Fortune Hunter

Fortune Hunter
Premiere Date	November 21, 1997 (#0535K)
Pricing Game Location	Big Doors
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	It's in the Bag
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Line 'Em Up
Finale Date	May 11, 2000 (#1444K)

Fortune Hunter was a pricing game that offered $5,000 cash and four prizes, each worth between $500 and $3,000.

Gameplay

• The contestant was shown four prizes, each with a gift box beside it. One of the gift boxes contained $5,000 cash, while the other three were empty.
• Bob Barker read three clues, one at a time, each instructing the contestant to eliminate one prize (and its associated gift box) based on its price. Examples included "Eliminate the prize whose first digit is 6" and "eliminate the prize whose value is between $1,500 and $2,000."
• After three boxes were eliminated, the remaining box was placed in front of the contestant to open. If it contained the $5,000 in cash, the contestant won all four prizes and the money. If the box was empty, the contestant won nothing.
• Contestants were not required to eliminate the three correct prizes in the order that the clues referring to them were read. A contestant could eliminate any empty box after being read each clue, so long as they ultimately eliminated the three empty boxes, leaving the box containing the money. However, eliminating an incorrect box with one clue would often force the contestant to have to eliminate the correct box with a different clue.

Trivia

• The most number of times this game was played in any season was 20 (season 26), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 9 (season 28).
• On the initial 1997-2000 run of Mexico's Atínale al Precio, this game was played under the name "El Cofre de Tesoro" ("The Treasure Chest") and was themed around pirates and buried treasure. The models were dressed in pirate garb and wooden treasure chests were used instead of gift boxes, with the top prize of 10,000 pesos represented by fake gold coins rather than stacks of bills.

Catchphrase Clues

• Eliminate the prize that is less/more than (insert amount).
• Eliminate the prize that is between (insert 2 amounts).
• Eliminate the prize that is the least/most expensive.
• Eliminate the prize that has a price that starts with (insert number).
• Eliminate the prize that costs (insert amount).
• Eliminate the prize that has (3 or 4) digits in its price.

Gallery

To view the gallery, click here.

History & Retirement

• On its first playing the three eliminated boxes were placed on the floor. Beginning with the second playing on December 1, 1997 (#0551K), shelves were added to the backs of the podiums. On top of that, it got its first win.
• Fortune Hunter was retired because of a low win percentage, averaging only 33%. It was the first game to be retired in the 2000s.
• The music cue used for this game debuted in 1994 on The New Price is Right. The cue and several of its variants are still used today as prize cues on the daytime show.
• Fortune Hunter was the only cash game on the show that did not use either small prizes or grocery items as a gameplay element. It is noteworthy in that it was technically considered a "cash" game, even though it also awarded a prize package of roughly $5,000 as well.
• ½ Off, which premiered four years after this game's demise, recycled the concept of finding a box filled with cash with a similarly-staged box-opening reveal.

YouTube Videos

Fourth playing (January 2, 1998, #0585K)