Unfair playings

• On October 6, 1986, a contestant playing Shell Game, rather than placing her first chip beside a shell, tried to put a chip under one of the shells, revealing that the ball wasn't beneath it. Though she attempted to follow up honestly by placing the chip next to the shell, as she intended, host Bob Barker chided her for placing the chip where she knew the ball was not, and asked her to move the chip. She subsequently won enough chips to mark each of the shells except the one she'd already revealed. After removing the first two shells that didn't have the ball underneath, Barker summed it up with this famous rant: "You know you've ruined my show, you've ruined my game. This would be exciting, but everybody knows the damn thing's not there!"
• In 1988, a contestant playing 3 Strikes began to pull the third strike out of the bag, then put it back, hoping no one would notice. Barker did notice, and he chided her for it. She ended up pulling the third strike all the way out on a later draw.
• A similar incident occurred on February 28, 1992, when a contestant was down to two discs; a strike and the last number. She drew a chip out of the bag, then quickly put it back in before anyone else could see what it was. She then drew the number and won.
• On December 1, 1992, a contestant playing Pathfinder briefly touched his foot to an adjacent number. The number lit up, as it was thought the contestant was going to move there. After a bit of chiding from Bob, the game proceeded as normal.
• On April 4, 2005, a contestant playing Flip Flop, rather than flipping the price panels, pressed the button on the game board that reveals the correct price. With the price revealed the game result was moot, and Barker awarded the contestant the prize, with apparent or mock disdain.

Timeline

List of pricing games

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