Comments for the Week of February 25-March 1

Biggest winner this week: Alan Assumption ($45,810) (March 1) Pricing Game streaks snapped: Rat Race - 9 straight losses - the car had last been won on April 5, 2012. Both Rat Race and Take Two picked up their first wins of the season this week. That leaves 14 winless Pricing Games: Check-Out, Gas Money, Golden Road, Hi Lo, It's in the Bag, Master Key, Pass the Buck, Pay the Rent, Punch a Bunch, Stack the Deck, Step Up, Temptation, 3 Strikes and Triple Play. (Absolutely nothing has been won in Check-Out, Hi Lo, Stack the Deck, 3 Strikes and Triple Play) On Monday, Anne overbid on her Showcase by a mere $35, which is the smallest overbid since March 11, 2011 ($27). Also on Monday, Jacob won Cliff Hangers by missing all three small prizes by a combined $6. That's the most impressive win in this game since a $5 performance on January 6, 2012. Monday's Showcase Showdowns featured several rare occurences: Both Showdowns had to be resolved with a spin-off. Last time that's happened: March 28, 2012. Three different contestant spun $1.00. Last time that's happened: October 4, 2011. There was a $11,000 and a $26,000 winner. Last time that's happened: December 13, 2009. On Tuesday, Amber made her 500th daytime appearance. All of the current female models have now appeared on at least 500 episodes. The Chevrolet Sonic in Wednesday's Lucky $even was the 100th car won this season. Also on Wednesday, One Away was won for the sixth time this season. One Away is having a pretty good season so far, especially considering it went 3-8 in Season 39 and 2-14 in Season 40. The only Pricing Games won on Wednesday were the two car games. Last time there was a car game sweep, but no other games were won: November 2, 2010. So far this season, only one small prize has been missed in the 11 Punch a Bunch playings, for a 97.7% success rate (in the lone miss, the conetstant thought a bacon press was worth more than $33). That's well ahead of the average win rate between Seasons 29 and 40 (80.3%) and is significantly better than the low set in Season 38 (59.4%). On a less positive note, Wednesday's Punch a Bunch playing was the second time only $100 was won since the current prize distribution was introduced. On Thursday, Take Two was won on the first try. Last time that's happened: February 3, 2011. (There have been 4 wins between these two playings that were won in two tries.) Contestants have now quit and taken the gifts in each of the past nine playings of Temptation. By comparison, between Seasons 29-35, only 7 contestants took the gifts and quit.

Comments for the Week of March 4-8

Biggest winner this week: Sharise Faniel ($75,931) (March 4) - Sharise is the biggest winner so far this season. Out of the $81,086 in cash and prizes that were won on Monday's episode, $75,931 (or 93.64%) of it was won by Sharice. That is by far the highest percentage of season, besting Vanessa from the December 11 episode ($42,446/$51,155 = 82.98%). For the sixth time this season, only one Pricing Game played for a car was won this week. And, for the second time this season, Line em Up was the game that prevented a skunking. Other car games that prevented an 0-fer week: Money Game (three times) and Dice Game (once). On Tuesday, Cliff Hangers was played second, becoming the eleventh Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season (Joining Push Over, 1 Wrong Price, Coming or Going, Switch?, Flip Flop, Freeze Frame, Plinko, It's in the Bag, Temptation and Squeeze Play.) On Wednesday, Anna quit in Spelling Bee even though she could have won the car. Last time there was painful bailout in Spelling Bee: April 18, 2011. Spelling Bee was also played fifth for the first time since May 10, 2010. Since then, Spelling Bee had only been played either first (13 times) or second (twice). On Thursday, Shopping Spree was played first (for the first time since September 30, 2008), becoming the twelfth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season. Also on Thursday, One Away was played fourth (for the first time since December 10, 2008), becoming the thirteenth Pricing Games to be played in all six slots at least once this season. Thursday's six one bids totalled $4,662, which is the lowest total so far this season. On Friday, Samuel only managed to accumulate 45 cents in Pocket ¢hange. That's the lowest total ever obtained in this game (in playings where all four cars were revealed). The previous low was 50 cents (achieved on April 28, 2005 and October 12, 2009). Friday also had the 10th Showcase double overbid of the season. We've already had more double overbids this season than in Season 40 (9). We are also on pace for 17 double overbids, which would be the most since at least Season 29 (16).

Comments for the Week of March 11-15

Biggest winner this week: Ruth Stewart ($50,519) (March 11). Ruth is the 16th contestant to win in excess of $50,000 this season. For the first time season, one of the first four contestants failed to win a one bid on each episode this week. On Tuesday, Most Expen$ive was played third, becoming the fourteenth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season. (Joining Push Over, 1 Wrong Price, Coming or Going, Switch?, Flip Flop, Freeze Frame, Plinko, It's in the Bag, Temptation, Squeeze Play, Cliff Hangers, Shopping Spree and One Away.) Last season, only 13 games were played in all six slots at least once, so there has been a little more variety in the slotting this season. Switch? was also played for the 21st time this season on Tuesday. Switch? is on pace to be played 34 times this season, which would only be two fewer playings than last season. So much for the return of Bargain Game and the introduction of Double Cross causing a significant decrease in this game's frequency. On Wednesday, the middle price was the car price in Gas Money for only the 6th time in this game's history (out of 62 playings). Gas Money has an overall record of 0-6 when the middle price is the car price. That's still not as bad as this game's record when the cheapest price is the car price (0-21). Wednesday's Pathfinder playing was the 400th time a Pricing Game was not fully won this season. (If you exclude partial Plinko wins, then the 400th loss was Tuesday's Five Price Tags.) The six one bids on Thursday's episode totalled $4,181, which is by far the lowest total of the season (the previous low was $4,538). It's also the lowest total since April 28, 2011 ($3,733). Also on Thursday, Money Game became the first car game to be won 10 times this season. Money Game has been by far the most successful car game so far this season - in terms of total wins, Any Number (7 wins) and One Away (6 wins) trail way behind in second and third place, respectively. The car game with the most wins last season? Lucky $even, with a measly 8 wins. Money Game has rebounded nicely from last season where it had a disappointing record of 7-20. Also on Thursday's Money Game playing, Christine said the words "el cheapo". Last time that's happened (probably): June 4, 2007. So far this season, Money Game has a record of 8-0 when the contestant finds the first two numbers on the first try, and a record of 2-9 otherwise. Makes sense. On Thursday, for the first time in its history, a contestant could have won Pay the Rent by placing the cheapest or the second cheapest grocery product in the mailbox. There was also six winning combinations, which was the most ever offered. Unfortunately, despite this setup, Brandon still failed to come close to winning the $100,000 prize. Bargain Game has now been won 10 straight times when it was played for two trips. June 17, 2008 was the last time a contestant failed to win trips in Bargain Game. On Friday, Babette got two numbers exactly right in Lucky $even. Last time that's happened: April 10, 2012. Last time a contestant lost Lucky $even even after getting two numbers right: May 27, 2010. Also on Friday, 3 Strikes was played fifth for the first time since December 5, 2002. Since the end of Season 31, 3 Strikes has been played in the second half only one other time - September 19, 2011.

Comments for the Week of March 18-20

Biggest winner this week: Elizabeth Barr ($78,388) (March 18) - Elizabeth is the biggest winner so far this season. Pricing Game winning/losing streaks snapped: 3 Strikes was won for the first time since June 3, 2010 (7 straight losses). Bargain Game was lost for the first time since January 16, 2013 (7 straight wins, or 6 straight wins based on actual airdates). It was a good week for the car games - 4 cars were won (in 3 Strikes, One Away, Money Game and Any Number) and there were two partial wins (in Pass the Buck and Rat Race). Between Seasons 29 and 39, "flopping" has been the correct decision in Flip Flop 28.18% of the time, while "flipping" and "flopping" was correct 48.18% of the time. During this span, Flip Flop had a winning percentage of 39.09% (86-134). In the past two seasons, "flopping" has been the correct decision 59.32% of the time, while "flipping" and "flopping" was correct 11.86% of the time. During this span, Flip Flop had a winning percentage of 61.02% (36-23). The $53,416 Jaguar won on Monday's 3 Strikes is the most expensive car won in a Pricing Game since a $53,627 Audi A5 was won on June 3, 2010 (the last time 3 Strikes had been won). There was only a $38 difference between the value of both Showcases on Monday ($22,774 and $22,818). That's the second smallest difference since Season 29 (the current low is a $13 difference on January 27, 2004). On Tuesday, Anna overbid on her Showcase by a mere $14. That's the smallest overbid since a $9 overbid on January 27, 2009. It was also the third time this season a contestant overbid by less than $100. On Wednesday, Any Number was played third, becoming the fifteenth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season (Joining Push Over, 1 Wrong Price, Coming or Going, Switch?, Flip Flop, Freeze Frame, Plinko, It's in the Bag, Temptation, Squeeze Play, Cliff Hangers, Shopping Spree, One Away and Most Expen$ive). The last time Any Number was played in all six slots at least once in a season was Season 37. Also on Wednesday, Robert & Debra missed the grocery product in Rat Race by $4.51. That's the largest miss in this game's history. (Previous high: $2.21 on April 6, 2011). Largest miss in Rat Race for the small prize under $100: $42 on February 26, 2013. Largest miss in Rat Race for the small prize over $100: $450 on November 12, 2010.

Comments for the Week of March 25-29

Biggest winner this week: Cynthia Thomas ($30,442) (March 28) Pricing Game winning/losing streaks snapped: It's in the Bag - $16,000 was won in this game for the first time since September 22, 2011 (32 playings ago) On Monday, Side by Side was lost for the 11th time this season. That's the most losses this game has ever had in one season. (Of course, until recently, Side by Side was lucky if it even reached 11 playings in one season). Also on Monday, That's Too Much! was played fourth, becoming the sixteenth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season (Joining Push Over, 1 Wrong Price, Coming or Going, Switch?, Flip Flop, Freeze Frame, Plinko, It's in the Bag, Temptation, Squeeze Play, Cliff Hangers, Shopping Spree, One Away, Most Expen$ive and Any Number). Also on Monday, Double Cross became the 300th Pricing Game to be fully won this season. (If you exclude $10,000+ wins in Plinko, then the 300th win was the Safe Crackers win on Thursday.) The six one bids on Monday's episodes totalled $10,775, which is the highest value so far this season. (Note that this total wouldn't have cracked the top 10 totals from last season.) On Tuesday, Diane underpriced a trip to Washington DC in Push Over by $6,098. That's the largest miss in this game (when played for a four digit prize) since November 20, 2007. (In that playing, the contestant guessed $3,297 for a $9,775 catamaran.) Also on Tuesday, the car was placed behind #4 in Pass the Buck. Last time that's happened: January 27, 2010. (The only other time since Season 35 where the car was placed behind #4.) Also on Tuesday, Clock Game was played sixth, becoming the seventeenth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season. Last time Clock Game was part of this club: Season 36. $21,000 was won in Plinko on Tuesday, bringing the total winnings in this game to $115,000 on the season. Plinko passed $100,000 in total winnings after 20 playings this season, compared to 14 in Season 40, 17 in Season 39, 17 in Season 38, 19 in Season 37 and 11 in Season 36. $21,000 is also the most won in Plinko so far this season. (The previous high was $20,100 on September 24, the only other time more than $20,000 has been won.) For the first time in the game's history, $100,000 could have been won in Wednesday's Pay the Rent by placing the grocery products in order from the least to the most expensive. Overall, there were 8 different winnings combinations in this game (the most ever offered). With this set up, if the contestant placed the most expensive product in the attic and radomly placed the remaining products in the rest of the house, they would have had a 53.3% chance of winning the top prize. On Thursday, Push Over was won for the 19th time this season. Push Over now has the most wins this season, surpassing Cliff Hangers (18 wins) and Flip Flop (17 wins). (However, note that Cliff Hangers has been played 5 fewer times.) Push Over was also won on Thursday when it was played for a car. So far this season, the only other non-car game that was won when it was played for a car (out of 9 playings) was Bullseye on January 11. Based on the available information, Bargain Game was played for the 1,000th1,001st time in daytime history on Friday. Bargain Game is the eleventh game to reach 1,000 playings and is the most recently introduced game to achieve this mark. Next game to potentially reach 1,000 playings: Grocery Game (978 playings), although at the rate Grocery Game is being played lately, Plinko (949 playings) might get there first. For the first time season, all three small prizes were won in Pathfinder. Unfortunately, the good luck in the small prize portion of the game didn't help snap this game's current 11 game losing streak. Contestants bid on three Showcases this week that had a trip(s) as its main prize. Overall, contestants have bid on 6 trip Showcases so far this season, which is already more than in all of Season 40 (4) and Season 39 (3). So far this season, the first Showcase was more expensive than the second Showcase in exactly 50% of the episodes. This is a significant change from Seasons 36-40, where it was the more expensive Showcase in only 42.25% of the epsiodes (322/762).

Comments for the Weeks of April 1-4 & April 8-12

Biggest winners: Kimmmberly Wagenman ($47,261) (April 2), Maya Jackson ($44,575) (April 8) Pricing Game losing streaks snapped: Switch? - 5 straight losses - prior to the April 4 win the game had last been won on February 19, 2013 Pathifnder - 12 straight losses - prior to the April 8 win the game had last been won on November 5, 2012 So far this season, 88 Showcase Showdowns have been won by the first spinner, 88 Showcase Showdowns have been won by the second spinner and 88 Showcase Showdowns have been won by the third spinner. (Between Seasons 29-40 the split was 30%-34%-36% between the first, second and third spinners, respectively.) The six one bids on the April 1 episode totalled $11,375 - the highest amount so far this season. The $4,662 trip to Laguna Beach, offered in the sixth one bid round of the April 1 episode, was the most expensive one bid since a $5,434 trip to Harrisburgh was offered on December 23, 2010. There was a $4,761 difference between the choices for the April 1 playing of Double Prices ($15,777 and $11,016). That's the largest spread between both prices since at least Season 29 (excluding the June 15, 2007 playing when Double Prices was played for a car.) On April 2, Master Key was played second for the first time since April 28, 2008. Also on April 2, Push Over became the first Pricing Game to be won 20 times this season. This is by far the most wins Push Over has ever had in one season (previous high: 16 in Season 40). This is also the first time since Season 36 where a game other than Switch? exceeded 20 wins in a single season. There was a $25,327 difference between the value of both Showcases on the April 2 episode. That's the largest difference so far this season. On April 4, Mallory chose to play for the car in Temptation. That snapped a streak of nine playings (since May 31 of last season) where every single contestant decided to quit and take the gifts. On April 9, Coming or Going was played for a trip and "coming" was the right price. That snapped a streak of 18 playings (since December 8 of last season) where "going" was the right choice when Coming or Going was played for a trip. On April 11, Grand Game was played for a $11.00 target price. That's the largest target of the season and the highest since May 18, 2009 ($13.00). Grand Game now has an overall record of 0-5 when it's played for a target price that exceeds $9.50. Kathrin's unintentional $13,000 bid on the first bidding round of the April 11 episode is the highest bid of the season and is the first five digit bid since May 23 of last season. On April 12, Melynda lost Shell Game even though she won three chips. Since Season 29, Shell Game has an overall record of 17-3 under these conditions. The other losses occured on April 1, 2005 and June 1, 2007. With Swap Meet and Shell Game suffering their first losses of the season, Bonus Game (2-0) is now the only remaining undefeated game this season. Meanwhile, there are still 9 Pricing Games that have not been fully won (Gas Money, Golden Road, Master Key, Pass the Buck, Pay the Rent, Plinko, Punch a Bunch, Step Up, Temptation) and 3 Pricing Games where absolutely nothing has been won (Check-Out, Stack the Deck, Triple Play). The non-cash grocery games continue to get neglected. So far in 2013, Bullseye, Check-Out, Grocery Game, Hi Lo, Now.. or Then and Pick-a-Pair have been played a combined grand total of 9 times. During this same span, Grand Game has been played 12 times and It's in the Bag has been played 10 times. It's a similar story for the grocery product car games. While Pass the Buck and Stack the Deck have been played four times each in 2013, Hole in One and Let em Roll have only been played once each.

Comments for the Weeks of April 15-19

Biggest winner this week: Shrikant Patel ($32,318) (March 19) Season marks set this week: 200th car games loss - Rat Race on April 16; 100th one prize quickie game won - Freeze Frame on April 19. On Monday, Heidi won $23,045 in prizes, which is the smallest total so far this season amongst all Showcase winners. By comparison, $23,045 would have been the ninth smallest win for all Showcase winners last season. Also on Monday, Jeffrey won Race Game after trying three different combinations. That snapped a streak of 15 straight playings where the game was not fully won when the contestant tried more than 2 combinations. During this streak, Race Game had a record of 11-1 when contestants only needed one or two combinations. On Tuesday, Grand Game was played fifth, becoming the eighteenth Pricing Game to be played in all six slots at least once this season. (Joining Push Over, 1 Wrong Price, Coming or Going, Switch?, Flip Flop, Freeze Frame, Plinko, It's in the Bag, Temptation, Squeeze Play, Cliff Hangers, Shopping Spree, One Away, Most Expen$ive, Any Number, That's Too Much! and Most Expen$ive). There was a tie in the spin-off of Tuesday's second Showcase Showdown. Last time double overtime was required: April 23 of last season. A double spin-off tie hasn't happened since February 14, 2005. Also on Tuesday, the orange rat picked up its fourth win of the season in Rat Race. (The orange rat is tied for first in wins with the pink rat). Unfortunately, contestant's have not benefitted from the orange's rat success - no contestants have chosen the orange rat so far this season. Conversely, the green rat has been chosen seven times, but it has yet to pick up a win this season. On Wednesday, Lauren barely won Range Game: the right price was right on the bottom edge of the range finder. These close wins have occured quite frequently in the past tgree years: There were wins by $2 on June 13, 2011 and November 7, 2011, a win by $1 on October 1, 2010 and wins by $0 on October 5, 2010 and April 4, 2012. On Friday, three different contestant bid perfectly on their one bid. Since Season 29, that's happened only two other times: January 3, 2003 and May 29, 2006. The past seven aired Showcase rounds have been pretty consistent: 6 were won by the runner-up, 6 had a Showcase overbid and 6 had the most expensive Showcase as Showcase #1.

Comments for the Weeks of April 22-26

Biggest winner this week: Ani Khojasarian ($124,017) (Apr. 24) - Ani is the third biggest winner in daytime history. Pricing Game losing streaks snapped: Pay the Rent - 30 straight losses - for the first time ever, $100,000 was won in this game Coming or Going - 7 straight losses (5 based on actual airdates) On Monday, the $250,000 slip in Punch a Bunch was placed in hole #29 (Row 3, Column 9). Since Season 30, that hole had been previously selected five times by contestants: March 21, 2002 ($100), February 5, 2004 ($5,000), March 27, 2006 ($100), January 18, 2012 ($5,000) and June 7, 2012 ($2,500). Unfortunately that hole was not selected for a sixth time on Monday's playing. On Wednesday, Five Price Tags was played for the 11th time this season. That's the most playings this game has received in one season since Season 32. Five Price Tags is on pace to be played 14 times this season, which would be the most playings since Season 16. Also on Wednesday, Switch? was played for two prizes worth $4,328. That's the lowest prize package offered in this game since March 8, 2010 ($3,998). $137,073 in cash and prizes was won on Wednesday's episode, which is the highest one day total since June 4 of last season ($172,365 - but that includes 6 bonus trips worth $5,882 each) and the Season 40 premiere ($158,502). With the $100,000 win, Pay the Rent is now the Pricing Game that has awarded the most cash this season. (Pay the Rent is first with $130,000, followed by Plinko with $120,100). On Thursday, Cliff Hangers was won for the 20th time this season. 20 is already the most wins for this game in one season since at least Season 29. (Previous high: 18 wins in Seasons 30 and 31). Thursday's episode concluded with the 14th double overbid of the season - the most since Season 35. Since Season 29, the most double overbids in one season is 16 (set in Season 29). While we have not had an episode this season where all six Pricing Games were fully won (and we haven't had one since February 12, 2010), we have had eight episodes with five Pricing Games wins, including Thursday's episode. That's the most 5/6 days since Season 37. So far this season, a Pricing Game has been played for a Summerset Outdoor Living Barbecue Island (either the $9,359 or the $9,495 model) 11 times. These playings have an overall record of 6-5. The five losses occurred only in Freeze Frame (twice) and Squeeze Play (three times).

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