Make Your Mark
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Make Your Mark, known from 1994-2007 as Barker's Marker$, is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Premiering on the first episode of Season 23 on September 12, 1994, it is played for three prizes (usually valued between $1,000 and $3,000) and a possible $500 bonus. Its original name referred to Bob Barker, who hosted The Price Is Right for its first 35 years.
The name "Make Your Mark"'s origins lie with 1994's syndicated The New Price Is Right, on which the game's name was changed for its single appearance because the show was not hosted by Bob Barker. On the UK's Bruce's Price Is Right, the game was renamed "Price Tags."
[edit] Gameplay
The contestant is given $500 and is shown four prices on the gameboard. Three of the prices correspond with the three prizes; the fourth is an extra price that does not match any of the prizes.
The contestant is asked to place markers beside the three prices that correspond with the prizes. The contestant is not required to specifically match prices to their prizes; they are only required to choose the three prices that are correct.
The correctly marked prices of two of the prizes are revealed, leaving the third prize and two possible prices. The contestant is then given the option to return the $500 in order to move their marker to the unchosen price if they believe their initial choice is wrong.
If the marker is correctly placed, the contestant wins all three prizes, plus the $500 if they have not returned it. If they are incorrect, however, they do not win the prizes or the money.
[edit] History and behind the scenes
The game's three prizes had a different staging during early playings of the game. Instead of being on marbled pink risers, they were placed on the stage floor, and the displays that light up their prices were on individual podiums with prize labels on their marbled bases. The current staging, with pink risers that the price displays are attached to, debuted on March 24, 1995. It was changed because the original staging sometimes had the price displays put between prizes, causing confusion for the contestants.
After 13 years with the same look, the gameboard was made over on the April 19, 2007 episode to have solid colors where there had previously been pink and purple marbling. The gameboard had been remade again to reflect the game's new name.
One major change in Season 36 is the administration of the markers themselves. The contestant, until Season 35, would ask the host to place the markers on the prices. Starting in Season 36, the host gives the contestants the markers to place on the prices (complete with think music).
[edit] Strategy
From a purely statistical perspective, if the contestant's selection of the markers is assumed to be random, there is a 75 percent chance of winning by switching the marker and a 25 percent chance by leaving it as-is. Since placement of the three markers is really a selection of the one wrong price, there is only a one-in-four chance that a contestant's original guess of the wrong price is correct. Therefore, there is still only a one-in-four chance that in the final choice, staying with the original pick is correct. The other 75 percent of the time, switching will result in a win. This analysis is indicative of the Monty Hall problem.
However, unlike in the Monty Hall problem, the contestant does not choose 4 random identical doors, but rather, four prices for a prize. Whether the prices are appropriate for the prizes is also a factor in the probability of a pick being correct.
