(FORTUNE Small Business) – Jay Walker, the inventor of priceline.com, is on a mission to find more new ways of doing business. The CEO of idea factory Walker Digital, in Stamford, Conn., is busy pitching patents to everyone from casinos to retail stores to the Homeland Security Department. His latest experiment to turn one of his designs into a living, breathing business came with the launch—followed by the abrupt closure—of an online game show called "The Hometown Price Is Right" in Hartford. Walker planned to generate revenues not just from players (25 cents a pop) but also from local merchants, who would pay to have their offerings serve as prizes. The game also held the promise of expanding the appeal of online games from its traditional base of boys and men. But in September, just 12 weeks after the game began, the test was kaput. Walker would not comment, nor would a spokesman. "It was disconcerting," says Scott Morrison, owner of the New England Pasta Co. in Avon, Conn. "Up to that point, I thought it was going to be continuous." Jed Gould, who led the game show sales team, admits, "Our intention was never to shut it down in September." In any case, Walker clearly wasn't depending on it. He definitely has other ideas. —I.M.