Come on Down!

Our worlds were rocked yesterday when we (finally) acquired The Price is Right game for Wii. That's right, we now have Plinko, Punch-A-Bunch and an assortment of other pricing games right at our fingertips.

I am a huge TPIR fan, although I can't honestly tell you how it happened...it definitely didn't come from my mother, so my best guess is that my childhood "daycare provider," Mrs. Allen, used to watch it. All she really did was watch TV and let us steal slices of Velveeta cheese out of her refrigerator. Somehow, among all the crap that woman watched (I remember a lot of Love Connection), Bob Barker struck a chord.

My boys, on the other hand, have never seen the show (Amazing, I know, but they don't show it on GSN and the kids are at school when it's on CBS), so I wasn't sure whether they'd like the game. Turns out the love for TPIR is genetic. 

Despite having no clue what things like oriental rugs or bedroom sets or even jars of jelly cost, the boys loved the game from the very first bid.  (And consequently, they can now tell you what a set of snowboards or a 2009 Toyota Corolla cost.) Their joy at having the winning bid on Contestants Row or spinning $1.00 in the Showcase Showdown rivals my joy at winning actual money on TPIR slots in Vegas. I'm pretty sure our neighbors can hear the squeals of joy emanating from our living room. 

Today, Owen came within $180 of guessing the actual retail price of his showcase (he had a little help from the audience), which of course means he was the first in our family to win BOTH showcases. I thought he might pass out. 

A proud moment for us all. 

Will Bingo for Plinko

This week has been game show-tastic. Not simply watching them, but also playing -- or wishing I could. 

First we had the premiere of Bingo America on GSN. Now, I probably never would have thought to watch this show...I mean, who wants to watch bingo on TV? But my kids were immediately intrigued (I think the producers might have overlooked the kindergarten demographic). Before I knew it, they were giddy with anticipation, actually measuring other events in relation to the premiere of this show. As in, "Our class is going on a field trip on October 9th! That's three days after the premiere of Bingo America!" (yes, it's weird)

So we watched. The boys loved it. It made a nice distraction while I cooked dinner. Then, on Wednesday, I realized you could actually play along at home for free and win money. This was particularly interesting to me since that same day I had found out about this...

Yes, that's right, my most favorite game show (and slot machine) is now a Wii game!!!! It's only $40, but not $40 I can justify at the moment in our fragile family budget, so I've gone hunting for other sources of income...

And so from now on, at 5:30 p.m. CST, you will find my boys and me watching Richard Karn and frantically marking off our bingo cards, all in the hopes of winning $50 ($250 on Wednesdays!). No wins yet, but we're not giving up.

I like to think this is a lesson that will serve them well later in life: When all else fails, gamble. 

I see many trips to Vegas in our future. 

Not a Moment Too Soon

We are officially entering the school countdown. Two weeks from today, my little boys will have their first day of kindergarten! 

Even though I just started falling in love with having nowhere to be in the morning, I suspect the start of school is really for the best. We've become a little bit too fond of the Game Show Network. Today my kids watched Match Game 74 (for the first time, I swear) and actually recognized Richard Dawson as the host of "old Family Feud." 

Later, Aidan observed that "it must have taken him many, many years to be the host of Family Feud" because he was so much older in the episode we were watching. 

Don't judge, I'm raising trivia wizards.