Penny Ante
A simple and quick–but very memorable–grocery product game.
The contestant was given three oversized “pennies”, and would have to surrender one upon making a mistake. Two grocery products were shown, each with four possible prices. The contestant started by trying to guess the first product’s price, and upon succeeding moved on to the second. Losing all three pennies ended the game, but picking both prices for both products won a large prize.
Penny Ante was memorable for its elaborate set, exciting chase lights, and iconic “wubba” sound effect played as each price was revealed. Perhaps no price reveal on the show was more unique than Penny Ante’s.
This elaborate set caused its downfall. After 20 years of use, the set began malfunctioning, and the staff briefly considered retiring it rather than repairing it. By the time they had reconsidered a few days later, the set had been left outside near the trash and permanently damaged in a rainstorm. For years, the staff had intended to rebuild the game and bring it back, but plans never got off the ground until the 50th season when To the Penny was created as a spiritual successor.
S7, January 25 1979 – S30, June 14 2002
Likely created by Frank Wayne
And all that’s standing between her and that trip is the Penny Ante board!
Judy gets her three oversized “pennies”. She’ll have to give one up for every mistake.
Choreographed, exaggerated camera movements were more important to the direction of Penny Ante than perhaps any other pricing game. Even the grocery product reveals demanded dramatic zooms!
First, Judy has to guess the price of the syrup. Is it 75¢, 69¢…
81¢, or 58¢? Even the chase lights are giant pennies.
Judy’s first guess is 69¢. To test it, Bob presses the price down, and we hear…
*wubba wubba wubba*… DING!
Judy carries all three pennies to the next product. She’ll have three chances to guess the price of the candy.
Is the Caramello 65¢, 72¢…
89¢, or 94¢?
Her first guess is 72¢, and it is…
…wrong.
Judy must hand over a penny for the mistake.
Her next guess is 89¢… and she’s on her way to Tahiti!
S7, Jan 26, 1979
Penny Ante initially looked and played differently. The set was colored in copper and zinc tones, and a product’s price could appear anywhere among eight prices.
S7, Jan 31, 1979
The biggest difference was that wrong answers spilled their value in actual pennies on the board.
For example, this contestant has accumulated 71¢ in wrong answers. Collecting 100 pennies meant the contestant lost.
The game was only played this way five times before being streamlined into its more familiar ruleset. Outside of the classic Golden Gallery, those original playings haven’t been seen in over 45 years.
“The Joker’s Wild”
Penny Ante’s famous “wubba” sound effect didn’t even originate on TPIR, but on The Joker’s Wild. It had also appeared on other CBS shows like Double Dare and Tic Tac Dough, but Penny Ante kept it going decades after other shows went off the air.
S8, Mar 4 1980
Deborah’s got all three pennies. All she has to do is pick out the price of the ramen without making three mistakes…
AWWW! She found all three fakes.
S11, Oct 5 1982
The “Price is Right pennies” were made of metal. Bob liked to hold the mic next to them as he dropped each one in the contestant’s hand to get a satisfying “clink” sound.
S12, Jun 5 1984 and S13, Sep 28 1984
By Season 13, the red logo had been replaced by a green and blue one.
S13, Mar 18 1985
Angie was one of the most chaotic Penny Ante players ever. She really didn’t want to admit she was wrong.
First, she insists the Hershey’s chocolate chips are $2.69… not realizing that’s a potential price for the cleaner.
Next, when she guesses wrongly they’re $2.25, she insists, “THEY SHOULD BE! THEY’RE HERSHEY’S!”
“These are checked very carefully, just before the show… GIMME THAT PENNY, KID!”
And on her last guess, she refused to wait for Bob’s tease and hit the button herself!
With relish, Bob comes to collect!
S13, May 16 1985
The green and blue color gradients went away in favor of a single solid shade of green and blue.
S14, Sep 16 1985
They’ve “minted” some new Price is Right pennies, and Bob takes the occasion to show them off.
S22, Nov 5 1993
Penny Ante was one of the staff’s favorite way to close out a show, as it was one of the quickest grocery games. It was played sixth more often than the other five slots combined!
…and Keith won it on his final guess!
S30, Jan 14 2002
After around 22 years of continuous use, the flaps revealing the prices started to mistrigger on occasion.
S30, Feb 21 2002
TPIR staff tried to get around these issues by editing out false reveals, which caused rampant continuity errors…
S30, Feb 1 2002
…but eventually the issue became so prevalent the game was taken out of the rotation as staff discussed its future. Briefly, it was decided to scrap the game.
“The Pricing Games”
The TPIR staff quickly reversed their decision and decided to bring it back, but by then the set was left outside and damaged in a rainstorm beyond repair. The staff claimed plans to rebuild the game with a new set, but it took nearly 20 years before To The Penny was created as a successor.
- Ante up to Penny Ante’s modern successor, To The Penny
- Burn wubba over to the year 1979 in the Tiny Timeline
- Lincoln… er, link in at the Golden-Road FAQ on Penny Ante
- Give your two cents to other retired grocery games like Hit Me, Hurdles, and Super Saver
- Return to “Golden Game Gallery“
Golden-Gallery.net 