This Powerball number hasn't been called in over 100 games. Should you play it or avoid it?

Why's No. 10 behind the eight ball in the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries?

It's been 235 days, or more than 100 games, since the red Powerball 10 rolled out of the machine, and it's been a full year since we've seen the yellow Mega Millions 10 roll out.

With more than $835 million on the line Wednesday in the Powerball lottery and $267 million in Mega Millions on Friday, surely 10's number is going to come up soon? As the caretaker of USA TODAY's two lottery trackers, you don't want to know how many 10s have been on my own recent tickets.

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How the other Mega Millions balls and Powerballs compare to the 10s

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Sure, these are random drawings with odds of more than 1 in 290 million, so many random things happen. But seriously, no ball has gone a full year without rolling out of a machine in recent history – except the Mega Millions 10 ball.

If nothing else, you get your $2 game fee back when the red or yellow ball rolls out in their respective lottery. Unless, of course, you've picked No. 10 for the last few months. I'm not bitter.

It's not even like they've been the most sluggish balls in recent history either. Even the lowly 17 Powerball found its way out on April 1 while only showing up one other time in the last 208 drawings.

How often each Powerball and Mega Millions ball has recently won

What are the odds of both 10 balls in this situation?

That's more of a rhetorical question above and maybe an easy problem for those who are more math-inclined. More simply, though: Every Mega Ball or Powerball should roll out about every 25 or 26 drawings, respectively. The 10s have both gone about 100 games: Powerball, 101, and Mega Millions, 107.

The situation hadn't been as glaring until Sept. 18 when the No. 9 Powerball decided to jump ship. Powerballs 9 and 10 had been hanging on together since early February and then No. 9 parted ways after more than 220 days.

This situation might be more understandable if it were some odd prime numbers like 17 or 19.

But 10? It's the number associated with perfect scores. It's the number of bowling pins. Commandments. Yards in a first down. The Bill of Rights. The metric system.

It's got to be time for 10 – unless it's not.