Video games

Since 1986, various companies have cashed in on the success of Wheel of Fortune by releasing video games for a variety of formats. Surprisingly, none of these adaptations have ever used the shopping format and are all based on the play-for-cash nighttime syndicated version of the show.

Vanna White has participated in the games since 1991, and Charlie O'Donnell handled announcing duties from 1998-2010 (it is presumed that Jim Thornton will fill this role in subsequent releases). Pat Sajak has participated very sporadically over the years.

For the board game adaptations released since 1975, see Board games. (All games are called Wheel of Fortune and use the two-row logo, unless otherwise noted.)

Sharedata (1986-88)
The first video game version was released in 1986 on the Commodore 64, Apple II, and MS-DOS; Second Edition (1987) and Third Edition (1988) were released on the same platforms, and all use the five consonants/one vowel format in the Bonus Round. The available Bonus Round prizes are an $8,000 luxury bedroom set, a $13,500 American sports car, a $9,750 17' fishing boat (18' catamaran on the Apple II version), and an $11,200 dream vacation.

First Edition has two different covers: the puzzleboard with title and Wheel with 1986 Round 1 template but not hooked up to its flippers, and the Wheel hooked up to its flippers and the title shown in puzzleboard form as seen on the previous artwork (as seen at the start of the Big Month/Bonanza of Cash, since used on all subsequent Wheel merchandise). Second Edition and Third Edition each have a zoomed-in shot of the puzzleboard with title.

GameTek (1987-97)
GameTek released a great many game show titles (mostly Wheel and Jeopardy!) until closing its doors for good in July 1998. Unless otherwise noted, all games have artwork of the puzzleboard with WHEEL OF FORTUNE on it (as seen at the start of the Big Month/Bonanza of Cash) plus half of the 1986 Round 3/1987+ Round 4 Wheel template.

PC (1987, 1989, 1994, 1996)
The company released Junior Edition (1987), Golden Edition (1989), Deluxe Edition starring Vanna White (1994), and Deluxe Edition for Windows '95 (1996). In 1990, the Sharedata games were reissued as a box set.

NES (1987-88, 1990-91)
Rare designed the first three releases for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, April 1988 (Junior Edition), and 1990 (Family Edition). Puzzles and prizes on Junior and Family are appropriate, and Family is the only edition which does not use "Changing Keys".

The first three games used the same engine: three rounds are played with a single Wheel template (top value is $1,000; the template is most likely based off of 1986 Round 1), with Round 3 beginning in Speed-Up. Bankrupt is seen as "B00", Lose A Turn as "M00" (for Miss A Turn), and Free Spin as "+00". Strangely, Family Edition retains the five-and-a-vowel version of the Bonus Round.

In 1991, Wheel of Fortune Featuring Vanna White was released. This version, developed by IJE (also responsible for Talking Super Jeopardy!), used a new set of graphics, music, and sound effects. It is also the first version to let the player choose an avatar, and the first to have RSTLNE given by default in the Bonus Round.

A couple of oddities about Rare's versions: first, the 1987 game has a pair of unused Coca-Cola logos hidden among the sprites (Merv Griffin Productions was owned by Coca-Cola at this point); second, a reference to Wheel is in Rare's 1988 NES game Taboo: The Sixth Sense – each card type has its own music if drawn, and the "Wheel of Fortune" piece is a few seconds of "Changing Keys".

Arcade (1988)
A video redemption game was released in July 1988, with a single Wheel template (most likely based off of the 1986 Round 1 template, with values in $100 increments; top dollar is $900). Players are given a set number of "misses" before gameplay ends, but can receive an extra turn by hitting certain scores and solving puzzles (which also award a $10,000 bonus). There is no Free Spin, Speed-Up, or Bonus Round, but the Vanna look-alike switches color dresses in each round (red in odd-numbered rounds, blue in even-numbered ones)..

This was the first version to let the player physically spin the Wheel, by way of an encoder wheel also used to select letters and game options.

The bezel, marquee, and side artwork all show the entire 1986 Round 3/1987+ Round 4 template and puzzleboard with title.

Game Boy (1990)
The Game Boy got a single version apparently based on the Junior Edition board games: the Wheel has values in multiples of $100, with a top value of $1,000 in the first two rounds (Round 3, the Speed-Up, has $5,000). The Bonus Round, still using the five-and-a-vowel rule, is played for $25,000, a boat, a cruise, a trip, or a car.

SNES (1992-93)
Two versions were released in 1992 and 1993 (Deluxe Edition) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, based on the W-H-E-E-L format first used in September 1989. Deluxe Edition uses the 1992 set and a permanent Speed-Up as Round 5, although the full Wheel shot is replaced by a simple animation.

Sega Genesis (1992)
The Genesis version was a simultaneous release with the SNES one. They are exactly the same.

Game Gear (1992)
A unique version for Sega's portable system, with a futuristic atmosphere; while the full set is never seen, a fan took the various elements and made this approximation. This Wheel has just 16 spaces and 12 unique values, with top values of $900/$2,500/$5,000.

Nintendo 64 (1997)
By 1997, GameTek was rapidly losing money and had no choice but to file for bankruptcy; their final Wheel game was released on December 2 of that year. It was the first version to use the $10,000 wedge, Jackpot round, and touch-screen puzzle board; it was also the last to use the multi-template Wheel.

This version has some oddities: the Surprise wedge is not used (despite being seen in the instruction booklet), Free Spin is only present in Round 3, and the only Bonus Round prize is $25,000.

In the Jackpot round (Round 3), the $400 that is normally orange is changed to teal to avoid two wedges of the same color (i.e. the photo on the back of the box as well as in the instruction booklet).

The intro is styled like the ones used in Seasons 12-14, and the graphic used is the Round 1 template with a gold $10,000 wedge replacing the sparkly-green $1,000. The studio portion of the intro is similar to that of Season 14, and uses the Round 1 template in the game itself in the circular concrete center. The box art uses the then-new puzzleboard with title, Vanna, and the barely-seen Wheel with 1996 Round 1 template in the background. The box's back and sides use the 1994-97 version of the two-word logo (i.e. the "O" in "of" looking normal instead of the traditional Wheel shape), with the same artwork as the front.

Mattel (1988)
In 1988, Mattel released an electronic handheld game allowing players to play puzzles from an included videotape, program their own puzzles, or receive "invisible signals" from the TV show's puzzles and play along. Some owners of this device reported that it still worked when used on Season 6 reruns broadcast by GSN.

Lazer-Tron (1992)
A unique ticket-redemption game called Spin to Win which was not licensed, but clearly influenced: the player rolls three balls, one at a time, down into one of seven slots which determine the Wheel's movement (normally Bankrupt, 1 Slot Right, 3 Slots Left, No Spin, 3 Slots Right, 1 Slot Left, and Full Spin).

The 15-wedge Wheel has values ranging from 1-15 (sometimes 20) tickets along with two Bankrupts, Lose A Ball, Double Ticket Bank, and Bonus Jackpot. The jackpot is awarded by landing on Bonus Jackpot for the third turn, then landing on it again at the end of the following free game.

Sony Imagesoft (1994)
Sony Imagesoft released a version for the Sega CD in April 1994, with a PC version following in June. The Sega CD version used full-motion video and high-quality audio of the 1989 music package (hence the clean copies that exist today) with the 1992 intro and set.

The Sega CD version is the first to use Prize wedges: a trip is added in Round 2, followed by jewelry in Round 4; the Surprise wedge is present throughout.

The PC version uses the 1992 theme complete with the intro to Season 11 (1993-94) and uses the 1994 set, and in Round 2, the $2,500 wedge is colored pink instead of blue as on the show.

The artwork on both versions features Vanna in front of the blue contestant "interlocking W" backdrop. The 1994 puzzle board is seen on the cover for the PC version. The logo is the traditional logo with colors inside the "wedges".

Funhouse (1995)
A non-video redemption game, this version involved lighting up the A, K, and O in JACKPOT by landing on a certain wedge of the 12-wedge Wheel. A light travels around the wheel itself, and once a coin was inserted the light would stop; the Wheel had values in tickets (2-12 by default, though values vary by arcade), a Bankrupt wedge awarding no tickets for that turn (previous winnings were not affected) and a "turn letter" wedge which revealed one of the missing letters and awarded a large amount of tickets (50 by default). If JACKPOT is successfully filled in, the player wins an extra 100 tickets.

The front of the machine features a photo of the puzzle board used for on-location shows, though duplicated and meshed with one another to fit the width of the machine, a photo of the Wheel with the Rounds 4+ template partially blurred as if spinning (taken from the cover of the 1992 Tyco board game), and the logo spelled out all in one row with dots in between the words similar to the traditional logo. A Vanna look-alike is placed to the left of the "puzzle". The side artwork features the logo spelled out all in one row across a graphic of the "rug" template.

Tiger Electronics (1995, 1997-2000)
Tiger released three electronic handheld games, the second (1999) and third (2000) being Deluxe Edition and Junior Edition. All three games had several expansion cartridges, and use a three-round format. If there are only two players and the computer player is Player 2, Player 1 will start Round 3. However, if the computer player has the most money after Round 3, no Bonus Round is played, and the game is over. The Bonus Round on all three versions uses the W-H-E-E-L format, but the pointer chooses one of the spaces on the Wheel, and the prize is 10 times the amount the pointer is on. If the "E" is chosen, the unit will randomly choose one of the two. In addition, when choosing the three consonants and one vowel, consonants must be typed in first before the vowel, as typing the vowel automatically enables the Solve mode and the player can no longer refer back to the category.

The 1995 game used a 12-space Wheel with the following layout: $100-Bankrupt-$750-$2,500-$400-$500-Lose A Turn-$600-$5,000-$250-Free Spin-$300, with $2,500 activated in Round 2 and $5,000 in Round 3. Free Spin was available in all rounds. However, it was inactive on the Wheel until used, which had to be done immediately after calling an incorrect letter, missolving the puzzle or hitting Bankrupt or Lose A Turn (the latter two rarely occured while a player had a Free Spin). If the player solved the puzzle while still holding a Free Spin, it did not carry over into the next round and had to be re-earned. If a puzzle is solved with less than $250, the player's score is upgraded to that "house minimum". The QWERTY keyboard is color-coded to differentiate the letters, with consonants in purple and vowels in blue. The artwork on the packaging includes a logo similar to that of Seasons 12-14 but with Bankrupt, a purple Lose A Turn, and a green Free Spin on the Wheel graphic itself as well as a photo of an unrevealed road show puzzleboard beneath a starfield background. The graphic for the expansion cartridges had Lose A Turn in its traditional yellow color.

When Tiger attempted to enter the portable video game market with the Game.com, two versions of Wheel were released in 1997 and 1998; both contained 750 puzzles and were controlled by the touch screen, with the 1998 game called Wheel of Fortune 2.

Following the Game.com's failure, Tiger released an electronic handheld game based on the Wheel slot machines. This version had a Super Jackpot which began at $5,000 and increased by $1-$3 depending on the player's bet; the player won the jackpot by either landing on the Super Jackpot wedge or getting three Wheel symbols on the payline with a $3 bet. The Wheel would be spun when a SPIN symbol hit the payout line, offering an easy way to win the Super Jackpot or some value between $20 and $1,000.

The Deluxe Edition game (1999) had the 1998 template and some special spaces: Free Spin, active in Rounds 1 and 2, was awarded the same way as the 1995 game. Like before, an unused Free Spin could not be carried over to the next round and had to be re-earned. Cash Bonus, active in Rounds 2 and 3, would award a bonus anywhere from $500-$3,000 in $500 increments if a correct consonant was chosen. Once hit, it would become inactive for the rest of the round. Jackpot, active in Round 3 only, would award $20,000 to the player's score if a correct consonant was called, and this was a flat-rate cash prize, regardless of how many of that consonant appeared, and regardless of how many times it was landed on during the round. The $10,000 space, the second Bankrupt (there were two), $1,000 and $2,500 were active in all three rounds. $3,500 was activated in Round 2 and $5,000 in Round 3. There were 3 different "house minimum" scores should a player solve the puzzle with less than that: Round 1's was $250, Round 2's was $500, and Round 3's was $750. The only "bonus" categories available were Fill-In-The-Blank and Where Are We?, and both play identical to the show. In addition, there was a small lever at the top that can slide to the right to "spin" the Wheel.

Differences between the 1995 and 1999 games were the keyboard had all 26 letters of the alphabet in order instead of in the QWERTY keyboard format, there was a Used Letter Board, and the puzzle board was much bigger. The artwork on both the game and the expansion cartridges features a colorful zoomed-up rendition of the 1998 Round 1 template.

Hasbro Interactive (1998-2000)
Hasbro Interactive released two versions for the Sony Playstation on June 5, 1998 and November 20, 2000 plus two PC editions in 1999 and 2000. The second version includes a behind-the-scenes look at the show and a sample contestant exam. These games were developed by Artech Entertainment, Ltd.

ICE (2000, 2005)
In 2000, ICE released a redemption game similar to their popular Cyclone. This version, using the 1997 "Changing Keys", requires the player to stop the light on a blue bulb marked "Spin Zone"; if accomplished, the 20-space Wheel above is spun.

A coin-pusher version was released in 2005, where players drop their coins onto a lighted section (the light moves back and forth along seven sections) to light up the puzzle board at the top of the machine (WHEEL OF FORTUNE). If done, the Wheel was spun for a bonus.

Infogrammes (2002)
Released Wheel of Fortune 2003 in November 2002 for PC and Playstation. As with the Hasbro versions, the games were developed by Artech Entertainment, Ltd.

Atari (2003)
Atari released a single version for the Playstation 2 on March 8, 2003, also with a sample contestant exam. Strangely, it includes the $1,000 wedge in its familiar sequin-green design.

Stern Pinball (2007)
A pinball game designed by Kevin O'Connor and Margaret Hudson was released in late 2007, featuring Pat and Charlie.

Sony Online Entertainment (2007-08)
In 2007, Sony Online Entertainment released a PC version called Wheel of Fortune 2 (an update of their 2003 online game), followed by Wheel of Fortune Deluxe and the feature-identical Wheel of Fortune Super Deluxe.

A version was released for the Playstation 3 on November 5, 2008; while being the first game to have the Million-Dollar Wedge and follow the Season 26 rules, it has two major detriments: not only does it lack the Gift Tags, Prize wedges, and Prize Puzzles, a bug renders the Wild Card unusable unless the player buys a vowel that is in the puzzle.

Irwin (2009)
Irwin released two "talking" electronic versions, a Deluxe Edition and a Platinum Edition. Each featured a Wheel that had the same color template as the current one, but with dollar signs only. When the Wheel was spun, the template from Seasons 24-26 can be seen scrolling upwards. The game also had a QWERTY keyboard and a touchpen with which to use the keyboard.

Raw Thrills (2010)
In Summer 2010, Raw Thrills, in association with Konami and Play Mechanix, released another Wheel redemption game for arcades.

The game's motif is based on that of Season 27. It features various music cues from the show and gameplay uses real photos from the show's actual set. On the machine itself, a large, vertically-mounted Wheel is displayed in front of where the player sits. Under the wheel, there is a touch-sensitive monitor with a small "knob" underneath used for spinning the Wheel, similar to GameTek's arcade machine. An optional additional feature for the machine is a stool that the player can sit on. The stool has a curved shape similar to a contestant podium from the show, and has a blue cushion along the top in a fashion similar to the padded railing that sits atop the show's contestant area. The outer side of the stool bears the Season 27 logo. Sitting along the sides of the machine are two large cutouts of the show's basic Wheel template with the Season 27 logo over it, but with the top dollar value and penalty wedges replaced with cash wedges. A similar layout is printed on the "Spin" knob.

The game has two modes: a regular mode and a "Double Play" mode (accompanied by a graphic similar to the Double Play token), which doubles the value of all spins and costs twice as much to play. After inserting the desired amount of credits, the player chooses a mode, and the game opens with a shortened version of the Season 27 opening animation. The player is then greeted by an unknown announcer. A puzzle and its category is displayed on the puzzle board. Depending on the puzzle's length, a few letters may already be revealed at this point. Any necessary punctuation is omitted, including from contractions. The player is prompted to spin the Wheel by turning the "Spin" knob. The player will get either one or three spins, depending on the settings configured by necessary staff. Spin power is displayed on a meter at the bottom of the screen. If the spin is too weak, the player is prompted to spin again. Otherwise, the words "WATCH WHEEL" appear with two arrows pointing up. After the wheel stops, the player is shown the value they are playing for and a keyboard appears on the screen to choose a letter. Only letters that appear in the puzzle can be chosen. If the mode only allows one spin, the player will choose three letters. Otherwise, the player spins three times, one for each letter. When a letter is chosen, all its instances are revealed on the board as an unknown model walks across. Vowels are treated in the same fashion as consonants and will not cost the player any tickets if chosen. As usual, the player receives the value of the spin, in tickets, for each instance of the associated letter. After three letters have been chosen, the game prompts the player to solve the puzzle. Depending on how much of the puzzle has already been revealed, a bonus is awarded for solving the puzzle correctly. When solving, if a wrong letter is typed, the player is buzzed and the puzzle is revealed. Even if the puzzle is not solved, the player still wins the total amount of tickets earned from guessing letters.

Like its TV counterpart, the Wheel has 24 wedges. There are multiple different layouts that can be used, all of which have different payouts. Each layout has an assigned cost required for playing the game. On the default layout, which assigns the game a cost of $1.00 for regular play, normal ticket values range from 2-10. There are also four "special" wedges, all located 90 degrees apart. These wedges are split into thirds like the show's Million-Dollar Wedge. The outer two sections are white and only worth one ticket on all layouts. The middle section is gold and is worth either 20, 50, or 200 tickets. The Wheel layout with the highest payout assigns the game a cost of $3 for regular play. Normal ticket values range from 4-20 and the three top values are 100, 250, and 500.

Though the Wheel used in this game features no penalty wedges, early versions of the game displayed at various trade shows featured four Bankrupt wedges, plus two on the outer sections of the top ticket value instead of 1 ticket spaces, and two Lose A Turns.

THQ (2010-)
THQ is the current holder of video game rights, releasing a version for the Wii and Nintendo DS on November 2, 2010. It is not only the first version to use the Gift Tags, Prize Puzzles, and Free Play, but it is also the first console version to feature Pat. It is also notable for being the last game with Charlie, who died the day before.

The Wii avatars of Pat and Vanna were used in various openings during Season 28, in part to tie in with the then-new game.

Facebook (2010-)
An adaptation of the game exists on Facebook. It uses a one-round plus Bonus Round structure which plays very similarly to the main game, with the Round 1 Wheel template minus any "extras". The yellow $400 is kept instead of Free Play, although a player may use one of four extras at any time: Timeout, which stops the clock for 30 seconds; Free Play, which functions identically to the wedge; Reveal Letter, which shows every instance of a particular letter, starting with those that are on the board least; and Double Bucks, which functions identically to the Double Play. The game allows up to five lost turns (not counting wrong letters from Free Play). Bonus Rounds are played for $5,000 with a 30-second time limit. Every $150,000 earned in the game increases the level and earns 75 Wheel Gold.

Returning every day earns an episode, 10 gold, and two spins of the Spin & Win, which involves spinning the Bonus Wheel to win a prize (either an episode, a bonus, or a random amount of gold). The in-game Wheel Gold may be used to buy more episodes or bonuses, which can also be purchased with Facebook Credits.

Canceled Versions
While a great many versions were released, several were not.

The Great Game Company (1983)
While the first Wheel video game was released in 1986, it was not the first attempt. In September 1982, one was touted for the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision alongside Family Feud, Jeopardy!, The Joker's Wild, Password Plus, The Price Is Right, and Tic-Tac-Dough. Two of these were scheduled to appear at the New York City Toy Fair in March 1983, with Michael Sisson in charge of graphics design.

All seven titles were shelved following what has been called "The Great Video Game Crash of 1983", with no pictures released and no prototypes known to exist. It has been speculated that due to the then-low abilities of game consoles, the seven titles would have been like the Magnavox Odyssey (overlays on the TV screen) or early RPG games (including a board and some accessories).

In 1986, IJE (which owned The Great Game Company) licensed the Wheel game rights to Sharedata; when this resulted in success, IJE decided to publish the games themselves and became GameTek.

Philips Interactive Media (1995)
A version of Wheel was planned for the Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-i) alongside several other titles (Jeopardy!, Name That Tune, The Joker's Wild, The Joker's Wild Jr., and Lingo). All were released except for Wheel, and Lingo was exclusive to European territories.

Charlie handled announcing duties on Jeopardy! (hosted by Alex Trebek) plus both Joker games (hosted by Wink Martindale and Marc Summers, respectively; Charlie announced the TV show from 1981-86). The CD-i Tune, based on an unsold pilot, was hosted by Bob Goen.

GameTek (1996)
Adaptations were planned for the Sega Saturn and Panasonic 3DO systems, announced to be "coming soon" at the end of at least one 1996 episode. No traces of either version appear to exist.

Tiger Electronics (2004)
Teamed with VEIL Wireless Technologies to make Wheel of Fortune Live Play, which let home viewers play along with the actual TV show (similar to the 1988 Mattel game). It was never released due to technical issues, although one unit (possibly a prototype) was sold on eBay in December 2006.

MGA Entertainment (2008)
Acquired the rights to make DVD games of Wheel and Jeopardy! in 2006. Jeopardy! was released in Spring 2007, with Wheel planned as a follow-up for early 2008; unfortunately, Jeopardy! ended up being a commercial failure and Wheel was shelved.

Sony Online Entertainment (2010)
Platinum Edition was slated for release in late 2010. The box art was similar to those of SOE's previous PC releases, but with the motif of Season 27. While made available for pre-order at various online retailers, neither the game or any screenshots were actually released, so it is unknown how it would have differed from the previous PC titles.