Optimal Stopping in “The Showcase Showdown”

Abstract

One of the games routinely played on the TV game show The Price is Right involves spinning a large wheel with the nickel values 5, 10, 15, …, 100 on it. The object of the game is to have the highest total score, from one or two spins, of all of the players in the game without going over a dollar (100). Using conditional probability and a Pascal computer program, the authors derive the optimal stopping times for all three players in the usual game.

Key Words:

• Combinatorics
• Computer simulation
• Conditional probability