Illinois Instant Riches

A game show for the Illinois Lottery. This new format pitted people in mini-games. This show would get a major revamp in 1998 as well as be changed to Illinois' Luckiest.

Players were chosen from the audience. Each contestant had a light pole by their seat and they were activated by spinning a wheel. Where ever the light stopped would be the player chosen.

Force Field
A pendulum is suspended over a table with various magnets of equal strength with dollar amounts. The player releases the pendulum and wherever the pendulum stops due to the magnet attracting it will be the amount of money the player wins. The space that is hit is replaced with a "Wipeout." If the "Wipeout is hit, all money accumulated is lost.

After the second swing, a Wipeout is placed on the space hit as well as the lowest dollar amount on the table so that there are three total. If the player chooses, they can play again and if they hit a money spot, that value is multiplied by 5.

Home Run (Touchdown, Fast Break, and Home Stretch)
Contestants were shown a board with 3 "players" - an orange player, a blue player, and a yellow player. They were then shown a board of 12 numbered boxes, and asked to call out numbers, one at a time. Finding three of a color ended up the game and awarded the contestant a cash prize -- $1,000 (for the orange player), $10,000 (for the blue player), or a cash prize of up to $100,000 (for the yellow player). If the yellow player reached the goal first, the contestant would choose from one of four cards, each of which hid a different cash amount (one each of $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000).

The game motif had a baseball theme, which was changed to a football theme for football season, basketball for basketball season, and a horse race theme for a special at a local race track.

For the first few episodes on which it was played, the orange player was worth only $1.

Mismatch
This game had the contestant stand behind a pair of containers that he/she couldn't see the contents of. Each container had three colored balls: red, yellow, and green. The contestant would draw one ball from the container on their right to establish a "base" color. The player was then spotted $5,000 and asked to draw a ball from the other container. Pulling out a different color (a "mismatch") would earn the contestant another $5,000, while failing added nothing. After three pulls, the contestant was offered the choice to stop or try for one last pull. A second ball of the base color would then be added to the mix. A mismatch would triple the money, while a match cost the contestant half of their earnings. Maximum payoff is $60,000.

Vortex
Contestants were shown 7 balls, arranged in a line -- five yellow and two red. They were positioned at the top of a funnel-like table, designed so that when the balls reached the bottom, they would form a daisy-like pattern with one ball surrounded by the other six. The object was to have a yellow ball in the middle.

The contestant was given a cash prize (originally $3,000, later $4,000) and asked to release the balls by pulling a lever that sent the balls down the funnel and into the center circle at the bottom. If a yellow ball was in the middle, their cash prize doubled. For the second pull, a yellow ball was swapped for a red one, but the contestant's cash total tripled if the center ball came up yellow. For each of these first two pulls, contestants did not lose any money if the center ball came up red.

A contestant could stop after two pulls, or opt for a third pull, where there were 4 red balls and 3 yellow ones. If the contestant chose to continue, their cash total quadrupled if a yellow ball was in the middle, but lost half of their winnings if a red ball was in the middle. Maximum payoff is $96,000.

Wrecking Ball
12 buildings were placed on a rotating platform. A "crane" with the wrecking ball was nearby.

The contestant would turn his/her back to the platform and pull a lever to release the wrecking ball. The ball would swing through the platform 6 times, knocking over the buildings. Each building remaining after one round was worth $1,500 - each building remaining after round two was worth an additional $3,000.

The contestant could stop at this point or opt for one more round of six swings. Three buildings were placed on the platform, or if there were more than 3 still standing after round two, they were simply left alone. If at least three buildings were left standing after this round, the contestant's winnings would be doubled. Otherwise, the contestant would lose half of his/her winnings. Maximum payoff is $108,000.

Double Dollars
This is a pachinko style game where a ping-pong ball is launched and falls down a board into one of the 10 slots at the bottom. Every time a ball lands in an empty slot, the player won $5,000. If the ball falls into a slot already with a ball in it, the player gets a strike.

If the player gets two strikes, then they are issued one more pull. If the ball lands in an empty slot, their winnings are doubled. If the ball lands in an already occupied slot though, the player's prize money would be halved.

Bonus Game 1: Knockout
This was the final round for the early season, later on this game would be added into the minigames and the bonus round would be replaced with Pot of Gold.

A table with 12 cylinders was presented. A bumbling "Spastic Cube" would be released and would have 30 seconds to bounce around the field and knock down any columns in its path. Any columns remaining standing at the end of the time limit will win a grand prize underneath it/them.

For the normal game, the cube is released and any columns left standing at the end of the time limit of 10 seconds earned the player $1500 for each standing cylinder. The cube was activated for another 15 seconds and any columns left standing would be worth $2500 apiece.

After two rounds, all columns were removed and one was placed on the field. The player can choose to take the money and leave or have the cube activated one more time for 20 seconds. When the cube is released, if the column remains standing, the player's winnings are doubled. If not, the winnings are halved.

Bonus Game 2: Pot of Gold
This new game pitted the days winner against a champion from last week. It was a staircase with the steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, $10,000, $25,000 and Big Money.

The last three steps would award the player should they make it on those steps without being trapped. They awarded the following dollar amounts listed with the "Big Money" space ranging from $40,000 - $200,000.

The challenger could pick any one of the first three steps in front of them, but first the champion would "booby trap" one of them. After trapping a panel, the challenger picked a space. The champion would then spring their trap and if the trap misses, the challenger goes on. If the challenger hits the trap, then they have to start again. The challenger is defeated if they fall for the trap twice.

Music
Score Productions

Trivia
Although this game show was for the lottery of Illinois only, it was also aired nationally on Superstation WGN.

Links
museum.tv - Episode archived at Museum of Broadcast Communications (Requires Free Registration)

YouTube Video
The Pot O' Gold Bonus Round