Trivia Track was an interactive live game show that premiered on the Game Show Network

Game Show Network

The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...

 March 17, 1997 and ran until October 2, 1998; it was taped at the network's Sony Pictures Studios

Sony Pictures Studios

The Sony Pictures Studios are a television and film studio complex located in Culver City, California at 10202 West Washington Boulevard and bounded by Culver Boulevard , Washington Boulevard , Overland Avenue and Madison Avenue...

 facilities in Culver City, California

Culver City, California

Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...

. The show's first host was Larry Anderson, who was replaced by Marianne Curan

Marianne Curan

Marianne Curan is an American actress, television personality and comedienne. She most recently hosted GSN Radio with husband Bob Goen.-Career:...

 (who also hosted Trivia Tracks companion interactive show, Super Decades) in the fall of 1997; Dave Nemeth, Nancy Sullivan

Nancy Sullivan

Nancy Sullivan is an American actress, TV host and screenwriter. She is a comedy actress and received improv training as a member of The Groundlings in San Jose. She also played Audrey Parker-Nichols on the hit Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh and The Amanda Show. On The Amanda Show, she played...

, and Peter Tomarken

Peter Tomarken

Peter David Tomarken was an American television personality primarily known as the host of Press Your Luck.-Early life:...

 also served as occasional fill-in hosts. The announcers were Gene Wood

Gene Wood

Eugene Edward "Gene" Wood was an American television personality, known primarily for his work as an announcer on various game shows. From the 1960s to the 1990s, he announced many game shows, primarily Mark Goodson–Bill Todman productions such as Family Feud, Card Sharks, Password, and Beat the...

 (one of his last announcing duties) and Ed MacKay.

Gameplay

Five randomly-selected contestants competed in a question-and-answer game, using telephone keypads to enter numerical answers. Two games featured on each show.

Each game was a 10-furlong race, with each player using their telephone keypad to select one of the answers on the screen. The 1st question was worth 1 furlong for a correct answer, the 2nd was worth 2, etc. up to 5 furlongs for the 5th and all questions after that. Players had 4.4 seconds to enter their answers. The 1st player to reach the finish line won the race and went on to the Triple Crown. In the event of a tie, they would have a photo finish

Photo finish

A photo finish occurs in a sporting race, when two competitors cross the finishing line at near the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to discriminate between which of the competitors crossed the line first, a strip photo, a series of rapidly triggered photographs, or a video taken at the...

. A game would then be played (similar to The Price Is Right

The Price Is Right

The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...

s One Bid) with a numerical ##. A question would once again be asked; players had 9.4 seconds to answer, and the player coming closest to the answer wins the game.

Triple Crown

The object of the "Triple Crown" round was to be the 1st player to accumulate 3 crowns by answering questions. Players alternated hitting the number "0" on their keypads to stop a random sequence (similar to the big board on Press Your Luck

Press Your Luck

Press Your Luck is an American television daytime game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on September 19, 1983 on CBS and ended on September 26, 1986. In the show, contestants collected "spins" by answering trivia questions and then used the spins on an 18-space game...

).

The game board

The game board had 9 squares, with each containing 1 crown, 2 crowns, a free crown, and a LOSE-A-TURN space. After the 2nd time around, the center "TRIPLE CROWN" square was activated, which was worth an automatic win if hit. Should neither player manage to accumulate 3 crowns by the time the bell rang, the player with the most crowns won. In the event of a tie, they would go into a sudden death showdown, with whoever got the last question right having the option to either answer the question or force their opponent to do so. If the player selected to answer got the question right, they won; if not, the opponent was the winner.

On the premiere episode, the computer which controlled the electronic display crashed during the Triple Crown round; because the show aired live, Anderson was forced to cover while the problem was dealt with. In the end, the winner was decided by having the two finalists choose numbered envelopes, with the player who got the higher number declared the champ.