Trivia Track
Trivia Track is an interactive live game show that premiered on the Game Show Network March 17, 1997, and ran until October 2, 1998; it was taped at the network's Sony Pictures Studios facilities in Culver City, California. The show's first host was Larry Anderson, who was replaced by Marianne Curan (who also hosted Trivia Track's companion interactive show, Super Decades) in the fall of 1997; Dave Nemeth, Nancy Sullivan, and Peter Tomarken also served as occasional fill-in hosts. The announcers were Gene Wood (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, the 3rd was worth 3, the 4th was worth 4, and 5 furlongs for the 5th and all questions after that. Players had 4.4 seconds to enter their answers. If a player is correct, then a jockey would move up a furlong. If a player is incorrect, then a jockey would stay put. The 1st player to reach the finish line won the race and move on to the Triple Crown. In the event of a tie, they would have a photo finish. A game would then be played (similar to The Price Is Right'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).
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 1st time around, the center "TRIPLE CROWN" square was activated, which was worth an automatic win if any player hits it. 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 would be 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.