Ten Chances

Ten Chances (later retitled as 10 Chances) is a game played for a car and two prizes. The contestant has ten chances to win three prizes, including a car.

Gameplay[]

The contestant is given ten chances in which to guess the prices of three prizes, including a car, beginning with the least expensive. They are shown three digits, two of which are in the price of the first prize. The contestant writes their guess on the first of ten cards. If they are correct (as indicated by multiple dings), the price is revealed, and they move on to the next prize. If they are not (as indicated by a buzzer), they must write another price on the second card, and so on until they are correct. The numbers are usually 0, 5, and another number. Also, the same number can not be used more than once.
For the second prize, the contestant is shown four digits, three of which are at the correct price. Play continues as with the first prize until they correctly guess the price. Finally, the contestant is shown five digits, all of which are in the price of the car. Again, they must write down the correct price with whatever chances they have left.
If the contestant has used all of their ten chances and has not correctly written the price of the car, they win any prizes that they have correctly priced to that point.
The player is guaranteed to win at least the first prize because there's a maximum number of 6 possible combinations - in fact, the slider for the two-digit prize physically cannot go beyond the 6th chance.
Like Safe Crackers and Make Your Move, as the contestant writes their prices down, they must ensure whatever digits they use, they use them only once.

History[]

Ten Chances was originally played for four-digit cars, and five digits were given, with one unused digit.
Originally, the correct price for each prize was revealed on a red card, just like the card for the available digits; this was quickly changed to blue on November 26, 1975 (#1693D) to differentiate.
On February 23, 1983 (#4813D), Barker wanted contestant Rachela to make history by playing the game perfectly for the first time. She didn't, but the correct car price went down on the third try by mistake, resulting in a technical win. Barker made it worse by claiming the right price is wrong.
On March 23, 1984 (#5255D), contestant Mickey became the first to play Ten Chances perfectly, winning all three prizes in three guesses.
On March 13, 1991 (#7953D), Ten Chances began offering a 5-digit car for the first time and the game never offered any cars less than $10,000 again. Contestants must now use all five numbers provided for the car to make its price.
On November 1, 2000 (#1563K), the price of the first prize was prematurely revealed, as well as the second, and even the third; this resulted in a technical win. After the win, Bob explained that before each episode, the pricing games for the episode, were set up by one crewman, and inspected by two others to make sure they were put together and functioning properly, but the one crewmen who did the setting up, was out for the day, as his wife had just had a baby, and the other two clearly overlooked the matter when setting up the Ten Chances set for the episode.
On January 27, 2004 (#2782K), new buttons are introduced in Ten Chances after the original ones cease to function. The numbers are displayed below the buttons, which are identical to the ones on the Split Decision board. The big red numbered buttons that are pushed to indicate a right or wrong guess were changed to smaller buttons with the numbers below.
When the new color scheme was introduced on September 23, 2010 (#5234K), the prize name is on a yellow card (with blue text), the jumbled digits are on a blue card (with yellow text), and the correct price is on a green card (with yellow text). During that time, the buttons are lit in yellow, and turn off when pressed for wrong answers, but stay on when correct. In addition, the word "Ten" in the game's name was changed to a number 10.
An unwritten rule since the early 1980s is that the prices of all prizes end in 0, except in the rare case that 0 is not one of the provided choices, in which case the last number is always 5. Many contestants do not take this rule into account, even after seeing the first two correct prices. Though Bob and Drew never disclose this rule, they will try to steer contestants away from guesses that don't end in zero. In addition, contestants often attempt to use the same digit more than once at the same price. A contestant attempting to do so is usually corrected and allowed to rewrite an acceptable price. (However, foreign versions most likely do not use the 0/5 rule).
Ten Chances originally had a 10-second time limit for each guess. While the rule has not been formally enforced since the early 1980s, the game is one in which contestants often take a long time to consult with the audience, and host Bob Barker often chided contestants that they would lose a turn if they did not start writing. If the timer did run out, the foghorn sounded and the contestant lost that turn.
When the zero digit rule is played correctly, this is the easiest car game to win on the show, but in any case, contestants are guaranteed to win the first two prizes and have a minimum of two guesses at the car.
In his final years hosting, Bob used the game as a barometer of a contestant's knowledge of the show and of pricing items. He would be visibly distraught or frustrated if they seemed clueless of either, most notably on May 1, 2006 (#3601K), when contestant Joy made history while playing this game. She was down to three chances while going for the car. With choices of numbers "3, 1, 0, 2, 9," she writes down (or tries to write down) a price. On her first chance, she "used the '1' twice," and was told not to do that. Then she tries again and writes down a weird price of $19,130, leaving the second "1" scribbled out. Bob couldn't understand the price after he told her not to write the "1" twice. Joy then scribbles the whole price, to avoid confusion. She later writes down a better price of $19,302, which was the wrong price. Bob was getting frustrated with this and reminded her that, she would "lose her turn if she didn't write." On Joy's second chance, she, at first, writes a "1" and a "3," but changes the "3" to a "9." She writes the "1" again, but changes that to a "2." She later writes down a weird price of $19,213. Despite that, she changed the second "1" to a "0," Joy tries again, and at first, she writes a "1," "3," changed to "9," "2," and "1" (Bob kept reminding her about using the "1" twice, while the audience kept shouting "21!," multiple times), but scribbles it out. She writes down another weird price of $19,021, which leaves Bob exhausted, by telling her again not to use the "1" twice. At this point (with a little space left, to write on the card), Bob is left to tell her which numbers are left, after she writes any two numbers down (as the rules state that all five numbers must be used, but each number may be used only once). She writes down a "1," then a "9," and is reminded that she has the "3," the "2" and the "0," left to use. She then writes down a much better price of $19,320, which was once again the wrong price of the car. Joy was now down to her final chance of winning the car and the game. She writes down a "2," then a "1," and then "3, 9, 0" (after which Bob continued to remind her of what numbers were left to write with), making the price $21,390. And all of a sudden, it turned out to be the right price of the car. Bob exhaustively sits down mouthing out "I can't believe it! I can't believe what happened! I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" and was at a loss of words of what to say, about the whole experience (although he briefly shouts out "Never!"). With that being the case, Bob respectfully takes the show to a commercial break, and then goes back to mouthing out, "I can't believe it."
On April 10, 2014 (#6694K), the second prize card dropped by accident, revealing the price of the karaoke machine, thus, Tammy and Mimy, the contestants who were playing Ten Chances, technically won the karaoke machine.
On March 19, 2014 (#6663K, aired out of order on June 24, originally rescheduled to air on June 27), a new reveal was introduced, the first two prizes were shown by Door #3, and the car was revealed behind Door #3 afterward. Although on October 15, 2014 (#6843K, aired out of order on October 17), April 6, 2015 (#7081K, aired out of order on March 2), May 6, 2015 (#7123K, aired out of order on May 5), March 9, 2016 (#7443K), and May 26, 2016 (#7554K), it used the original reveal.
On March 12, 2015 (#7044K), the already revealed price for the second prize was moved along with the car as the car was supposed to move on Andrew Bushwitz's last chance (he had won the second prize on his 8th).
On March 9, 2016 (#7443K), after not getting the second prize right on the 9th chance, the actual price was prematurely revealed, and so contestant Michael Lanahan was awarded the prize.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the contestant is instructed to remove each card before their first guess of each prize and push each button and after a guess to find out if the price written is correct.
On February 23, 2022 (#9733K, aired late on February 25, 2022), Contestant Melissa Perrigo played for a 2022 Audi e-Tron GT, worth $123,950. As the price indicates, there were six available numbers of "9, 1, 5, 0, 2, 3" and she naturally had to use all six numbers (and she naturally had to use EACH number only once). She won that car on chance 6, and she saved Dream Car Week from being a total wipe-out. In addition, the Clangs and Whoops were heard when she won the Audi.
On April 19, 2023 (#0203L), contestant Tony Harrison, who is the founder of the legendary Fabulous, 60-Minute Price Is Right Site, who previously appeared on the show on October 13, 1997 (#0481K) winning $5,100 playing Plinko, became the first to play Ten Chances perfectly under Drew Carey's tenure, and the first time since May 5, 2000 (#1435K) (excluded the aforementioned technical win on November 1, 2000, #1563K).
On June 25, 2024 (#0682L), the losing horns were played despite contestant Jackeline winning the two-digit and three-digit priced items on the second and ninth chances, respectively.

Trivia[]

Like More Or Less, Gas Money, Magic Number, or Take Two, Ten Chances has never been the first game to be played in the game slotting list because it needs time to start up and the game can be played no earlier than second on the show.
- As of some time in the 2010s, Ten Chances can be played no earlier than third on the show.
Interestingly, despite this, it was played at least once on the nighttime show that was hosted by Doug Davidson.
All the prizes today end with a "0." When this game is played, the prizes have to end with that number, except in rare cases that "0" is not provided the last number may be 5 as long as a "5" is provided. In rare cases that neither "0" nor "5" is provided, the last number is 9 as long as a "9" is provided.
The most number of times this game was played in any season was 40 (seasons 4 and 5), while the least number of times this game was played in any season was 5 (seasons 3, 47, and 48).
Ten Chances was one of seven pricing games seen on the fourth taping session of Season 36, which was seen on October 18, 2007 (#4044K, aired out of order on January 2, 2008), October 24, 2007 (#4053K, aired out of order on October 23), November 2, 2007 (#4065K, aired out of order on October 30), November 7, 2007 (#4073K, aired out of order on November 8), November 13, 2007 (#4082K, aired out of order on November 15), and November 22, 2007 (#4094K, aired out of order on October 19).
The number of possible combinations for the prizes are:
- 2 digit prize: 6 (2 if one of the digits is a 0).
- 3 digit prize: 24 (6 if one of the digits is a 0).
- Car: 120 (24 if one of the digits is a 0). However, the first number is usually a 1 or 2.
There have been a total of 9 perfect cases in this game so far, the most recent being the April 19, 2023 episode, as mentioned above. Since the 1980s, perfect records have often been recorded, but since 2000, it has become difficult to find perfect records. That record hasn't been released for 22 years and 11 months since May 5, 2000.
James J. Agazzi built the original Ten Chances board.
During the first few years, after the game was revealed, for some reason the game board was raised up slightly and Bob would step up onto its platform and pull down on it using the rail below the chance buttons.

International versions[]

On the UK versions hosted by both Leslie Crowther and Bob Warman, Ten Chances offered two two-digit prizes and a three-digit prize. In the latter version, as well as the Mexican version titled Atínale al Precio, wipe-off markerboards were used instead of cards. Also, foreign versions of the game may not have the "zero rule" that the US version has.

Gallery[]

To view the gallery, click here.

YouTube Videos[]

Perfect Ten Chances Playing from Doug Davidson's Price is Right (November 1, 1994, #0037N)
REALLY Lucky Ten Chances winner! (November 1, 2000, #1563K)
Ten Chances Win (December 13, 2002, #2345K)
Great 10 Chances Win with a small malfunction in the end (January 2, 2004, #2745K)
Don't use the "1" in the car price twice (May 1, 2006, #3601K)
How NOT to play 10 Chances (June 16, 2006, #3665K)
Darnell wins 10 Chances (December 1, 2006, #3785K)
Dumb contestant dismal playing of 10 Chances (2009)
Ten Chances Win on the 37th Season Finale (June 23, 2009, #4812K)
Something... Exciting? (December 8, 2010, #5343K)
10 Chances Win (December 3, 2012, #6121K)
Another Technical 10 Chances win (April 10, 2014, #6694K)
First perfect playing from Drew's era (April 19, 2023, #0203L)

1970s Pricing Games

Active Pricing Games