Check Out
A pricing game that compliments Grocery Game with its test of pricing knowledge.
Five grocery items are placed on a counter. One at a time, the contestant is asked to give the price of each grocery item. Afterwards, the actual price of each grocery items is revealed, also one at a time. At the end, if the contestant’s total is two dollars above or two dollars below the actual total, they win a large prize.
Check Out is one of the most “basic” tests of pricing offered on The Price is Right, testing garden-variety pricing skills most people use every day.
S10, January 28 1982 – Present
Likely created by Sam Governale, with presentation help from Kathy Greco and Barbara Hunter
She’s going to be the first contestant ever to check out Check-Out!
Notable for being the first TPIR prop to use vane displays. The font design would feature prominently in this game…including this card that showed the 50 cent range the contestant had to work with.
To win, Barbara will give a price for each of these five grocery items. Her total must be 50 cents above or below the actual total.
Holly was assigned to input each of the contestant’s guesses with this giant “calculator”.
Bob asks Barbara for the price of the chunk chicken. She believes it is 69 cents.
Holly punches that amount in the calculator.
After four more rounds of guessing with the other products, Barbara ends up with a total of $5.43. The actual total must be between $4.93 and $5.93 for her to win.
The actual price of the chunk chicken is 79 cents, as shown by the price reveal that resembles a paper grocery bag. Barbara was ten cents off.
That amount is shown on the larger display below her total.
The cumulative total is tallied after each reveal. We’re down to the wire, and the total is $4.26 with one item to go.
The actual price of the Icy Hot is $1.75, making the final total…
$6.01, leaving a difference of…
…58 cents. Close! Note the “LOSS” indicated in the vane display font.
Barbara played well, but she gets no portable hot tub for her trouble.
S11, Jan 11 1983
Deborah, who played during a time Bob said the game had an 80% win rate, fared much better. She gets a catamaran, and we get a “WIN”!
Bob declared the game “A testimonial to the shopping ability of the people who come to The Price is Right!”
S15, Jan 26 1987
The vane display 50 cent card proved to be hard to be read from a distance. It was eventually replaced with this card that had a larger print.
S22, Oct 19, 1993
Whoopsie, the game revealed a tad too early! The calculator was folded into the game behind the Giant Price Tag.
S24, May 2 1996
Check-Out was taken out of the rotation in September 1995 because the front large vane display needed to be repaired. It came back in April 1996, but now with an eggcrate display.
The producers also took advantage of the hiatus to increase the winning range to $1 above or below.
In the end, it didn’t matter. The contestant lost by 20 cents. Also, the new display had some kinks that needed to be worked out…
S29, Dec 19 2000
Straying further from its vane display roots, Check-Out debuted its new paint job on Christmas Week, 2000.
S29, Feb 13 2001
It is also, by this point, becoming increasingly obvious that the buttons on the calculator no longer had an actual function…
S29, Feb 23 2001
…thus, it was decided to remove the calculator in February, 2001. The control booth now lit up the guesses and the total on the upper display.
S30, Mar 4 2002
In the early 00’s, Check-Out fell hard from its winning ways in the 1980s. Inflation and expensive medical products and supplements being used in the game made it almost unwinnable.
S31, Oct 31 2002
From September 1999 to June 2003, Check-Out had a 4-30 record, including going winless in Season 29!
S32, Oct 13 2003
To combat this, Check-Out’s range was increased to $2 above and below in October 2003. Here, Bob is emphasizing rule change to Linda because “We haven’t had as many winners as we’d like in this game.” Truth!
As it turned out, Linda didn’t need it because she would’ve won with the previous $1 above or below range! The new range did help give the game it’s first winning record in several seasons, so mission accomplished!
S18, Apr 4 1990
There have been three known playings of Check-Out in which the contestant matched the actual total: Gary in 1990…
S36, Jul 4 2008
…and Pauline, on the Fourth of July, 2008. What a way to celebrate America’s birthday!
And yes, his bid wasn’t close. In fact, he wasn’t particularly close bidding any product. His bids on the five products were off by over $10 in total.
But he still won a Lord of the Rings sightseeing trip in New Zealand…
because his overbids and underbids ended up offsetting each other nearly perfectly! The overall difference was just one penny!
S44, Oct 6 2015
Ernesto couldn’t quite handle the pressure of bidding on juice, and needed Drew for extra support.
…or for a car, for that matter…
…but neither of those mattered to Lisa, who made short work of the game.
S48, Jan 20 2020
Grammy Award winning singer/drummer Anderson .Paak is on hand with this $10,000+ music room! He even adds live drum sound effects to each reveal.
He must’ve brought good luck. Janelle won by the skin of her teeth!
S53, Dec 24, 2024
In this Holiday Heroes episode of The Price is Right at Night, 911 dispatcher Blayney is playing a very special game of Check-Out!
Not only is a $25,409 camping trailer at stake…
Drew reveals a bonus: For ever grocery item she guesses the exact price to, she’ll win $20,000, giving her the potential to earn ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!
No money or camping trailer tonight, unfortunately. Thankfully, she is still filled with Christmas cheer.
- Punch in the year 1982 in the Tiny Timeline
- Bag up your Check Out knowledge at the Golden-Road FAQ
- Check Out other grocery games from the early 80s like Hit Me, Now or Then, and Pick a Pair
- Return to “Golden Game Gallery“
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