The Ultimate Price is Right Strategy Guide: Bullseye

Bullseye

Rules

A prize is shown. Then 5 grocery items are shown. The contestant must pick one of those grocery items and state how many of that item it would take to get between $10 and $12. If they are correct, they win the prize. If they are wrong but the total is below $10, they get a mark on the board. If they are wrong and total is above $12, they do not get a mark. The contestant gets to choose 3 products to try to win. If they have failed to win after 3 products, there is still a chance, as there is a hidden bullseye behind one of the 5 products. If the contestant chose that product during the game and they have a mark on the board from their guess on that product (i.e. their total for that product was less than $10), they win.

Random fact

When the show first debuted, there was a game called Bullseye that was nothing like this one. Instead, a prize was shown and the contestant had to guess the price. Bob would say "higher" or "lower" depending on whether the actual price was higher or lower. The contestant would guess again. They had a total of 7 guesses to get the price right. That game has the distinction of being the only game ever played on the show that was never won (excluding one-offs, like crossover games from Let's Make a Deal.) Here's a playing:

Win-loss rate (seasons 29-46): 159-42 (79.10%)

The contestant won the game by...

• Getting between $10 and $12: 126 times (79.25% of all wins)
• Finding the hidden bullseye: 33 times (20.75% of all wins)

Hidden bullseye was behind product #...: 

As they don't show where the hidden bullseye is if you win by getting between $10 and $12, I don't have enough data on that to make it meaningful.

How many do you need to get between $10 and $12 of an item?

Item price   # needed

$1.00-$1.20     10

$1.12-$1.33      9

$1.25-$1.50      8

$1.43-$1.71      7

$1.67-$2.00      6

$2.00-$2.40      5

$2.50-$3.00      4

$3.34-$4.00      3

$5.00-$6.00      2

Strategy

It's mostly "know the prices." However, if you want a 60% chance of winning, just randomly pick 3 items and guess 2 of them. (There's never been an item over $6 in the history of the game, so you don't have to worry about going over if you choose 2.) In fact, there's often a greater than 60% chance of winning if you do that because there's usually an item that costs between $5 & $6. My other advice is if you're not sure whether to pick N of an item or N+1 of that item, pick N. (For example, if you're debating between 3 and 4, choose 3.) If you pick too few of an item, you have a chance to win with the hidden bullseye, but if you pick too many, you don't get that chance. That said, this is a game that the producers don't usually try to trap you with, so go with your gut and you should have no problem.