Cliff Hangers (The Price Is Right)
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Cliff Hangers is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting in 1976, it is played for a four-digit prize, usually valued between $2,000 and $10,000; and three smaller prizes (worth between $10-100).
Gameplay
The centerpiece of Cliff Hangers's gameboard is a stylized mountain slope, angled at 45 degrees and featuring a 26-space ruler (0 at the base to 25 at the peak, and ticked off in increments of 1). The other important part of the game is a mountain climber, which has an arrow below it. The game begins with the mountain climber at the base of the mountain.
The contestant is shown a two-digit prize and asked to bid on it. If he is correct, the mountain climber stays put. But if his/her price is wrong, the mountain climber began moving up the mountain, advancing one step for each dollar the contestant was off the item's actual price; for instance, if the contestant's bid was $25, and the actual price was $20, the mountain climber moves five steps. The mountain climber moves before the actual price of the prize is revealed; this gives Cliff Hangers one of the strongest elements of suspense in any pricing game, since neither the contestant nor the audience knows how far up the mountain the climber will go before he stops.
A yodeling song, which has become a cornerstone of the show and very popular with fans, is played as the mountain climber moves up the mountain. With that in mind, the contestant must beware that the mountain climber could move only 25 steps before the mountain climber tumbles from the mountain's peak (thus causing the player to lose). Therefore, the cumulative total a contestant could be off on the three items cannot exceed $25.
One of two things may happen:
- The mountain climber moves 25 steps or less after all three small prizes are bid on, resulting in a win, or
- The mountain climber falls off, resulting in a loss. However, the contestant still wins any small prizes that were bid on before the mountain climber fell off.
Trivia
- The yodeling music that plays during Cliff Hangers is part of a song called On the Franches Mountains from the record album Swiss Mountain Music. The show has occasionally used the full song as prize music when trips to Switzerland are offered.
- Although he's never been given a name during on the daytime show, the mountain climber was named "Hans Gudegast" by Doug Davidson during 1994's syndicated run. Hans Gudegast is the birth name of his The Young and the Restless co-star Eric Braeden.
- These days, the prices of the small items are always in ascending order; guessing 20-30-40 will almost always win Cliff Hangers. Still, contestants have been known to give outrageous bids on some of the small items (such as $350 for a $25 cookie press or $98 for a $18 toothbrush). The most notorious of these bids was $2,000 for a toy guitar; evidently, the contestant managed to confuse it with a real guitar. Bob insisted that the contestant change his bid, but he still lost by well over $800.
- When Cliff Hangers debuted, it was at the time when model Janice Pennington's first husband went missing in the Swiss Alps. On its premiere episode after the game was played, Janice went backstage and cried for the rest of the taping.
- Cliff Hangers was once parodied on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In the episode Evolutionary War, Reducto asked Harvey where he fit on an evolutionary chart. This chart had a bird on the left side and a human (or "man") on the right side. Harvey would say he's closer to the bird, then change his mind and say he's closer to the man. While going back and forth, Reducto would move a yellow cutout of Harvey (dressed as a mountain climber) near the side that Harvey chose. After going back and forth a few times, the courtroom audience joined in with yells of "higher" and "lower". At this point, the cutout started moving up a "mountain", complete with trademark yodeling before reaching the top and falling off. Reducto, now dressed in a blue suit and holding a microphone while on the Price Is Right set, said his trademark "nothing further." The game set also said "HELL FIRE", which was a reference to recent court cases arguing the teaching of evolution vs. intelligent design in schools.
- Cliff Hangers was originally planned to have four small prizes on a $50 mountain; it is not known if this format was ever actually used.
- On one playing of Cliff Hangers, the contestant actually yodeled with the music the first time it was played. For the second and third renditions, Bob decided not to play the music and have the contestant yodel instead. Said contestant lost.
- To date, only one contestant has gotten all the way up to the 25 dollar spot on the top of the mountain, but did not go over. It happened on the show which aired on July 3, 2006. The contestant missed the first two prizes by $12 each, then missed the final price by only $1.