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

Contestants' Row is a four-contestant qualifying game played on the television game show The Price Is Right. It is also formally known as One-bid by the production staff and in Internet fan groups. Frequently, this round would be introduced by the host as the next item up for bids. Image File history File links TPIR_Contestants'_Row_2006. ... Image File history File links TPIR_Contestants'_Row_2006. ... This article is about the television genre. ... The Price Is Rights US 35th season logo. ...

This game format originated on the 1956 version of The Price Is Right aired in the United States. The most recognized format and rules were established in 1972 on a revival under its host Bob Barker. International versions tend to follow the 1972 format. The original version of The Price is Right was an American television game show where the contestants won prizes by giving the closest bid to merchandise items and other products. ... The Price Is Right is a popular American game show largely centering around contestants guessing the retail prices of featured prizes and other promotional products. ... Robert William Bob Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning American television game show host. ...

In an hour-long show, six games are played from Contestants' Row.

Rules

Four contestants bid on the price of a prize, like a television, bicycle, or sofa, among others. Each player announces his or her bid on the prize, which does have an effect on other players' bids. Whoever bids closest to the prize's actual retail price, without going over, wins the prize and advances to the next round of gameplay, a pricing game. “Velo” redirects here. ... Sofa may refer to: A piece of furniture also called a couch or Davenport. ... This article details the pricing games that are currently featured on The Price is Right, a long-running television game show. ...

If all four contestants overbid, a buzzer sounds, the bids are erased, and the contestants are instructed to re-bid lower than the lowest previous bid. If one contestant bids the exact price of the item, a cash bonus is awarded.

During subsequent rounds, the three contestants remaining in Contestants' Row return to the same bidding position, and a new contestant is selected to return the number of players to four.

Order of bidding

By rule, the first four contestants may stand in any order when they enter Contestants' Row. Once set, the positions are final. Each contestant remains in the same position until he advances out of Contestants' Row. Contestants called to fill a vacancy in Contestants' Row stand in the vacant position.

As described here, left and right are from the viewer's perspective.

Bidding on a prize begins with the newest member to Contestants' Row (or, in the case of the first game, the one in the leftmost position). Bids then continue to the player to the right, regardless of when he or she entered Contestants' Row, and "wrapping" back to the leftmost position until all have bid once.

When all contestants overbid, they rebid in the same order until the round is complete.

Staging

Contestants' Row is set at the foot of the audience. A four-digit score display rests on the edge of the stage deck in front of each contestant to register their bids. The host remains on the stage during the round. Only contestants who advance out of Contestants' Row ascend to the stage.

Noted strategies and advantages

As contestants are aware of the bids preceding theirs, the round leads to competitive bidding. Two well-known bidding strategies include bidding $1 over the highest bid so far (e.g., $501 if the highest bid is $500) or bidding only $1 if all the bids seem too high. These strategies typically work best for the fourth and final bidder.

Bonuses, consolation prizes and eligibility

These bonuses apply only to the current version airing on US television.

From approximately 1977 through late 1998, if a contestant bid exactly right, a clanging bell sounded, and he/she won a cash bonus of $100, awarded to him onstage by the host. The 1985 syndicated version upped the perfect bid bonus to $500; the daytime regular series matched that number in November 1998; and on the $1,000,000 Spectacular programs, the bonus is $1,000. The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular is a spinoff of the American television game show The Price Is Right. ...

The contestants who do not make it on stage receive two consolation prizes (originally three from 1975 to 2000), which are announced before the second Showcase Showdown. All contestants who appear in Contestants' Row forfeit any opportunity to be a contestant on a future program, even those who do not advance out of Contestants' Row. Bob and the Big Wheel on December 9, 2005 The Showcase Showdown is a segment on the American game show The Price Is Right. ...

Variations

Contestant's Row 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. The New Price Is Right was a short lived nighttime version of the hit American game show The Price Is Right, which aired from September 12, 1994 to January 1995 in syndication. ...

Many, if not, all, versions of The Price Is Right outside the US feature a Contestants' Row, with almost exact rules, except with different awards for an exact bid (or no bonus at all). Some CR podiums even have video screens (as used on the UK's Bruce's Price is Right) 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.

Along with the Showcase, the Contestants' Row portion is the one element of game play featured in virtually all versions of Price since its first airing in the US in 1956. That version, hosted by Bill Cullen, was dominated by bidding, while the current versions combine shopping skills with games of chance. William Bill Lawrence Frances Cullen (February 18, 1920–July 7, 1990), was an American radio and television personality. ...

Trivia

• Multiple overbids have occurred on occasion. On two occasions, all four contestants managed to overbid four times. In one of those instances, Bob joked that if the contestants overbid a fifth time, four new contestants would come on down.
• 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."