’Gate Night events are exciting activities and excursions planned by a committee of Colgate students, and include trips to trampoline parks, bringing puppies to campus to ease the anxieties of finals and laser tag competitions. On Friday, March 1, ’Gate Night provided a twist on the classic game show “The Price is Right.” Students gathered in the O’Connor Campus Center (COOP) in the hopes of competing in various games themed on pricing items to win as many prizes as possible.

Contestants were chosen at random from the audience by the “Cash Cow,” the spunky co-host of the night who was clad in a cow onesie and kept the crowd engaged and enthusiastic. He added a dramatic flourish to otherwise ordinary tasks, such as presenting the items for the contestants to price and selecting the names of the contestants. His presence was in stark contrast to his co-host, a young woman smartly dressed in a tie and button down who energetically explained the challenges facing the contestants.

Once all four seats at the contestant’s table were filled, each student guessed the price of given items, which were given away as prizes for whoever guessed closest to the actual price of the items. There were three rounds, with three chances to play. The contestants eagerly competed for a Polaroid camera, an assortment of delicious snacks, a magnetic dart board and similar items.

The lucky winner of the round would then compete in another game for the chance to win even more prizes, including a HydroFlask water bottle or Kraft mac and cheese and Capri Sun juice pouches. These games got the contestants out of their seats, doing more than just writing their price estimation down. Competitors played mini golf, rolled big inflatable dice and dropped chips down the “Price Drop” board to let fate decide if they would receive the grand prize of the round.

Despite putting its own twist on the game show, the ’Gate Night event still retained the original “The Price is Right” elements, essential to fully immerse participants and make them feel as though they were in the crowd of a real game show.

“It was pretty cool how well they were able to imitate the actual show with the real sound effects and everything,” first-year Julia Williams said.

The sound effects contributed not only to the game show experience, but also fed the energy of the crowd. The audience would let out a collective groan or gasp along with the sound effect that resulted from the failure or success of contestants.

The highlights of the night, however, occurred during the “Spin to Win” game, in which the winners of the previous rounds converged at the price wheel for a chance to win an ultimate prize, which included a Fitbit, Apple Airpods and a semester’s worth of ramen noodles. To win, the contestants needed to spin the wheel, which was labelled with prices ranging from five cents to one dollar, in two attempts to get a cumulative value as close to a dollar without going over. The audience held their breath with each rotation of the wheel, hoping their friend would win, while the contestants all vied for these spectacular gifts.

When the victor was declared, there was a balance of cheers and groans as the winner returned to their seat in the audience, grinning with pride and excitement from winning such a valuable prize. Once the rounds ended, the few minor prizes that were not won during the games were given away by random drawing of members in the audience, thus concluded another successful ’Gate Night event.

Contact Rose Corcoran at [email protected].