Airdate: 1988
To avoid selling his potato chip plant to Mr. Knox, Cyril tries to boost his sales by holding a contest for a new bike. Bert is determined to get the bike and goes to great lengths to win the contest, much to his friends' concern.
The Chips Are Down! contains examples of:
- Big Ball of Violence: Bert gets into one with the Pigs in Willow's General Store as they fight over the bag of chips with the winning last piece inside.
- Carnivore Confusion: At the end, the Pigs knowingly serve a pie containing imitation bacon potato chips to Cyril. They don't seem to be put off by the idea of the flavor at all.
- Catapult Nightmare: Bert sits bolt upright in his bed after having a nightmare about the contest.
- Competition Coupon Madness: Bert has to collect all the jigsaw puzzle pieces hidden in the chips in order to win the bike. However, Cyril has the Pigs hide away the last piece so no one wins the contest; unfortunately, they end up losing the piece in one of the bags of chips, leading to a mad dash as both Bert and the Pigs fight over the piece.
- Doomed Supermarket Display: As Bert and the Pigs fight over the bag of chips with the winning last piece inside at Willow's General Store, they knock over a stack of cans.
- Dramatic Irony: If Bert knew the contest was rigged to maximize profits off Cyril's chips, he'd have little motivation to keep buying them.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Woodchuck Berry is mentioned; his appearance is in next season's premiere "Second Chance!".
- Everyone Has Standards: Mr. Willow, who normally appreciates Bert's patronage, expresses concern when he keeps wasting his money obsessively buying chips. He also objects to him and the Pigs fighting in his store.
- Sell What You Love: When Bert runs out of money to buy more chips, Bert is forced to sell his most prized possessions, but he gets mad when he finds out that he only made $5 after everything is sold. Fortunately, his friends get it all back for him by the end of the episode.
- Unwinnable by Design: The Pigs' idea of maximizing profits off the chips is to make the contest unwinnable by locking the last piece needed to win in a vault with no intent to distribute it.
