‘Price is Right’ fans are begging for ‘creepy’ game created by Drew Carey to be taken off show

Screeshots showing the setup for Rat Race (Cover image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)

One of the longest-running game shows in the history of television, “The Price Is Right” is known and loved for its quirky games. The show features some age-old classics such as Plinko, Cliffhanger, and some new additions like the “Gridlock” game. While most are loved by the fans, there is one game that has recently come earned their ire. It’s called “Rat Race” and was created by Drew Carey himself. While the game is innovative, fans argue that it is too complicated and sometimes unfair.
Screenshot showing the rats racing (Image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)
“Rat Race” is a pricing game that includes a car as the top prize with a small and a medium prize. In the first part of the game, the contestant has to guess the price of three items within specified ranges to earn a colored rat. The three items are a grocery item priced under $10 which players must guess within $1, a small prize priced under $100 to be guessed within $10, and a medium prize priced under $500 to be guessed within $100.
Screenshot showing one of the pricing items (Image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)
For each bid in the correct range, the contestant gets to choose five colored mechanical rats. These rats are positioned on a large dollar sign-shaped race track and they are set in motion by a model who pulls a handle.

If one of the chosen rats finishes in third place, the contestant wins the small prize, if it finishes in second, it wins a medium-sized prize, and the rat wins the race, the player wins the car. Contestants can win more prizes depending on how many rats they choose to finish the race.
Screenshot showing the set up for the game (Image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)
However, there is a chance that a rat may malfunction and not finish the race. Sometimes a rat may even fail to start the race. The show has a store of a couple hundred mechanical rats with each running at a different speed. The rats are picked at random for each episode.
Screenshot showing the rats (Image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)
As seen in the case of the player named Thomas, a contestant could only guess the price of one item in the specified range. Unfortunately, Thomas got the two relatively easier guesses wrong, so he had only one rat.

He chose the color blue which was his wife’s favorite color, and luckily for him, the rat executed a photo-finish for the first place winning him the car.

But in some cases a rat may even go off the track or not finish the race at all. Thus, fans of the show aren’t very fond of the game due to the mechanical jeopardy.

In a Reddit post titled,  “Rat Race, when will the madness stop?” user @Educational-Salad133 expressed his views on the game. The author explained that the malfunctioning rats are essentially unfair and the game should not exist.

Several fans joined the conversation adding convincing points to the argument. “What if Cliffhanger fell off while going up the cliff? “Oops, sorry. No chance of winning anything now. George, who’s our next contestant?” Cash register games. “Oops, looks like the keys jammed. No winners today. George, who’s our next contestant?” Agreed. The rat race malfunctions shouldn’t count against the contestant,” explained @JeanEBH.