Free Spin was one of the gameplay elements on Wheel of Fortune.
History[]
The Free Spin wedge.
A single tan wedge on the Wheel that automatically gave that player a Free Spin disc, after which s/he spun again. A Free Spin could be used at any time after a contestant lost a turn, or saved for later. Despite its name, Free Spin could also be used to buy a vowel or solve the puzzle; because of this, Pat questioned on-air no fewer than three times why it was not called "Free Turn".
The wedge introduced in 1974 originally had white outlines like the other three special spaces, which was removed sometime between January 6 and mid-October 1975. Free Spin was originally present for the first two rounds, but was limited to Round 1 by no later than January 19, 1976. On the nighttime show, the wedge once again carried into Round 2 upon the introduction of the all-cash format in October 1987, but in March 1988 returned to being a Round 1 exclusive with an off-model yellow $200 covering it in subsequent rounds. This yellow wedge was upgraded to $300 sometime between late March and April 28, 1988, but Free Spin returned to Round 2 on the daytime show in July 1989.
On Shopper's Bazaar, the Free Spin disc was a thin cardboard piece with "FREE SPIN" printed on one side against a yellow background. In 1974, it became tan with "FREE SPIN" printed horizontally across the center. The more familiar green design, with "SPIN" in the center and "Free" on the top and bottom in yellow script, was introduced on July 17, 1989.
The second Free Spin disc.
On October 16, 1989, the Free Spin wedge was retired with the yellow wedge becoming an off-model $300 wedge before being upgraded to $500 ($400 in daytime) on October 23, 1989 and taking over for all rounds, and Free Spin reduced to a single disc placed over a random dollar amount and covering its hundreds digit; however, with only a couple exceptions after this change, it was only ever placed on values that were multiples of $100. In Season 10, when the Surprise wedge was introduced on the peach $200 close to the Lose a Turn, Free Spin was almost exclusively placed on a dollar amount ending in "00" ranging from $200-$400. In Season 13, it was placed on the purple $200 next to Lose a Turn; it was also placed on the pink $200 if Round 2 used the Round 3 Wheel template for a three-round structure in that season. It remained there for the first two weeks of Season 14, then moved to the green $300 on September 16, 1996 when the templates were overhauled, and stayed there until its retirement after Season 26. It was most likely changed to a single disc to prevent contestants from gaining unfair advantages by turning in multiple Free Spins, or banking multiple discs that never got used.
The BetMGM Free Spin used for the BetMGM Big Winners Tournament week in Season 42.
For the BetMGM Big Winners Tournament week in Season 42, a BetMGM Free Spin placed on the green $500 next to the orange $900. This worked exactly like the previous Free Spin token, although if it was picked up in a previous round, another would be placed on the wheel the next round.
Originally, the Free Spin token was claimed like Prize wedges (being immediately removed and a letter called for the value underneath), which changed sometime between September 11 and December 25, 1990 to require a correct letter first. From Season 25 to its retirement, the Free Spin began awarding $300 per correct letter (similar to the older rule), with the disc now covering the dollar sign instead of the 3 on the $300. Also in this timespan, the disc was available in the first three rounds instead of the first two rounds.