Step Up

2/7/02 - Present

Step Up is a game played with four prizes.  The contestant chooses one prize as a base prize and then picks another prize s/he thinks is higher than the base prize.  If s/he is right, s/he wins the prize and $500 in cash.  S/he can then quit with the two prizes and the cash or risk them and "Step Up", i.e., pick one of the two remaining prizes and hope that it is higher in price than the first two prizes.  If s/he is right, s/he wins all 3 prizes and an additional $1000 in cash.  S/he can then quit or risk the three prizes and the $1500 in cash to Step Up one last time.  If s/he risks it all, and the last prize is the highest of all four, s/he wins all four prizes and an additional $1500 in cash, for a total of $3000 in cash.  If at any point the contestant attempts to Step Up and picks a lower priced prize, all the prizes and cash are lost.  Obviously, the best strategy is to start with the lowest priced prize and work your way up.

Step Up is sort of an updated version of Trader Bob, which was retired in the early '80s.  It was the third new pricing game to premiere in the 30th season, with Bonkers and Pass the Buck as the first two.

It's the premiere of Step Up!  A slightly crowded display, don't ya think?	Here's the Step Up "arrow".
Our contestant chose the silverware as her base prize, and it's $500.  Good choice!  Is the cabinet higher than that?	Yup!  It's $952, so she wins both those prizes and $500 in cash.  And she wants to risk both to "Step Up"!
So far so good.  The sofa is higher than the first two prizes, so she's won all 3 prizes...	...and $1500 in cash, as shown by the lovely Step Up arrow.
She's decided to risk it all on the home gym.  If that's higher in price than the other 3 prizes, she wins all 4 prizes and $3000 total in cash...	...she cleaned up!!  Our first Step Up game produced our first Step Up winner.