Five Fun Facts about PLINKO

[@michaelsloan9085]

In Ontario Canada we have a Plinko lottery ticket and if you get a CHIP symbol you redeem it at the retailer and watch a Plinko chip go down the board to reveal your prize. If you win the chance to play for big money in Toronto, you get to play on a replica Plinko board at the lottery head office. :)

[@SSoto_21]

That's really cool!

[@angelaroseneder7980]

Lucky ducks. I live in Alberta, no fair :(

[@davinp]

NBC has a game show called The Wall which is similar to Plinko. On this game show, contests drop balls down and the slot it falls in is how much money they woman.. However, get a trivia question wrong and the balls turned and you lose money. In the beginning they give you free money and later they drop red balls taking the money away.

[@willmack5909]

Honorable mention about the Plinko stick. Also how the game got its name, as the sound of the chips going down the pegs made a "plinking" sound, and then Bob Barker said "Some of our staff members drink..." And while I understand why this pricing game is so beloved, I personally am not a very big fan of it. One other fun fact, the pricing element of the game with the small prizes is unique, having to decide if the first digit is correct or the second digit is. All other pricing games involving small prizes usually involves higher/lower, true/false, choice A or choice B as the pricing element, so Plinko is quite unique in that respect too. That said, a perfect playing of the game could yield someone winning $0 as that has happened before. Also, getting all 4 small prizes incorrect could still yield a $10,000 win. It's not a horrible game but I always felt that it has been highly highly over-rated. The number of huge wins is so small.

[@TBONE_2004]

I saw that on the tribute to Bob Barker. That was kinda funny...

[@angelaroseneder7980]

Gotta agree with you on that one. That's why Cliff Hangers is my favourite, and I love the Yodely guy song :D

[@IlGreven]

There has never been an "official" win on Plinko...if by "win" we mean "contestant gets the top prize"...which would require them to hit the center slot five times.

[@gregrider8154]

I read somewhere that the plinko chips are very expensive to make. Also, they are supposedly locked up in a safe when not in use.

[@meyerj75]

Another honorable mention. Plinko debuted on the same date NBC gave the green light to three game shows: a 1980s reboot of Sale of the Century, Hit Men, and Just Men. Only one would last longer than 13 weeks and would stick around for more than 6 years, a great companion to Wheel Of Fortune. The date in question was 1-3-1983.

[@Musicradio77Network]

And another honorable mention, “Plinko” is still a runaway hit, but they copied the actual game. For example, NBC had “The Wall” where they used a similar board layout than “Plinko” did where you can win a million dollars. “The Wall” wasn’t too bad.

[@tnate6004]

Just Men! was a fun show hosted by Betty White and won her a Daytime Emmy. Playing off her Sue Ann Nivens persona a bit, the announcer would open the show by introducing all the male celebs and then ask, "And why are we all here, Betty?". "Because it's Just Men!" she replied enthusiastically.

[@JohnathanWilliamson849]

Coincidentally 10 and a half years prior on 9-4-1972 3 game shows debuted on the same day on CBS, The Joker's Wild, Gambit, and The Price is Right of course. Joker's Wild ran for 3 years on CBS and then had a syndicated run that lasted for 9 years while Gambit lasted for 4 years on CBS and then had a short lived revival on NBC called Las Vegas Gambit in the early 80s.

[@JohnathanWilliamson849]

I feel like there so many facts about Plinko that even 10 facts wouldn't be enough to cover it all.

[@foxmccloud7055]

#3 was a complete and absolute disaster. Cyndi Siedleman of Game Show Garbage has a video on what happened on her page.

[@foxmccloud7055]

@petercolbeysgameshowmania7176 Sorry for that, got it corrected.

[@petercolbeysgameshowmania7176]

@@foxmccloud7055 Thanks.

[@raffi19791]

Here is another fun fact: Plinko is a cash and prize game in some countries.

[@alfonsogreen2722]

I still love Plinko 2 this day

[@heidimountain606]

I preferred the original colour scheme of Plinko!, they used the same paint colours on Take Two and New Card Game when both of those games were repainted in 1983. Also, Atlantic Lotto Corporation sells The Price Is Right themed scratch tickets that feature Plinko on them at stores that sell ALC products in the Canadian Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, I know this because my grandfather scratches them.

[@JohnathanWilliamson849]

Game Shows always love making scratch tickets. Makes them a lot of money.

[@junkaholic95]

Another fun fact that most people don't know about: Plinko was originally designed and built with a 4-digit scoreboard, an oversight which wasn't caught until it hit the air. This is why the score wasn't lit up on the very first playing. By the second playing, the scoreboard was altered to accommodate 5 digits.

[@MyGuyJustinH]

I never knew that.

[@toddwacha5108]

Fun Fact: Frank Wayne (RIP), who created Plinko for The Price Is Right, also created the Master Key and Professor Price pricing games. Bonus Fun Fact: Master Key AND Plinko debuted on The Price Is Right on the SAME DAY in 1983.

[@meyerj75]

Not to mention Trader Bob in 1980.

[@toddwacha5108]

@@meyerj75 Actually, Trader Bob was created by Phil Wayne, not Frank Wayne.

[@MrRight80]

And 1 free chip. I don't think there ever was a game where a contestant won 0 dollars

[@docadams7099]

there have been a couple of those games.

[@masterbuilder8849]

This is my favorite game I feel like actually playing the game some mini golf courses even have a plinko hole or a few

[@JonesDylan874]

Plinko is so much fun! Though, it's gonna be a cold day in heck when someone wins the top prize ($50,000, $100,000, etc.)

[@foxmccloud7055]

Honorable Mention- If a contestant won $50,000 on Plinko, an additional $26,000 on the big wheel and was a "Double Showcase Winner", then the contestant would walk away with over $130,000 in cash and prizes. Also, the clangs and whoops sound effect is played when a contestant hits the $10,000 slot five times in a row winning $50,000 in the process.

[@isaiahhatten7973]

How do you know? Did they say it'll happen because it hasn't yet

[@foxmccloud7055]

@isaiahhatten7973 Because I calculated the Plinko top cash prize, I added the bonus prizes of the showcase showdown and averaged out the showcase (which is on average $35,000 to $50,000).

[@isaiahhatten7973]

@@foxmccloud7055 I meant how do you know if they're gonna add the sirens to the $50,000 win. I prolly should've been more specific

[@foxmccloud7055]

@@isaiahhatten7973 That one came from Drew Carey in regards to the Clangs and whoops sound effect.

[@shoredude2]

On The Price Is Right, a game is considered won if the contestant wins the announced top prize. Since nobody has ever won the top prize, it has technically never been won.

[@MyGuyJustinH]

One fact about Plinko is during the first playing of the game the display that shows how much money the contestants have won was not working.

[@msxvideo]

Funny you mention that. I actually decided against mentioning it, because I wasn't sure if it was broken or just simply not used that day.

[@adameng8008]

Great fun facts about Plinko. I enjoy this series and looking forward to future videos of every pricing game of the Price is Right.

[@stevendice6572]

Isn't Plinko the longest running game were no one has ever won the top dollar prize amount? (middle slot with all 5 Plinko chips).

[@Link720.]

What about the woman named Margie who had all 5 plinko chips go into the 0 slot?

[@msxvideo]

That doesn't seem like too fun of a fact to me. Poor Margie!

[@Link720.]

I know, I just wanted you to mentioned it.@@msxvideo

[@meyerj75]

If Scapino TV didn't mention to "Fritz" incident for Cliff Hangers, one may assume this wouldn't also be mentioned either.

[@CP9712]

Plinko is my game (as i was born on day before it premiered)

[@jamesmoss3424]

40 years later Plinko is still brilliant today. 😀👍

[@SupermarketSweep777]

Here's some other facts about Plinko. (And why I think it's the worst pricing game the show ever made.) 1. Plinko is tied with Bullseye I as the only two pricing games that have never been won by rules of the show. As such Plinko holds the record for longest running pricing game with no actual winner. 2. The rough odds of winning Plinko normally is 1/944,784. (1/16 odds from the 1st half and 1/59049 odds from the 2nd half).

[@UncleFrosty]

Also: PLINKO HAS NEVER EVER BEEN WON!

[@UncleFrosty]

Let me explain: a win would be a win of the top prize offered. This never happened.

[@JonesDylan874]

Though, some fans call it a win if at least one chip goes into the center.

[@tyvulpintaur2732]

I've always found Plinko to be the most boring game in the entire show.