Buy or Sell

Buy or Sell is a pricing game on the American television game show "The Price Is Right". Debuting on March 27, 1992, it is played for three four-digit prizes, each valued between $1,000 and $4,000; along with a cash bonus.

Gameplay

The contestant is shown three prizes, each an incorrect price either above or below the actual price. One by one, the contestant must determine whether to "buy" or "sell" a particular item. The goal is to "profit" by buying underpriced items, and selling overpriced items.

After all three decisions are made, the actual prices are revealed one at a time. For a correct decision, the difference between the two marked and actual prices is added to the contestant's bank. For a wrong decision, the difference is subtracted from the contestant's bank.

After all three prices have been revealed, if the contestant has a positive total in their bank (at least $1), he wins all three prizes plus the bank total in cash. "Breaking even" (finishing with $0 in the bank) is considered a loss, although the prices are usually chosen to prevent this from happening.

History

The cash bonus was not added to the game until October 30, 1997. The highest cash award possible in the game, which has been won three times, is $1,900, since the differences used are always multiples of $100 and the tote board can't display anything larger than "1" as its thousands digit.

Buy or Sell's tote board was staged in several different locations over the course of its first few playings. On November 30, 1998 the digital readout on the board was changed from pink neon lights on a blue background to greenish-blue LCD-type digits displayed on a black background, as the original tote board was hard to read. In the first few playings of Buy or Sell the tote board was much larger than it is today.