List of categories

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

Current Categories

 * Around the House: A more specific subset of Thing, introduced in Season 17.
 * Before & After: Introduced in Season 6. This category consists of two phrases, names, etc., combined by a word that ends the first and starts the second (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. 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 late 2000s, usually showing up no more than once or twice a season.
 * College Life: Introduced in Season 23 and used only during college weeks, resulting in extremely sporadic usage.
 * Event(s): Often includes an -ING ending, much like What Are You Doing?, which is essentially a subset of this category. Some puzzles in the early 1990s stretched the definition, most notably UNDER HOUSE ARREST and SLIPPED ON A BANANA PEEL which are more logically Phrase instead of Event (although SLIPPING ON A BANANA PEEL would fit). It was also stretched to its limits in the early 2000s; see What Are You Doing?, below. Of all the categories with plural forms, this one's plural form is most likely the least-used.
 * Family: Introduced in Season 7. The puzzle answer is the name of two or more famous people who are closely related.
 * Fictional Character(s): Known to have been used as early as December 24, 1980.
 * Fictional Family: Introduced in Season 25.
 * Fictional Place: Very rarely used; however, it is believed to have been around since at least the mid-1980s.
 * 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; between Seasons 21 and 24, some food-and-drink puzzles were (perhaps misleadingly) categorized as Thing or Around the House if they were not necessarily something that could be found on a menu. Others, such as BIG GULP, were shoehorned into On the Menu.
 * Headline: Apparently introduced in Season 19. Very rarely used.
 * Husband & Wife: Introduced in Season 7. Since Same Name puzzles occasionally spell out AND, this is the only category guaranteed to always have an ampersand in the answer.
 * In the Kitchen: Introduced in Season 23 as essentially a subset of Around the House. Used in the bonus round only six times, between January 30, 2006 and September 26, 2007. Very rarely used in the main game since season 27.
 * Landmark: Known to have been used as early as November 6, 1980. Very rarely used, to the point that Pat often mentions its rarity. Currently, there are only two known instances of it being used in the Bonus Round, although it is likely that others exist.
 * Living Thing(s): Apparently introduced in Season 18.
 * Occupation(s): Known to have been used as early as March 27, 1979.
 * On the Map: Introduced in Season 17.
 * Person and People: Until the introduction of Proper Name in Season 14, proper names of famous people were included in this category. Previously, the host would remind contestants that "Person/People does not always mean proper name(s)", something that Pat often forgot to do.
 * Phrase: Most certainly an original category.
 * Place(s): Until the introduction of On the Map in Season 17, specific geographical locations were included in this category.
 * Proper Name(s): Introduced in Season 14. 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). In Season 16, the extra question was the basis of a new category called Who Said It?, which is listed below. Unusually for the "original" categories, there is only one known instance of Quotation being used in the bonus round.
 * Rhyme Time: Introduced in September 1998.
 * Same Letter: Introduced in Season 27, used for alliterative answers. At least two Same Letter answers have had ampersands in them.
 * 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). Originally Artist/Song; known to have been around since at least April 1993. The Song/Artist form has been around since at least 1999, but the show alternated between Song/Artist and Artist/Song for the next several years. From around March 2008 onward, only Song/Artist has been used.
 * Song Lyrics: Apparently introduced in Season 19. Known to have been used in the Bonus Round only twice.
 * Star/Role: The puzzle lists an actor/actress and a character they are known for portraying (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 mid-1990.
 * Thing(s): Possibly the category that has been split up the most. Around the House, Food & Drink, In the Kitchen and Living Thing are all unarguable subsets of Thing, although some puzzles that might originally have been called Things could now fit in other categories as well.
 * Title: Three specific subsets, Movie Title, Song Title and TV Title, were introduced in Season 23. As a result, Title itself has become increasingly sporadic. 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 was sometimes inverted as Author/Title; as of February 2008, Title/Author is always used. This category was referred to as Book & Author on the April 1, 1997 episode of Jeopardy!, which Pat hosted, although that particular variant does not appear to have actually been used.
 * What Are You Doing?: Introduced in Season 25. This category guarantees that an -ING ending will be somewhere in the answer, although three puzzles in mid-Season 26 broke that rule. The category was created most likely to prevent oddities; several Event puzzles in the mid-2000s stretched the definition, such as SINGING OFF-KEY.

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.
 * Composer/Song and Show/Song: Apparently used only once each at some point in Season 13. It is believed that the only puzzle in the former category was RAVEL'S BOLERO, and very likely that the Show/Song puzzle was SOUTH PACIFIC'S YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME (it is known that the latter puzzle involved South Pacific in some way, and this is the most well-known song that would fit on the puzzle board).
 * Foreign Word(s) and Foreign Phrase: Two self-explanatory categories introduced in Season 9. It is not known why Foreign Words was sometimes pluralized even though Foreign Phrase also existed. They were last seen early in Season 10. On a September 1992 episode where MAZEL TOV is the answer to a Foreign Phrase puzzle, Pat explains that the answer has several acceptable Anglicized pronunciations, giving a very 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. It is not known if the category was "un-retired", as there are currently no other known episodes before 1988 to have used it.
 * 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, except on October 5, 2009, where Pat introduced it in a monotone voice as a joke. 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 on episodes that he recorded before his death. It is believed that the category is now officially retired, as these are the only two episodes after his death in which the category has been used.
 * Slang: Introduced in Season 10 and used through Season 12. Many Slang puzzles relied on archaic or, in some cases, outright fabricated terms (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 and last used on January 18, 2005. This was the only "bonus" category used on the daytime show, with a bonus of $250.
 * 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 a September 1994 episode, the question mark was in the middle instead.)
 * Also in September 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 (sometimes four) 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). This category is known to have been retired by September 2002.
 * Interestingly, the two different styles of Fill In the Blank overlapped until around November 1994; the last known instance of an "old-style" Fill In the Blank was November 4. A month later, the "old style" Fill In the Blank was renamed Next Line Please (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. Interestingly, the last Fill In the Number puzzle had two different numbers in it (# SCORE AND # YEARS AGO), when all other known instances had only one. Contestants would often solve these puzzles in different ways; some would read the number signs as "number", while others would omit them, and at least one just stated the number while solving.
 * Megaword: The puzzle is an eight- 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 7, 1995, with at least 18 playings during that time and only one known buzz-out (COPACETIC, on December 22, 1994). It was likely retired for several reasons, the most obvious being Pat's clear disdain whenever the category appeared. Until the introduction of Show/Song and Composer/Song, this is the only known category to have lasted less than a full season.
 * 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 on February 9, 1996; 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.) 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 for both the puzzle answer and identification of the product. February 19, 2008 is the category's last appearance.
 * What Are We Making?: 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 and only used four times (September 16, October 28 and December 21, 2010, and February 8, 2011). The puzzle was a song lyric, and the bonus question involved identifying the song's title. The songs were correctly identified on the October 28 and December 21 episodes.
 * Where Are We?: The puzzle gave three short clues to a specific place. Introduced in Season 10; last used November 28, 2008.
 * Who Is It? and Who Are They?: The puzzle gave a clue to a specific person or fictional character, or, in very rare instances, a group of people. Known to have been around since 1996; last used April 23, 2008.
 * Who Said It?: Apparently introduced in September 1998. Identical to Quotation, but with a bonus for identifying the source of the quotation. Last used October 27, 2006.

Intentional One-Shots
Besides the three categories listed above that were only used once, the show has used at least two unique categories themed to a special week:


 * 70's Song/Artists: A special category used on December 27, 1999, during the first "Retro Week". This was done most likely to tie into the late-1970s theme of the show, although it is not known why the category had "Artists" instead of "Artist". The answer was I THINK I LOVE YOU BY THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, and it was followed by a Puzzler of KEITH (Fictional Character), which was solved.
 * Really Long Title: Used as a joke on the April Fools' Day 1997 episode, which had Pat and Vanna playing for charity. The answer was SUPERCALI-FRAGILISTIC-EXPIALIDOCIOUS (hyphenated in that fashion so it would fit on the board). Treated as a "bonus" category, it offered Pat a $2,000 bonus for identifying the musical that the word was from; he correctly identified it as being from Mary Poppins.

Wheel 2000 Categories
Wheel 2000 used Person, Place, and Thing in its bonus round, but had a unique line of categories in the main game:


 * Above & Below: Puzzles related to Earth.
 * Book Soup: Puzzles related to literature.
 * Bright Ideas: Puzzles related to inventions.
 * Every Body: Puzzles related to body parts.
 * Globetrotter: Same as Place.
 * It Adds Up: Puzzles related to mathematics.
 * Just Stuff: Same as Thing.
 * Lab Test: Puzzles related to science.
 * Made in the USA: Puzzles related to the United States.
 * Measure It (sometimes Measurement): Puzzles related to measures and the like. Apparently never chosen.
 * Paint by Numbers: Puzzles related to art.
 * Space Case: Puzzles related to outer space.
 * V.I.P.'s: Same as Proper Name.
 * Word Rap: Puzzles related to grammar and punctuation.