Secret "X"

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Host Bob Barker and a contestant standing by the Secret "X" board

Secret "X" is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on September 14, 1977, this tic-tac-toe based game is played for a four-digit worth more than $3,000, and uses small prizes.

1 Gameplay
2 Winning odds
3 Trivia
4 See also

[edit] Gameplay

The centerpiece of Secret "X" is a large tic-tac-toe board, containing a revolving middle column bearing a "secret X" on its reverse side.

To begin the game, host Bob Barker spots the contestant a free X which he can place in any of the squares in the first or third columns.

The contestant then answers two questions about small prizes. Each prize bears two possible prices; the contestant must decide which one is correct. A right answer wins the small prize and an additional X to place on the board.

After both prize questions have been played, the location of the "secret X" is revealed. If the contestant's Xs create a tic-tac-toe (either across or diagonally; no up-and-downs are allowed), the player wins the bonus prize.

[edit] Winning odds

A Secret "X" win.

Played as well as possible, a contestant can still lose; there is no way to secure all three squares in the center column, and if the contestant answers both small prize questions wrong, the game ends in an automatic loss.

The best way to play the game is to place all earned Xs in corner squares; by doing so, the contestant will have a 2/3 chance of winning if both small prizes are won. Placing any Xs in the center row (and it has happened, including the first time the game was played) gives at best a 1/3 chance to win.

[edit] Trivia

On March 7, 1995, the game malfunctioned -- Barker pressed the button that rotates the middle column of squares (ideally, revealing the secret X), but it didn't work. Barker and producer Roger Dobkowitz had to turn the entire game board around to show where the X was.