Author Topic: The $ale of the Century Home Dollar Contest (Read 4225 times)

TheInquisitiveOne · « **on:** August 16, 2003, 09:54:24 PM »

Hello people!

I was looking across my recently acquired library of game shows, and a couple of $ale of the Century episodes dealt with the \"Home Dollar Contest.\" I have a couple of questions about that one.

(1) Jim Perry said that there are 3,700,000,000 one-dollar bills across the U.S., which means that there were 3,700 one-dollar bills with the winning combination. How is that determined?

(2) Did anyone ever win that contest? With odds as stiff as those of winning that contest, I wonder if anyone pulled it off.

Thanks for the responses!

The Inquisitive One

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #1 on:** August 17, 2003, 01:00:12 AM »

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Aug 16 2003, 08:54 PM\']Jim Perry said that there are 3,700,000,000 one-dollar bills across the U.S., which means that there were 3,700 one-dollar bills with the winning combination. How is that determined?[/quote]
That depends on what the winning combination refers to. Mind explaining for those of us unfamiliar with this contest?

And the odds aren't as bad if you remember that even a mildly interested person could check dozens and dozens of dollar bills for the correct combination. (That is, unless the contest involved something like sending in random dollar bills and hoping they were winners? That'd be a neat trick.)

WilliamPorygon · « **Reply #2 on:** August 17, 2003, 01:07:32 AM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Aug 17 2003, 12:00 AM\'] That is, unless the contest involved something like sending in random dollar bills and hoping they were winners? That'd be a neat trick. [/quote]
That'd also be incredibly illegal.

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #3 on:** August 17, 2003, 01:22:51 AM »

Quote

That depends on what the winning combination refers to. Mind explaining for those of us unfamiliar with this contest?

I'll be glad to explain how the contest worked. Viewers (and contestants, believe it or not) were to use their dollar bills and match the first six digits of the serial number to the dailiy number of the show. The first six digits (changing daily) to be matched was based on the final score of the game. For example, if the score from left to right read $55, $9, and $92, then the first six digits of the serial number to be matched was 550992. Now, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury, there are approximately 3,700,000,000 one dollar bills in circulation, which meant that there are 3,700 one dollar bills with the winning combination. Those who sent in the winning combination split the $30,000 pot, with the minumum being $25 for each winner.

Which brings me to the questions I initially raised. With odds that high, did anyone ever pony up the winning dollar bill and get the loot? Also, can someone tell me how thw U.S. Treasury determined those figures?

Thanks again!

The Inquisitive One

clemon79 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 17, 2003, 01:48:05 AM »

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Aug 16 2003, 06:54 PM\'] (1) Jim Perry said that there are 3,700,000,000 one-dollar bills across the U.S., which means that there were 3,700 one-dollar bills with the winning combination. How is that determined?
[/quote]
Part of the Treasury Department's job is to have an idea of how much cash money is in circulation (within reason...I imagine if they're within $5 million of a given denomination, they're doing well) at any given time. This way the value of a dollar doesn't fluctuate wildly. See, if we DIDN'T know, and we just kept printing up money, then eventually we'd be Japan and you'd be paying $40 for a glass of orange juice.

Fedya · « **Reply #5 on:** August 17, 2003, 02:10:33 PM »

The Inquisitive One wrote:

Quote

Which brings me to the questions I initially raised. With odds that high, did anyone ever pony up the winning dollar bill and get the loot? Also, can someone tell me how thw U.S. Treasury determined those figures?

I'd guess that the producers had a separate \"contest\" whereby anybody could send in a postcard to go in a drawing for the unclaimed prizes. A lot of drawing-type contests do this.

Also, was there only one winning six-digit number? Your comments about several episodes dealing with the contest imply that there might have been more than one winning number, making the odds much shorter.

AndyG · « **Reply #6 on:** August 17, 2003, 03:33:39 PM »

Well, two eps of $ale with this contest in it on are the circuit, I have one of them. My best guess was that it was a week of shows with this contest, but I really don't know.

J.R. · « **Reply #7 on:** August 17, 2003, 10:46:33 PM »

Didn't Michael Larson try to win some money by trying to find a \"winning\" bar code to a Dollar Bill ?

Probably the top prize was a date with Sally Julian !
-Joe R.

Brandon Brooks · « **Reply #8 on:** August 17, 2003, 10:54:37 PM »

[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Aug 17 2003, 09:46 PM\'] Didn't Michael Larson try to win some money by trying to find a "winning" bar code to a Dollar Bill ? [/quote]
If you ever find a bar code on a dollar bill, you might not wanna use it.

He was looking for the winning serial number.

Brandon Brooks

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #9 on:** August 17, 2003, 10:56:00 PM »

Quote

Well, two eps of $ale with this contest in it on are the circuit, I have one of them. My best guess was that it was a week of shows with this contest, but I really don't know.

I actually have both episodes that you are talking about. I know that it was at least one week long, because both episodes have the same individual as champion. To answer another post, there was one winning number per day. So, if one person sent in a winning dollar bill within the \"10 days from broadcast\" time limit for each episode, he or she was going to win $6,000. Not bad.

The Inquisitive One