The Ultimate Price is Right Strategy Guide: Bargain Game

Bargain Game

Rules 

Two prizes are shown. Each prize has a bargain price shown. The contestant must pick the bargain price that is more below the actual retail price to win both prizes.

Random fact

This game was out of the rotation for 2 years (seasons 38 & 39) while they changed it from Barker's Bargain Bar to just Bargain Game.

Win-loss record

• Actual (seasons 29-46): 263-159 (62.32%)
• What it would be by random chance: 1/2 (50%)

In order to win, the contestant had to select...

Pre-refurbishment era (seasons 29-37):

• The price on the left: 119 playings (48.37%)
• The price on the right: 127 (51.63%)
• The smaller bargain price: 186 (75.92%)
• The larger bargain price: 59 (24.08%)

Post-refurbishment era (seasons 40-46):

• The price on the left: 88 playings (49.72%)
• The price on the right: 89 (50.28%)
• The smaller bargain price: 82 (46.33%)
• The larger bargain price: 95 (53.67%)

Strategy

Know the prices. You can see why I split the stats up into the pre-refurbishment and post-refurbishment eras. Pre-refurbishment, it was true more than 3 out of 4 times that you had to pick the smaller shown price; however, the producers removed that trend post-refurbishment. In fact, in season 44, the higher bargain price was right 21 out of 27 times; take that season out, and it's basically been 50/50. So it's now become a "know the prices" game. But don't forget the trip rule! If you're playing for two trips that have bargain prices that are about the same, then the location that's farther away from LA is the correct one as it'll be more expensive.