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Applying Game Theory to “The Price is Right”

This article discusses various strategies contestants on “The Price is Right” can take to optimize their chances of winning. The first strategy the author discusses has to do with guessing the price of an item if the contestant is the last bidder. He claims that the last bidder should “bid one dollar more than the highest bidder” because this provides the contestant with the widest range of winning prices. This does not work every single time, but greatly increases someone’s chances of winning that round. This would be characterized – as we learned in class – the last bidder’s best response strategy because it is the most favorable choice when taking the other players’ strategies into account.

Another strategy discussed in this article pertains to the “Now or Then” portion of the show. Contestants have to guess if an item is labelled with its current price or a past price, and there are six items. They win if they guess correctly three times in a row. Apparently, four items are always “Now” and two items are always “Then.” The author states that many contestants try to discern the “Then” items from the “Now” items, but shows that this is not the correct approach. He provides a diagram to prove that it is possible to win this portion of the show every single time. Contestants should guess “Now” on the first three items, and then base the rest of their decisions on the accuracy of their first three guesses. The diagram shows that contestants can win using Game Theory and do not actually have to memorize the current and past prices of any items. Again, this approach uses best response strategy as it changes.

This article proves that Game Theory is extremely useful outside common games such as Connect Four and Tic-Tac-Toe. Many of the same tactics can be applied to more complex games, like the guessing games in “The Price is Right.” Contestants can increase their chances of winning and even guarantee victory through a few simple strategies. This is significant because if Game Theory can be applied to such seemingly-complex situations, then what else can it apply to? As we learned in class, best response strategies are extremely useful in the world of games; however, when we take a closer look, what else can such strategies be used for? Game Theory can be a powerful tool if applied properly and can win people hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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