The Ultimate Price is Right Strategy Guide: Squeeze Play

Squeeze Play

Rules

A prize is shown as is a price. That price has one too many digits in it. The first digit of the wrong price is the first digit of the actual price and the last digit of the wrong price is the last digit of the actual price.  The contestant must decide which of the middle digits doesn't belong; if they do so correctly, they win the prize.

Random fact

Bob Barker got to show off his kicking skills once when this game just wouldn't cooperate:

Win-loss record

• Actual (seasons 29-47): 233-329 (41.46%)
• What it would be by random chance:
• For four digit prizes: 1/3 (33.33%)
• For five digit prizes: 1/4 (25%)

Which digit was the correct one to remove? (seasons 40-47)

For four digit prizes

• The second digit: 72 playings (40.45%)
• The third digit: 79 playings (44.38%)
• The fourth digit: 27 playings (15.17%)

For five digit prizes

• The second digit: 23 playings (36.51%)
• The third digit: 19 playings (30.16%)
• The fourth digit: 16 playings (25.40%)
• The fifth digit: 5 playings (7.974%)

Strategy

There's a trend in this game in recent seasons, and that's that the earlier numbers (such as the second and third digits) are the ones to remove much more often than the later numbers. For example, in season 47, in four digit prizes, the second digit was the one to remove 10 times, the third digit was the one to remove 12 times, and the fourth digit was the one to remove 0 times (i.e. never.) For five digit prizes in season 47, it was even more pronounced: 6 times the second digit was the one to remove, 1 time the third digit was the one to remove, and it was never the case that either the fourth or fifth digit was the one to remove. This trend has been strong since season 42. Thus, whether the prize has four or five digits, you should strongly lean toward removing either the second or the third digit. Only remove the fourth or fifth digit if you're absolutely certain.