Cash Tornado

***Cash Tornado*** was a lottery game show pilot designed to show off a format reminiscent of *The Price is Right* (games based around a core concept, in this case luck) for licensing to various state lotteries. A sales presentation was edited together on April 5, 1994.

While the pilot did not sell in this specific form, it spawned *Illinois Instant Riches* in July 1994, which in turn led to many other lottery game shows produced by Mark Goodson Productions and/or Jonathan Goodson Productions.

Following the cancellation of *Monopoly Millionaires Club*, Buena Vista announced plans of launching a game show similar to *Monopoly Millionaires Club* and *Illinois Instant Riches*. The result was a revamped *Cash Tornado* with Mark Curry named as host and executive producer of the series.

## Games

Players were chosen from the audience. There were 36 contestants in all, divided into three groups of 12 (Keno, Winning Hand, and Treasure Hunt, each corresponding to winners of that specific Lottery scratch-off ticket). Each group of 12 sat under a sign with the name of the scratch-off game on it and wore t-shirts that match the colors of those signs. Each contestant held a lightbulb torch and they were activated by spinning a wheel. As the wheel spins, columns of three lights flashed.

Wherever the lights stopped would be the players chosen to play a qualifying game for the right to play a mini-game for lots of money.

### Force Field

A magnet was suspended from the ceiling above a table of 10 magnets arranged in a circle. The magnets had corresponding money amounts: $1,000-$5,000, $8,000, $10K, $12K, $15K, and $20K. The pendulum was held by the contestant and could be released anywhere along the ring.

Contestants released the pendulum, it would swing, then become attracted to one of the magnets—the player won the amount of money associated with the magnet. After the first swing, that space was replaced with a "Lose".

The contestant then re-released the pendulum—ideally, winning more money in the process. If the pendulum landed on "lose", the contestant lost all of the money accumulated in the first swing.

After three swings, another "Lose" was placed over the amount from the second and third swings (or, if the contestant did land on a Lose, it was simply left alone), bringing the maximum total number of "Lose" spaces to three. The largest dollar amount on the table was multiplied by five.

The contestant could either choose to risk their money on one final swing or stop with what they had; hitting a "Lose" would cause them to go bankrupt, but hitting a money space added the money total to their total. Maximum payoff was $137,000.

### Grand Prix

A contestant was shown a board with four racecars - red, yellow, blue, and white. He/She was then shown a board of 16 numbered boxes, and was asked to call out numbers, one at a time. Each time a car was revealed, the car matching the one just chosen moved one space. There were four of each color and finding all four of one color ended up the game and awarded the contestant a cash prize - $1, $5,000, $15,000, or $100,000.

Before the game, the contestant playing decided which car was more likely to finish first and the amounts were assigned to the cars based the contestant's predictions.

### Freefall

The contestant would pull a lever that would launch a ball to the top of the board, through swinging paddles, through a series of pegs, and into one of eight slots at the bottom of the board. Landing in an empty slot was worth $5,000. Each empty slot accumulated an additional $5,000. If a ball landed in a slot that was already occupied, he/she was given a Strike.

After two strikes, the contestant could stop and take their winnings, or opt for another pull. If a ball landed in an empty slot, the contestant would have his/her money doubled, and would be offered another pull. If the contestant earned their third Strike, they would lose half of their winnings. Play would continue until all eight slots were filled, a third Strike was given, or the contestant chose to stop.

The theoretical maximum payoff was $640,000, but this would require that each of the first three balls land in the same slot, followed by each subsequent ball landing in a new slot. The odds of this happening were approximately 1 in 213,044.

### Knockout

This game utilized a round table, divided into 12 sections. Four cylinders were placed on the table, and a cube was placed in the middle. When turned on, the cube would vibrate and move around the table in a random manner—potentially knocking down the cylinders.

The contestant was spotted $3,000 and in the first round, the cube was activated for 10 seconds. Any cylinder still standing after that time earned the contestant an additional $1,500/cylinder. The cube was then activated for another 15 seconds, and any cylinders still remaining after this time were worth an additional $2,500.

After two rounds, any remaining cylinders were removed and one cylinder was placed on the table. The contestant could opt to take their winnings or have the cube activated for another 20 seconds. If the final cylinder was still standing after that time, their winnings quadrupled. If it was knocked over, the contestant lost half of their winnings. The maximum payoff in this game was $76,000.

### Double Dollars

The contestant would pull a lever that launched a ping pong ball to the top of the board, through swinging paddles, through a series of pegs, and into one of eight slots at the bottom of the board. Landing in an empty slot was worth $5,000. Each empty slot accumulated an additional $5,000. If a ping pong ball landed in a slot that was already occupied, he/she would be issued a strike.

After two strikes, the contestant could stop and take their winnings, or opt for another pull. If a ping pong ball landed in an empty slot, the contestant would have his/her money doubled, and would be offered another pull. If the contestant earned their third strike, they would lose half of their winnings. Play would continue until all eight slots are filled, a third strike was issued, or the contestant chose to stop. The theoretical maximum payoff in this game was $640,000, but this would require one of two scenario's: that each of a contestant's first three balls landed in the same slot, followed by each following ball landing in a new slot, or the first two balls land in different slots, then the next two balls land in the same slots.

## Bonus Round

*Cash Tornado*'s bonus round is Avalanche.

### Avalanche

The three money winners of the evening competed against each other in this, the final game of the night. Similar to the children's game *KerPlunk*, a large container was placed center stage containing 30 ping-pong balls. They were suspended in the top of the container by 12 numbered rods. One at a time, each player drew a number from a bag, and the corresponding rod was removed from the container. Depending on their position inside the container, some of the balls could fall to the bottom. Each contestant was staked with $100,000. On each player's turn, s/he lost $10,000 for every ball dropped to the bottom.

The contestant who dropped the last ball immediately went bankrupt. Once any contestant lost all his/her money, s/he was eliminated from the game. The last remaining player with money won the game and kept their remaining money.