Give or Keep

Give or Keep was a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Played from December 27, 1972 to October 22, 1990, it was played for a large prize worth more than $1,000, and used small prizes.
Game play
The contestant was shown three pairs of small prizes, one pair at a time. The contestant chose the prize he thought was the more expensive of the pair; that prize went into the "keep" column. The value of the prize given back was shown, and a running tally displayed in the "give" column.
After all three pairs of prizes were played, Bob Barker revealed the prices of the kept prizes, with a running total shown in the "keep" column. If the total value of the kept prizes equaled or was more than that of the rejected prizes, the contestant won the large prize.
The difference in prices for each pair of prizes was set so that, even if the contestant had mistakenly chosen the lower-priced item in one or (perhaps) two instances, the contestant could still win.
Regardless of the game's outcome, the contestant won the three prizes he chose to keep. Hence, Give or Keep is one of five retired pricing gamesalong with the original Balance Game, Finish Line, Shower Game, and Trader Bobin which the contestant would win something regardless of the game's outcome.
Distinctions
Give or Keep is unique as it is the only pricing game to be played to the left of the Turntable, which was used for the small prize reveals. As a result, the game could sometimes be seen during the preceding game, thus ruining the mystery of which game would be played next.
On September 19, 1973, Give or Keep was played for a car; it is believed to be the first time a car was offered in a game not normally played for one.
Give or Keep is also one of only three pricing games to have an eight petal asterisk on its board, which it had between the give column and the keep column. The other two pricing games to have eight petal asterisks are Hi-Lo, and Take Two.
Similarities
The concept of Give or Keep had similarities to at least two other pricing games:
*Finish LineInstead of simply tallying the totals of the chosen prizes, Finish Line presented the scenario in the form of a horse race and lasted only 16 playings in 1978 because the board had mechanical problems.
*Trader BobThe game's goal is very similar. However, the contestant's choices were not tallied in that game, and the contestant had to make all three selections correctly.
Retirement
Despite Give or Keep's longevity, the game was retired because many of the show's staff did not like it.

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