List of categories

Over the years, Wheel of Fortune has used a great variety of categories for its puzzles.

Current Categories

 * Around the House: Introduced in Season 17.
 * Before & After: Introduced in Season 6. This category consists of two phrases, combined by a word that starts one and ends the other (e.g. WHEEL OF FORTUNE COOKIE, which combines "Wheel of Fortune" and "fortune cookie").
 * Best Seller: Introduced in Season 22 and very rarely used, it was long believed to have been retired after February 2007 but appeared again in April 2011 after having been absent for over four years. This is the only category known to have been used in the Bonus Round exactly once.
 * Classic TV: Introduced in Season 14. Very rarely used in the 2000s; its two most recent uses were in May 2008 and April 2010.
 * College Life: Introduced in Season 23 and used only during college weeks, resulting in extremely sporadic usage.
 * Event(s)
 * Family: Introduced in Season 7. The puzzle answer is the name of two or more people who are closely related.
 * Fictional Character(s)
 * Fictional Family: Introduced in Season 25.
 * Fictional Place: Very rarely used; however, it may be an original category.
 * Fun & Games: Introduced in Season 22.
 * Food & Drink: Introduced as On the Menu in Season 21. Renamed in Season 24, most likely to make the category all-inclusive for foods and drinks that would not necessarily be found on a restaurant menu.
 * Headline: Apparently introduced in Season 19, and very rarely used.
 * Husband & Wife: Introduced in Season 7. Much like Same Name, this category guarantees that the answer will have an ampersand.
 * In the Kitchen: Introduced in Season 23.
 * Landmark: Also very rarely used, to the point that Pat often mentions how rarely it's used.
 * Living Thing: Apparently introduced in Season 18.
 * Occupation(s)
 * On the Map: Introduced in Season 17.
 * Person and People: Until Season 14, proper names of famous people were included in this category.
 * Phrase
 * Place(s)
 * Proper Name(s): Introduced in Season 14. Previously, Pat would remind contestants that "person does not always mean proper name", but often forgot to do so. Proper Name may also refer to the name of a sports team, college, business, etc.
 * Quotation: Although apparently an "original" category (its earliest known appearance being March 27, 1979), Quotation was altered between Seasons 10 and 12: during these seasons, the contestant would win a bonus for identifying the source of the quotation (and Charlie asked the question instead of Pat). By Season 16, the extra question was adapted into a new category called Who Said It?, which is listed below.
 * Same Letter: Introduced in Season 27.
 * Same Name: Introduced in Season 6. This puzzle includes two names, phrases, etc. that end in the same word (e.g. ARETHA & BENJAMIN FRANKLIN or SEWING & SLOT MACHINE). For its first season of use, AND was spelled out in the puzzle; after nearly every contestant called N, D and A first, the word was replaced with an ampersand (although some puzzles still use AND). Many Same Name puzzles in Season 14 used three "names" (e.g. SEWING SLOT & VENDING MACHINE) instead of two.
 * Show Biz: Introduced in Season 14.
 * Song/Artist: (e.g. LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING BY TIM MCGRAW). Introduced in Season 13. Sometimes inverted as Artist/Song (e.g. TIM MCGRAW'S LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING).
 * Song Lyrics: Apparently introduced in Season 19.
 * Star/Role: (e.g. BILL COSBY AS CLIFF HUXTABLE). Introduced on Bob Goen's first daytime episode in July 1989 as Person/Fictional Character, it is known to have been renamed by 1990.
 * Thing(s)
 * Title: Three specific subsets, Movie Title, Song Title and TV Title, introduced in Season 23. Interestingly, Title has not been used in the bonus round since May 10, 2005, and none of the subsets have ever been used in the bonus round.
 * Title/Author: (e.g. THE PEARL BY JOHN STIENBECK) Apparently introduced in Season 9. Similarly to Song/Artist, this is sometimes inverted as Author/Title.
 * What Are You Doing?: Introduced in Season 25.

Retired Categories

 * The 20's through The 90's: Introduced in Season 12, these puzzles included things and events related to the decade in question. For their first season of use only, the "decade" categories were followed by a $1,000 trivia question (asked by Charlie) related to the decade in question; they were also written out as words instead of numbers (e.g., The Twenties). By late 1996, only The 70's and The 80's were used (plus The 90's from about 2000 onward), and the categories were phased out in September 2005. However, The 60's made a one-time return in April 2011.
 * Foreign Word(s) and Foreign Phrase: Two self-explanatory categories introduced in Season 9. They were last seen early in Season 10. On a September 1992 episode, Pat explains that one answer has several acceptable Anglicized pronunciations, giving a likely explanation for this category's short life.
 * Nickname: Known to have been used as early as May 31, 1979. Its last known appearance is on a daytime episode in fall 1989 (an episode that, coincidentally, also has a Person/Title puzzle). While this category was rarely used, it is possible that it was retired and brought back in the 1988-89 nighttime season.
 * People (magazine): A special category used only during a celebrity week in Season 25. Its category strip used the logo for People magazine, and the puzzles were show biz topics that might be seen in the magazine.
 * Person/Title: (e.g. CANDICE BERGEN IN MURPHY BROWN). Both this and Person/Fictional Character were used interchangably on early Bob Goen daytime episodes. It appears that this category was retired around the same time that Person/Fictional Character was renamed Star/Role.
 * Rock On!: Introduced in Season 23 (October 25, 2005) and initially used only on college episodes. Each puzzle was themed to rock music in some way, most often referencing a rock act and/or song. Charlie always introduced the category in a deep voice. On December 3, 2010 and February 9, 2011, Charlie's introduction was overdubbed with Pat saying the name of the category; following the decision to dub over Charlie's announcing on episodes that he recorded before his death. It is believed that the category is now officially retired.
 * Slang: Introduced in Season 10 and used through Season 12. Many Slang puzzles relied on archaic or, in some cases, outright fabricated slang (e.g. OFF THE BEAM).

"Bonus" Categories
Between 1990 and 2008, the show had categories which offered the contestant a bonus for answering a question related to the puzzle. These were initially worth $500, but increased to $1,000 in Season 13, $2,000 in Season 16, and $3,000 in Season 17. This line of categories was phased out gradually; the last one seen on the show was Where Are We? in September 2008. In Season 27, the show introduced a new category called What's That Song? which also offered $3,000 for a "bonus" question, but it was quickly retired as well.


 * Clue: The puzzle described a specific thing. Apparently introduced in October 1990; believed to have been retired in September 2005.
 * Fill In the Blank: Debuted in Season 10. Interestingly, Fill In the Blank has actually been two different categories:
 * Initially, Fill In the Blank was an incomplete phrase that ended in a question mark; the contestant received a bonus for providing the exact remainder of the phrase. (However, on at least one occasion, the question mark was in the middle instead.)
 * In November 1994, Fill In the Blank became a completely different category. The "new" Fill In the Blank was a word puzzle similar to Tribond, where the answer was three phrases, names, etc. that had a missing common word, almost always at the beginning (e.g. ? DOE / ? DEERE / ? MCCAIN for answers of John Doe, John Deere and John McCain). It first appeared in this format in October 1994, with four question marks instead of three; however, an "old-style" Fill In the Blank puzzle appeared on November 4, 1994, most likely because the episode was taped earlier. The "old" Fill In the Blank was renamed Next Line Please, although it did not appear under that name until a month later (see below).
 * Fill In the Number: A phrase with a missing number in it (e.g., ## TROMBONES LED THE BIG PARADE, with the number being 76). The category first appeared on April 7, 1998 and last appeared on April 28, 2004.
 * Megaword: The puzzle is a nine- to thirteen-letter word, which the contestant received a bonus for using in a sentence. The category was introduced on September 20, 1994 and last seen on April 6, 1995. It was likely retired for several reasons, the most obvious being Pat's clear disdain whenever the category appeared.
 * Next Line Please: Identical to the "old-style" Fill In the Blank introduced in Season 10, only without a question mark to identify the end of the phrase. As mentioned above, the category first appeared under this name on December 9, 1994; it was last used April 17, 2008.
 * Slogan: Debuted in Season 14; originally called $1,000 Slogan. The puzzle is a product's slogan, and the bonus question involves identifying the product. (However, there are at least three known instances, one of which was a Toss-Up, of Slogan puzzles that had the product name in them; obviously, the question was not asked in these instances.) This category was likely retired after an incident on January 30, 2008, where the puzzle EAT FRESH was solved "Subway, eat fresh" and ruled correct. February 19, 2008 is the category's last appearance.
 * What Are You Making?: Introduced in Season 25. The puzzle listed ingredients to a common food dish, which was then identified for the bonus. It was used only once, on the October 23, 2007 episode, and the contestant correctly identifed S'mores as the answer.
 * What's That Song?: Introduced in Season 28 (2010-11) and only used four times (September 16, October 28, December 21, and February 8). The puzzle was a song lyric, and the bonus question involved identifying the song's title.
 * Where Are We?: The puzzle gave three short clues to a specific place. Introduced in Season 10; last seen September 17, 2008.
 * Who Is It? and Who Are They?: The puzzle gave a clue to a specific person or, in very rare instances, a group of people. Last seen September 11, 2007.
 * Who Said It?: Apparently introduced in September 1998. Identical to Quotation, but with a bonus for identifying the source of the quotation. Apparently retired in early Season 20.