Free Play was one of the gameplay elements on Wheel of Fortune.
History[]
Simultaneously replacing the Free Spin token and the yellow $400 between Lose A Turn and Bankrupt, Free Play allowed contestants to call a letter, call a free vowel, or solve the puzzle right away, all without penalty or money loss. Aside from this, Free Play acted as a $500 wedge: correct consonants were worth $500 each, and $500 was added to the Jackpot in Seasons 27-30 regardless of whether the player chose to call a consonant or vowel. Presumably, $500 would have also been added to the Jackpot if the player solved the puzzle incorrectly, although this never happened in the Jackpot round.
Contestants were generally encouraged to call vowels on Free Play if any remain. Throughout Seasons 27 and 28, if a contestant hit Free Play with most of the puzzle revealed, Pat would typically remind them that they could attempt to solve the puzzle with no penalty for an incorrect answer. Likely because only one contestant ever took his advice during that period, Pat generally stopped doing this in Season 29 save for one occasion (May 10, 2012), after which the contestant solved incorrectly while on the wedge.
Despite its "face" value, Final Spins that land on Free Play were edited out.
During Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, Free Play was replaced with an orange $950 wedge.
Free Play was retired at the end of Season 38 and replaced with a yellow $850 wedge.