NY Wired

A short-lived lottery game show for the state of New York

Qualifying Round
Three New York contestants (originally those who all of whom sell lottery tickets in the stores they worked in, then later members of the studio representing their team section (more on that later)) played a qualifying round in which they answered survey questions. The host read each question one at a time and gave three possible answers. The first player to buzz-in had a chance to choose one of those answers. A correct answer scored a point, but an incorrect answer gave the other contestants a chance to buzz-in and answer and another incorrect answer from another player gave the remaining player the point by default. The first player to score three points earned the right to play a mini-game for an increasing jackpot which starts off at $60,000 (later $25,000).

2-player mode
The second qualifying round was played with the remaining two players and was played a little differently too. This time the survey questions were polled by the audience and were all yes or no or two other choices. On each question, the audience locked in their answers, then the player in control predicted how the majority of the audience answered. A correct answer scored a point, but an incorrect answer gave the opponent the point. The first to score three points (later two points) wins. If the round ended in a 1-1 or 2-2 tie, the last question was played in Card Sharks Hi Lo Toss-Up manner; with the first player guessing what percentage of the audience fit a certain criteria, and the other guessing whether the actual percentage is higher or lower than the first player's answer. The winner of the question won the round. The winner of the round won the right to play the next mini-game, and the losing the player received $5,000 (later $2,500).

Skyscraper
To start, the winner of the qualifying round received the shortest building worth $10,000. The contestant faced 10 blocks in front of four buildings. The contestant picked off blocks by number, though what makes this game different is that the numbers are behind those blocks & placed at random. When co-host Scott revealed the chosen number, the color of that block was placed in front of the appropriate building. The object of the game was to build the highest skyscraper with the appropriate colored blocks as he/she can. Each time he/she does that, the contestant wins some money, and that contestant gets the money for the highest skyscraper built. But if each of the buildings have at least one block, the game is over and that player loses half his/her winnings, which is why the player had a chance to stop & take the full amount when in a position to lose.

Here are the payoffs:

Niagara
This is played the same way as the Splashdown game on Illinois' Luckiest & Flamingo Fortune.

The player face a board of 18 numbered rods, split into three rows (1-4 on top, 5-10 in the middle, and 11-18 on the bottom), each holding up a colored ball. Rods 1-4 held up two red's and a green, the rest held yellow balls. The winner of the qualifying round draws a number, and that number's rod gets removed from the board.

If a yellow ball splashes down into the water, the team wins $6,000. If no balls splash down, the team wins $1,000. When Cheryl Washington took over, the payoffs were reduced to $2,500 for the yellow balls, and $500 for just the rod being removed.

The game ends if a red ball or a green ball splashes down. If the red ball splashes down, either by itself or with other colored balls (even the green one) the player loses half his/her winnings, which is why the player had a chance to stop & take the full amount when in a position to lose. If the green ball splashes down without a red ball, the player wins the jackpot.

Saratoga
This game had a horse race setup. The winner of the qualifying round was shown a board with 3 horses - red, yellow, and blue. He/she was then shown a board of 12 numbered boxes, and asked to call out numbers, one at a time. It took four of any of a color to end the game and award the contestant a cash prize -- $10,000 (for red), $20,000 (for yellow), or the "Big Purse" which was a cash prize of either $40,000 or the jackpot (for blue). To start the game in case blue reached the finish line first, the contestant would choose from one of three flags, each of which hid a different cash amount. Two of the flags hid $40,000 and the one remaining flag hid the word "JACKPOT".

Treasure Quest
The winner of the qualifying round stood at the beginning of a giant treasure map. The map had 15 colored circles (five of each color (red, blue & green)). At the end of the map are seven treasure chests, six of them represent $5,000, while the one up front represents the jackpot. A member of the studio audience representing the player's team was shown a mini treasure chest presented by Scott. Inside the chest are three jewel colored red, blue & green. Scott would shake up the chest just to mix up the jewels afterwhich he opened it up again and then the audience member reached into the chest and pulled out a jewel; and whatever jewel he/she pulled out, that's when the player moved to the closest circle that matches the jewel.

Each time a player stepped to the next circle, he/she received a treasure bag good for $5,000. When the player reaches to the point where he/she may reach a $5,000 chest that would then place the treasure bags to the chest he/she thought would land on other than the jackpot chest. Whatever the chest chosen, the $5,000 treasure bags would then be added to the $5,000 chest.

Whatever treasure chest was hit, that's the amount his/her team won; if it's a chest without bags, he/she won $5,000, if it's a chest with bags, he/she won $5,000 plus that amount for each bag placed on it, but if it's the jackpot chest, he/she of course won the jackpot.

Audience Participation & School Donation
Each contestant played for a colored section of the audience (red, yellow & blue) and a school. Half of the winnings went to the appropriate section of the studio audience (minimum prize of $5,000), while the other half went to the school the contestant was playing for (minimum prize of $30,000).

When the contestant were members of the studio audience representing their colored sections, the player & his/her team won & shared the entire amount, while the school (randomly selected before the show) they were playing for won $5,000.

YouTube Videos
A full episode from 8/15/98

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5