FAQ

Given the number of years Wheel of Fortune has been on and the scope of this Wiki, there are some frequently-asked questions about various elements. This page will attempt to answer some of them.

If you have any questions for this page, feel free to ask on the talk page.

Was the show always called Wheel of Fortune?
The show was originally called Shopper's Bazaar when it was first developed in 1973. The more familiar title appears to have been introduced in early August 1974, as a Variety blurb from July 31 uses the original name.

Does the 1973 pilot still exist?
While creator Merv Griffin and Lin Bolen (then NBC's Vice President of Daytime Programming) did not like it, admitting its shortcomings during the show's E! True Hollywood Story, Shopper's Bazaar nonetheless exists and can be found online. Interestingly, Wheel is aware of this fact.

The most likely reason why it never showed up anywhere until 2012 is music rights, as instrumental versions of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Spinning Wheel" were used as the main and commercial outro themes, respectively.

When was the "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" chant introduced?
August 8, 1983, the same day "Changing Keys" became the main theme.

How many versions have there been?
In the United States, three: the original 1975-91 daytime series, the 1983-current nighttime run, and the 1997-98 spinoff Wheel 2000.

The show has been exported to quite a few countries since 1975; info on them can be found here, including two adaptations of Wheel 2000.

So why did the daytime version end?
The daytime show's demise can be traced back to several factors, all following Pat's departure:


 * His replacement by Rolf Benirschke, a former football player who had rarely been on television and never hosted a game show until doing an audition for Merv's Windfall (which led to Wheel). While a genial person, Rolf was visibly nervous and uncomfortable initially; this was not helped by a single pre-emption which caused his first four shows to air the same week as Pat's last day.
 * The Price Is Right continuing to climb the Nielsen ratings and, despite being head to head with the show's first half, Wheel managing to remain consistent in the audience figures it had prior to Pat's departure. While it is likely that some of the Wheel audience tuned out after Pat left, this was clearly a negligible number.
 * As a result of the show becoming a progressively more distant #2 in the ratings, NBC and Merv were unable to come up with a license fee agreement. NBC cancelled the show, kicking them out from Burbank after the June 30 episode despite the studio contract being scheduled to expire in 1990. CBS quickly picked up Wheel for a July 17 return, giving it an audiovisual makeover and a new host in Bob Goen.
 * At about this point, the game show genre as a whole began a downslide that would not fully manifest until 1995. Upon moving to CBS, the Wheel ratings began falling, which did not stop even after returning to the NBC schedule in January 1991.
 * Following the return to NBC, the show held at least three play-by-phone contests in an attempt to boost ratings; none worked, and may have been seen as a last-ditch grab for ratings.
 * The show was drawing older demographics than most advertisers were looking for at the time (generally those aged 18-49), resulting in fewer sponsors (or at least a smaller diversity of them) as 1991 progressed.

Daytime Wheel took its last bow on September 20, 1991 after three weeks of repeats.

What about Wheel 2000?
While the child-oriented version followed in its adult predecessors' footsteps by consistently being #1 among CBS' children's programming, it finished (after its last first-run episode on February 7, 1998) in 46th place overall with approximately 350,000 viewers. This was still better than the average for the entire lineup CBS was offering that season, which continually ran a distant fourth with a 0.5 (about 190,000 viewers).

On January 8, with five episodes left to air, CBS announced that it would be overhauling its weekend schedule, replacing everything with new cartoons by Nelvana (Anatole, Mythic Warriors, Birdz, and Flying Rhino Junior High). Birdz ran for just one season of 13 episodes, while the others got two seasons and 26 episodes.

The show's demise has actually left at least one notable effect on the adult version: unlike Jep! (a child-oriented version of Jeopardy! whose one-season demise paved the way for regular Kids' Weeks), the adult Wheel has not used children as contestants since the early-1990s My Favorite Teacher weeks; this was particularly obvious in a 2011 Family Week sponsored and promoted by Wendy's, as the fast-food chain had done so solely through their Kids' Meals.

During the New York City tapings of March 2013, two children in the audience asked Vanna White and current announcer Jim Thornton if there would be a Kids Week; the response from Jim was that Wheel would consider it.

How many daytime episodes were made?
Not counting the three pilots, 4,215. This number was given by Peter Tomarken during GSN's first day in 1994, just before the nighttime Wheel debut was shown.

Wheel 2000 had 22 episodes and two pilots.

Has the show always run for 30 minutes?
No. From November 3-7, 1975, and again from December 1 of that year through January 16, 1976, Wheel aired for an hour from 10:30-11:30 AM. The former was for NBC's Daytime Gigantic Game Gala, while the latter may have been in response to the ratings of the one-week stint.

Rather than have three contestants play for an hour, the show used a sort of tournament style. Unfortunately, other than the November 3 show, nothing of the hour-long era is known to exist; as a result, most of the below information comes from recollections that date as far back as 1997, so these may not be entirely correct:
 * Three contestants (including the returning champion, if applicable) played a three-round game during the first half-hour with $500, $1,000, and $1,500 as the top values (it is known that the week of November 3 used $1,000 in Round 1). Immediately afterward, a second set of contestants played a three-round game much like the first.
 * The winner of each game then played a one-round "Head-To-Head All-Cash Showdown" with $2,000 as top value and the puzzle chosen in front of the puzzle board (reading WHEEL OF FORTUNE) from one of three bowls marked by category. This round was also the first appearance of the Prize wedge, albeit differently to its successor, as it was placed back on the Wheel if a contestant picked it up and hit Bankrupt.
 * The winner of this round played a Bonus Round where s/he chose from Easy, Medium, Hard, or Difficult, which corresponded to the puzzle's difficulty (seemingly, the presence of common consonants) and offered larger prizes for the higher difficulties. The contestant picked four consonants and a vowel, after which they were given the category and 15 seconds to solve the puzzle.

Why are relatively few daytime episodes out there?
Until the 1970s, television was generally seen as one-time programming, usually by networks but also by individual companies – if a show was not viable for repeats either on a network, in syndication, or in other countries, the tapes were wiped and reused. Kinescopes did not come into general use until about the late 1940s (despite being present since 1931), while videotape did not come into professional use until 1956; the two-inch tapes were expensive not only to purchase (early on, $300 per one-hour reel) but to store, hence the process of wiping.

The wiping process affected hundreds of shows, including Wheel (one particularly notable victim was the DuMont network archive spanning 1946-56, parts of which had been destroyed circa 1958 for their silver content with the rest dumped into Upper New York Bay in the early 1970s); the last network to quit was NBC, in 1980. According to a King World representative in 2006, it was policy at Merv Griffin Productions/Enterprises to wipe and reuse the tapes, a policy they held until mid-1985.

Aside from this, Game Show Network has never held the rights to air the daytime version, only airing three episodes (one each from 1976, 1982, and 1989) as part of a marathon after Merv's death in 2007.

A list of daytime episodes that we know to exist can be viewed here. Additions and corrections are of course appreciated.

I was a contestant on Wheel before. Can I be on the show again?
Short answer: No. The "Contestant FAQs" page on the show's website states that "Our rule is that you can be on the show only once in a lifetime. There are a lot of people who want to spin the Wheel!"

Long answer: Being on the American Wheel at any point in its history – including Wheel 2000, the unaired 2012 Lottery Winners show(s), and possibly the 1973-74 pilots – renders you ineligible for the rest of your life. The "Show FAQs" page on the show's website goes into a bit of detail about this, specifically mentioning Wheel 2000 and the daytime show, name-checking Chuck Woolery, Bob Goen, and Pat Sajak; the names are followed by "or other hosts", which covers at least Rolf Benirschke and Alex Trebek.

This rule was introduced sometime between August 1983 and the end of 1998, likely when the Friday Finals were dropped at the beginning of Season 16. A contestant named Janet played on October 8, 1980 and #S-003, while a player named Paul was told after his appearance on #S-052 that he could try out for Wheel again the following year. According to a 1998 recollection, a 1970s contestant was removed from the show's contestant prep room for just that reason.

On rare occasions, a contestant is brought back due to an error on their previous game. Known instances include September 8, 1988 and April 2, 2004.

Which version is referenced in Billy Joel's 1989 historical song We Didn't Start the Fire?
While the show's placement between "Russians in Afghanistan" and "Sally Ride" covers the 1979-83 timeframe, the lack of any 1980-82 events would appear to suggest nighttime (despite it debuting about three months after Ride's space trip in June 1983).

What was the 1950s Wheel?
A Peter Arnell series hosted by Todd Russell with Hal Simms as announcer, which aired on CBS from October 3, 1952 to December 24, 1953. The theme was Kay Starr's 1952 rendition of "Wheel of Fortune", which had previously enjoyed 22 weeks (nine at #1) on Billboard's best-seller chart.

Unlike contemporary games Queen For a Day and Strike It Rich, which simultaneously helped and exploited the poor and downtrodden for ratings to the dismay of both contemporary and modern critics, Wheel invited good Samaritans to share their stories to America (including Duane Dewey, the first person to receive a Medal of Honor from President Dwight D. Eisenhower) and spin a vertical carnival-style Wheel...although exactly how the game was played is unclear, as nothing is known to exist outside of three publicity shots. One of the set pieces was a Jackpot Wheel sporting various cash values (at least $300, $400, $500, $600, $800, $900, and $1,000) and question amounts (at least "1 out of 2", "2 out of 3", "3 out of 3", "2 out of 4", "3 out of 4", and "4 out of 4"); the "out of" signs likely corresponded to the values and question difficulty: easier questions and/or less right answers for $300 and $400, harder and/or more for $900 and $1,000.

While Merv's format was not based on Arnell's, much as the A&Q concept of Jeopardy! was not based on Gil Fates' 1941-42 CBS Television Quiz, the two Wheels nonetheless have marked similarities – the 1950s Wheel offered cash and prizes, had its logo in the center of the Wheel (as a permanent decoration rather than a graphic, with "Wheel" and "Fortune" curved in the same manner as Merv's logo), asked questions for money (not used by Merv's format until 1990), did hour-long episodes (a regular feature each Friday), won awards (an "Award of Merit" presented on-set by Robert C. Preble), spun off a nighttime version (July 7-September 15), upped its top value ($2,500 by September 18), and even changed hosts (Mike Wallace took over sometime between May 25 and September 18). Further, the concept of a vertical Wheel was used by Ed Flesh for the Shopper's Bazaar pilot in 1973.

The show appears to have ended due to its competition, primarily NBC's educational series Ding Dong School, with the nighttime version falling against Break the Bank. Tweaked formats proved successful elsewhere, though:
 * In Australia, Reg Grundy's Wheel of Fortune aired on radio from 16 June 1957 to 1959, followed by the Nine Network from September 1959 to 1964. Originally hosted by Grundy (who was also the show's producer), he was replaced by Walter Elliott in 1962. A late-1959 episode is held by the National Film and Sound Archive, albeit with no intro or end titles; clips have appeared in Aussie retrospectives, including an intro, suggesting the existence of another episode.
 * A British version (using a format that eventually became the second Door #4 on the 1984-86 Let's Make a Deal) aired on ITV from 20 September 1969 to early 1971, although one contestant claimed in the 2004 book The Dream Factory (made to mark the closure of the Northam studios where Wheel had taped) that the Wheel was rigged. Hosted by Michael Miles, who had recently wrapped a 13-year run on Take Your Pick (which ended 14 months earlier due to a reorganization of the ITV licenses), Wheel was dropped following his death on 18 February 1971. Nothing is known to exist of this version.

In 1981, Grundy debuted an adaptation of Merv's Wheel to even greater success, running until 2006. In 1988, STV (not to be confused with the 1969-71 version's Southern TV) adapted Merv's format, which ran until the end of 2001.

It should be noted that another series called The Wheel of Fortune, hosted by Jack O'Reilly, aired on Mutual in at least mid-1955. This was not a game show, however, but rather a preview of new record releases.

Was the show inspired by a casino game called Wheel of Fortune?
While it is true that Merv's idea of the show came from a casino game, he based it off of Roulette, which involved a horizontal wheel similar to the show. The casino game that bears a similar name to the show is also often referred to as the Big 6 Wheel and is spun vertically (as in Shopper's Bazaar) and also has money on it, except the money used are dollar bills ($1, $2, $5, $10, and $20).

On Pioneers of Television: Game Shows (which aired on PBS in 2008), footage was shown of a Merv interview where he states that, when he needed to provide an interesting and unique way to award money, he looked back at one of his childhood memories: "the big spinning wheel game at the annual church picnic."

What is the font used for the show's logo?
The font appears to be based on "Chesty" (also known as "Bust"), though some characters differ slightly in appearance in comparison to it. Other characters and words that do not appear in the logo have been displayed in the font on rare occasions (such as "WHEEL AROUND THE WORLD" during said week in Season 28), though the font does not appear to be available to the general public.

As a side note, the font used for the Shopper's Bazaar logo (as well as the puzzle board letters and credit roll of the 1973 pilot) is Hopkins, while the unique mid-show bumper logo used in daytime from at least 1983-87 (as well as at least one ticket in July 1989) used an unknown font.

What is the font used on the Wheel?
According to March 2008 Chicago Tribune article regarding various facts about the Wheel itself, the current font is a customized version of Clarendon bold/black.

Originally (or at least, beginning in 1974), the Wheel font was "Fortune", also known as "Chesterfield" and "Volta". As the series continued, the appearance of certain parts of the Wheel changed slightly: most noticeably, the 7's were modified to have a flat bottom instead of a rounded one at some point between April 7, 1978 and March 2, 1979; later on, more numbers started changing such as the 8's and 0's.

This modified font remained until January 2003, when all numbers (but not letters since Bankrupt kept the same appearance) were modified once again: only the 7, 8, and $ look identical to their counterparts in the previous font, while the 1 (only seen on the back of the $10,000 Wedge in Seasons 24-25), 3, 4, 6, and 9 are identical to Clarendon, which is the font used for the current Lose A Turn and the front side of the Mystery Wedges.

What is the font used for the category strips?
Since September 2008, the category strips have been in Gotham. For some reason, ever since the category Fictional Character(s) was renamed Character(s) in early 2013, its strip has been in Arial on all but a couple occasions.

Like many other things about the show, the font has changed over time:
 * The first known variant, art cards shown sporadically during at least the first half of 1976, used Helvetica Bold.
 * The second style was a computerized monospaced font from at least January 18, 1978 to January 1985.
 * In January 1985, the displays were replaced by a succession of Helvetica chyrons until early 1993. For a few weeks around January-February 1993, the strips became slightly less bold in appearance.
 * Starting around February 1993, the strips changed to Gill Sans, although between April 1994 and February 1995, road shows reverted to a slightly less bold version of Helvetica. (The Norfolk, Virginia shows aired in May 1995 were the last road shows to use Gill Sans.)
 * At the beginning of Season 13, the strips began using the Clearface font. This changed to a bold-but-narrow white font for the first three months of Season 14, followed by a different white font from December 16, 1996 through the end of Season 17. Seasons 18-25 each used a different style.

How many times was the nighttime Jackpot won?
At least 112, the first on September 26, 1996 and the last on June 10, 2013. The highest known Jackpot win was $16,000 on October 5, 2006. Interestingly, there were no known Jackpot wins in Season 19.

As a side note, the highest unclaimed Jackpot was over $22,000 on October 31, 1997.

How many times has the ½ Car been won?
40, the first on September 28, 2011. Interestingly, there have been three instances of a contestant winning the ½ Car but not the game, and three instances of a contestant winning the car with three tags.

What is the biggest one-round record to date?
$54,000, set on February 18, 2005 and tied on two occasions (October 24, 2005 and February 7, 2007). All three were in the Speed-Up round.

The largest known win for a regular round is $44,300, set on a November 1986 nighttime show. The puzzle was AN AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY.

That said, $54,000 is not the most money that could have been won. That record is $62,400, also for a regular round, accumulated during Round 3 on December 5, 1985; the contestant called a wrong letter, and control did not return to her. Shortly before that episode, another contestant is believed to have lost out on a bank of over $60,000 by incorrectly solving the puzzle.

What is the main-game record to date?
$69,300, set on December 21, 2012.

What is the lowest winning score?
The lowest known winning score is $1,000, from daytime Wheel on March 30, 1987. Interestingly, the contestant who won had swept the game, possibly making this the lowest combined winnings in a single episode. However, it is believed that another contestant won the game with only $575.

How many $100,000 winners are there to date?
32, the first being on December 19, 2001. Note that this only counts those who won the $100,000 cash prize in the Bonus Round, rather than exceeding $100,000 otherwise.

Interestingly, two puzzles have each led to a pair of $100,000 wins: BRAINS AND BRAWN on January 24, 2006 and December 16, 2010, BACK IN A FLASH on May 15, 2006 and April 26, 2012.

So far, only Season 21 has failed to provide at least one $100,000 winner. Consequently, there are no such winners for the year of 2004.

As a side note, the record for most $100,000 wins in one season is six, set in Season 23.

How many $1,000,000 winners are there to date?
Two: Michelle Loewenstein on October 14, 2008 (total of $1,026,080) and Autumn Erhard on May 30, 2013 (originally scheduled for the 31st; total of $1,030,340).

As an aside, the largest non-millionaire record is $147,000, set on December 28, 2012 through a $100,000 win.

Who was the first host?
This depends on whether the 1974 pilots are included. If one goes by the name Wheel of Fortune, then Edd Byrnes was the first host. If only aired episodes count, then Chuck Woolery was the first host; Chuck also hosted the 1973 pilot.

Based on questions asked to audience members by Thornton, Wheel takes the stance that Chuck was the first host.

Who was the first hostess?
Susan Stafford, who had been a syndicated radio host beginning around 1971. According to Thornton, who sometimes asks this question to audience members during tapings, nobody at the show's current base of Culver City has ever been able to give the correct answer – a fact he brings up during road shows, where he does get the right answer.

Who was the first announcer?
Mike Lawrence if one includes the pilots, Charlie O'Donnell otherwise.

If Chuck, Susan, and Charlie were so great, why did they leave?
Charlie left in mid-1980 after then-NBC head Fred Silverman announced the show was to be cancelled on August 1. He signed a commitment to the upcoming Toni Tennille Show shortly before the cancellation was overturned and, under the belief that "a handshake is my word", opted to stay with it.

Chuck left due to a salary dispute with Merv, wanting a raise in his annual pay from $65,000 to $500,000 (in line with what other emcees made) because Wheel was drawing a 44 share. Merv offered $400,000, and NBC agreed to pay the remaining $100,000 until Merv threatened to move the show to CBS. NBC withdrew the offer, and Chuck's last episode aired December 25, 1981.

Susan departed because she wanted to do humanitarian work. She took a trip to India in Summer 1982 and, after seeing the plight many people were in, felt that turning letters for the past seven years was not really a way for a grown woman to live her life; many have noted that Susan seems visibly distracted on the September 2-3 shows. While her last regular episode aired October 22, Stafford returned to fill in for her successor for the daytime week of June 16, 1986.

Has anyone announced the show besides Charlie O'Donnell, Jack Clark, or Jim Thornton?
In order of appearance:


 * Don Morrow filled in as announcer in August 1980 between O'Donnell's departure and Jack's hiring.
 * Beginning on May 9, 1988, Charlie began filling in for Jack on nighttime, while both he and Johnny Gilbert (Jeopardy!) filled in on daytime. Conversely, Charlie had previously filled in for Jack in 1985 due to scheduling conflicts caused by Jack announcing on The $25,000 Pyramid, a show that he soon left to prevent the conflict.
 * M. G. Kelly announced both versions from roughly September 5, 1988 to February 17, 1989, barring the two nighttime weeks taped at Radio City Music Hall (aired November 14-25, 1988), which were announced by Don Pardo.
 * Gilbert filled in for Charlie on the weeks of November 27 and December 4, 1995. This period is notable for an exchange between him and Pat on the 29th: at the top of the show, Pat joked that Wheel "isn't like Jeopardy!, where if you finish in second place with $10,000, you get a lounge chair!", to which Johnny replied "But it's a $10,000 lounge chair."
 * Gilbert also did part of the intro on April 1, 1997.
 * Following Charlie's death on November 1, 2010, the show underwent a rotation of guest announcers comprising Gilbert, Rich Fields, Jim Thornton, Lora Cain, Joe Cipriano, and John Cramer.

How did Pat Sajak and Vanna White get the roles?
Pat, then a weatherman at KNBC, was noticed by Merv for his quirky and odd sense of humor. However, then-head of NBC Fred Silverman rejected the decision, claiming Sajak was "too local"; Merv opted to cease tapings until Pat was hired, which only happened after Silverman left the network.

Vanna was selected from hundreds of applicants to do on-air auditions to replace Susan, and was chosen due to her chemistry with Pat. According to Vanna, the only reason Merv would give her is that she turned the letters better than anyone else.

So what happened to Susan?
She devoted her life to charity work and medicine, earning a B.A. in Nutrition and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, plus a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacific Western University. Her official website has a full list of her accomplishments.

Susan also had a longtime relationship with Dan Enright of Barry-Enright Productions, along with being the company's Vice President of Public Relations; following Enright's death in May 1992, Chris Sohl (the company's Vice President of Business Affairs since 1988) became the head of the company and promoted Susan to Executive Vice President, which in turn was followed around January 1993 by the company becoming Stafford-Enright Productions.

Unfortunately, her association with Wheel was quickly forgotten after Vannamania took off: a 1987 Chicago Tribune interview with her began by outright assuming the reader did not know who she was, while Susan herself became a bit annoyed and bothered that most people would say "You mean you were Vanna White before Vanna White?" upon telling them what she used to do.

Susan's Wheel-related obscurity was only further proven during a 1991 episode of the Nostalgia Channel game show Let's Go Back (created and hosted by Scott Sternberg, who later made Wheel 2000), when a question asking for the person Vanna replaced was met with silence yet, when asked who Pat replaced, a contestant immediately gave the correct answer; after Sternberg said Susan's name, the same contestant could be heard saying "forgot that".

The 1995 book Popular Culture, Educational Discourse, and Mathematics evidently did not see anything prior to Vanna's hiring, as it stated that Wheel "broke ground" by declaring Vanna a "hostess" and giving her equal billing with Pat, despite Susan having the former during her tenure and the latter at least twice (once with Chuck in 1981, again with Pat in 1986).

Wheel itself has very rarely acknowledged Susan's contributions, and she was not credited on the Byrnes footage that aired on the ceremonial 3,000th nighttime episode in 1998.

Who have been the producers and executive producers?

 * Producers: In the 1973 pilot, this and the directing were handled by Bill Carruthers. For the 1974 pilots, the role was given to John Rhinehart, with Nancy Jones being promoted to co-producer when the show debuted.
 * In April 1976, Rhinehart announced his departure from Wheel, and was promoted to being NBC's West Coast Daytime Program Development Director the next month. As a result, Nancy became the sole producer.
 * In 1995, Nancy was dismissed over concerns by Sony that Wheel had become "tired and dated" under her watch. Around the same time, Harry Friedman was contacted by an old friend, Sony Pictures Entertainment's then-CEO Alan Levine; shortly afterward (but not directly as a result of being contacted by Levine), Friedman became the show's producer for the last tapings of Season 12.
 * By June 2, 1997, Karen Griffith and Steve Schwartz became co-producers. They remain at those positions today.
 * Executive Producers: Originally Merv, until Friedman was promoted to co-executive producer in September 1999. Merv retired the next year, leaving Harry as the sole executive producer.

Are Pat and Vanna on Facebook or Twitter?
Neither Pat nor Vanna has a Facebook page. However, Pat does have a verified Twitter account. Vanna does not.

Chuck Woolery and Bob Goen also have Twitter accounts.

How many touch screens does the puzzle board have?
52: 12 on the top and bottom rows, 14 in each of the two middle rows.

How big were the old puzzle boards?
The original 1974 board used 39 trilons, spread across three rows. On December 21, 1981, this was expanded to 48 trilons across four rows (11 on the top and bottom, 13 in each of the middle two); four more trilons were added to the corners by September 2, 1982, bringing the total to 52. However, these extra four were blocked by the frame of the puzzle board and could not be used.

The road-show board, used from 1988-97 (plus a brief stint at home base for the first few weeks of Season 13), always had 48 trilons, as it lacked the extra four in the corners.

What happened to the four-line trilon boards?
The home-base board was reportedly offered to the Smithsonian, but rejected due to its large size. On Pat's now-defunct website, he stated that the board was "gone". Both the studio and road-show boards no longer exist, except for a single trilon with a W slide (displayed backwards) in Sony Studios' Wheel Hall of Fame.

At least some of the other letter slides were sold in auctions, autographed by Vanna and/or Pat; two of these slides (an N and a zero) were shown to Vanna in a 2013 interview she did for the WWLP show Mass Appeal, as the interviewer's grandmother had purchased them.

When was the curtain introduced?
Sometime between January 6 and November 3, 1975. The original curtain had vertical strings of lights, which were removed sometime between June 7, 1976 and January 24, 1977.

Interestingly, the background of the Season 30 logo has what appears to be vertical strings of lights.

So what was at center stage before the curtain?
A set of panel doors similar to those of Let's Make a Deal, inside a border that resembled the puzzle board (using a 10×5 grid of transparent squares). The doors opened after each round to reveal the prize platform for that round and, once Charlie finished describing the purchased prizes, the doors closed and "hookers" (stagehands with large hooks) pulled the platform out of the way to set up for the next round.

The Milton Bradley games released in 1975 use photos which indicate that, rather than the curtain immediately replacing the doors, Wheel temporarily went back to the original 1974 method of pulling away the puzzle board for shopping rounds.

When was the "logo on overhead Wheel shot" opening introduced?
The first Byrnes pilot in 1974, remaining through at least the All-Star Dream Machine Championship in early 1976. It was dropped by June 7 of that year, but returned on August 8, 1983 (with the transparent wedges becoming white in January 1985).

After this, the shot remained until sometime between July 21 and August 22, 1989.

Why is the center of the Wheel green?
Originally, this was used for chroma-key zooms during the intro (a practice dropped sometime between November 3, 1975 and the All-Star Dream Machine week in January 1976) and close. For at least the 1974 pilots and 1975 premiere, the center also changed color for each spin.

The center of the Wheel has likely remained green for the sake of familiarity.

When was the chroma-key closing shot used?
The first Byrnes pilot in 1974. It was dropped sometime between March 15 and April 6, 1978, but returned sometime between January 2 and March 18, 1980.

It appears to have been used less and less frequently as the 1980s progressed. Its last known use on the nighttime version is the first Big Month of Cash episode (October 5, 1987), while its last known daytime appearance is the first show of Teen Week on December 21.

Why did some road-show bonus puzzles use the top two lines?
Most likely to increase visibility in larger venues. This practice was done from about 1990-95; by the Hawaii shows in early 1996, two-line bonus puzzles once again used the middle two rows.

Was the 1989 "Changing Keys" really used until 1994?
Yes, although its use was sporadic following Season 9. In Seasons 10-11, the 1989 closing theme was used interchangeably with the 1992 version for the credits, while the Music Stars Week of May 2-6, 1994 used the 1989 opening theme for the only time since the end of Season 9.

What was the first letter ever revealed?
S, on the 1973 pilot. It was also the first letter given.

Has anyone ever solved with no letters showing?
At least one: the bonus puzzle BABY BOY on October 22, 1992.

Have there ever been any puzzles without a vowel?
At least one: the bonus puzzle MYTHS on April 9, 2004.

What is the most known instances of a single letter in a puzzle?
The record appears to be SUMMERTIME SUMMERTIME SUM SUM SUMMERTIME on October 11, 2013, with eleven M's. Previously, the record appeared to be PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE AFTER THE BEEP on September 4, 1995 (used again on at least October 21, 2009 and March 15, 2013) and THREE LITTLE KITTENS THEY LOST THEIR MITTENS on December 1, 2011, which had ten instances of E and T, respectively.

What was the shortest puzzle ever used?
The shortest known main-game puzzles are OZ DOG sometime early in Clue's history and SCRAM (a Speed-Up) on March 24, 1995, while the shortest Bonus Round answer is AX sometime in Season 11.

What is the longest puzzle ever used?
The answer varies, depending on whether one counts just letters, or total number of spaces used:


 * Counting by overall number of spaces, the longest is SHE JUST WON A SEVENTH U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP (Who Is It?, the answer being Michelle Kwan) on March 21, 2003, using 47 of the 52 monitors (45 letters plus two periods).
 * Counting only letters, the longest is HERSHEY BAR GRAHAM CRACKER GOOEY ROASTED MARSHMALLOW (also the only appearance of What Are We Making?, the answer being S'mores) on October 23, 2007, at 46 letters.

The longest known puzzle on the three-line board is SLEIGHBELLS RING ARE YOU LIST'NIN' (Quotation) on December 24, 1980, using 30 of the 39 trilons.

Which categories have been used the least?
Besides the aforementioned What Are We Making?, Composer/Song and Show/Song were used only once each around March 1996.

The April Fools' Day 1997 game also used a joke category of "Really Long Title" in Round 3, and at least the first two episodes of the first Retro Week in December 1999 created unique categories by prefacing the Round 1 category name with "60's" or "70's" (e.g. "60's Event").

What is the most that has been lost to a wrong letter?
As mentioned above, $62,400 by contestant Terri on December 5, 1985. She had racked up that much money in Round 3 with most of the Quotation puzzle THE THRILL OF VICTORY AND THE AGONY OF DEFEAT filled in. The wrong letter in this case was an S.

Terry also lost out on $10,000 during the Speed-Up round.

What is the most that has been lost through a mis-solve?
$33,450 by contestant Becki on September 19, 2007. She had racked up that much in the Mystery Round (Round 3 at the time) with most of the Place puzzle GLEAMING WHITE SAND BEACH filled in. She opted to solve, but added -ES to the end. As it was also the Prize Puzzle, she lost a $6,296 Caribbean trip as well.

What is the most amount of puzzles ever used in a single episode?
11, set on March 19, 2002 (seven main-game rounds, three Toss-Ups, and the Bonus Round) and tied on June 2, 2004 and September 22, 2005. The seven main-game rounds also appears to be the record for that particular part of the game, and appears to have been set near the end of Season 7. It is also believed that a Goen episode had seven rounds in the rather non-conventional fashion of six rounds and a tiebreaker.

The record during the shopping era appears to be six, set on April 1, 1983 (five main-game rounds and the Bonus Round). Note that this does not count the hour-long episodes, which always had eight puzzles per episode (three in the first game, three in the second game, the Head-To-Head round, and the Bonus Round).

What is the least amount of puzzles ever used in a single episode?
Three, set on the first taped episode of Wheel 2000 (two main-game rounds and the Bonus Round).

When the show debuted in 1975, games had a minimum of three puzzles. This increased to four when the Bonus Round was permanently introduced in December 1981, five after shopping was dropped, six once the Puzzler was introduced in 1998, and seven when the Preview Puzzle debuted in 1999. The Toss-Ups replaced the Puzzler and Preview Puzzle, initially retaining the seven-puzzle minimum until increasing it to eight at the beginning of Season 19.

Has a puzzle ever been misspelled?
On several occasions, a puzzle has been misspelled or contained improper punctuation. Known examples include:


 * BACHELOR'S-BUTTON on an episode from January or February 1984 (should not be hyphenated)
 * CHARLIE AND AMERICAN PRIDE on an episode between March and June 1989 (should be "Charley")
 * FOG HORN on an episode from the week of November 23, 1992 (should be one word; the correct spelling was used on February 7, 2003)
 * JINGLE-BELL ROCK on December 18, 1996 and December 20, 2004 (should not be hyphenated)
 * AMUSEMENT-PARK FUN HOUSE on September 9, 1997 (should not be hyphenated)
 * CANDLEWICK on an episode between January and June 2000 (should be two words)
 * PIECE OF MIND on November 14, 2003 (should be either PEACE OF MIND or A PIECE OF YOUR MIND)
 * CAESAR'S PALACE on April 7, 2009 (should not have an apostrophe)
 * WAIT A WHILE on April 26, 2010 (should be "awhile")
 * COFFEE-TABLE BOOK on January 24, 2012 (should not be hyphenated)

How are contestants chosen?
Since 2000, contestants are chosen primarily through Wheelmobile events held throughout the year at public or semi-public venues such as arenas, theaters, shopping malls, etc. At these events, people may fill out a form and drop it in a bin. Five names at a time are drawn at random to come onstage; traveling host Marty Lublin interviews all five, who then play a Speed-Up round. Morgan Matthews is typically the co-host, although Tracey Wilson and Whitney Kirk sometimes hold this role instead. Auditions use a three-line board where one side of each square is a dry-erase surface, on which the hostess writes a letter if it is in the puzzle. As with the real game, a category strip and Used Letter Board are present. After a puzzle is solved, each contestant is awarded a small prize, five more names are drawn, and the cycle repeats for an hour. Wheelmobile events typically last for six one-hour segments over the course of two days. Everyone who appears onstage receives a Wheel-themed prize, which is selected before the interview segment by Marty spinning a small wheel.

Those who show the most potential onstage, along with randomly-drawn names among those who did not get onstage, as well as those who submitted audition forms online, are then invited to second-level auditions. These consist of mock games hosted by a different traveling crew; unlike the Wheelmobile games, these feature a vertical Wheel, of which each contestant is given two or three spins before "hitting" Bankrupt or Lose A Turn, and a projected board rendered on a computer. After everyone has gotten a chance to play, the contestants then take a written test, consisting of 16 puzzles (four each in four different categories). Once the tests are reviewed, some of the contestants are eliminated; those who remain play another set of mock games, including interviews.

What were the limits for returning champions?
Originally, players could stay on for a maximum of five games. This was decreased to the more familiar three-day limit sometime between June 7, 1976 and April 5, 1978, which also applied to the nighttime show from Seasons 7-13. For Seasons 14-15, returning champs were removed in favor of having the Friday Finals format each week (in which an extra prize or prize package was awarded to the finalist who won the Bonus Round), after which the show returned to the one-and-done format that had been in place for Seasons 1-6 (along with Wheel 2000).

The winnings limit was initially $100,000 in Season 7, increasing to $125,000 sometime between February 1990 and December 1992. Once the $100,000 top prize debuted in October 2001, the limit became $200,000, which was never reached (the closest anyone got was $142,550, won by Jack Wagner and contestant Christine Denos on February 28, 2006) before the limit was removed in 2008 with the Million-Dollar Wedge.

How many $100,000 losses are there to date?
69, the first being on January 14, 2002.

Two puzzles have led to a pair of $100,000 losses: PUNCH BOWL on October 7, 2002 and March 15, 2010, and QUALITY TIME on February 18, 2005 and September 21, 2010.

As a side note, the record for most $100,000 losses in one season is 11, set in Season 28. So far, there have not yet been any $1,000,000 losses.

How does the Million-Dollar Wedge work?
The Million-Dollar Wedge offers a chance at $1,000,000 in the Bonus Round. In order to win said prize, the contestant must do the following:
 * Call a correct letter after landing on the wedge.
 * Solve the current round's puzzle without hitting Bankrupt to claim it.
 * Avoid hitting Bankrupt for the rest of the game.
 * Have the highest total at the end of the game to go to the Bonus Round.
 * Land on the one envelope with the $1,000,000 prize (replacing the normal top prize of $100,000) in the 24-envelope Bonus Wheel.
 * Solve the Bonus Round puzzle.

What is the most that has been lost to Bankrupt in one show?
$46,900 (all cash, minus the $1,000 Gift Tag), set on April 20, 2010. This includes a single player losing $30,600 in Round 3, which may be the most spendable cash lost by one player.

The most ever lost by a single contestant appears to be $35,000 (the $10,000 Mystery Wedge and $25,000 from the Big Money Wedge), on April 23, 2008.

How do contestants know if a letter has been called?
There is a monitor (originally a chalkboard, later a dry-erase board) called the "Used Letter Board", which also displays the category, each contestant's score, and the five-second timer for making a move. After each letter is called, it is taken off the monitor. If no more vowels remain in the puzzle, the vowels are dimmed even if all five have not yet been called.

Although rarely seen on-screen, the board is often acknowledged by Pat, most commonly by him saying "watch the board" if a repeated letter has been called; though "the board" may also refer to the puzzle board, as contestants' repeated letter calls may be letters that have already been revealed in the puzzle.

Why did some games in the 1990s have only three rounds?
Three-round games were sometimes done to accommodate for home viewer sweepstakes. They were also done occasionally on road shows in the late 1990s due to time constraints.

Does the Wheel have to make a complete revolution?
It does not have to, although if a spin seems unusually "light", Pat will usually stop the Wheel and ask the contestant to spin again. However, the Bonus Wheel does have to make at least one complete revolution.

Does the studio audience see the other side of a Mystery Wedge during the player's choice?
No. Only the home audience sees the Bankrupt or $10,000/car/prize, depending on the wedge (and the era of the wedge). This is why the studio audience is encouraged to tell the player to flip it over.

Has the host ever hit Bankrupt or Lose A Turn on the Final Spin?
Many times, along with Free Play. It only seems like Pat never does because those invalid spins have been edited out since 1997, when they were only edited out sporadically before that point. Before this point, Pat had also hit Prize wedges, and even Surprise, on occasion.

Back when invalid Final Spins were aired, there was a running gag from 1977 through at least May 1985 where the Bankrupt slide whistle would play if it was hit. Airing bad Final Spins also led to notable incidents on June 14, 1990 and January 25, 1994 where Pat hit Bankrupt three times; his fourth attempt hit $5,000 on the former and $1,500 on the latter.

There is an easy way to tell if an invalid Final Spin was edited out: if the red arrow flipper's location in the close-up does not match where it was heading in the wide shot of the Wheel, there was an edit.

What happened if someone used the Double Play and hit a prize or token?
The official rules stated that landing on a Prize wedge, Surprise, or Free Spin gave that player the choice of taking the token back or applying it to their next spin. The sole exception to this was the $10,000 Wedge, which doubled its value.

How many people have tried to solve on Free Play?
Two: November 24, 2010 and May 10, 2012. The first was correct, while the second was not.

Why do they sometimes briefly cut to Pat in Speed-Up rounds?
To mask an edit of removing three incorrect letters, known as a "null" cycle, from the episode as aired.

During the main game, cycles are often edited out if all three players consecutively make moves that do not affect their score or the answer (i.e., cycles consisting entirely of wrong consonants, Lose A Turn, and/or Bankrupts from contestants who have no money or cardboard). Such edits are usually harder to discern, outside paying close attention to the Wheel's position. On rare occasions, turns are edited out that do affect gameplay.

When and why did the Bonus Round start offering RSTLNE?
RSTLNE was first offered on both versions (daytime and nighttime) on October 3, 1988. The rule change was made because, under the original rules of asking the contestant for five consonants and a vowel, nearly every contestant would choose those letters.

Have any bonus puzzles not used RSTLNE?
While sporadic, a few did not contain RSTLNE. The first known instance was GUM on a Bob Goen-hosted daytime episode in 1991, and the last known instance is PIKACHU sometime in 2001.

Does Y ever have to be bought?
No. Y is always a consonant in Wheel's context, meaning that contestants must spin to call it, even if the puzzle uses Y as a vowel.

What happens if a Toss-Up is not solved?
If the $1,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the red contestant is interviewed first; if the $2,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the red contestant starts Round 1; and if the $3,000 Toss-Up is not solved, then the contestant who started Round 1 starts Round 4.

What is the record for the most amount of Bankrupt/Lose A Turn hits in one round?
The record for Bankrupt is believed to be six, achieved on March 27, 1979 (Round 2), December 30, 2008 (Round 3), and October 4, 2011 (Round 2); the 2008 episode involved one Bankrupt from a Mystery Wedge.

The record for Lose A Turn appears to be four, on November 13, 1989, October 21, 2010, and October 21, 2013.

What is the smallest amount by which a contestant has won or lost?
Several contestants have won by a margin of $50. A win by $30 almost occurred on October 2, 2012, after a contestant tried to solve in the Speed-Up without calling a letter first.

What happens if the game ends in a tie?
Since the introduction of Toss-Ups, ties are broken by a fourth Toss-Up, without cash value; whoever solves proceeds to the Bonus Round. This has only happened twice: March 13, 2003 and March 2, 2006.

Originally on the daytime version, it was believed that ties resulted in the tied contestants returning the next day as co-champions, as is the case on non-tournament episodes of Jeopardy! Likely around the introduction of the Bonus Round, and definitely by November 1986, a tie game simply meant that no Bonus Round was played and all three contestants returned the next day. The continuation game did not count towards a champion's three-day limit, leading to an oddity in 1987 where a champion played five games due to two consecutive ties. Known tie games include November 13, 1986, the aforementioned 1987 episodes, and twice in 1989 during Rolf Benirschke's tenure as host. Benirschke's first tie quickly became infamous, as it resulted in him looking at the camera and admitting that he didn't know what to do.

Tie games on the nighttime show were originally broken by a Speed-Up round between the tied contestants. If a Speed-Up had already occurred, the tiebreaker had its own Final Spin (referred to as a "Final Final Spin" by Pat). Known tie games include a show taped in December 1987, and October 5, 1993. The former had the tiebreaker in its own segment, resulting in the Bonus Round moving to the final segment and Pat signing off immediately afterward, while the latter had the tiebreaker immediately after Round 5 with the rest of the game paced as normal. The nighttime procedure was also used for daytime weeks with the Friday Finals format, and at least twice had to be done at the beginning of Friday shows to break a tie at third place. It is believed that Goen-era ties were handled identically, and it was apparently used at least once on Wheel 2000.

What happens if a contestant asks to buy a vowel, then calls a consonant instead?
If any rule exists for this, then it is applied inconsistently:
 * On October 23, 1995, a contestant who asked to buy a Y had $250 deducted and lost his turn.
 * On November 7, 2000, a contestant asked to buy a W, then a zero, before calling O. After a stopdown, it was determined to rule it as a bought O, but also to hold the contestant to W on their next spin.
 * On May 30, 2011, a contestant who asked to buy a T merely lost her turn; in addition, the T had already been revealed in the puzzle.
 * On May 15, 2012, who asked to buy an N corrected himself to say I; Pat ruled it as I, but the ruling ended up not mattering as the I was already revealed.
 * On September 18, 2012, a contestant asked to buy a W, then a Z, before changing his call to O. Pat said "We'll take the first vowel we heard" and ruled it as O, which was in the puzzle.
 * On September 27, 2013, a contestant asked to buy an N. Pat told him that the N would be disregarded, and prompted him for a vowel. He ended up calling I, which was in the puzzle.

Has a puzzle ever been thrown out?
Very rarely, a puzzle may be discarded. This is often due to an audience member shouting out an answer, a wrong letter being revealed (supposedly a frequent occurrence during Susan Stafford's tenure, as she often tended to turn the letters before they were lit), or the host accidentally ruling an incorrect answer as correct.

According to the 1987 book Wheel of Fortune by David R. Sams and Robert L. Shook, puzzles that were discarded for any reason other than an audience member shouting out an answer resulted in each contestant receiving a $200 gift certificate; the exception was Round 1, which was simply reshot without such a bonus. The book also states that if a wrong answer was accidentally ruled correct, the two opponents to the contestant who gave the answer received a $200 bonus. Prior to the gift certificates being introduced in 1975, winnings from discarded rounds were still awarded to the contestant anyway.

At least three episodes (all nighttime) have had visible indication of a puzzle being discarded: a September 1988 episode where the introduction of the original, thrown-out puzzle (Phrase) was accidentally left in, with the replacement puzzle (a one-word People) not being seen until after the Final Spin; October 6, 1989 and April 16, 1991, where the blanks seen on the board in the opening pan clearly do not match up to the actual Round 1 that was played.

It is not known how "bonuses" for discarded puzzles were handled immediately after the retirement of shopping. According to a contestant who was on in March 2007, all three contestants received $100 cash bonuses after a round in which a wrong answer was accidentally ruled correct.

A round in May 2013 that began as a Speed-Up was thrown out due to a contestant solving the puzzle just after the buzzer. The Speed-Up was redone with a new puzzle and the same Final Spin value, while the new reveal was reshot during a stopdown. Other times, if a contestant solved the Speed-Up on or after the buzzer, the rest of the round would proceed as normal until solved, and Pat would announce that the scores were tentative so that the contestant's answer could be checked.

Pat has accidentally accepted at least one wrong Bonus Round answer as correct, in which case the Bonus Round was simply redone with a new puzzle. At least twice (May 8, 1996 and March 23, 2005), a letter was revealed in the Bonus Round that should not have been; both contestants gave the correct answer, and both were allowed to keep their bonus prizes.

If an audience member shouted out the answer to a question asked by a "bonus" category, the bonus was simply discarded. This is known to have happened at least three times.

At least three episodes have had puzzles edited out for other reasons:
 * The November 2, 1992 episode (from the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco) edited out Round 1 because the answer was VANNA'S PREGNANT; since she had a miscarriage before the airdate, the round was replaced with a short spiel narrated by Charlie which gave some details on the taping, bookended by footage of Pat explaining what had occurred in the round. Vanna's A&E Biography episode showed behind-the-scenes footage of her revealing the puzzle after it was solved, then being surprised by Merv Griffin holding balloons in celebration.
 * November 16 and 17, 2005 (taped at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans shortly before Hurricane Katrina) respectively had Round 1 and the $1,000 Toss-Up edited out, as their answers were deemed insensitive to hurricane victims. On the original airings, these rounds were replaced with clips of Pat and Vanna asking viewers for donation to hurricane relief funds; Summer reruns of these episodes restored the Toss-Up from November 17 (THE LOUISIANA SUPERDOME), but replaced the "missing" Round 1 from November 16 with another clip of Pat and Vanna thanking those who donated.