Physical games or stunts were one of the gameplay elements of Wheel 2000, the children's spin-off of Wheel of Fortune.
History[]
Wheel 2000 utilized various stunts over its run, which were played if a contestant landed on one of the three red, double-width 250-point spaces. According to one recollection, there were only two episodes where a physical game was not played.
During each game, a randomizer shuffling unused letters awarded up to three depending on how many times a player accomplished the game's goal. All games gave the player 60 seconds unless otherwise noted.
- Alientoss: The contestant faced a small 12-square board and threw stuffed aliens at the numbers to try and match colored geometric shapes (red square, orange lightning bolt, yellow star, green triangle, blue diamond, and violet circle), with a letter earned for each shape matched. Before the game started, Sidoni demonstrated by having a staff member behind the board (known as the "Wacky Staff") turn over a panel, thus giving the player a free hint.
- The Bravo Card tour used four pairs on a nine-square board (possibly according to a theme, such as Halloween with a trick-or-treat bag, pumpkin, bat, and skeleton) with the remaining space taken by Bravo, which acted as a wild card. As the player had fewer squares to face, no free hints were given and s/he had only 45 seconds instead of 60. Since the Bravo Card tour did not use a randomizer, the player was allowed to choose any letter s/he wished. Consonants were worth the usual 250 per occurrence, while vowels did not award or cost anything. It is presumed that if none of the player's choices were in the puzzle, s/he lost their turn. Unlike on the show, the Alientoss wedge was not removed on the Bravo Card tour's layout. If it was landed on later during the same round, Sidoni announced it was a regular 250-point space (like Pat would do in the Mystery Round when the unused Mystery Wedge was landed on).
- Call Waiting: Essentially a minigame-style revisit of Your Own Clue, the player stood behind a semicircular table with five phones on top; after picking one up and saying "Who's calling?", s/he had to determine the famous person from the clues they gave. The trick was that another phone would ring up to four times while the player was receiving clues, prompting him/her to decide whether or not to skip to the next phone.
- Chutes and Letters: The player stood over a 12-wedge wheel (four each of red, yellow, and blue) and had to correctly guess where a ball (rolled by them down a chute) would land. While the player began with only 15 seconds, s/he could add 15, 30, or 45 more by answering three true or false questions posed by David.
- Cube Roll: The player used a catapult to launch pairs of large colored dice onto a table, trying to match a symbol. After every roll, David pulled a nearby handle to open the table and remove the cubes from the play field.
- Feed the Raptor: The player used a large "spoon" (net) to dig into a "swamp" (what appears to have been packing peanuts) to find meat or vegetables (depending on David's instructions) and get them into the mouth of a large raptor head surrounded by foliage. While the contestant began with 45 seconds, s/he could add 15 more by answering a multiple-choice dinosaur question posed by David.
- Letter Launch: The player stood by a catapult and tried to launch UFOs (placed on the catapult by David) into one of four "pods" extending from a giant rotating cog. While the contestant began with 30 seconds, s/he could add 15 or 30 more by answering two true-or-false questions posed by David.
- Match It: Somewhat similar to The Price is Right's Race Game, the player had four colored helmets and three humanoid aliens (the latter's colors revealed to the audience), and had to match the proper helmet to each alien. Upon placing the helmets, the player raced to a podium which lit up with 0-3 lights after pressing a button on top of it, denoting how many were correctly placed. (Unlike the other games, all three letters were awarded upon winning; it is assumed that if the player ran out of time, the number of correct placements on the last attempt determined how many letters were earned.)
- Monster Heads: The player wore rubber gloves, goggles, and an apron; s/he had to reach into a vat of green "slime" (green-colored applesauce) and pick out pieces of heads of several famous people, living or dead. The contestant then had to put the head pieces together like a puzzle (the pieces were color-coded) to win a letter.
- Remote Rally: The player had 75 seconds to drive an R/C Mazda Miata along a large maze-like course with five lines. While the first was the starting point, crossing the second line awarded one letter; the third line awarded a Wheel 2000 hat, the fourth gave a second letter, and crossing the finish line awarded the third letter. The catch was that shortly after the hat's line was a small black pit that the player had to loop around. If the car landed in the pit, David took the car out of the pit and placed it back behind the hat's line.
- Smell-O-Letter: The contestant, wearing a haz-mat helmet with a nozzle, had to smell up to four items (shown to the home audience) and try to identify them. The fourth item was usually one that gave an unpleasant smell, such as gym socks.
- Wash N' Wear Words: The player put on a choice of hats, shirts, shorts, and shoes all showing a letter, and had to guess the four-letter word spelled out by that clothing by running to a podium (the same one used in Match It) and shouting the word while pressing the button. The player then replaced the hat with another one to make a rhyming word and again until a third valid word was buzzed in correctly (while at least one playing had a profanity as a possible choice, it was not used or possibly even noticed). The buzzer used in this game was also used on Zooventure.
After the stunt, the contestant was given the option to use the letters s/he earned (if any) or spin again and choose a different letter. If the player chose to use the letters, any appearances awarded 250 points each. If the player chose to use the letters and none were in the puzzle, or if no letters were earned from the stunt, that player's turn ended. All three double-width wedges offered 250 points per correct letter for the rest of the game, with the exception of at least one episode where a new physical game was put on the Wheel at the beginning of the next round.