The game, its history, and our simulation · WYGL
Plinko on The Price Is Right combines a pricing round with a board full of pegs and cash pockets. Contestants earn chips, choose where to release them, and watch the bounces decide the payout. The game above is our classic-style simulation: it gives you five chips immediately. Below, we explain the television rules, the board’s history, and what our drop-position test found.
How to Play Plinko on The Price Is Right
The contestant starts with one chip and can earn four more through small-prize pricing questions. Then they take their chips to the top of the board and release them one at a time. Each chip’s landing pocket determines its cash value, and the amounts are added together.
First, earn the extra chips
A small prize is shown with two digits. One digit is correct in its displayed position; the contestant chooses which one. A correct answer earns the prize and another chip. There are four such opportunities.
For a concrete example, the debut episode showed a price of $12 before revealing $32. Choosing the second digit, 2, was the right answer.
Then, drop the chips
The contestant chooses a release position, but cannot steer a chip after letting it go. Pegs and side guides change its path on the way down. A $0 landing adds nothing for that chip; it does not erase the money already won.
Our game skips the pricing questions. You get five chips at the start. Choose a drop position, press Drop a chip, and follow the result in Your five drops.
- 01Earn chips
- 02Drop them
- 03Add the winnings
Watch Plinko in Action
See how the chips move across the real TV board and land in the prize slots.
The Plinko Board and Prize Values
The classic board has a broad rectangular playing area, staggered pegs, side guides, and nine pockets along the bottom. The pegs interrupt the fall; the guides bring chips back toward the field. The pockets collect the chips and identify the amount won.
The amounts read as follows from left to right. Our board uses this same sequence:
- $100
- $500
- $1,000
- $0
- $10,000
- $0
- $1,000
- $500
- $100
Left → right. On a narrow screen, swipe the row to see all nine pockets.
Special episodes can use different values, so a headline about a larger win may describe a different prize setup.
Nine pockets do not mean nine equally likely outcomes. Counting destinations tells you nothing by itself about how often a chip reaches each one. A probability claim needs evidence about the particular board and the way chips are released.
When Did Plinko Debut on The Price Is Right?
- 1983
Plinko debuts
The first playing aired on January 3, with Bob Barker hosting. The original $5,000 center pocket made $25,000 possible with five chips.
- 1998
The center value increases
The center pocket rose to $10,000, doubling the five-chip ceiling to $50,000.
- 2017 & 2019
Two memorable wins
The stories below follow Ryan Belz’s standard-format game and Michael Stouber’s Big Money Week appearance.
That distinction helps when watching old clips. A board with a $5,000 center can reflect the earlier prize structure. Likewise, unusually large amounts in a special episode should not be read as the standard values for every playing.
Memorable Plinko Wins
May 25, 2017 · Standard format
Ryan Belz: $31,500 in 2017
His five chips landed in $10,000, $1,000, $10,000, $500, and $10,000 pockets. The result was reported as a Plinko record at the time. Three center hits account for most of the total, but the other two chips counted too.
October 14, 2019 · Big Money Week
Michael Stouber: $202,000 in a 2019 special
In a special format with a $200,000 center pocket, his four chips produced $200,000, $0, $1,000, and $1,000. His total prizes across the episode were worth $262,742.97, including other prizes—not just his Plinko score.
Does Drop Position Matter in Plinko?
Does starting on the left, in the center, or on the right change where a chip lands?
We tested 10,000 drops from each position using the same physics model as Explore Board: 30,000 trials in total. All settings and the set of starting variations were the same; only the drop position changed.
Center drops returned the highest average virtual payout in this run: $2,050.49 per completed drop. Center drops had the highest $0 rate (32.02%). These are observed results for this sample, not a guarantee for any single drop.
All 30,000 attempts completed: 10,000 from each starting position. Percentages and average payouts use completed drops from the corresponding position as their denominator.
Bar scale: 0–40% of completed drops
Bar scale: 0–40% of completed drops
Bar scale: 0–40% of completed drops
Slots 1–9 run from left to right; all charts use the same scale. WYGL Classic model 2.4.0 · September 30, 2026 (UTC) · 30,000 attempts.
| Position | Average virtual payout | $0 rate | $10,000 rate | Completed / attempted | Unresolved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left | $1,275.58 | 19.10% | 8.51% | 10,000 / 10,000 | 0 |
| Center | $2,050.49 | 32.02% | 17.03% | 10,000 / 10,000 | 0 |
| Right | $1,279.14 | 19.17% | 8.63% | 10,000 / 10,000 | 0 |
These results come from the WYGL physics model. They are not official probabilities for the physical TV board.
The Official Online Game and Our Classic Simulation
Official Plinko Pegs
The Price Is Right Plinko Pegs from Arkadium uses round goals and progression.
- Format
- A gamified browser adaptation.
- Goal
- Meet the round’s target and advance.
- Additional mechanics
- Upgrades, including magnets and walls.
WYGL Classic Plinko
Choose a position, release a chip, and watch its path.
- Format
- A classic-style board with five chips.
- Goal
- Add up the results of your drops.
- Additional mechanics
- Explore Board compares repeated runs of our model; the pricing round is skipped.
You may also find the Arkadium game on partner sites, including AARP and The Washington Post. Those are places to play the adaptation, not three independently developed interpretations of the television board.
TV Plinko vs Casino Plinko
The two layouts are easiest to understand side by side. These screenshots show our own implementations of the classic and modern formats.
| Feature | Classic TV Plinko | Common casino-style Plinko |
|---|---|---|
| Board shape | Roughly constant-width rectangular field; selectable release position. | Widening triangular rows beneath a release point near the top. |
| Playing piece | A chip. | Typically an animated ball. |
| Pocket labels | Cash amounts added to the score. | Multipliers applied under the game’s betting rules. |
| Session format | Up to five earned chips. | Repeated bets rather than a TV pricing round. |
| Setting | A physical television game; represented here by a WYGL simulation. | A digital gambling game; our free version is a separate demonstration. |
A label such as 2× expresses a return relative to the stake under that game’s rules. A cash amount and a multiplier are not interchangeable.
A similar animation does not prove that two games generate outcomes in the same way. Different software can use different rules, paytables, and outcome models. Check the explanation for the specific version you are using.
For a walkthrough of modern versions, see our Plinko how-to-play guide. To try the other WYGL format, visit our free Plinko game. The real-money guide discusses a separate category of gambling games. Neither link is a way to participate in The Price Is Right.
The Price Is Right Plinko Board Games
Physical home adaptations let people play the basic drop-and-bounce idea away from a screen. Rules, scoring, board sizes, and included pieces vary by edition.
If you are choosing one, check the number of chips, scoring rules, recommended age, and the manufacturer’s setup and safety instructions.
Plinko has changed since 1983, but its central idea is still simple: release a chip and see where the bounces take it. To try the classic mechanic for yourself, return to the board at the top of this page.