Is $5,994 the most expensive prize ever offered in the game?
As "ooboh" pointed out, on 6/13/17, it was played for an $8990 8' barbecue island.
On 11/4/15, the upper prize was a $6699 Honda ATV.
Ironically, on March 1, 2017, the upper prize was the exact same 7' barbecue island that was offered today, and it had the exact same price of $5994.
Let me also add this is only the 4th time in Magic # history where the spread between both prizes was over $4,000
Actually, today was the FIFTH time. The other times were:
Date Bottom End Top End Range
11/04/2015 $2,000 $6,699 $4,699
04/26/2016 $ 875 $5,400 $4,525
06/13/2016 $2,970 $8,990 $6,020
03/01/2017 $1,344 $5,994 $4,650
In that case, the game should actually be won more.
I did a comprehensive analysis a few months ago, where I determined that if you set the Magic # to $3000, you would win slightly over 95% of the time. Maybe it's time potential contestants learned this unspoken rule.