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CONNECT·THE·DOTS
A primetime game show format · 1Mosaic Productions
Created by Drew Pokorny · 2026

Connect The Dots

Three teams face off to decipher hidden connections
and win big money!

Main Game ·01 How It Plays

Connect The Dots is a primetime pattern-recognition game show where three unlikely teams of two — rival coffee shop owners, softball exes, in-laws who can't stand each other — race to find the hidden thread across five multimedia clues. Play unfolds over two rounds of six categories, and the fewer clues a team needs, the bigger the points. Hidden dots lurk in every round: the HOT DOT hands one team a solo shot at doubled stakes, and THE PIVOT lets the leader gamble their points to reframe the entire connection. The winners get one last shot at WAVELENGTH — a two-minute sprint where partners try to say the same bridge word at the exact same time, stacking matches for tens of thousands in bonus cash. Connections' brain, Jeopardy's rhythm, and a casting hook that turns every matchup into must-watch TV.

Try it.

Host

"Welcome to Connect the Dots! Here's how we play. Pick a category from the board, we'll reveal the clues one by one. Buzz in when you've connected the dots! You've chosen 'Birds of a Feather'. Connect these five to the one thing they all have in common!"

Birds of a Feather
Connection · Category
Win the main game: $10,000 + a shot at Wavelength. 2nd place: $3,000. Last place: $1,000.
Round 1 Points

Making Connections

Set 1 · 5 clues5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1
Set 2 · 4 clues6 · 5 · 4 · 3
Set 3 · 3 clues7 · 6 · 5
Fewer clues. More pressure. Bigger payout.
Round 2 Points

Values Doubled

Set 1 · 5 clues10 · 8 · 6 · 4 · 2
Set 2 · 4 clues12 · 10 · 8 · 6
Set 3 · 3 clues14 · 12 · 10
Same structure. Twice the stakes.
The Mastery Curve

Clues reveal one at a time in a slow burn. Buzz in early for more points. Each category holds three sets to play. By the third set, players have mastered the rule. Good news, because they are given fewer dots to connect but at higher point values.

Main Game ·02 Connection Types

Never the same game twice.

There are 14 different ways to connect the dots. Tap any circle to play a sample round and see the category rule in action.

14 Types · Infinite Categories
Two Ways to Play the Board
Buzz-In Clues reveal one at a time. Buzz in early, score bigger.
Touchscreen All five clues appear on screen. Race to arrange them.
Each sample below tells you which mode it plays.
Main Game ·03 Hidden Bonus Plays

Two hidden plays.
One per round.

Watch out for the bonus dots, one in each round. In Round 1 you'll find a HOT DOT hidden on the board. In Round 2 you'll have a chance at THE PIVOT.

Hot
Dot
Round 1
Hidden in Round 1 is the HOT DOT. When a team picks the category, the board flashes. The other two teams sit out. The picking team plays solo across all three sets. No category change. No competition until the category is finished. They keep every point they bank.
"Team Blue, you're alone with the HOT DOT."
The
Pivot
Round 2
Hidden in Round 2 is THE PIVOT. After any set on the category is won, the host offers the winning team a choice: play a sixth clue that reframes the connection. All the dots now share a different thread. 10 seconds. One guess. Nail it: double the set's points. Miss: lose them.
"Would you like to play the PIVOT?"
See it in action

Same five dots. New lens.

01The winning team solves the category
"Yellow Submarine"
"Mellow Yellow"
"Big Yellow Taxi"
"Yellow"
"Follow the Yellow Brick Road"
The Connection Songs with YELLOW in the title.
THE PIVOT
02A sixth clue appears. 10 seconds. One guess.
"Yellow Submarine"
"Mellow Yellow"
"Big Yellow Taxi"
"Yellow"
"Follow the Yellow Brick Road"
PIVOT"Blue Monday"
The New Connection Songs with any COLOR in the title.

Same dots. Reframed. That's a move only a connection-finding show can pull off — and it's the most dramatic moment of every episode.

Winner Bonus Round ·04 The Finale
Wavelength
Welcome to the bonus round! You and your partner have to share the same WAVELENGTH. You'll each be given a different secret word and through a series of guesses you'll figure out the word that bridges them. Figure it out and two new secret words appear. Get as many as you can in two minutes to bring home big cash! Every match starts at $10,000 and drops $1,000 per guess. Two minutes on the clock. Go! Prize per match = $10,000 − ($1,000 × guesses to match)
Clock 2:00
Tries 0
Earned $0
Tracey
BEACH
Ryan
PARTY
Sample Bonus Round · 2:00 on the clock
Match 1 · 4 guesses$6,000
Match 2 · 3 guesses$7,000
Match 3 · 5 guesses$5,000
Match 4 · 6 guesses$4,000
Match 5 · 5 guesses$5,000
Match 6 · 7 guesses$3,000
Bonus Round Total$30,000

Main game cash earnings add on top. Per-point conversion is set with the network partner at option.

· 05 Who Plays

Three teams. Six people.
One reason to care.

The teams on Connect the Dots might seem like an odd couple, but even they have a hidden connection that makes them the perfect pair. Tap a team to reveal theirs.

· 06 Why Now

The shelf this lives on.

Connections
NYT · 5M+ daily players
The #1 puzzle ritual in America has no TV version. Pattern recognition is a nightly habit for tens of millions. CTD is the show that habit turns into.
The Floor
Fox · 2024 to present
Proof that format-driven primetime game shows can still break through. Appetite is real; the lane is open.
Only Connect
BBC · Cult hit
The closest format cousin. A UK hit with no US version. Culturally, the gap is obvious.

Pattern recognition is the most culturally ascendant skill of 2026. Wordle. Connections. Strands.
This is the primetime flagship of that wave.

· 07 Format at a Glance

Plays big. Plays small.

Lead Format

60-Min
Primetime

  • Duration60 minutes
  • Main Game2 rounds × 6 categories
  • WavelengthMost matches in 120 sec
  • Season10 to 13 episodes
  • TargetStreamer / broadcast primetime
Extension

30-Min
Daytime

  • Duration30 minutes
  • Main Game2 rounds × 4 categories
  • WavelengthMost matches in 60 sec
  • Season20 to 26 episodes
  • TargetGSN · Daytime · International

Format-licensable globally · Culture-agnostic mechanic · Only clue content shifts per market

· 08 Contact

Ready to connect?

Drew Pokorny · Creator & Executive Producer
1Mosaic Productions, LLC

drew@1mosaicproductions.com