Higher or lower game: which cost more?
Did a 1984 Macintosh cost more than an iPhone X? Was a Super Bowl ticket in 1967 pricier than a year of Amazon Prime? Pricier is a higher or lower game played with launch prices, all converted into today’s money. One price is showing, the other is hidden behind a question mark. Is it higher or lower? Keep the streak alive.
Old prices look tiny until inflation is counted. The Atari 2600 cost $199 in 1977, which is about $1,060 today, more than a PlayStation 5 at $621. Pricier is built on surprises like that.
How to play Pricier
- Read the tag with a price. It shows what the product first cost in the United States, converted into today’s dollars, with the original price underneath.
- Call the hidden price. The other tag hides its price behind a question mark. Press Higher if you think it cost more in today’s money, Lower if you think it cost less.
- Watch the price land. The hidden price runs up or down from the shown one, and the pricier tag gets the stamp. Get it right and the new tag slides over to become the next one to beat. One wrong call ends the run.
- Beat your best streak. Your best run is saved in your browser. Share a run and your friend gets the same chain of prices to beat.
On a keyboard, press the up arrow for higher and the down arrow for lower.
The daily ten
Today’s puzzle is a fixed chain of 10 calls, the same for everyone and new at local midnight. A wrong call doesn’t end the daily. You play all 10 and score one point for each right call, then share a row of squares that gives nothing away.
How the game gets harder
Early pairs are far apart, then they close in. The first calls compare prices 2 to 8 times apart. By the third call it is 1.4 to 4 times, by the seventh 1.2 to 2.5, and after a dozen right calls the two prices can be as close as 8% apart. No pair is ever closer than that, so the rounded prices on the tags never look the same.
How prices become today’s money
Every price is adjusted with the US Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), the standard inflation measure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The game multiplies the original price by the ratio of the 2025 average index to the average index for the year of the price. A dollar in 1967 is worth about $9.64 in 2025 dollars.
CPI tracks a basket of everyday goods, not electronics. Computers and TVs got far cheaper in real terms than CPI suggests, which is exactly why a 1983 Apple Lisa at $32,300 in today’s money is such a shock.
Surprising prices from the game
- The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the first handheld cellphone, cost $3,995 in 1984: about $12,400 today.
- A Super Bowl I ticket for the best seat cost $12 in 1967, about $116 today.
- The DeLorean DMC-12 cost $25,000 in 1981, about $88,500 today. Its name came from a target price of $12,000.
- The original Macintosh cost $2,495 in 1984, about $7,730 today, the price of nearly six iPhone Xs.
- A Slinky was $1 in 1945, about $18 in today’s money.
Tips for a longer streak
Count the decades
Prices roughly double every 20 to 25 years of US inflation. A 1970s price needs multiplying by roughly four to eight, a 1950s price by about eleven or twelve.
Electronics were expensive
Early computers, phones and TVs were luxury goods. In today’s money, most cost more than their modern versions.
Consoles cluster
Most game consoles launched between about $362 and $958 in today’s money. When two consoles meet, the year matters more than the brand.
Where the prices come from
109 products, from 1945 to 2025. Each price is the US launch or first national price of the version named on the tag, before tax, checked against a cited reference. Where a source gives two figures, the game uses the one the reference supports and leaves anything still unclear out.
Questions about Pricier
Is this the higher or lower game?
It is a higher or lower game, with prices instead of search numbers. The rules are the same: one value is showing, you call the hidden one higher or lower, and one miss ends the run.
Why compare in today’s money?
Comparing raw prices from different decades would be easy and wrong. In today’s money, a 1977 console can beat a 2020 one, and that is where the game gets interesting.
Is there a daily puzzle?
Yes. The daily ten is the same chain for everyone, new at local midnight. Your result and streak stay in your browser.
Can I challenge a friend?
Yes. Share a run and the link opens the same chain of prices, with your streak to beat.
What if two prices are the same?
They never meet. Pairs closer than 8% apart are left out.
Which year’s dollars does the game use?
2025 dollars, the latest full year of CPI data. The game moves forward a year once the new annual average is out. That changes every converted price slightly but never which one in a pair cost more.
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If you like a quick hunch about numbers, try another one.