Grocery Game

1972 - Present

Another one of the first five pricing games ever, Grocery Game sees frequent play to this date. Five grocery items are shown. The contestant selects an item along with the quantity of that item the contestant wishes to purchase. The total for that item is added on a cash register, with the goal of hitting a total of $6.75 to $7.00 (later $20 to $21) without going over. If the range is hit, the contestant wins a bonus prize. As long as the contestant is under the target range, s/he can keep purchasing items, but if the total goes over the range, the game is over. Naturally, once a grocery item has been used, it can not be used again. In the very early days of the game, the contestant was given $100 in cash at the start of the game. Presumably, the contestant kept this money as long as s/he didn't go over the range, and if for some reason the contestant chickened out, they could still keep the $100 bonus. If they hit the desired range, they won the bonus prize and the $100; if they went over the range, they lost it all.

Set Changes: A tacky Grocery Game sign has been added to the display, the table on which the items sits has been refurbished, and the cash register has improved with the ages, although it is still not digital to this date. A "WIN/OVER" readout has been added to the top of the register since the game's inception.

Here comes Grocery Game! Check out Janice's short skirt...me-ow!	That's a good prize for bacon. She took three bacons, making her total $2.97.

Janice still runs that register to this date!	Here's version 2.0 of the Grocery Game set.

This contestant went over...and then some! She was supposed to stop at $7! Note the "WIN/OVER" readout on top of the register.	Here's what Grocery Game looks like today.

Here's another FGI: Frequent Grocery Item. $1.29!	Yikes. He must not have known that. He was supposed to hit between $20-21!
Here's an even WORSE overbid from 11/02!