Jason Block
Correspondent

When you are a die-hard fan of something, you know that there is always one thing in that pursuit that you HAVE to do in order to be considered a true fan. If you are a baseball fan, you just HAVE to see a ball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Yankee Stadium in New York City, or Wrigley Field in Chicago. If you are fan of the theater, you just HAVE to see a show on Broadway, or on the West End of London.

But if you are a game show fan there is one place in the universe you just HAVE to go. It's on the corner of Beverly and Fairfax in Hollywood, California. That is where CBS Television City is located and where the Price is Right is taped.

The chances of you getting on the show are very slim. Hundreds of people wait over 24 hours for a chance to be one of the 300+ people in the audience and to become one of the 9 lucky contestants selected each taping. Not many people have the time or money to fly out to California and wait. There is good news, though, for everyone on the east coast - there is now an easier way to have a feeling of the Price is Right experience.

For the second year, the Showboat Hotel and Casino is hosting "The Price is Right LIVE!". This is a chance for everyone in the studio audience to win cash, prizes and even a new car. The association between Harrah's Entertainment and Fremantle Media, Inc. started in 2002, when the television show went to the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas to tape their 30th Anniversary Special.

Machines and more in the offing

The next year, Harrah's Entertainment, Fremantle Media and IGT announced a deal where IGT would release Price is Right related machines in Harrah's properties all across the country. The Price is Right Slot Machine Series includes bonus rounds based on popular games such as Plinko, Cliff Hangers, Punch-A-Bunch, Dice Game and, most recently, Money Game. The voice of the late announcer Rod Roddy appears on the machines as well.

In 2004, Fremantle Media and Harrah's Entertainment introduced "The Price is Right Live!" to the casino going population. It debuted in Reno, Nevada, has gone to such cities as San Diego, Kansas City, and last summer it landed at the Showboat Hotel and Casino. One of the reasons for it's success across the country is that game show hosts such as Todd Newton, Chuck Woolery, Mark L. Wahlberg and Michael Burger have hosted the show. The Price is Right show also employs announcing veterans such as Randy West and Daniel Rosen, who take over the duties of Rich Fields, whose duty is to helm the current televised version of the show.

After finding out that the Showboat Casino would be doing this show again for the second year, I suggested to the bosses here at the website that I should go down and check the show out, and they agreed. So armed with a press pass from Susan Kotzen at the Casino and some gambling money, I trekked down to the Showboat on May 8, 2005 - Mother's Day.

After a few hours of semi-successful gambling. I picked up my ticket and wandered into the Orleans Tower Theater. I was expecting to go to the same auditorium as where they were last year, but with The Showboat building a new House of Blues Restaurant where the show was, I was directed to a smaller arena.

Because I was a member of the "media", I wasn't allowed to play for all the fabulous prizes. That wasn't fun, but it gave me a different perspective of seeing how other people would be enjoying the show. As I watched the audience file in, music from previous incarnations of TPIR filled the room and different games were shown on the big screen for the audience to play along with. And play along they did, as you heard screams of delight when they got the games correct, and moans of sadness when they did not. One of the aspects that makes TPIR so great is the easy of playing along at home, or in this case, at a casino auditorium, waiting for the real festivities to begin.

The show

The audience was getting warmed up. There were many families from all over the East Coast. A grandmother and granddaughter drove from Baltimore, Maryland. Two sisters came from Philadelphia. Hundreds of people came from New York and New Jersey just for the chance to be part of the studio audience.

At approximately 7PM, our warmup act and announcer Daniel Rosen got the crowd fired up for the show. He has been on shows such as "Nash Bridges" and "The Tonight Show" and has had experience announcing the actual television game in Los Angeles. What gets him going every night are the audiences. "The audience makes the show," Rosen said. "Night after night, everywhere we have taken the show, the audiences have been nothing short of spectacular."

After a few minutes of getting the crowd fired up with cheering and jokes, the show gets under way with a TV-style introduction and the calling of four contestants up to Contestants Row. You get to Contestant's Row not by interviewing with contestant coordinators, but by guessing prices in a computer when you register. You have two items to price. One item gets you to contestant's row. The other one gets you into the Showcase.

After the contestants are called, our host comes out to emcee the show. The host for this show was Mark L. Walberg, who has hosted such shows as " Russian Roulette" and "Temptation Island". We all know that the show is a tribute to the man who has been at the helm for 33 years - Bob Barker. Barker, however, is not the host of the show, and Wahlberg, who realizes that, said during the show, "I have huge shoes to fill." He does a credible job in doing so.

The show is divided into two parts. The first part are the pricing games, which are classics that you have seen on TV and get to play live. You get to see games that include Cliff Hangers, It's In The Bag and the Big Wheel. The second part of the show brings us back to an era of nostalgia as the audience gets to view classic clips of the show, which include a clip of a Samoan getting physical with Bob and a clip of Yolanda Bowersley's tank top coming off.

Despite the fact that some of these clips are over 20 years old, they still get big laughs.

The showcase is a little different from what you would see on television. Two people get to bid on a showcase of prizes, which include a new car. If you win the showcase, you just get one prize - in the show that I went to, that one prize was a washer and dryer. If you get within $100 without going over, you win all of the prizes - including the car.

My favorite part of the night was when an elderly Hispanic lady was called onto Contestant's Row. Her name was Luz. She couldn't speak a word of English, so her granddaughter was called into duty to translate. Sure enough, she gets on stage. She plays Cliff Hangers and with her granddaughter's and the audience's help, she won a $1,000 Samsung refrigerator. The audience gave her a standing ovation. I thought to myself, "That is what TPIR is all about."

If you want a good time, and a chance to win a new car, come on down to Atlantic City and the Showboat Casino. The show runs now through October 31, 2005. Tickets are $25 a piece and are available at this link from Ticketmaster. (http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/920498/?search_redirect=The%20Price%20is%20Right%20Live) You can also call the Showboat Casino Box Office through Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420.

Special thanks to Daniel Rosen, Mark L. Walberg and Susan Kotzen of the
Entertainment Publicity Department for all their help and assistance to the
writing
of this article.

On the web: The Price is Right Live Tickets