The Price is Right Ultimate Strategy Guide: Money Game

Money Game

Rules

A car is shown as is a board with 9 pairs of numbers. The middle number of the price of the car is given to the contestant. The contestant must pick the pair of numbers that corresponds to the first two digits of the car and the pair of numbers that corresponds to the last two numbers; they may make up to three wrong guesses. Whether the contestant wins the car or not, they win money equal to the sum of the wrong guesses they made.

Random fact

When Money Game first debuted, it was played on the stage instead of the turntable. You can see a playing here:

Win-loss record

• Actual (seasons 29-46): 244-292 (45.52%)
• What it would be by random chance: 1/2 (50%)
  (Note: the above assumes there are three reasonable choices for the first two digits and six reasonable choices for the last two digits. That's a fact that has been true in every playing since at least season 40.)

<voice from offstage> You already know what I'm going to say, right?

Yes, yes, yes. Why is the win rate lower than the random chance win rate? I'm getting there.

Thank you. 

Of the three choices for the first two digits, which was correct? (seasons 40-47)

• The lowest: 113 playings (52.07%)
• The middle option: 29 playings (13.36%)
• The highest: 75 playings (34.56%)

How often was the number in each position a correct choice to make? (seasons 40-47)

21.66%  3.69% 24.42%

20.28% 17.05% 29.49%

25.81% 28.57% 29.03%

Strategy

While there's nothing completely foolproof in this game, here are some tips:

• Ignore the "digits don't repeat except for the first two" rule. Repeating digits do happen in this game.
• Start by trying to find the last two digits! No one ever does this, but since you get the money for the wrong choices you make, you might as well start with the larger numbers so you make more money if you're wrong.
• Speaking of the last two digits, if you see an "el cheapo" (a number less than 10) on the board, pick it. From seasons 40-46, it was a correct choice 57.89% of the time. (Oddly enough, el cheapo was never even an option in season 47. I don't know if that's a trend or a one season oddity.)
• The number in the top center has been the season number of the show since season 35. (There have been a couple of exceptions, but they've been extremely rare.) The season number hasn't ever been correct more than twice in a season, and more often, it's correct once or not at all. In other words, you should avoid it.
• For the first two numbers of the price of the car, pick the endpoints applies. As you can see, for the three choices you have for the first two numbers, the middle one is correct less than 1 out of every 7 playings. This is why the win rate is lower than the win rate by random chance--contestants like to pick the middle option for the first two digits and they waste a pick in the process.