Guess the Price of Food & Drinks Through the Decades
How much was the first Big Mac, a Whopper or a Snickers bar? This quiz puts historic food prices to the test. You guess what famous snacks, sweets, fast food and drinks cost when they first went on sale.
Every answer shows the original price and the price in today’s money, adjusted for inflation. Many favourites cost just a few cents when they launched.
Food & drinks launch prices, then and now
All 44 Food & drinks questions
Every product below is a real question in the game. Can you guess where it comes from and what it cost when it first went on sale?
- Life Savers (roll) (1913)
- Nathan's Famous Hot Dog (1916)
- MoonPie (1917)
- A&W Root Beer (1919)
- Hostess CupCake (pack of 2) (1919)
- Mounds candy bar (1920)
- Baby Ruth (1921)
- White Castle Hamburger (1921)
- Milky Way (1923)
- Popsicle (1923)
- Kool-Aid (1927)
- Dubble Bubble gum (1928)
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (1928)
- Snickers (1930)
- Twinkies (pack of 2) (1930)
- 3 Musketeers (1932)
- Fritos (1932)
- Pepsi-Cola (12 oz bottle) (1934)
- Ritz Crackers (box) (1934)
- Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (1937)
- Big Boy Hamburger (1938)
- M&M's (1941)
- Bazooka Bubble Gum (1947)
- McDonald's Hamburger (1948)
- Dunkin' Donuts Doughnut (1950)
- Swanson TV Dinner (1953)
- McDonald's French Fries (1955)
- Whopper (1957)
- Pizza Hut Large Cheese Pizza (1958)
- McDonald's Filet-O-Fish (1962)
- Taco Bell Taco (1962)
- Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich (1964)
- Subway Sub (1965)
- Big Mac (1968)
- Wendy's Frosty (1969)
- Egg McMuffin (1972)
- McDonald's Happy Meal (1979)
- Chicken McNuggets (6 pieces) (1983)
- Choco Taco (1984)
- Dairy Queen Blizzard (1985)
- AriZona Iced Tea (big can) (1992)
- Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready Pizza (1997)
- KFC Double Down (2010)
- Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos (2012)
More price-guessing categories
Famous historic food prices, then and now
Here are some of the historic food prices you can read about in full. Each one links to the story behind the price.
- Swanson TV Dinner (1953): 98 cents
- AriZona Iced Tea (1992): 99 cents
Historic food prices show inflation very clearly, because the products have barely changed. A burger or a chocolate bar is still the same thing, so the price gap is easy to see.
Old prices can look tiny, but inflation changes the picture. We convert every launch price with the US Consumer Price Index from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can browse every story on our famous launch prices page.
How to play
Most rounds start with a world map. Drop a pin where you think the product was invented. Then guess its original launch price. We reveal the real price, its value in today’s money and how far off your pin was. The closer you are, the more points you score.