Number 29

In Mega Millions under the 5/50 + 1/25 · Sep 1996 – Jan 1999 rules — 172 draws, 5 from 1–50 (an earlier era).

18times drawn · chance expected 17 +0.20σ

19draws waiting · a wait this long: 15% for any number

8.9average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

34longest completed wait · 41% chance of one at least that long

29 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 18 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, +0.20σ. Each draw is independent: after 19 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 29, draw by draw

Drawn 18 times in 172 draws · average wait 8.9 draws · longest completed wait 34 · waiting 19 draws now

a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap

Where it lands in a sorted draw

Sort a draw and 29 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.5
2nd smallest1 · chance 3.2
3rd smallest6 · chance 6.7
4th smallest8 · chance 5.8
5th smallest3 · chance 1.7

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.5 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

13 4 24 2 15 17

Never drawn alongside 12 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 11 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 29 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th most popular of 50. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 29 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1998-11-06	34	3rd	7 21 29 46 48
1998-07-10	8	4th	19 24 28 29 38
1998-06-12	5	4th	2 23 24 29 48
1998-05-26	7	3rd	1 13

What this cannot tell you

Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 29 is drawn with probability 5/50 tonight whatever it did last week.