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Hence its name, each digit in a false retail price of a car prize is "one away", up or down, from the correct digit.

After guessing the numbers, the contestant asks the question: "Ladies/Gentlemen/Oh Mighty Sound Effects Lady, do I have [at least/all] # number[s] right?"

Gameplay

  • The contestant is shown an incorrect price for the car (colored in black), with each digit one higher (colored in blue) or lower (colored in red) than the actual digit in the price (zero and nine are considered to be one away from each other in this game). The contestant is asked to change each of the digits to the correct digit.
  • After all five digits are changed, the contestant is requested to ask the backstage directors (who, specifically, have changed; see History) if they have one, then two, then three, then four and then five numbers right, in order and is met with a car horn each time the answer is "yes" (on the game's first playing a series of bells were heard). If every number is wrong, the contestant immediately loses (a very rare event that occurred on May 28, 1990, #7691D, when contestant Jacqueline Graves lost a $30,973 Lincoln Mark VII, guessing that the first number was a 1; see below). Otherwise, the contestant is given one more opportunity to change however many digits they have wrong, without being told which specific digits are correct. The price is then revealed one digit at a time until the result is determined or inferred by the number of digits changed.
  • Perhaps ironically, one of the best outcomes a contestant could have would be to only have one number right after the first round of picks, because the first number of a car's price is almost always obvious.

History

  • One Away first premiered on December 4, 1984 (#5512D). On its first playing, it was won.
  • One Away was played for cars less than $10,000 during the 1980s with a dollar sign placed on the first trilon. In the early 1990s, it was frequently played for luxury cars. The game itself made it easily compatible for four-digit cars and five-digit cars. One Away has been played for five-digit cars exclusively since April 6, 1989 (#7224D).
  • Though the board was the same throughout the years, on May 17, 2000 (#1453K), the One Away neon sign was removed and replaced with a regular sign, due to repeated malfunctions with the neon.
  • During Bob Barker's tenure, contestants were instructed to ask, "Ladies (or until February 27, 1995, #9481D, Gentlemen), do I have at least one number right?" On its first playing, however, Bob asked the gentlemen how many numbers she had right, and dings were used instead of horns, and Bob said "I wanna do it with a little horn!", and asking how many numbers she has right; each digit was revealed one-by-one until the final digit revealed. After that playing, Bob would ask "Ladies/Gentlemen, how many numbers do we have right?" followed by a series of honks for the number of correct digits. By late 1985, the format was changed to what it currently is today. Drew Carey instructs the contestants to use a phrasing such as "O mighty sound effects lady..."; he has offered a variety of adjectives over his tenure. Usually, the contestant will be asked to kneel while asking if all five numbers are correct (sometimes in this case, the question is changed to "...do I win the car?"). On the short-lived Doug Davidson version in 1994, contestants asked, "People in control..." Whenever the game was played on Tom Kennedy's syndicated version, instead of the contestant asking how many numbers were right, Tom did so himself, without addressing anyone. The original horn was shorter and louder than the more familiar horn used shortly after; accidentally, the latter horn was mistakenly used on the January 21, 1993 (#8664D) episode when the mountain climber fell off the cliff during Cliff Hangers at first instead of the crashing noise before the crashing noise was played seconds later.
  • On February 23, 1988 (#6772D), a contestant playing the four-digit incarnation of One Away lost by getting no correct numbers on her first try.
  • On March 3, 1989 (#7175D), a mistake occurred when the third digit was a 1 as the wrong number, while the actual price had a six as the third number. While the contestant did lose the car, as a result of this mistake, the contestant was awarded the car at the beginning of the second Showcase Showdown.
  • On May 28, 1990 (#7691D), a contestant named Jacqueline Graves lost the game on her first try. Before the reveal, the audience booed at her selected price of $12,751, to which Bob humorously chided the audience by saying, "Now, look. Don't start throwing things, you might hit me!" The audience then laughed. After Jacqueline politely asked "Gentlemen, do I have at least one number right?", the gentlemen were silent, but then played the foghorn and the losing horns. Bob Barker wasn't sure if that meant that she had no numbers right, and asked the gentlemen, "Was that a horn?" and was dismayed to know that when the correct price was revealed to be $30,973 instead of $12,751, Jacqueline indeed had no numbers right, although he claimed it did happen once before. Bob then explained that she chose a 1 as the first number instead of a 3 as it was played for a Lincoln Mark VII, which is why the audience booed her before. (A man in the audience yelled "Give it to her!" Bob jokingly and sarcastically responded "'Give it to her!'." and chided to that response, later saying, “I’m about as apt to give it to her as I am to give her my house!” and the man humorously replied, "Give her your house!")
  • During an October 2008 taping originally scheduled for December 16, 2008 (#4552K) and aired out of order on November 19, one of the models, Tamiko Nash, assisted in turning the trilons. This was a one-time situation, as host Drew Carey was injured and the game play was adjusted to compensate for his foot injury. Carey also asked for the correct numbers on this episode (which was for time constraints; the Showcase that day had a The Bold and the Beautiful appearance as a prize, resulting in extra time). The episode that aired December 10, 2008 (#4543K), also from an October taping, was played in the same manner.
  • On February 22, 2008 (#024SP), the first The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular since Carey began hosting, a $1,000,000 bonus was offered if the contestant could guess the price correctly on the first attempt (a rare feat that happened on several occasions in the daytime show).
  • On April Fool's Day 2010 (#5104K), Mimi Bobeck from The Drew Carey Show, played by Kathy Kinney, took over as the "sound effects lady" and triggered the horn from her desk on the turntable.
  • On October 17, 2014 (#6845K, aired out of order on October 16), during Dream Car Week, a Tesla Model S worth $79,320 was offered to a woman named Vanessa Ansoorian, and it was won.
  • On June 22, 2016 (#7593K), Sarah played this game for a Mini Cooper priced at $22,050. She got all 5 numbers right on her first try, with increasingly dramatic bribes for the mighty sound effects lady.
  • On October 10, 2016 (#7641K) Tracy was instructed to ask, "Oh, Mighty Tiffany of the deal."
  • On May 25, 2018 (#8355K), Erin got all five numbers right on the first try.

Trivia

  • The most number of times this game was played in any season was 34.

Foreign versions of One Away

  • One Away is played on versions of The Price is Right in numerous countries besides the United States, using anywhere from four to six digits and generally holding true to its American rules. The only version known to be significantly different from the original was that found on the 1980s UK version of the show; on that program, the game was played for prizes with 3-digit prices, and contestants were given only one chance to guess the price.
  • On most foreign versions of the show, contestants are simply given a series of bells after their first turn to indicate how many numbers they have right. However, Cash en Carlo in the Netherlands does have its contestants ask for bells one at a time, although the question is directed at the announcer instead of the sound effects operator.

Pictures

Premiere Playing (December 4, 1984, #5512D)

One Away Wipeout (May 28, 1990, #7691D)

One Away for a Tesla Model S (October 17, 2014, #6845K, aired out of order on October 16)

One Away for a Mercedes-Benz E550 Cabriolet (October 12, 2017, #8044K)

One Away for a Range Rover Evoque (December 29, 2017, #8145K)

One Away's Repainted Bottom Board Revealer Debuts (June 22, 2018, #8395K)

YouTube Videos

One Away Wipeout (May 28, 1990, #7691D)
A Perfect One Away from 1991 (September 11, 1991, #8093D)
Perfect One Away Win from Season 35 (March 27, 2007, #3932K)
Last One Away Win under Bob Barker's tenure (June 13, 2007, #4033K)
A Perfect One Away from 2012 (October 3, 2012, #6053K, aired out of order on October 24)
A Perfect One Away from 2013 (January 25, 2013, #6195K, aired out of order on February 19, originally rescheduled to air on February 22)
Jake wins big on One Away (February 27, 2013, #6243K)
Another Perfect One Away from 2013 (June 13, 2013, #6394K)
A Win from 2014 (March 6, 2014, #6644K)
A Tesla Win from Dream Car Week (October 17, 2014, #6845K, aired out of order on October 16)

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