Pathfinder

Pathfinder
Premiere Date	April 7, 1987
Pricing Game Location	Center Stage
Previous Premiered Pricing Game	Add 'Em Up
Next Premiered Pricing Game	Credit Card

So called, because the contestant had to walk a path of side-touching numbers (no diagonals) which form the price of a brand new car.

Gameplay

The contestant is asked to stand on the center space of a 5-by-5 grid of 25 digits; that space represents the first digit in the price of the car. The second number in the price is on one of the four squares adjacent (not diagonal) to where the contestant is standing. The contestant is asked to step to the square they believe is the second digit. If they are right, they proceed to step to the third, fourth and fifth digits in order, without using the same spaces twice. Doing so wins the car.

However, if at any point the contestant steps to an incorrect space, they must return to the previous space and earn a chance to continue. To earn these chances, three small prizes are used. The contestant is asked to choose one of them and select which of two displayed prices is correct. If they guess correctly, they win that item and may continue with the price of the car; if they are wrong, they must select one of the other small prizes, if one is available. The game is lost if the contestant makes an incorrect step with no small prizes left or guesses the final small prize incorrectly after having already made an incorrect step.

History

When Pathfinder debuted on April 7, 1987, The Price Is Right still offered cars worth less than $10,000. When played for a car with four digits in the price, the center space where the contestant began was a G-T asterisk, the first window in the overhead display was a dollar sign and the contestant needed to light up all four digits in the car's price. Also when the game first premiered, it originally used regular bells to indicate that the contestant stepped to the right number and the standard buzzer when moving on the wrong number, as the clangs and "trap" sound were not in use yet; although the standard dings were used on the April 25, 1997 playing, as the clangs did not work. Not surprisingly, the game was won on April 7, 1987 with no mistakes made for the price of the car.

The tall prop at the back of the game board which displays the car's price is recycled from Add 'Em Up and in fact is still a separate part of the Pathfinder set. The sound indicating a contestant's step to an incorrect number was originally used as the "trap" sound from the short lived ABC game show Trivia Trap, also produced by Goodson-Todman Productions.

On December 1, 1992, a contestant briefly touched his foot to an adjacent number. That number lit up, as though the contestant was going to move there. After a bit of chiding from Bob, the game proceeded as normal.

One of the most famous playings was on November 30, 1993, where Bob and Janice try to demonstrate the Crocodile Dentist game after a contestant made a mistake and choosing the Crocodile Dentist game to earn her second chance, taking a turn pressing one tooth at a time until Bob pressed the "sore tooth" and the crocodile bit Bob's hand.

On November 12, 1996, a case of errors occurred. First off, when Bob asked them to light up the first number contestant Keith stood on in the center, which was a "2", the second number lit up instead, which was the "1" on his right. After the small prize descriptions, the "0" on the path lit up. After being on the forth number, which was a "4", he moved to the "0" already lit up, which was incorrect, after being perfect on his first four numbers. He lost after guessing all three small prizes incorrectly, but before revealing the actual retail prices of the Showcases at the end of the show, because of the latter error, Bob decided to award Keith the van.

On December 12, 2014, the small prize stands have received a slight revision, the borders are now silver/grey with decorative arrows added the the ARP flap. The numbers have a drop shadow effect.

Trivia

• Pathfinder was played twice on the primetime version of the show. It was won once under Bob Barker's tenure & Drew Carey's tenure for a total of 2 primetime wins.

Foreign versions

On the UK's Bruce's Price is Right, the game used a replica of the American board, but much larger. It was played for four-digit cars, and its rules were the same as the American version.

Gallery

The redesigned prize displays from 2014

YouTube Videos

Painful Pathfinder Loss from 1994 
A Pair of Pathfinder Trailblazers (October 18, 1994 & May 19, 1997)
Dan Saves Price is Right winning Pathfinder (May 12, 2006)
Painful Pathfinder Loss from 2009 (October 14, 2009)
A Near Perfection from 2012 (June 11, 2012)
Painful Pathfinder Loss from 2013 (June 4, 2013)
Wipeout from 2014 (January 7, 2014)
Painful Pathfinder Loss from 2014 (June 17, 2014)
An Awesome Win from 2014 (May 8, 2014)

Perfect Pathfinder Playings

First Pathfinder Playing & Win! (April 7, 1987)
Perfect Pathfinder Playing from 1993 (February 11, 1993)
Crazy Avonne perfectly wins Pathfinder (March 29, 2006)
Another Perfect Playing (June 20, 2006)
Perfect Pathfinder Playing from 2007 (January 11, 2007)
Perfect Pathfinder Playing from 2008 (July 17, 2008)