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Any Number is a game played for a car and a prize and is one of only two pricing games in which it is not possible to win all of the announced prizes, not including small prizes or cash consolation prizes; the other is the now-retired Telephone Game. It is also one of the few games in which it is impossible not to win a prize, notwithstanding the low value of the piggy bank prize.

Gameplay[]

  • The contestant is shown a game board which lists the names of two prizes and features a picture of a piggy bank as the remaining prize representing money, along with spaces for the digits in their prices: 5 digits for the price of a car, 3 digits for a merchandise prize worth less than $1,000, and 3 digits (including a decimal point) for loose change in the piggy bank.
  • Each digit from 0 through 9 appears exactly once on the board, not including the first digit in the price of the car, which is revealed for the contestant at the start of the game (this amendment was made when cars began retailing for more than $10,000).
  • The contestant is then asked to call out digits, one at a time and their positions on the board are revealed. Whatever price of one of the three prizes the contestant completes first, that's the prize he/she wins.
  • If the contestant wins the prize that's less than $1,000, the losing horns aren't heard; but if the contestant wins the amount in the piggy bank, the losing horns are played, despite the fact that the money is a consolation win.

History[]

  • Any Number was the first pricing game ever played on The Price Is Right, debuting on its premiere broadcast on September 4, 1972 (#0011D). It was played for a Chevrolet Vega worth $2,746, and was won; it was also the final pricing game of Bob Barker's final episode on June 15, 2007 (#4035K), for a Ford Explorer worth $26,850, but was lost. The game was played on both Drew Carey's first taped episode on November 14, 2007 (#4083K, aired out of order on November 27) and the season 36 premiere on October 15, 2007 (#4041K, aired out of order on October 16). Finally, it was the last game to be played in Studio 33 on June 19, 2023 (#0291L, aired out of order on June 26).
    • However, due to Bob's appearance on the 2015 April Fools' day episode (#7073K), this was not the last game he actually hosted - that honor goes to Lucky $even.
  • Originally, cars played for in this game had just four digits in their prices, and no free digit was given until the 13th season. When the game premiered on September 4, 1972 (#0011D), the title of the name wasn't added yet. Despite this, not only was Any Number the first of three pricing games to be played, it was won right away, as was Bonus Game.
  • When the game debuted, Any Number had a physical piggy bank prop and its line on the board had "PIGGY BANK." The former was removed, with the latter replaced by the now-familiar image of the piggy bank to label the row of digits representing the amount inside, during the second week of shows in September 1972.
  • On May 28, 1974 (#0902D), Any Number's title was added to its board. At some point between March 24, 1975 (#1341D), and May 13, 1975 (#1412D), the base of the board became green.
  • At some point between August 20, 1975 (#1553D) and October 27, 1975 (#1651D), the sides of the Any Number board became green. At some point between February 22, 1978 (#2703D), and March 9, 1978 (#2724D), many of the stripes on the board were repainted green.
  • The golden version of the current board has a sliding top label that can cover the first readout number on the top row. This allowed the game to be played alternately for four or five-digit-priced vehicles, which were still common when the new board debuted around the time of the primetime specials on August 21, 1986 (#001P); it was later carried over to the daytime show on October 10, 1986 (#6215D). In addition, the eggcrate displays were changed to incandescent seven-segment models.
  • As of April 26, 2010 (#5141K), the board is silver with no sliding top label, since there are no longer cars under $10,000. In addition, the displays have been converted to monitors housing vane numbers (changed from seven-segment) instead of lighted panels. At the time of this conversion, ten small oval-shaped display monitors were added to the board above the play area; these displays show the contestant the remaining uncalled digits, with each one being crossed off after it is called.
  • Any Number was played perfectly 12 times: 9 times under Bob Barker's tenure and three times under Drew Carey's tenure. The most recent perfect playing happened on November 19, 2018 (#8501K).
  • On May 30, 2016 (#7561K), contestant Steven Conran filled in all but the 2nd number of an SUV. After needing only 1 number to win it, he filled in the first 2 digits of a coffee maker, and then finished the price of, and won, the piggy bank ($8.21).
  • On December 16, 2016 (#7725K), contestant Paul Saville was in a similar situation to Steven's. A 0, 1, or 3 could be used to finish the price of the car, a TV, or the piggy bank. He picked the 3, which won him the car ($19,832).
  • On January 4, 2017 (#7753K), Milton Goldstein was also in a similar situation. He needed to pick a 4, 9, or 0 to win an SUV. He picked the 4 and won the piggy bank ($6.24).
  • On May 5, 2017 (#7925K), contestant Lauren Zahner was in yet another similar situation. She had to pick a 0, 1, or 6 to win a car, a dishwasher, or the piggy bank. She picked the 6, which won her the car ($19,632).
  • On February 17, 2020, (#9031K), during Dream Car Week, Any Number was played for a $81,362 Maserati Ghibli GranSport. Contestant Matthew Reitman was in the same scenario as Lauren and Milton, needing to pick a 0, 6, or 8 to win the Maserati. He picked the 8, which won him the $9.84 piggy bank.
  • The losing horns were not played when the piggy bank was won on October 11, 2021 (#9541K).
  • On a Jackpot January primetime episode aired on January 10, 2024 (#76SP), a one-time rule was in effect for this playing, where the money in the piggy bank, if won, would be multiplied by $10,000. Contestant Diane "won" the $6.27 piggy bank, but for this playing, wound up winning $62,700 instead. The $25,314 Volkswagen Jetta effectively became the secondary prize, and what would normally be the middle 3-digit prize, the laptop, wound up being the consolation prize.

Trivia[]

  • For the first few times Any Number was played, Anitra Ford would show the contestant an actual piggy bank before the contestant picked numbers.
  • Before the name of the game was added to the board, Bob would occasionally call this game "Any Number Wins".
  • It is played with three prizes: a car, a three-digit prize (worth up to $987), and money in a piggy bank (in dollars and cents from $1.02 to $9.87). While the rules of the game technically allow the piggy bank to be worth as little as $0.12, producer Roger Dobkowitz has stated that he would never actually use an amount lower than $1.02. Its lowest known value was $1.09, used on the game's first playing.
  • In this game, a specific car can have a repeating number. For example: if the car's first number is a "2," another "2" can appear in the price of the car.
  • The 3-digit price and the piggy bank cannot have repeating digits in the price. The car, however, may - but not necessarily always will - contain the repeat of the first digit of its 5-digit price.
  • This and Lucky $even are the only two games that feature a ding and losing horns combination. One rare exception is March 2, 1994 (#9103D), where a buzzer sounded for a piggy bank win.
  • Any Number was the only pricing game that was played for more than 100 times in 1 season (season 1).
  • The most number of times this game was played in any season was 116 (season 1), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 16 (season 49).
  • Drew Carey often jokes with contestants that they could use the money from the piggy bank to buy something cheap, such as a cheeseburger or something from the gift shop (which actually does sell merchandise related to the show like T-shirts).
  • It was the 1st of 3 pricing games to debut in the premiere episode on September 4, 1972 (#0011D). The other 2 were Bonus Game and Double Prices.
  • Any Number was one of seven pricing games seen on the first taping session in season 36, which was seen on the October 15, 2007 (#4041K, aired out of order on October 16), October 23, 2007 (#4052K, aired out of order on November 1), November 1, 2007 (#4064K, aired out of order on October 24), November 9, 2007 (#4075K, aired out of order on November 6), November 14, 2007 (#4083K, aired out of order on November 27), and November 19, 2007 (#4091K, aired out of order on December 11). It was also one of three "old" pricing games seen on the sixth taping session of the season, which was seen on November 26, 2007 (#4101K), December 4, 2007 (#4112K), December 12, 2007 (#4123K), January 7, 2008 (#4131K, aired out of order on January 9), January 18, 2008 (#4145K), and January 23, 2008 (#4153K).
  • The 1986 board is currently held by the National Archives of Game Show History. This also means that the 2010 board was, in fact, a completely newly designed board meant to resemble the 1986 board, rather than an extensive refurbishing of the 1986 board.

Foreign versions of Any Number[]

  • Any Number has been used on many versions of The Price Is Right besides the US's, usually with the same basic rules. Versions known to differ from the standard format include the 1980s UK version with Leslie Crowther, in which the numbers 1-9 each appeared once and each line had three digits. Both Crowther's and Bruce Forsyth's versions did another 1972 twist by bringing in an actual piggy bank.
  • France's Le Juste Prix, where the game began by revealing the last number in the big prize's 5-digit price (which was apparently always a 0).
  • Germany's Der Preis ist heiß, where the piggy bank was an actual cash prize of at least DM100 (€51.13); thus, unlike in America, the winning sound was played when it was won.
  • Mexico's Atínale al Precio, which placed the decimal point in the piggy bank's price between the second and third digits so as to allow it to contain more than a negligible amount of money.
  • Italy's OK, Il Prezzo è Giusto!, which had only nine missing digits -- the first four of the largest prize, the first three of the smaller prize, and the first two of the piggy bank -- and used 0s only to fill in the end of each price. Additionally, in several countries, the game's largest prize is only sometimes a car, and still, others do not play the game for cars at all.
  • Colombia's El precio es correcto, Top prize 8-digits, Second Prize 6-digits, Piggy Bank 5-digits. First Two prizes Last 3 Number Free given number (000), Piggybank Last 2 Number Free given number(00).
  • As with any pricing game, each version of the show has a unique look for Any Number's gameboard; arguably the most appropriate was the design on France's Le Juste Prix, where the prices lit up on a board shaped like a piggy bank.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

YouTube Videos[]

Any Number Perfection from 1973 (January 22, 1973, #0211D)
A 1974 playing of "Any Number Wins" (February 8, 1974, #0755D)
Any Number for a Datsun 200SX (February 4, 1981, #3983D)
Any Number Perfection from 1983 (June 23, 1983, #4964D)
Another Any Number Perfection from 1983 (December 15, 1983, #5124D)
Any Number Perfection from 1994 (September 23, 1994, #9275D)
Any Number Perfection from 1998 (November 19, 1998, #0904K)
Worst Playing/Dismal of Any Number (April 8, 2008, #4282K)
Any Number Perfection from 2008 (November 19, 2008, #4513K, aired out of order on November 12)
A Drew Carey Lookalike Plays Any Number (January 28, 2009, #4603K)
Margie Goes Barefoot After Winning Any Number (October 13, 2009, #4862K)
Debut of the Updated Oval Board (April 26, 2010, #5141K)
Any Number Perfection from 2010 (January 4, 2011, #5382K, aired out of order on November 16, 2010)
Christina Wins a Honda Insight EX on Any Number (June 18, 2013, #6402K)
A Playing of Any Number from Decades Week (September 21, 2015, #7211K)
A Crazy Contestant Wins Any Number (January 16, 2017, #7771K)
Any Number Perfection from 2018 (November 19, 2018, #8501K)

1970s Pricing Games
Any Number | Bonus Game | Double Prices | Grocery Game | Bullseye (1) | Clock Game | Double Bullseye | Five Price Tags | Most Expensive | Money Game | Give or Keep | Range Game | Hi Lo | Double Digits | Lucky $even | Temptation | Mystery Price | Shell Game | Card Game | Race Game | Ten Chances | Golden Road | Poker Game | One Right Price | Danger Price | 3 Strikes | Hurdles | Cliff Hangers | Safe Crackers | Dice Game | Bullseye (2) | Switcheroo | Hole in One (or Two) | Squeeze Play | Secret 'X' | Professor Price | Finish Line | Take Two | Shower Game | It's Optional | Punch-A-Bunch | Telephone Game | Penny Ante
Active Pricing Games
Any Number | Bonus Game | Double Prices | Grocery Game | Clock Game | Five Price Tags | Most Expensive | Money Game | Range Game | Hi Lo | Lucky $even | Temptation | Shell Game | Card Game | Race Game | Ten Chances | Golden Road | One Right Price | Danger Price | 3 Strikes | Cliff Hangers | Safe Crackers | Dice Game | Bullseye (2) | Switcheroo | Hole in One (or Two) | Squeeze Play | Secret 'X' | Take Two | Punch-A-Bunch | Bargain Game | Grand Game | Now....or Then | Check Game | Check-Out | Pick-A-Pair | Plinko | Master Key | One Away | Pathfinder | Spelling Bee | Make Your Move | 2 for the Price of 1 | Swap Meet | Pick-A-Number | Switch? | Cover Up | Side by Side | Freeze Frame | Shopping Spree | Eazy as 1-2-3 | It's in the Bag | Line 'Em Up | One Wrong Price | Push Over | Let 'Em Roll | Flip Flop | Triple Play | That's Too Much! | Bonkers | Pass the Buck | Coming or Going | ½ Off | Pocket ¢hange | Balance Game (2) | Stack the Deck | More or Less | Gas Money | Rat Race | Pay the Rent | Double Cross | Do The Math | Time is Money (2) | Vend-O-Price | Hot Seat | Gridlock! | Back to '74 | To The Penny
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