Iconic game show set pieces donated to museum
Three major pieces of television history — literally and figuratively — arrived at The Strong National Museum of Play Monday morning: a Showcase Showdown wheel and Magic Number cabinet from “The Price is Right” and a giant Zonks phone from “Let’s Make a Deal.”
All will figure prominently in the first major exhibit in the museum’s National Archives of Game Show History, announced in 2021.
Tentatively called “Beyond the Buzzer: Game Shows in America,” the exhibit will open in 2026.
Christopher Bensch, the museum’s chief curator and the archive’s overseer, said he’s thrilled to have received the items and called the Showcase Showdown wheel, aka the Big Wheel, iconic. “With its signature sound and light effects, the wheel has been an enduring element of the show for years,” he said.
The one given to the museum is seven-eighths the size of the wheel used on the show, he said. “But in every other way, it feels very accurate, and I’m sure it will be a huge magnet for visitors.”
In the Showcase Showdown, three contestants vying to play in the Final Showcase on “The Price is Right” spin the wheel, which has 20 panels marked with values from 5 cents to $1. The goal is to get as close to $1 without going over.
In Magic Number, a contestant has to correctly guess a dollar amount between the prices of two prizes.
A Zonk on “Let’s Make a Deal” is a joke prize.
Covering 5,000 square feet, “Beyond the Buzzer” is envisioned as equal parts artifacts and archival materials, interpretation (or history) and playable elements, including game show set pieces.
Others previously donated to the Museum of Play include a Plinko sign used on “The Price is Right” from 1998 to 2022.
Plinko, a game in which contestants drop chips into a vertical pegged board, hoping to land them in slots marked with high dollar amounts, is the most popular pricing game ever on “The Price is Right.”
The museum also has acquired a “Jeopardy!” contestant podium used from 1996 to 2002 and signs from the set of “Family Feud.”
“We’ve gotten a lot of questions online from excited fans about potentially spinning the (Showcase Showdown) wheel when the exhibit opens,” museum spokesperson Shane Rhinewald wrote in an email, “and we’re working through what might be possible!”
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.