1978 (retired)
Telephone Game was an extremely short-lived oddball car game tried in late 1978. The game was played in two parts. In the first part, the contestant tried to earn eligibility to play in the second part of the game and started with a "$1.00 credit". The credit was used to purchase two of four grocery items. The value of the two grocery items was subtracted from the $1.00 credit, and if the contestant had at least a dime leftover, s/he moved on to the second part of the game.
In the second part of the game, the contestant was playing for a car or one of two small prizes. Bob showed the contestant a "phone book" which had three unlabeled, four-digit "phone numbers" in it that were actually the three prices of the prizes. The prices of the small items were shown in dollars and cents (no decimal point), while the price of the car was shown in dollars. The contestant picked the "phone number" s/he thought represented the price of the car and dialed it digit by digit into an oversized novelty rotary pay phone. The contestant won whatever prize whose "phone number" s/he dialed.
Telephone Game is perhaps the oddest game ever played next to Professor Price. The play-in game is completely pointless and leaves the possibility that the contestant might not even get a chance to play for the car. The reveal in the second part of the game is an absolute nightmare, with the three models standing dutily behind each prize's telephone. When the contestant finished his/her dialing, a sound of a telephone rang out, but nobody knew which prize's phone was actually ringing until the model picked it up. Oy!