Plinko

A game of Plinko from 2008

Plinko is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. The game involves guessing the prices of prizes to win "Plinko chips," which are later dropped down a large bean machine-style board to determine the contestant's cash prize. The game is played for a cash prize of up to $50,000 and also awards small prizes (up to four) valued under $100.

Plinko was created by former executive producer Frank Wayne and debuted on January 3, 1983. On the game's first playing, former host Bob Barker explained that the name came from the "plink" sound the chips made as they came down the board. It is frequently said to be the most popular of all the pricing games, and was a personal favorite of host and executive producer Bob Barker.

Gameplay

The contestant is given one Plinko chip, a round flat disc, and can earn up to four more by pricing small prizes. The small prizes are presented one at a time, each bearing a two-digit price with one of the digits incorrect. The contestant must decide whether the first digit or second digit is correct in order to win another Plinko chip as well as the small prize.

The contestant then takes the chips they have earned up a set of stairs to the top of a Plinko board. The board is made up of a field of pegs, with each row offset from the previous row. At the bottom of the board are nine slots marked with (in order): $100, $500, $1,000, $0, $10,000, $0, $1,000, $500, $100.

One at a time, the contestant lays each Plinko chip flat against the top of the board and releases it. As the Plinko chip falls, it ricochets against the pegs and bounces throughout until it lands at the bottom of the board. The contestant wins whatever money corresponds with the slot in which the chip lands, with a running total displayed on a scoreboard next to the Plinko board.

If a chip becomes stuck on the board, it is knocked free and the drop does not count. The chip is returned to the contestant to drop again. The host will often use a "Plinko stick" to knock any stuck chips loose if they are out of reach.

History

The only value on the board which has changed since the game was introduced is the center slot. It began at $5,000, with a top prize of $25,000. The slot was increased to $10,000 for the first time during the 25th anniversary prime time special on August 23, 1996; the change was made permanent on October 15, 1998.

At the time of its debut, Plinko's $25,000 top prize was the largest prize ever offered on The Price Is Right, and the largest allowable under CBS regulations. CBS later increased the winnings limit to $50,000 in 1984, $75,000 in 1988, $125,000 during the 1990s. In 2006, CBS abolished winnings limits altogether.

Other formats

The New Price Is Right, which aired in syndication in 1994, featured a $25,000 top prize, although not the board layout described above. Most episodes featured a layout of $2,500, $500, $1,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $1,000, $500, $2,500. On Plinko's first appearance only, the game had a layout of $2,500, $1,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $1,000, $2,500. This version also used prizes priced above $100; in order to win Plinko chips, contestants were required to guess whether the actual price was higher or lower than the false price displayed.

For The Price Is Right Live! stage show, the top prize is $2,500 with a layout of $50, $100, $200, $0, $500, $0, $200, $100, $50.

Beginning with the Military Specials in 2002, the center slot has been worth $20,000 on prime time specials, with a top prize of $100,000. The top prize was also $100,000 when Plinko was included on the Gameshow Marathon.

On the March 7 and May 7, 2008 Million Dollar Spectaculars, a $1,000,000 bonus was offered if a contestant could get a bonus golden Plinko chip in the $20,000 slot. The contestant earned the golden chip if they were able to get at least three regular chips to land in the $20,000 slot during the game. However, the $1,000,000 was not won in either playing.

Records

Prior to the increase of the top prize in 1998, the highest Plinko win was $21,000, achieved on November 30, 1990^{[citation needed]}. On December 25, 2007, a contestant won $30,100, which is the record for the daytime version of the show^{[citation needed]}. A contestant won $41,000 on the Million Dollar Spectacular which aired May 7, 2008.

"Rigged board" incident

The Plinko board is often used by RTL Group-licensed lottery promotions, CBS affiliates, and Ubisoft to promote the show. For the promotions, two fishing lines (one on each side of the board, hanging from the side down towards the center slot) are used to rig the game so the dropped chip always lands in the $10,000 slot.

After an advertisement for the video game was taped, the wires were mistakenly left in place for the 1:00 PM taping of The Price is Right on July 22, 2008. As a contestant was playing the game, three consecutive chips she dropped landed in the $10,000 slot. As the fourth chip was being dropped, a co-producer realized that the wires were still in place and stopped the chip as it bounced down the board, informing host Drew Carey of the situation. The wires were removed and the entire segment was re-shot for the show from the point where the contestant began dropping chips. CBS Standards and Practices allowed the contestant to keep the $30,000 won prior to the removal of the wires as well as the money won with the five chips after the mistake had been corrected. However, the segment that aired (when the show was broadcast on December 5, 2008) did not reference the mistake or the amount of money won prior to the removal of the wires.

Foreign versions

United Kingdom

On Bruce's Price is Right and the subsequent Joe Pasquale version, Plinko was played differently. Instead of playing for just cash, contestants played for a bonus prize (usually a car). Once all chips were used, a model replaced the cash amounts with "Win/Lose/Win/Lose/Win/Lose", although contestants had the choice of keeping the money earned. If "Win" was hit the player kept the cash and won the prize, while "Lose" lost both the money and prize. On Forsyth's last season in 2001, there were also two spaces with pound (£) signs. If either one were hit, the player instead doubled the money they had risked.

To earn discs, the player had to determine which of two prices was correct for one particular item (similar to Double Prices). Up to three (later four) more discs could be won in this manner, in addition to the one disc given at the start. In the early days of the Forsyth version, the American method of pricing was used.

Money slots were £100, £250, & £500 (later changed to just £250 and £500), with the maximum being £2,500 (dropped to £2,000 in 1997). Only one contestant, Emon, managed to win the maximum in 1999, but quit with the money instead of playing for a motorcycle; host Bruce Forsyth had Emon drop the chip anyway to see "what would have happened" – the chip hit a "Lose" space.

The Pasquale version used amounts of £50, £100, and £150 for a maximum of £600. Otherwise, the rules were the same as the first six series of the Forsyth version. In the event that a disc got stuck, it still counted when it reached the bottom (although Pasquale simply shook the board).

Portugal/Spain/The Netherlands

Portugal's O Preço Certo, Spain's El Precio Justo and the Netherlands' Cash en Carlo used a similar format to the UK version, but for smaller prizes such as trips; in addition, contestants were forced to take the gamble for the higher-priced prize.

Portugal's version had the player trying to determine if the price of the given product was true or false, and could earn up to four discs. In addition, its board had amounts of €100 and €200, with a maximum payout of €1,000.

Germany

Germany's Plinko was also played differently. The game offered no cash and was instead played for three prizes. The contestant was given one chip and could earn up to three more by winning small prizes. The board had seven slots, numbered 3–2–0–1–0–2–3. Hitting a "3" won the least expensive prize, 2 won the middle-priced prize, and 1 awarded the most expensive prize. Landing on 0, of course, won nothing with that chip.

Others

Still other countries, including Mexico's Atínale al Precio, Italy's OK, il Prezzo è Giusto!, France's Le Juste Prix, and Vietnam's Hãy chọn giá đúng, have used Plinko with the cash prizes offered being the only significant change. MX$25,000 in Mexico's original version (now MX$100,000), ₤10,000,000 [€5164] in Italy, 100,000₣ (€15,244) in France's original version (now €10,000), and 10,000 diem (10,000,000₫) in Vietnam.

The lowest value on Vietnam's board is 200 diem (200,000₫), making it impossible to walk away from the game empty-handed.

Atínale al Precio uses grocery products instead of small prizes to earn chips.

See also

• Bean machine
• Pachinko
• Peggle

External links

• Clip of a playing of Plinko from Fremantle's official Price site