Wheel of Fortune wheel configurations

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'157008\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 01:20 PM\']
They did WHAT!?  Can someone elaborate how they pulled that off?  $5K in round three?
[/quote]
When the $10,000 prize space was first introduced, it was put on the wheel in round 3, and kept there the remainder of the day, or until won.

[Joe Mello]

Does this mean my roomate's girlfriend was true?  She claimed that Pat once landed on the 10K space on a Final Spin, and I thought it was highly unlikely, if not total bunk.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'157051\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 05:03 PM\']
Does this mean my roomate's girlfriend was true?  She claimed that Pat once landed on the 10K space on a Final Spin, and I thought it was highly unlikely, if not total bunk.
[/quote]
Note that people are saying "prize space". Not "money space". That means, yes, your roommate's girlfriend was full of what makes the grass grow green.

[JohnHolder]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'157052\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 08:08 PM\']
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'157051\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 05:03 PM\']
Does this mean my roomate's girlfriend was true?  She claimed that Pat once landed on the 10K space on a Final Spin, and I thought it was highly unlikely, if not total bunk.
[/quote]
Note that people are saying "prize space". Not "money space". That means, yes, your roommate's girlfriend was full of what makes the grass grow green.
[/quote]

I don't know if this is true, but I've read that a few years ago, they briefly -- very briefly, like for only one or two episodes -- upped the $5000 space to $10,000.  Whatever happened on those shows apparently made them decide they couldn't afford to keep it, so they went back to $5K.

John

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'157052\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 05:08 PM\']
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'157051\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 05:03 PM\']
Does this mean my roomate's girlfriend was true?  She claimed that Pat once landed on the 10K space on a Final Spin, and I thought it was highly unlikely, if not total bunk.
[/quote]
Note that people are saying "prize space". Not "money space". That means, yes, your roommate's girlfriend was full of what makes the grass grow green.
[/quote]
I don't necessarily doubt that Pat landed on it, but he certainly would have spun again if he did.

[Dbacksfan12]

What if you took Don's idea and allowed contestants to "charge" their total bank?  If they're in the negatives when the puzzle is solved, deduct in from their total.

[chad1m]

Or what if we just kept the iconic, rating-maintaining American game show the same it has been since the late-80s? =)

/Keep it simple, stupid.

[Robert Hutchinson]

I think that the lack of inflation for the cost of a vowel has been somewhat offset by contestants who aren't willing to buy vowels.

[wheelloon]

[quote name=\'JohnHolder\' post=\'157054\' date=\'Jul 9 2007, 08:58 PM\']
I don't know if this is true, but I've read that a few years ago, they briefly -- very briefly, like for only one or two episodes -- upped the $5000 space to $10,000.  Whatever happened on those shows apparently made them decide they couldn't afford to keep it, so they went back to $5K.
[/quote]
You are correct John, and in my post, this is what I was originally referring to.

It happened about 8 years ago, if I remember correctly, and lasted at most a week, maybe not even that long. In round 3, the TDV became $5k, and in round 4, the $10k prize was switched to its other side (ala no bankrupts surrounding) and put in place of the $5k space. No other wheel changes were made, so yes, that meant that in round 4, the 2nd TDV was still 900. I can't confirm if Pat ever landed on $10k on the final spin, as I never saw such an episode, but I do remember the $10k TDV Round 4, and my inital reaction being along the lines of a WOAHOMGWOWYAH!!!!!!

This was quickly scrapped, no clue why, but I'd have to bet the producers were experimenting with the idea for a few days to make some assessments, possibly to make it a make it a permanent change the next season. Obviously, it never came to fruition. Instead, we get 3 tossups per episode, and a 2500, 3500, 3500, 5000 setup...

As for my half 250 half 500 vowel cost idea, I must be giving the American public too much credit then, if the consensus is that Joe Schmo couldn't keep up. YIKES!

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'157077\' date=\'Jul 10 2007, 02:30 AM\']
What if you took Don's idea and allowed contestants to "charge" their total bank?  If they're in the negatives when the puzzle is solved, deduct in from their total.
[/quote]

Then what would be the point of solving at such a point? A person (and knowing the DoND and greedy type contestants on GS these days, they would follow THIS logic) might as well keep spinning, b/c there's no point in solving a puzzle if they're gonna lose money, they might as well not solve it, and earn 0 as opposed to losing $1500, i.e. The argument of doing it so other contestants can't gain ground is also wrong, because one losing $1500 in a round would be equivalent to an opponent gaining $1500 in the same round, if they're only "AS" lucky as you are, with their spins.

Again though, the current Wheel is okay at this point with me. It's not like it was in 1993, but if they were to get rid of the first toss-up, and bring back returning champions or the Friday Finals format, that would make me more than happy. With J! incorporating the no-limit rule, the arrival of two daily GS's in syndication in the fall with returning champs (Temptation and Crosswords), this would be a perfect time for Wheel to do it. Joe Schmo WOULD notice that change, it wouldn't cost Sony a dime more (maybe less=less contestant searches needed), and the quality of gameplay would likely increase, all which none of us are opposed to...

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'157077\' date=\'Jul 10 2007, 02:30 AM\']
What if you took Don's idea and allowed contestants to "charge" their total bank?  If they're in the negatives when the puzzle is solved, deduct in from their total.
[/quote]

That would put the players in "jeopardy."

[Steve Gavazzi]

I'd swear I also remember an episode from several years ago where they accidentally put the bankrupt-less side of the $10,000 space face up and didn't catch it until somebody landed on it...they let the round proceed as if nothing had happened, treating it as a cash space, and Pat explained at the start of the next round that it had been a mistake.

(And at the start of Round 4, he pointed out that "there is now a million-dollar space on the wheel." :-)

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'157142\' date=\'Jul 10 2007, 06:35 PM\']
I'd swear I also remember an episode from several years ago where they accidentally put the bankrupt-less side of the $10,000 space face up and didn't catch it until somebody landed on it...they let the round proceed as if nothing had happened, treating it as a cash space, and Pat explained at the start of the next round that it had been a mistake.

(And at the start of Round 4, he pointed out that "there is now a million-dollar space on the wheel." :-)
[/quote]
I remember that as well..., c. 1996, soon after they introduced the space, I believe.

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'156520\' date=\'Jul 2 2007, 11:17 AM\']

And am I crazy, or did the daytime version use pretty much the same configuration from the late seventies all the way through the 80s, up until the move to CBS?

Don't know about the site, but the daytime version did switch things around from time to time.  Most notably are when they increased the top dollar amount.  If memory serves, I think the top dollar amound for the first few years was $1000 for round 3.  It was then changed to $1500 sometime in the late '70s, and by the early '80s it was $2000 (which became $5000 on the nighttime version).
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure the original NBC config was 250-500-750; the third round went up to 1000 (I think they went with 500-750-1000, then 500-1000-1000, but I'm not sure).  It changed to 500-1000-1500 when the hour-long version started (late 1975); the hour-long version had a $2000 space for the final two-player round, but when they switched back to a half-hour format, the top value was 1500 for a while.

(Also, don't forget about the "Buy A Vowel" space in the first round of the early episodes.  There's some question as to whether or not you could buy a vowel voluntarily in rounds when it was also on the wheel.  I do remember that if somebody landed on it and didn't have $250, they lost their turn.)

-- Don

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' post=\'157158\' date=\'Jul 10 2007, 07:14 PM\']
[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'156520\' date=\'Jul 2 2007, 11:17 AM\']

And am I crazy, or did the daytime version use pretty much the same configuration from the late seventies all the way through the 80s, up until the move to CBS?

Don't know about the site, but the daytime version did switch things around from time to time.  Most notably are when they increased the top dollar amount.  If memory serves, I think the top dollar amound for the first few years was $1000 for round 3.  It was then changed to $1500 sometime in the late '70s, and by the early '80s it was $2000 (which became $5000 on the nighttime version).
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure the original NBC config was 250-500-750; the third round went up to 1000 (I think they went with 500-750-1000, then 500-1000-1000, but I'm not sure).  It changed to 500-1000-1500 when the hour-long version started (late 1975); the hour-long version had a $2000 space for the final two-player round, but when they switched back to a half-hour format, the top value was 1500 for a while.

(Also, don't forget about the "Buy A Vowel" space in the first round of the early episodes.  There's some question as to whether or not you could buy a vowel voluntarily in rounds when it was also on the wheel.  I do remember that if somebody landed on it and didn't have $250, they lost their turn.)[/quote]

Chuck was saying all the time "you know your options--spin, buy a vowel or solve" back then--it's just no one bought vowels in those early years, just as everyone rode each puzzle out to the very end.  I've always said in retrospect that it was Lin Bolen's doing--she made sure the contestant coordinators emphasized to the contestants that they should get nothing but big money to go shopping, since to her the game was just a way to get to the shopping.  I've also always said that Merv should thank his lucky stars that she wasn't obsessed with giant pinball machines the day he came in to pitch what became "Wheel."

[Jimmy Owen]

With MMM, the word game was a bore, I wanted to get right to the machine.