Powerball: The Game Show

Powerball: The Game Show
Presented by	Bob Eubanks
Narrated by	Ed MacKay
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Release
Original network	Syndicated
Picture format	NTSC
Original release	October 2000 – September 2002

Powerball: The Game Show is a lottery-based game show that aired from October 2000 to September 2002 in some of the jurisdictions that offered the Powerball game. Bob Eubanks and Debbie James were the hosts, while Ed MacKay announced.

The show was taped at Hollywood Center Studios in Hollywood, California.

On the cliff, a train pushed a red Powerball to one of six spaces signifying zero to 600 miles (points), or completely off the board. The balls represented each of the possible spaces (and a 'danger ball' for off the board) were dumped into a lotto machine, and one was secretly drawn. Players were given an offer to take a sure 500 miles and sit the game out, or take a chance on the number of miles drawn. After the first draw, the balls for the remaining possible spaces, the 'danger ball', and a new ball for a 1,000-mile space on the very end of the cliff, are mixed up. Players were opted to either keep their miles or risk them on every draw, but if they were playing when the ball had gone off off the edge, they had lost all their miles. After that game, 50 to 140 bonus miles were randomly assigned to all ten players in order to break ties.

Balls of varying weights were added to an on-stage buoy. Successfully added balls were worth 700, 1,500 and 2,500 miles to players who were still in the game during their successful addition (players can sit the game out altogether and receive 1,000 miles, or quit after any successful ball addition), but any of the players who were still in the game when the buoy capsizes had lost all miles won in that round.

Players attempted to predict whether the majority of respondents to a poll question answered Yes or No. Each correct answer was worth either 100, 1,000 or 3,000 miles, chosen randomly. After each of the first two questions, the four lowest scorers were eliminated. After the third and final question, the highest scorer was this week's champion and won $2,500.

Six or seven players competed in that game. In each turn, two players were randomly selected and the one who was selected first had hit a button which released a ball in a variable starting position. From then on, a ball rolls on a track which led to the basket. Getting the ball to reach the goal was not an easy task as swinging clubs attempted to knock the ball off the track. If a play was successful, then the players stayed alive in the game. If the ball was knocked off the track, then both players were eliminated. If six players competed, then when two of them were left standing, one more turn was played to determine the winner. If seven players competed, then the one who's left standing was deemed the winner. The winner of that game won $5,000.

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