The show was hosted by Mark Goodman, with Linda Kollmeyer as his co-host and Bill Barber as announcer.
Players were randomly chosen from those tickets to be in the show's contestant pool, but only a certain number of them would be selected to play an on-stage game.
When the wheel stopped, the player whose seat was lit would play a game, in addition to winning a set of lottery tickets.
Random numbers were drawn to choose contestants, pulled from the same kind of machine used for their lottery drawings.
The pendulum was placed on a launcher mounted on the outer edge of the table, which could be moved to any position before releasing.
After the second turn, the largest amount still in play was multiplied by five, for a potential maximum of $100,000, and the smallest one was replaced by "Wipe Out."
Three figures representing sports players (orange, blue, yellow) were placed on a board, three steps away from a finish line.
The prize for a yellow win was determined by the contestant, who chose one of four face-down cards before the game began: one each of $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000.
Every time the contestant drew a ball different from the base color, they won an additional $5,000; there was no penalty for a match.
A second ball in the base color would be added to the left container, and the total was tripled if the contestant did not match it or halved if they did.
The contestant stood at a circular table whose sides sloped down to a depression at its center and was given a cash prize at the start of the game (initially $3,000, later $4,000).
The total would be quadrupled if the cylinder remained standing after the cube had been activated for 20 seconds, or cut in half if it was knocked down.
Twelve buildings were placed around the edges of a rotating turntable, with a wrecking ball positioned to swing at them.
This was the only game that was played on every episode of Illinois Instant Riches from the beginning of the run up to the format/name change in 1998 (although it returned in 2000).
The contestant pulled a lever to launch one Ping-Pong ball at a time to the top of a board similar to a pachinko machine, whose bottom edge was divided into eight slots.
In the latter case, if the ball landed in an occupied slot, the contestant's total was cut in half and the game ended.
If it landed in an empty slot, the money was doubled and the contestant was again offered the chance to stop or continue.
A motorized cube was placed at the center of the table and released to bounce around randomly for 30 seconds; any contestant whose marker had not been knocked down after that time won the cash prize assigned to their wedge, ranging from $7,500 to $100,000.
Since the Pot O' Gold set was too large and bulky to transport to the location, a modified version of Knockout was played instead.
A victory by the champion awarded $20,000, while the challenger received the cash prize assigned to their own wedge for a win.
Each contestant in turn drew one number at a time from a board, and the corresponding rod was pulled out, possibly dislodging some of the balls and causing them to fall to the bottom of the container.
The last remaining contestant chose one of the numbers he/she had drawn and received the cash amount paired with it, which could range from $10,000 to $100,000.
When there was no champion, the top money winner took that position in Pot O' Gold and the runner-up played as the opponent.
The rules were the same, except that the "Big Money" step was replaced by a picture of a treasure chest, and it used 10 coins ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 in increments of $50,000.
On August 22, 1998 the show underwent a revamp in terms of set, name, and gameplay in addition to Tony Russell replacing Bill Barber as announcer.
Before each round, six contestants chose an envelope with an answer to a polling question asked to people all across Illinois (Ex.
Played during the first format, everyone began with $3,000 and wagered their money hoping a pendulum would land on a WIN space.
The game was played on a round board with a pendulum in the middle and 10 magnets arranged in a circle on the table.
The pinball machine moved to the start of the game midway through the run, used to determine the contestants to play a mini-game.
In the Luckiest run, Pot O' Gold was slightly reformatted, since the show no longer had returning champions.