| Hosts | |
| Janice Huff (1997–1998) Cheryl Washington (1998–1999) | |
| Co-Hosts | |
| Scott Winters Yolanda Vega | |
| Broadcast | |
 | |
| Packager | |
| Johnathan Goodson Productions | |
NY Wired was a lottery game show for the state of New York.
Format[]
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 audience representing their team section {more on that later}) played a qualifying round in which they answered survey questions. The host read each question one by one and gave three possible answers. The first player to buzz-in had a chance to choose one of those answers, which he/she thought was the most popular answer. 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 started at $60,000 (later $25,000) and increased by the amount earned in each game until it was won.
2-player mode[]
The second qualifying round was played with the remaining two players and was played differently. This time the survey questions were polled by the audience and were all yes-or-no or with 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) won. If the round ended in a tie at 1-1 (later 2-2), the last question was played in the manner of Card Sharks’ Hi Lo Toss-Up questions; with the first player guessing what percentage of the audience chose a certain answer, and the other guessing whether the actual percentage was 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 second mini-game, and the losing the player received $5,000 (later $2,500).
Games[]
Skyscraper[]
To start, the winner of the qualifying round received the shortest building worth $10,000 (later $5,000). The contestant faced 10 blocks in front of four buildings of different colors. He/She picked off blocks by number, though what made this game different was that the numbers were behind those blocks and placed at random. When co-host Scott revealed the chosen number, the color of that block was placed in front of the appropriate building (all based off of New York City landmarks such as the Chrysler Building for $40,000 (later $20,000) and the Empire State Building for the Jackpot). The object of the game was to build the highest skyscraper with the appropriate colored blocks as possible. Each time he/she did that, the contestant won some money, and that contestant got the money for the highest skyscraper built. But if each of the buildings had at least one block, the game was over and that player lost of half his/her winnings, which is why he/she could choose to stop and take the full amount when in a position to lose.
Here are the payoffs:
| Buildings | Number of Blocks Required | Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Season 2 | ||
| Building 1 (Yellow, Treasury) | 1 Block | $20,000 | $10,000 |
| Building 2 (Orange) | 2 Blocks | $30,000 | $15,000 |
| Building 3 (Blue, Chrysler Building) | 3 Blocks | $40,000 | $20,000 |
| Building 4 (Purple, Empire State Building) | 4 Blocks | JACKPOT! | |
Niagara[]
This was played in the same way as the Splashdown game on Illinois' Luckiest and Flamingo Fortune except this game was based off of Niagara Falls.
The player faced 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 and one green, the rest held seven yellow balls balls. The winner of the qualifying round would draw a number, and that number's rod was removed from the board.
If a yellow ball ball splashed down into the water, the team won $6,000. If no balls splashed down, the team won $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 only way the game ended was when either a red ball or a green ball splashed down. If a red ball splashed down, either by itself or with other colored balls (even the green one) the player lost half of his/her winnings, which is why he/she had the option to stop and take the full amount when in a position to lose. If the green ball splashed down without a red ball (and with or without any yellow balls), the player won the Jackpot.
Saratoga[]
This was played in basically the same way as the Sports game on Illinois Instant Riches and the Grand Prix game on Flamingo Fortune, except this version was based on a horse-race (as it was named after the city of Saratoga Springs, best known for its horse racing). The winner of the qualifying round was shown a board consisting of three horses: red, yellow, and blue. The contestant was then shown a board of 12 numbered boxes, and asked to call out numbers one at at time. Finding four of a color ended the game and awarded a cash prize: $10,000 (later $5,000) (for red), $20,000 (later $10,000) (for yellow), or the "Big Purse", which was a cash prize of either $40,000 (later $20,000) 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 (later $20,000), and the one remaining flag hid the word "JACKPOT".
Treasure Quest[]
This game made its debut on April 18, 1998. This game may have been based off of Long Island.
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 and green)). At the end of the map were seven treasure chests: six of the chests represented $5,000 (originally $10,000), while the one up front represented the jackpot. A studio audience member representing the player's team was shown a smaller treasure chest presented by Scott; inside of which were three jewels colored red, blue and green. Scott would shake the chest to mix up the jewels, after which 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 matched the jewel.
Each time a player stepped to the next circle, he/she received a treasure bag good for $5,000 (originally $10,000). When the player reached to the point where he/she might reach a chest, that player 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 value of the treasure bags would then be added to the chest.
Whatever treasure chest was hit, that's the amount his/her team won; if it was a chest without bags, he/she won $5,000 (originally $10,000), if it was a chest with bags, he/she won $5,000/$10,000 plus that amount for each bag placed on it, but if it was the Jackpot chest, he/she of course won the Jackpot.
Lake Placid Racer[]
This game used a setup similar to the Double Dollars game on Illinois Instant Riches and the Freefall game on Bonus Bonanza and Flamingo Fortune, but with different gameplay. Modeled loosely on the famous skiing events at Empire State Games held in the village of the same name, the contestant stood on a pedestal and pulled the lever (which resembled ski poles), causing a ping pong ball to launch out of the "starting gate" at the top of the board, and then fall through swinging paddles (which resembled pine trees), through a series of pegs, and into one of eight slots at the bottom of the board. For each ball that landed in an empty slot, the contestant won $3,000 (originally $5,000).
If the ball landed in an occupied slot, the contestant was issued a strike; at which point, the contestant could choose to stop and keep the money, or risk half of it and try to fill in more slots, earning $6,000 (originally $10,000) for each empty slot. If the contestant received a second strike, the game was over, and he/she would lose half of the money won to that point; if, however, he/she could fill six of the eight slots, he/she won the jackpot.
Audience Participation & School Donation[]
Each contestant played for a colored section of the audience (red, yellow, and blue) and a school. Half of the winnings went to the appropriate section of the studio audience, while the other half went to the school the contestant was playing for.
When the contestants 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.
Rating[]
Studio[]
Chelsea Studios, New York City, NY
Music[]
Main – Unknown
Others – Killer Tracks
Round Transition – "E Ticket" by Larry Wolff
First Think Cue – "Sig Alert!" by John Hobbs
Second Think Cue – "A Glimpse of the Future" by Al Capps
Correct Guess – "Psyched Up" by Larry Wolff
Additional Page[]
Trivia[]
- Much like the Illinois lottery shows, you could view NY Wired on a national basis if you had DirecTV or Dish Network's East Coast (New York City) package back then, since WNBC aired the first season on Saturdays at 7PM while WNYW aired the second on Sundays at midnight.
- Some television stations that aired the program outside of the New York City media market included FOX (early on at the time also a secondary UPN) affiliate WUTV in Buffalo, CBS affiliate WRGB in Albany, ABC affiliate WIXT (now WSYR) in Syracuse (along with satellite WWTI in Watertown), ABC affiliate WMGC/WIVT in Binghamton, then-UPN (now MyNetworkTV) affiliate WPNY in Utica, and NBC affiliate WHEC in Rochester. Although the show was viewable on terrestrial television and cable television in southern Ontario, southwestern Quebec, Vermont, western Massachusetts, western Connecticut, New Jersey, and portions of Pennsylvania, only residents of New York state (as were most other single state lottery game shows) were eligible to participate in the show.
- Original host Janice Huff was, at the time, a meteorologist for WNBC 4 (and still is to this day). Second host Cheryl Washington was an on-air personality at WNYW (aka Fox 5).
- The clangs, whoops, and dinging sounds have also been used on The Price is Right. The "trap" or "eroo" sound has also been used on Price, although it was first used on the 1984 game show Trivia Trap. In addition, the second sound effect used to indicated a correct answer during the qualifying round was taken from the news opens that were used by Milwaukee, Wisconsin Fox affiliate WITI between 1995 and 1998.
- The largest Jackpot known to have been awarded in the first season ($60,000 base value) was $1,050,000 in a 1998 episode. The largest known win in the second season ($25,000 base value) was $360,250, during a 1999 show.
Videos[]
YouTube[]
A full episode from 11/1/97, with a $393,000 Jackpot win at Niagara ("Splashdown" on other shows)
A full episode from 8/15/98 (Jackpot starts at $220,000)
Cheryl Washington's first show from September/October 1998 (with a $25,000 Jackpot win at Treasure Quest)
Dailymotion[]
A Janice Huff 1998 episode with a $1.05 million Jackpot win at Niagara
A Cheryl Washington 1999 episode with a $226,750 Jackpot win at Skyscraper