International versions

The immense popularity of Wheel of Fortune since its debut in 1975 has caused the format to be sold in many countries around the world. These international versions tend to deviate from the normal format and typically offer less (or more) money, depending on the available budget and puzzle difficulty.

(Note that, with maybe the exception of the British and Australian versions, none of these will receive an article on this Wiki. If you know a lot about a particular version and want to make a Wikia site all about its history, hosts, etc., feel free to do so and let this Wiki's creator {TenPoundHammer} know.)

Argentina
Tiempo Límite ATP runs, or ran, on America TV.

Australia
Probably the most well-known foreign iteration to those outside of its home country, the Aussie Wheel was a Reg Grundy production which ran on the Seven Network from 21 July 1981 to 18 June 2006 for 5,093 episodes. While the show began with Ernie Sigley and Adriana Xenides, John Burgess replaced Sigley in June 1984 and the duo became the face of Wheel in Australia.

Burgess' departure was abrupt and, he since claimed, it was an accident that he even found out about it. He was replaced by Tony Barber on 15 July 1996, but viewers did not take to the new Wheel and he was replaced by Rob Elliott (1997-2003), Steve Oemcke (2004-05), and finally Larry Emdur (2006).

Adriana, meanwhile, began suffering from depression and left the show in November 1996; Kerrie Friend filled in for her during this time. Adriana returned in July 1997, only to leave permanently in June 1999; she was replaced by Sophie Falkiner until the end of 2005, then Laura Csortan for the entirety of 2006.

The programme returned briefly on the Nine Network from 26 May-27 June 2008 as Million-Dollar Wheel of Fortune, hosted by Tim Campbell and Kelly Landry.

The format was mostly the same as the American version, with shopping used until 1996. Beginning in 1984, the Bonus Round had the winner spinning a Golden Wheel to determine the prize they would play for; for Tony Barber's tenure as host, this was changed to a "five envelopes" format much like the American version. The puzzle itself gave the player two consonants and a vowel, then an additional consonant for every $2,000 the player had earned (up to $38,000 for all the consonants).

Bulgaria
Колелото на късмета (or Koleloto na kasmeta) appears to have been a one-time special hosted by Lukanov, airing January 18, 2010 on Nova TV.

Belgium
Het Rad Der Fortuin (later Het Rad Van Fortuin) originally ran on BRT during the late 1970s, followed by revivals on VTM (1989-2007) and Canvas (2009). The show was hosted at various times by Mike Verdrengh, Walter Capiau, Bart Kaell, Luc Appermont, and Carlo Boszhard.

Brazil
One of the many Brazilian game shows hosted by Silvio Santos, Roletrando ran on SBT during the 1980s-90s and appears to have been at least partly based on the American format – by 1991, they began using a bonus envelope holder not unlike the American one in use at the time, albeit larger and with seven envelopes.

The current version, Roda a Roda, has been running on SBT since 2003 and hosted by Santos since its debut. By 2010, the show introduced a Million wedge and has awarded the top prize at least once.

Canada
A French-Canadian version, La Roue Chanceuse, was hosted by Donald Lautrec and Lyne Sarrazin. This version, airing on TQS from May 1, 1989 to 1992, borrowed and mixed various elements from the American version (including the Rounds 1-2 Wheel first used on daytime in September 1989). It is known that the shopping format was used for a time.

Chile
La Rueda de la Fortuna, hosted by Rodolfo Torrealba, ran on Canal 13 from 1978-79. It is one of only two versions known to have debuted in the 1970s.

Colombia
La Rueda de La Suerte, hosted by Mauro Urquijo, aired on Canal Caracol from 1998-99.

Croatia
Oliver Mlakar hosted Kolo Sreće for HRT1 during the 1990s.

Czech Republic
Kolotoč airs, or has aired, on TV Nova.

Denmark
Lykkehjulet debuted on 1 October 1988 and quickly brought success to TV2, which aired the show. The program originally used the shopping format, but later switched to all-cash.

The show was originally helmed by Michael Meyerheim and Pia Dresner, but they were replaced in 1989 by Bengt Burg and Carina Jensen. Jensen was replaced by Maria Hirse in 1995, and Burg was briefly replaced by Keld Heick from 1996-97. Although Burg returned in 1997, he left for good in 2000 and was replaced by Lars Herlow. According to the network, the show ran for 3,599 episodes and was canceled shortly after failing to appeal to a younger audience.

The Wheel was slightly smaller, using only 22 wedges. When the show began, the top amount was 1,500 Kroner in early rounds and 2,500 in later ones; from 1990-94, the top value was always 3,000, but beginning in 1994 changed to have 5,000 as top amount from Round 2 onward. 5,000 became top value in all rounds from 1998 onward. (Vowels cost 500 Kroner.)

Ecuador
La Rueda de la Fortuna ran very briefly during 2003 on Ecuavisa, hosted by Pancho Cabanilla.

Finland
Finland, conversely, got a much popular version named Onnenpyörä, hosted by Janne Porkka. This iteration aired on MTV3 (not related to the music-based cable network) from 1993-2001.

France
France was among the more successful countries regarding Wheel. La Roue de la Fortune debuted on 5 January 1987 as a daily series on TF1 hosted by Michel Robbe and Annie Pujol, and was heavily based on the American format (complete with shopping and even a similar Wheel color scheme). The only difference was that vowels cost 500 Francs and this was not deducted if the vowel was not in the puzzle.

Robbe left in September 1987 and was replaced by Christian Morin, who was in turn replaced by Alexandre Debanne in January 1993. In January 1995, Debanne and Pujol were replaced by Olivier Chiabodo and Sandra Rossi, but Rossi apparently did not fit with the show and was replaced after a month by Frederique Calvez.

The show ended in April 1997, but was revived on 7 August 2006 with Christophe Dechavanne and Victoria Silvstedt and has run ever since. As before, most of the format is copied from the American one, albeit using Euros; interestingly, among the values is €0, used exactly like the $0 wedge on the 1973 Shopper's Bazaar pilot.

Germany
Wheel also became popular in Germany on Sat.1 and Kabel Eins as the long-running Glücksrad, hosted at various times by Frederic Meisner, Peter Bond, and Thomas Ohrner. The show originally ran from November 7, 1988 to October 31, 2002, then revived on 9 Live from March 2004 to March 2005 with Frederic Meisner hosting.

Georgia
იღბლიანი ბორბალი (or Igbliani Barbali) appears to have been a one-time special hosted by Duta Skhirtladze for Rustavi 2 on March 3, 2011.

Greece
Ο τροχός της τύχης ran on ANT1 from January 1, 1990 to 1996, then revived as O trokós tis túkis on MEGA from 1997-98. From about 1993-94, to celebrate its third anniversary, the show changed its opening to a localized version of the 1992 American open, complete with that remix of "Changing Keys".

Hungary
Another popular version was Szerencsekerék, originally running from 1993-97 on MTV1 before jumping to TV2 until 2001, then returning for its current series in 2011 on Story4TV. Hosts include András Vízy, Gajdos Tamás, Viktor Klaussmann, and Árpa Attila.

Indonesia
Roda Impian, hosted by Charles Bona Sirait, originally ran on SCTV from August 6, 2001 to August 2, 2002, then on antv from 2003 to July 29, 2005. Following this, the show was very briefly revived on Indosiar from January 2-March 3, 2006.

Another revival is planned for MBC 4, to begin in December 2011 or January 2012.

Israel
גלגל המזל (or Galgal HaMazal) ran on Channel 2 from 1994-2000, hosted by Erez Tal.

Italy
La Ruota Della Fortuna debuted in 1985 as one of several games played on Pentatlon, which aired on Canale 5 and was hosted by Mike Bongiorno. The Wheel used on this version had only 15 wedges

The show returned on Odeon TV from September 1987 to 1988, using the shopping element. The more famous version debuted in 1989, airing on Rete 4 and Canale 5 with Bongiorno as host. At some point, the show moved to Italia 1 and Enrico Papi took over hosting duties, with Victoria Silvstedt (from the French version) at the puzzle board. This version ended in 2009.

Lithuania
The show is known as Ratas Fortuny. No other information is known.

Macedonia
Тркало На Среќата (or Trkalo Na Srekata) ran for a brief time on A1 Channel in 2009, hosted by Igor Dzambazov and Natali Grubovic.

Malaysia
Roda Impian was another success for the franchise, airing on Astro Ria from 1996-2006. Originally hosted by Halim Othman and "Eja", Othman was replaced by Hani Mohsin in 2002.

The show briefly returned in 2009 on TV3, hosted by "Kieran" and Fauziah Gaus. The program since went on hiatus.

Mexico
La rueda de la fortuna was hosted by Laura Flores on Televisa and, at one point, used as its opening a localized version of the 1992 American one.

The Netherlands
Het rad van fortuin, originally hosted by Hans van der Togt, ran on RTL 4 from 1989-98. It was briefly revived in 2009 with Carlo Boszhard as host.

Taiwan
While Mahjong Fortune is not a licensed version of Wheel, it nonetheless heavily borrows from the franchise. One major difference is that the Wheel is replaced by a Pachinko machine, with the player in control rolling a Lucky Ball down to hopefully land on a money amount. The other major difference is to the puzzles: they are actually configurations of mahjong blocks.

This version also has several "variety show" elements, a typical staple of Taiwan programming.