Short version: TPIR used to recycle prices/products, so with studying it is easy to guess prices of products on the show. Many contestants and avid fans know this, and one of them got extra lucky in the showcase showdown by guessing the exact price, at about 1/1000 odds (after accounting for common sense and attentiveness) , which is likely to happen eventually for a daily show like TPIR. (Or possibly he was cheating or plain lucky after all. The article claims that showcases are generally $24k, and the winner's was $23743, but the opponent had a $30k showcase and bid it within $550 accuracy)
Now they randomly vary the products/prices slightly, as they should have done all along.
Here's a little psychological trick I always wanted to try, if I ever got to the showcase showdown on TPIR. Suppose the other contestant passes the first showcase to me, and I believe it is the lower valued of the two showcases. I bid one dollar. If the other contestant is not paying attention, they just might bid two dollars on their showcase. That strategy works on contestant's row when everyone is bidding on the same item, but it will fail during the showcase showdown, because my bid of one dollar will be closer to the actual price of my showcase than their bid of two dollars will be to the actual price of their showcase.
I don't know if I would have the guts to really try it but I think it might actually work (assuming the host didn't interfere and tip off the other contestant).
It's risky, sure. You would have to have a good read on the other contestant, like maybe someone who bid $1001 to get out of contestant's row, so you know they are inclined to use the plus-one-dollar strategy. I probably wouldn't have the guts to try it myself, but if someone did and pulled it off it would be legendary.
> Now they randomly vary the products/prices slightly, as they should have done all along.
That's less than clear to me. It may be judged that the risk of this was low enough (it went on for decades without this happening!) that it was worth the risk to make the show more appealing to viewers (it seems to me like a shift, as they say, to products likely unfamiliar to the show's core audience might make the show less appealing).
Showcases are generally $24,000, but one showcase is typically more valuable than the other. There may have been a bit of memorization by both players!
Now they randomly vary the products/prices slightly, as they should have done all along.