As you may have noted in the "Show Summaries" section, the Powerball Instant Millionaire program for 8-7-2004 had only $1,000 won by the end-game player on that program. That was bad enough, but the way the game is set up actually makes it more likely that the larger amounts get won instead of the smaller amounts, whereas the reverse should really be the case, IMO.
With the current game, if 36 players played the end-game until they either uncovered all seven of the board's dollar signs or both "Xs," and their results fell according to probability, here's what we would have:
1 winner of $1 million (no "Xs" in first 7 picks)
7 winners of $128,000 (6 dollar signs and one "X" in first 7 picks; 7th dollar sign on 8th pick)
1 winner of $100,000 (both "Xs" in first 2 picks)
7 winners of $32,000 (6 dollar signs and one "X" in first 7 picks; second "X" on 8th pick)
6 winners of $16,000 (second "X" on 7th pick)
5 winners of $8,000 (second "X" on 6th pick)
4 winners of $4,000 (second "X" on 5th pick)
3 winners of $2,000 (second "X" on 4th pick)
2 winners of $1,000 (second "X" on 3rd pick, as was the case on the 8-7-2004 program)
I know that the program is going off the air after this season, but if it ever comes back in the future, or if an individual state lottery decides to take this game for their own TV lottery show, here's what we need to do to fix this game:
1. Instead of having seven dollar signs and two "Xs" under the letters in the word "POWERBALL," reverse those numbers so that there are seven "Xs" and two dollar signs.
2. Put a "money ladder" next to the game board that would be like Greed's "Tower of Greed," but operating in reverse.
3. To play the game, the contestant picks letters from the word "POWERBALL" (or equivalent boxes from the end-game board of a local lottery TV show) until either both dollar signs or all seven "Xs" are revealed. Each time an "X" is revealed, the contestant goes one step down the "money ladder," continuing to do so with each pick until either the second dollar sign is revealed (in which case the game ends with the contestant winning the money for that level), or until all seven "Xs" are revealed (in which case the contestant wins the lowest-level prize).
For the PBIM program, I would suggest the following amounts on the "money ladder," which would result in an average prize to the end-game winner of approximately what it is now (about $60,000):
$1,000,000 (both dollar signs in first 2 picks)
$100,000 (second dollar sign on 3rd pick)
$75,000 (second dollar sign on 4th pick)
$50,000 (second dollar sign on 5th pick)
$40,000 (second dollar sign on 6th pick)
$30,000 (second dollar sign on 7th pick)
$20,000 (second dollar sign on 8th pick)
$10,000 (all 7 "Xs" revealed in 8 picks, leaving second dollar sign unrevealed)
Note that even in the worst-case scenario here, a contestant would be guaranteed a five-figure prize. (In contrast, with the current PBIM end-game, 14 of the 36 possible outcomes result in prizes of $8,000 or less.)
Michael Brandenburg
(But if you decide to increase those dollar amounts on the "money ladder" here, you'd better have the money in your prize budget for it!)
