second disc back to the lower row, and pressed the button where the prop reveals the actual retail price of the prize. It took several pushes until the reveal went down.

[edit] Other uses

As part of a promotion by CBS (which is partners with Warner Brothers on another venture, the CW network) to promote Drew Carey as the show's new host, the Bonkers set was brought to The Ellen DeGeneres Show for a promotional event during Degeneres' interview with Carey.^[2]