‘The Price is Right’ Fans Claim Contestant is ‘So Lucky’ as He Wins a Car on Tough Game

A The Price is Right college student got to roll up to his campus in a new car after winning on a hard game. Patrick Pagnozzi took home a 2025 Nissan Sentra S, worth $22,975.

Pagnozzi competed on the game show on Wednesday, March 26. He was called up as one of the first four people on Bidder’s Row. However, he didn’t get to play a game until the second bid. Pagnozzi, a graduate student at Arizona State University, bid on a 32-inch desktop computer with 512GB storage, a wireless keyboard, and a mouse. He bid $1,800, with the actual retail price being $1,950, so he won the bid and got to try for another prize.

Host Drew Carey told Pagnozzi that he would be playing Let ‘Em Roll for a chance to win a car. Let ‘Em Roll is a dice game where contestants can play for a car or up to $7,500. The game has five dice. Each of them is marked with car symbols on three of their sides and $500, $1,000, and $1,500 on the other three sides. The game show contestant starts out with one roll of five dice. However, they can earn up to three rolls by correctly guessing the prices of grocery store items. The price for the first item is shown, and then the contestant has to guess whether the next item is higher or lower in price. If they correctly guess all of the items, they can earn up to two more rolls.

To win the car, the contestant must roll the image of a car on all five dice. The dice are placed on a ramp that is dumped down to a table surface. If they have multiple turns, they can take the dice showing cash and reroll them. If they don’t win the car on the final roll, they still take home the cash shown on the dice.

Carey told Pagnozzi that he didn’t need to know the price of the car, he just had to “get a little lucky.” He said that the contestant wouldn’t lose because he either goes home with a car or cash.

The first item, the spice seasoning, was revealed to be $8.99. Pagnozzi had to choose whether the next time, Crest toothpaste, was more or less than the seasoning. He chose less, which was right as the toothpaste was only $4.99. The third item was Klondike ice cream sandwiches. Pagnozzi said that they were more than the toothpaste. They were retailed at $5.99, so he was right and earned three rolls.

He then stepped up to the game and rolled one car symbol and a total of $4,000. Pagnozzi chose to keep going. With only four dice now, the research analyst rolled two more car symbols. For his third turn, he only had to roll two dice. They both landed on the car symbol, resulting in him winning the vehicle. The audience went crazy as Pagnozzi ran over to his prize.

Pagnozzi won a total of $24,925 between the car and the computer. He, however, did not make it to the Showcase after spinning a 130 at the Showcase Showdown.

His win was posted to YouTube, where fans called him “lucky.” “That was a lucky win!” wrote one fan. 

“Wow!” said another.

“He was very lucky,” added a third.

The Price Is Right, Weekdays, 11a/10c, CBS