NY Wired

NY Wired
Format	Game/Lottery Show
Created by	Jonathan Goodson
Presented by	Janice Huff (1997-98) Cheryl Washington (1998-99)
Narrated by	Scott Winters
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	100
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated (New York only)
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	October 4, 1997 – June 13, 1999

NY Wired was a short-lived lottery game show aired from 1997 to 1999. The weekly show was produced by Jonathan Goodson Productions in conjunction with the New York Lottery.

The show was hosted by WNBC weather forecaster Janice Huff during its first season, when the show was televised on that station. Cheryl Washington took over when the show switched to WNYW for its second season.

Contestants won a spot on the show by playing a scratchcard, in order of usage, "NY Wired Instant Game" (October 4, 1997-Early 1998) or "TV Cash" (early 1998-June 13, 1999), and sending it into a sweepstakes. Contestants were divided into three teams, blue, yellow, and red, in which a representative of that team played several games of chance to win thousands of dollars.

The show was also used to publicize the Lottery's promotions, as presented by veteran Lottery number-caller Yolanda Vega at an anchor's desk.

Format

Qualifying Round

3-player mode

Three lottery retailers 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 won.

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. 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 reach two points won the right to play the next mini-game, and the losing the player received $5,000. If the tie was 1-1, they played one question in a manner similar to Card Sharks, with the first player guessing a number, and the opponent guessing higher or lower.

Originally the goal was to three points like in the first round.

The winner earned the right to play a mini-game for an escalating jackpot, which started at $60,000, and increased by the amount earned in each game until it was won.

Mini-Games

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 Winters 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. The contestant is only paid for the highest completed skyscraper. However, if the player finds one block for each skyscraper, the game is over and that player loses half his/her winnings. For that reason, once the player has blocks on three different skyscrapers, he or she can stop with the money already won.

Buildings	Number of Blocks Required	Value
Building 1 (Treasury)	1 Block (colored yellow)	$20,000
Building 2	2 Blocks (colored orange)	$30,000
Building 3 (Chrysler Building)	3 Blocks (colored blue)	$40,000
Building 4 (Empire State Building)	4 Blocks (colored purple)	Jackpot

Niagara

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 balls and a green ball, and the rest held yellow balls. The winner of the qualifying round draws a number, and that number's rod gets removed from the board.

Each time a yellow ball splashed down into the water, the player received $6,000. If no balls splashed down, the player received $1,000.

The game ended if a red ball or a green ball splashed down. If the red ball splashed down, either on its own or with other colored balls, the player lost half of their winnings. The player could walk away with their winnings at any point, ending the game. If the green ball splashed down without a red ball, the player won the jackpot.

This game was known as Splashdown on the Illinois and Florida lottery shows.

2nd Season Changes

The amounts decreased to $500 if no balls splashed down and $2,500 if a yellow ball splashed down. The amount of the green ball remained the same.

Saratoga

The player was shown a board with 3 "horses" - a red horse, a yellow horse, and a blue horse. They were then shown a board of 12 numbered boxes, and asked to call out numbers, one at a time. Finding four of a color ended up the game and awarded the player a cash prize -- $10,000 (for the red horse), $20,000 (for the yellow horse), or a cash prize called the "Big Purse" (for the blue horse). Before the game, the contestant would choose from one of three flags, each of which had a different cash amount (two worth $40,000, one worth the jackpot), to determine the top prize for the blue horse.

This game was known as Home Run on Illinois Instant Riches/Illinois' Luckiest and Grand Prix on Flamingo Fortune.

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 jewels 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 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 $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.

At-Home Games

• People finding a "couch" symbol on either scratchcard could send it in for a ticket with a three-digit number & the name of a NY town. If they matched the number & town revealed on the show, the person won $1,000.

• Players sending in non-winning tickets were entered in a drawing. Three names were revealed, each winning either $500, $1,000, or $1,500 based on when their name was revealed.

Format Changes

• In season one, 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 of $6,000 per person, five in all), while the other half went to the school the contestant was playing for (minimum of $30,000). In season two, the players were captains of each team, they would split all the money, while the school (randomly selected before the show) they were playing for won $5,000.
• The Jackpot decreased to a minimum of $25,000.

Stations

• Albany - WTEN
• Buffalo - WUTV
• New York City - WNBC (1997-1998), WNYW (1998-1999)
• Plattsburgh - WPTZ