Toss-Ups are one of the gameplay elements on Wheel of Fortune.
History[]
The Toss-Ups debuted at the start of Season 18 on September 4, 2000. During these rounds, letters in the puzzle are revealed randomly, one at a time. Contestants are given color-coded buzzers similar to those on Jeopardy! and may ring in when they think they know the answer. When a contestant rings in, the "right letter" ding is heard. Failing to give a correct answer locks out that player for the rest of the Toss-Up. A light music bed, which has changed multiple times over the years, sounds while the letters come up.
For its first season, a Toss-Up was used before the interviews to determine who starts Round 1 and again before Round 4 to determine who starts that round. Both were valued at $1,000.
Seasons 19-36: Three Toss-Ups[]
In Season 19, a third Toss-Up was added between the interviews and Round 1, with the values set at $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000. The rounds also became split-screened identically to Speed-Up rounds; previously, the shot showed only the puzzle board, and home viewers had no indication other than Pat's voice as to which contestant had rung in. The $1,000 is essentially a "warm-up" determining who is interviewed first; the $2,000 Toss-Up determines who starts Round 1; and the $3,000 one (still before Round 4) determined who started that round.
Seasons 37-present: Triple Toss-Up[]
In Season 37, the $3,000 Toss-Up was replaced with the Triple Toss-Up. In this round, three consecutive Toss-Ups are played, each with the same category. Each is valued at $2,000, and solving the third grants the right to start Round 4. A correct answer on the either or both of the first two results in a series of high-pitched dings. The music played also gets progressively higher every round. Starting in Season 39, an additional $4,000 is awarded if the same contestant solves all three, making the entire segment worth $10,000. Although never explicitly stated on-air, the three puzzles always have a common theme to the answers, resulting in the second or third puzzles often being predictable and solved with only one or two letters showing.
Usually, the puzzles in the Triple Toss-Up are sequenced in a specific way. The first two puzzles would be typical for a Toss-Up, but the third puzzle would usually be a humorous subversion from the previous two, while also sticking with the theme/category. For example, a Triple Toss-Up with the first two puzzles being CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY and GOLD MEDAL could end with PARTICIPATION AWARD.
Since approximately Season 26, the answer to the $1,000 Toss-Up is almost-always tied to the week's theme.
On Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, the first two Toss-Ups have the same value and are played in the same order on both half-hours, while the Triple Toss-Ups are valued at $5,000 each (with no bonus for solving all three) and played before Round 3.
Procedures when unsolved[]
On rare occasions, Toss-Ups are unsolved, at which point the Bonus Round "time's up" buzzer sounds. Sometimes the "wrong letter" buzzer will sound as well. If the $1,000 Toss-Up goes unsolved, the player in the red position is interviewed first; if the $2,000 one is not solved, the red player starts Round 1 (regardless of who won the $1,000 Toss-Up); and if the $3,000 one was not solved, the player who started Round 1 also started Round 4. If any of the first two Triple Toss-Ups go unsolved, the sequence of puzzles continues normally; if the third goes unsolved, the aforementioned procedure for starting Round 4 still applies (except for one episode in October 2023, where the red player started Round 4, though this was very likely an oversight).
As tiebreakers[]
Since their introduction, Toss-Ups are also used as tiebreakers. If a tie occurs after the Speed-Up, another Toss-Up is played between the two tied contestants, and the contestant who gives the correct answer proceeds to the Bonus Round. The first two times that this happened (March 13, 2003 and March 2, 2006), the tiebreaker Toss-Up had no additional cash value, but the third instance (May 25, 2016) valued the round at $1,000. A tiebreaker Toss-Up valued at $1,000 also occurred on the second episode of the Second Chance Lottery Promotion taped after the end of Season 34.