Besides what we’re doing right now, our dream job is to be a celebrated Game Show Host. It’s something we’ve wanted to be ever since we were kids. We’d alternate between playing Extreme Makeover: Barbie Dream House Edition and creating elaborate pricing games for all the children in the neighborhood. Back then, we were pretending to be Bob Barker, the godfather of cool game show hosts.
So as we grew up with The Price Is Right, we saw it change. We watch as games get updates or get ditched altogether in favor of something flashier and sexier. But there’s something that even today makes us smile when we hear that famous theme song . We’re ready to come on down, bid $1 to screw everyone else on contestant’s row, and spin the big wheel.
When in Los Angeles one time, we even got up at 5:00 in the morning, TPIR tickets clutched in our hands, and headed to CBS Studios. We arrived at 5:15 and already the line was several hundred people deep. We realized we’d never get in the door, let alone have a chance to get up on stage and squeeze the boobies of Barker’s Beauties.
But now, thanks to one high-tech and one deliciously cheesy low-tech option, we’re able to play our favorite games at home or on the go. Of course, who doesn’t love Plinko? Or having the fate of a lederhosen-clad hiker in the Cliff Hangers game? Lucky Seven? We’ve already won 600 cars to date on that one.
On the high-tech side, of course we’re talking about a newly updated smartphone app, like the one from Ludia, available for iPhone or iPad and other devices. Right now, it’s only 99¢, too. It features 16 of the most popular pricing games, an action-packed Showcase Showdown and real videos of prizes and items up for bid. It’s pretty cool.
Of course, we know not everyone has a smartphone or video gaming system. So there’s a low-tech version that plugs right into your TV. At first it’s annoyingly primitive, but with prizes to bid on like Julie Baton handbags, Somey electronics, and luxury trips to Flagstaff, Arizona (seriously), it’s kind of impossible to guess correctly on the prices, which really levels the playing field. But the games are still pretty true-to-life and half the fun is mocking the wonderfully bad puns and knock-off brands they’ve created to substitute for the real thing.
Both versions take us back to a time where anything was possible. And deciding whether Ex-Lax was more expensive than a box of Depends could win you a grandfather clock and a pair of jet skis. Good Times.
99¢ App Sale Price
itunes.apple.com
$23.88 TV Game
www.amazon.com