The Ultimate Price is Right Strategy Guide: 1/2 Off

1/2 Off

Rules

A cash prize is shown as are 16 boxes; one of them has money in it. 3 rows of small items are shown; each small item has a price shown. In each row, one of the prices is the correct price of its prize and the other price is 1/2 off the correct price. If the contestant chooses the prize whose shown price is 1/2 off its retail value, half of the boxes that remain are removed. The box with the money is never removed. (For example, if they get all three prizes right, there will be 2 boxes left, one of which has the money.) The contestant must then choose one of the remaining boxes. If that box has money in it, the contestant wins the cash prize. Also, whether they win or not, if the contestant gets all three small prizes right, they win a bonus of $1,000.

Random fact

This game is usually played for $10,000, but occasionally is played for more. Here's a playing they show while you're at a taping waiting to get in to the studio:

Win-loss record

• Actual (seasons 32-46): 83-179 (31.68%)
  (Note 1/2 Off was introduced in season 32.)
• What it would be by random chance: 27/128 (21.09%)

The money was in box #...(seasons 40-46):

1. 4 playings (3.10%)
2. 8 playings (6.20%)
3. 6 playings (4.65%)
4. 9 playings (6.98%)
5. 9 playings (6.98%)
6. 9 playings (6.98%)
7. 6 playings (4.65%)
8. 8 playings (6.20%)
9. 8 playings (6.20%)
10. 7 playings (5.43%)
11. 11 playings (8.53%)
12. 10 playings (7.75%)
13. 5 playings (3.88%)
14. 13 playings (10.08%)
15. 10 playings (7.75%)
16. 6 playings (4.65%)

The prize with the 1/2 off price was...(seasons 40-46)

• On the left: 196 prizes (50.65%)
• On the right: 191 prizes (49.35%)
  
• The one with the smaller given price: 216 prizes (55.81%)
• The one with the larger given price: 171 prizes (44.19%)

# of times the following left/right combinations were correct (seasons 40-46)

• All three on the left were correct: 14 playings (10.85%)
• Two on the left and one on the right were correct: 43 playings (33.33%)
• One on the left and two on the right were correct: 61 playings (47.29%)
• All three on the right were correct: 11 playings (8.53%)

If one price was even and the other odd, the correct one to select was...(seasons 40-46)

• The even price: 30 prizes (16.04%)
• The odd price: 157 prizes (83.96%)

Strategy

Part 1: Pricing

As you can see by the stats above, it's mostly know the price with one major exception: if one given price is even and one is odd, go with the odd price unless you're sure the even price is the 1/2 off price. For example, if the given prices are $15 and $40, choose $15. But if both prices are even or both are odd, choose the one you think is 1/2 off. If you're not sure at all, choose the smaller given price, but as you can see, the producers are pretty good at making sure that's not a consistent trend in this game.

Part 2: Which box to choose?

First off, don't bother looking at the audience for this, as they have no more clue than you do. If you really want to go by stats, pick the first box in this list that is still available: 14, 11, (12,15), (4,5,6), (2,8,9), 10, (3,7,16), 13, 1. The numbers in parenthesis are tied, so if you see 12 and 15 left, it's a tossup. The problem with using a list like this, though, is it's very dependent on which seasons you choose to analyze, so if you want to go with your favorite number, I have no problem with that. However, two principles do apply here:

• Pick the endpoints does NOT apply. 1 and 16 are among the least frequent boxes to see the money.
• Try to figure out if the show is in budget mode. Pay attention to the setups earlier in the show to see if the show is in budget mode. For example, if a car in Lucky $even is $21,298, that's a clue the show is in budget mode, as those numbers are all far from 5. But if the price is $24,654, then the show is less likely to be in budget mode. If the show is in budget mode, then go for the more unlikely boxes like 1, 13, and 16. If not, then go for the more standard choices like 11, 12, and 14. Of course, if 1/2 Off is the first game played, then this principle won't help you.