Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune is a television game show originally devised by Merv Griffin, and which runs in local editions around the world. The game show first aired in 1975.

It was originally known as Shopper's Bazaar. The current American incarnation is hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Despite the name, Wheel is not related to Soldier of Fortune or The Wheel of Time. Instead, it's a glammed-up version of Hangman. Previous hosts of the American edition have included Chuck Woolery, Rolf Bernishke and Bob Goen. When the show first aired, the money the contestants won had to be used to shop amongst prizes on the TV show, but now the game is played for cash. Eliminating shopping speeds up the game, and allows more time to plug the big prizes, such as the cars.

The British version has been hosted by Nicky Campbell, Bradley Walsh, John Leslie and Paul Hendy with Angela Ekeate, Carol Smillie and Jenny Powell in turn having co-host's job.

In 1996, the original puzzle board was replaced with a digital electronic puzzle board, touching the letter spaces instead of turning them. A fill-in-the-blank puzzle is displayed on a grid of video displays in front of the players.

In November 2003, Wheel celebrated its 4,000th episode.

Table of contents

1 Play 1.1 Spin 1.2 Buy a Vowel 1.3 Solve the Puzzle 2 Special Rounds 2.4 Toss-up Round 2.5 Jackpot Round 2.6 Mystery Round 2.7 Speed-Up Round 2.8 Puzzle Round 3 Final round

Play

Three players take turns. On a turn, a player can spin the 24-sector wheel, buy a vowel, or attempt to solve the puzzle.

Spin

If the pointer lands on the wheel's "Lose a Turn" space, the player's turn ends. If the pointer lands on "Bankrupt", the player loses all earned cash and prizes, and the player's turn ends. If the pointer lands on a cash value, the player gives a consonant (W and Y count as consonants), and if it exists in the puzzle, the co-host reveals all instances of that letter in the puzzle, and the player receives the cash value multiplied by the number of instances of that letter. (If the letter does not exist, the player's turn ends.) If the pointer lands on a prize, the player gives a consonant, and play progresses in the same manner as for a cash space, except the player receives only the prize.

In many countries, but not the U.S., the contestant gives a word beginning with the chosen letter along with it. Hence: "C for Charlie" and "I for indigo".

Buy a Vowel

If a player has at least $250 in cash, he can pay $250 to have all instances of a single vowel (AEIOU) in the puzzle revealed. If the letter does not exist, the player's turn ends. Vowel buying is very common on the U.S. version, but for some reason much rarer in the U.K..

Solve the Puzzle

Once enough letters have been revealed, a player will attempt to read the solution to the incomplete puzzle. If the solution is incorrect, the player's turn ends. Only the player who correctly solves the puzzle pockets the earnings from the round.

Special Rounds

In recent years, various special rounds have been introduced.

Toss-up Round

This was made possible with the advent of an electronic board, compared with using trilons. A puzzle is revealed one letter at a time, and a player may buzz-in to solve it for a set amount of money ($1000, $2000, or $3000 in the US version). In the present US version, two toss-ups for $1000 and $2000 start the game, with the second one determining who starts round 1. The $3000 toss-up determines who starts the fourth round, which is usually the speed-up round.

Jackpot Round

After each spin, the value of the spin is added to the jackpot, regardless of whether or not the letter chosen is in the puzzle. The jackpot starts at $5000 (?). If a player spins and lands on Jackpot, and then guesses a letter in the puzzle, they may then immediately solve the puzzle to win the jackpot.

Mystery Round

Two $500 spaces are replaced with a black $500 space with a question mark. If a player lands on one of the mystey wedges, and guesses a letter in the puzzle, they may either take $500 per letter as normal, or turn over the mystery wedge. The mystery wedge either contains a bankrupt or a car. If the player reveals the car, as with any other wheel prize, they must solve the puzzle without hitting bankrupt to win it. After one mystery wedge is revealed, the other mystery wedge acts as a regular $500 space for the remainder of the game.

Speed-Up Round

Host: "I'll give the wheel a final spin." As the wheel is spinning down: "You give me a letter, and you'll have five seconds to solve the puzzle. Vowels worth nothing, consonants worth" the value of the space on which the pointer lands. In recent seasons, the value is final spin + $1000, to make the last round more meaningful.

On some versions, the host intentionally aims for the top dollar value with the final spin; in other versions, the host gives a random spin. If the host spins bankrupt or lose-a-turn in the final spin, he spins again. In the current version, final spins that land on bankrupt are edited out.

Puzzle Round

Some puzzles have a question that must be answered in order to win some extra money.

Final round

The player with the most winnings is then given a chance to take the grand prize, usually a holiday or car. A final puzzle is put up and the contestant nominates several consonants and a vowel (in the US version the letters R, S, T, L, N and E are automatically nominated). Occurrences of these letters are revealed and the contestant has a small amount of time, but as many guesses as necessary, to solve the puzzle.

In the US version, the contestants were only given the choice of 5 consonants and one vowel. A statistical analysis shows that RTSLNE are the best choices, and these were almost always selected by contestants. In the current version, the contestant is shown the puzzle with RSTLNE already revealed, and then they choose 3 more consonants and one more vowel. This allows for more variety and skill in the bonus round.