Pass the Buck
Rules
A car is shown as is a board with 6 numbers. Behind one of those numbers is a picture of a car, one of them has $1,000, one has $3,000, and one has $5,000, and two say "lose everything". The contestant has one pick for free. A pair of grocery items is shown with prices; one of the prices is its correct price, and one is $1 below its item's correct price. If the contestant guesses which price is $1 below the actual price of the grocery item, they get an extra pick. They are then shown another pair of items, which the same choice to make. Thus, the contestant starts with one pick but can have a total of three. Then they start picking numbers off the board. They keep whatever is behind the numbers they choose, and they accumulate the winnings; for example, if they pick $1,000 and then $3,000, they get a total of $4,000. However, if they choose "lose everything," they lose everything they've won up to that point. Thus, they are allowed to bailout after any pick if they so desire. They win whatever prizes they've accumulated at the end of the game.
Random fact
When this game first debuted, there were 8 numbers and 3 pairs of grocery items; no picks were given for free. You can see a playing of it here:
Win-loss record
- Actual (seasons 30-46): 63-167 (27.39%)
- What it would be by random chance: 1/3 (33.33%)
(Note: that assumes that a contestant bails out if and only if they win the car.)
The correct item to pass the buck to was...(seasons 40-46)
- On the left: 57 playings (43.85%)
- On the right: 73 playings (57.15%)
The car was behind...(seasons 40-46)
- #1: 20 playings (30.77%)
- #2: 6 playings (9.23%)
- #3: 4 playings (6.15%)
- #4: 2 playings (3.08%)
- #5: 8 playings (12.31%)
- #6: 25 playings (38.46%)
Strategy
Part 1: Grocery Pricing
Know the price. There's a slight preference toward pushing the buck toward the right, but not enough to suggest that as a strategy unless you're clueless about the price.
Part 2: Which numbers to pick
Pick the endpoints! Pick #6, then #1, and then #5. Just between #6 and #1, you have an over 69% chance of winning the car.
Should you bail out? Rarely. You should ONLY bail out under the following circumstances:
# picks # lose everythings Car is worth less
You have left left on the board than this to you
$4,000 1 2 $3,000
$5,000 1 1 $1,000
$5,000 1 2 $4,000
$5,000 2 2 $1,250
$6,000 1 2 $9,000
$8,000 1 2 $15,000
The right-most column indicates the minimum value of the car to you to keep playing under the given circumstances. For example, if you win $8,000 with your first two picks, you should only take a third pick if the car is worth $15,000 to you. Any combination not shown is a combination where you should always keep playing; in particular, if you have $3,000 or less, you should always continue as the just the cash on the board is worth playing for.
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