Split Decision (pricing game)
Split Decision was a pricing game on the American television game show, "The Price is Right." It was played for a car and a three-digit prize, worth between $300 and $1,000.
Gameplay
The contestant is shown a string of eight digits; five of them belonged in the price of a car, the others in the price of the three-digit item. The digits were placed in the correct order, but not necessarily adjacent to each other.
It was up to the contestant to determine where the digits belonged within a 20-second time limit. He/she did this by moving three number markers to the bottom row of the game board to form a three-digit price. For example, the initial digit string is "16523490;" the contestant moves the 5, 2, and 4 markers to the lower row, forming prices of $16,390 for the car and $524 for the three-digit item.
Upon each guess, the contestant pressed a button to stop the clock. One of two things then happened:
- If the player's prices were correct, he/she won both the car and the smaller prize.
- If the answers were wrong, he/she used the remaining time to make another guess. This process repeated until arriving at the correct answer or until time expired; if the contestant's answers were still wrong at this point, both prizes were lost.
Rules changes
- Split Decision's clock was removed from the game for a handful of playings during 1996. The contestant was simply given three chances to guess the correct prices. The game reverted to its original format before the game was retired.
Trivia
The game show community has frequently made Split Decision the butt of jokes because of a disastrous playing in 1996, where two of the numbers fell off the markers. Contrary to popular opinion, this only happened one time.
Retirement
Split Decision premiered on November 9, 1995; its last playing was on the January 16, 1997 show. Its confusing rules, low winning percentage and overall gameplay led to its retirement.