The Ultimate Price is Right Strategy Guide: Lucky $even

Lucky $even

Rules

A car is shown as is the first digit of the car's price. The contestant is given $7; they must have $1 left at the end of the game to "buy" the car. Starting with the second digit, the contestant guesses each digit of the car's price; they give up $1 per digit they are off. If they have at least $1 after guessing all four digits, they win the car.

Random fact

I never thought I'd see this game played perfectly, but it happened not too long ago:

(Jump ahead to the 4:00 mark to see the Lucky $even playing.)

Win-loss record (seasons 29-46): 152-365 (29.40%)

# of times each digit had each value (seasons 40-46):

All cars:

              Digit of car

Number  2nd    3rd     4th    5th           Overall

  1    16.98%  6.60%  3.77%  3.77%            7.78%

  2     9.91% 16.04% 11.32% 13.68%           12.74%

  3     8.02% 11.79% 10.85% 11.32%           10.50%

  4     7.55%  8.96%  8.02%  8.96%            8.37%

  5     2.83%  5.19%  5.19% 12.26%            6.37%

  6     8.96% 10.38%  7.08%  3.30%            7.43%

  7    11.79%  8.96% 11.79%  6.60%            9.79%

  8    14.15% 18.39% 16.04% 11.32%           14.98%

  9    19.81% 13.68% 25.00% 25.47%           20.99%

 NR*    0.00%  0.00%  0.94%  3.30%            1.06%

*Not revealed

First digit of the car is 1:

              Digit of car

Number  2nd    3rd     4th    5th           Overall

  1     0.00%  6.36%  5.45%  0.00%            2.96%

  2     0.00% 15.45% 13.64% 20.00%           12.27%

  3     0.00% 10.00%  9.09% 10.00%            7.27%

  4     1.82%  5.45%  6.36% 10.91%            6.14%

  5     1.82%  5.45%  5.45% 13.64%            6.59%

  6    11.82% 13.64%  8.18%  2.73%            9.09%

  7    20.00%  9.09% 10.00%  5.45%           11.14%

  8    26.36% 19.09% 17.27% 11.82%           18.64%

  9    38.18% 15.45% 23.64% 22.73%           25.00%

 NR*    0.00%  0.00%  0.91%  2.73%            0.01%

*Not revealed

First digit of the car is 2:

              Digit of car

Number  2nd    3rd     4th    5th           Overall

  1    36.84%  6.32%  2.11%  8.42%           13.42%

  2    17.89% 16.84%  7.37%  6.32%           12.11%

  3    17.89% 14.74% 13.68% 12.63%           14.73%

  4    14.74% 11.58%  9.47%  7.37%           10.79%

  5     4.21%  5.26%  4.21%  7.37%            5.26%

  6     5.26%  6.32%  5.26%  4.21%            5.26%

  7     2.11%  8.42% 13.68%  8.42%            8.16%

  8     1.05% 18.94% 15.79% 10.53%           11.58%

  9     0.00% 11.58% 27.37% 30.53%           17.37%

 NR*    0.00%  0.00%  1.05%  4.21%            1.32%

*Not revealed

Two notes:

• They have not used a 0 as a digit in the car's price in Lucky $even in a long time.
• There have been 6 playings of Lucky $even for cars $30,000 or more; that's not enough data to draw conclusions from, thus, no table.

Strategy

Don't pick 4, 5, or 6!! You can see how infrequently the digits of the price are 4, 5, and 6 are used. There are only two exceptions:

1. If you believe they really want you to win the car. For example, during the season opening week or sometimes during Dream Car week, they want you to win, and they'll give you an easy price like $57,465 (an actual price in season 43.) 
2. If you're on the last digit and have at least $5 left, then guessing 5 will guarantee winning.

But usually the price is going to be more like $21,298 (an actual price from season 47.) How do you know whether to go low or high? The second digit you can figure out based on the kind of car. But the third and beyond...they can add whatever options they want to give you a price with numbers nowhere near the middle. There is a bit of a trend, though: they generally use 7, 8, and 9 more often than 1, 2, and 3, especially for the last digit. So if you're not sure, go high (meaning, guess a 7 or 8.) But you can also guess a 2 or a 3 and I won't object. But again: don't pick 4, 5, or 6!! Yes, you'll lose quickly if you guess a 2 and it's a 9, but picking 4, 5, and 6 all but guarantees a slow loss. By guessing low or high numbers, you at least have a chance.